US experts issue caution about potential truce.

US experts issue caution over potential truce.

Russia's President Putin is pondering a ceasefire, taking into account the territory he's already gained, but this could pose significant risks for Ukraine, warns the American think tank, Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Russia could employ this truce period to equip its troops with more suitable forces for future offensives against Ukraine's government, potentially aiming for regime change, demilitarizing the country, and conquering it. Moreover, Putin may anticipate that a stalemate could lessen the urgency and necessity of Western support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian General Staff: 500,000 Russian Soldiers Lost So FarThe Ukrainian General Staff on Friday estimated that Russia has lost 500,080 troops since the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. They reported 1,140 casualties in the previous 24 hours. Russia is relentlessly pressing its offensive against Ukrainian defenders, at the expense of thousands of its own soldiers' lives. Since yesterday, Ukrainian forces have registered the destruction of 15 Russian tanks, 27 artillery systems, an air defense system, and two multiple rocket launchers.

First Group of Ukrainian F16 Pilots Almost Ready for CombatA group of Ukrainian F-16 pilots has completed training in the United States and is now moving to Europe for further training. Their training lasted almost a year. By this summer, they should be prepared for combat missions against Russian air forces. The Ukrainian air force will get more than 60 F-16s from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium, as well as personnel, aircraft, and ground facilities from other European countries and the US, UK, Romania, France, and Bulgaria to enable the pilots and ground personnel to operate and maintain the fighter jets.

US Excalibur Shells Useless Against Russian JammersUkraine has discontinued using certain American weapons because their accuracy has severely declined due to Russian jammers. The Washington Post reports that this issue affects several weapons that rely on GPS, like Excalibur artillery shells as well as HIMARS systems. Russian jammers hinder the control of the latter. The success rate of Excalibur shells, developed by the US, has dropped to under 10% hitting their targets. Consequently, the US stopped delivering Excalibur. To conduct attacks with HIMARS, it's necessary to disable enemy jammers as much as possible, such as by using cluster munitions.

Stoltenberg: China's Support for Russia Crucial in the Ukraine WarNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes that China's assistance for Russia in the Ukraine war is highly significant. "China claims it wants to maintain good relations with the West. At the same time, however, Beijing is powering the war in Europe. You can't have it both ways," Stoltenberg said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag. Although China does not provide weapons or ammunition to Russia, there's been a major increase in the sale of machine parts, microelectronics, and other essential technologies Russia uses to produce missiles, tanks, and aircraft against Ukraine.

Hofreiter: Ukraine Should Be Allowed to Target Russian Territory with Western WeaponsGreen Party foreign policy expert Anton Hofreiter advocates for removing restrictions on Ukraine using Western weaponry on targets within Russian territory. "This is about protecting the Ukrainian population," Hofreiter, chairman of the Bundestag's Europe Committee, told Funke Mediengruppe newspaper. "We shouldn't prevent Ukraine from using the supplied weapons to defend against Russian fighter jets in Russian airspace." International law allows a nation under attack to target military objectives in the aggressor's land.

01:30: Ukraine Reports Russian Airstrikes and "Partial Successes" Near KupianskAccording to a statement from the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian military once more bombarded the city of Vovchansk from the air with guided bombs. The Ukrainian military thwarted ten Russian attacks on the city and its surroundings. The Russian military experienced "partial successes" near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region and in the Pokrovsk sector of the Donetsk region.

02:01: Further Evacuations Planned in Kharkiv Region123 children from the north-east of the Kharkiv region are scheduled for evacuation. Local authorities plan to transfer the orphans first to Kharkiv and eventually to the Volhynia region to the northwest. Over 11,000 civilians have been evacuated since the commencement of the new Russian offensive.

11:23 Zelensky: "Battle control" restored in Kharkiv region

Ukraine's army has regained control over the border region in the eastern Kharkiv area, as stated by President Volodymyr Zelensky. In his evening address, Zelensky announced, "Our soldiers have successfully taken back combat control of the border area where the Russian invaders had infiltrated." He had previously visited Kharkiv. The Russian forces launched a ground offensive in the border area two weeks ago, capturing several Ukrainian villages.

10:33 Over 400 Ukrainian women believed to be held by Russia illegally

There are allegedly 403 Ukrainian women held captive by Russia. Many of these women are civilians who were illegally detained, while some have been missing since 2014, and their fate is unknown. This information was reported by Ukrinform, based on a report from the Ukrainian Coordinating Center for Prisoners of War. So far, the Russian side has ignored multiple demands to release the captive women.

10:12 Kuleba: Putin fears the success of the Ukrainian peace summit

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has commented on recent reports of Putin's supposed openness to peace negotiations, stating that the Russian leader wants the upcoming Switzerland-hosted Ukraine peace summit to fail. Kuleba claims that Putin has no intention of ending the war initiated by Moscow. "Putin is determined to prevent the peace summit in Switzerland on June 15 and 16. He's afraid of its success," Kuleba stated on Facebook.

20:35 Building a "drone wall" to protect six NATO-member countries bordering Russia

Lithuania proposes establishing a "drone wall" spanning from Norway to Poland to safeguard the border regions of six NATO members adjacent to Russia. The goal of this project is to employ drones and other technologies to monitor the frontiers. Agne Bilotaite, the Lithuanian Interior Minister, informed the BNS news agency about the plan after consultations with colleagues from Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Norway, and Poland. Bilotaite explained that the initiative is aimed not only at preventing "provocations by unfriendly countries" but also at curbing smuggling. Besides drones for border surveillance, anti-drone systems would also be utilized. The Interior Minister did not provide a timeline for the project. The heightened concern over security stems from the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine.

19:35 Second military aid tranche from the US for Ukraine

The United States is providing Ukraine with additional military aid to help withstand the Russian aggression. A new package worth $275 million contains rocket launcher rounds for the Himars multiple launchers and artillery ammunition for calibers of 155 and 105 millimeters, according to the US State Department. This represents the fifth package approved by US President Joe Biden since the recent allocation of $61 billion in funding for Kiev in April. The aid provided thus far has already reached the front lines, according to reports. The new aid will be delivered "as quickly as possible" to enable the Ukrainian military to defend its nation and protect its people, according to the statement. Since the beginning of the Russian attack on Ukraine more than two years ago, the US has supplied over $50 billion in military aid to Kiev, according to the Pentagon.

18:40 Soviet-style: Kremlin compels teenagers to undertake basic military training

From the 2022-2023 school year, children and teenagers in Russia have been required to study an innocuous-sounding subject named "Fundamentals of Life Safety," which imparts military skills, such as firing weapons and dressing wounds.