“Ukraine – Russia”

A woman suspected of carrying out last week’s bomb attack in Monaco that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon has been found shot dead near Kyiv, in the latest twist in a case that has shaken the wealthy Mediterranean principality.

Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case, including an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer.

Goin out on a limb: This may raise suspicions if she’s blamed for Nord Stream!

A taxi driver says yes. Believe it or not, a taxi driver told my wife, when she was returning from her university graduation event last night, that he had been told by the police that Putin is meeting Zelensky in Ankara on July 9th, immediately following the NATO gathering here in the city on July 7th-8th.

It is, of course, an unsubstantiated rumour. But perhaps interesting. I have seen no sign of such a thing in the British press, so let’s break a story.

A new think tank report claimed that the total casualties in the Russia-Ukraine war have risen to over 2 million, including up to 600,000 deaths, but the confirmed total remains elusive.

The report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, released on Wednesday, gave the think tank’s latest input on the grinding war that has now lasted longer than World War I. The study authors claimed that Russian casualties have reached 1.4 million, including between 400,000 and 450,000 deaths, and that Ukraine suffered between 525,000 and 625,000 casualties, including between 125,000 and 150,000 deaths.

Ukraine has allowed eligible female prisoners to join the military. For many, frontline service offers a chance at redemption as the war demands new recruits.

We’re funding a war that many of Ukraine’s own citizens don’t want to fight.

The latest estimate is 2 million Ukraine draft evaders.

Monaco has long been a favoured home of celebrities, aristocrats and the ultra-rich, with its tax haven status, sun-soaked Mediterranean location and crime-free reputation.

Situated on the idyllic French Riviera, the glamorous principality is known for its superyachts, luxurious holiday homes and the iconic Monte Carlo Casino – beloved, most famously, of James Bond.

But the seeming safety and picture perfection of this sovereign city state was called into serious question this week after a suspected assassination attempt on a Ukrainian oligarch took place right in the centre of town.

Are we funding Ukraine’s Oligarchs?

A Ukrainian woman has been identified as the main suspect for a parcel bombing in Monaco that seriously wounded a sanctioned Ukrainian multi-millionaire and two others.

An Interpol Red Notice has been issued for Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, who speaks German and is wanted for attempted murder, placing an explosive device on a public road with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy.

Police are looking into identifying any possible accomplices as they continue to search for the named suspect.

Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Dublin on Wednesday with the same message as always: more sanctions against Russia, more financial support, and more speed in bringing Ukraine into the European Union.

The Ukrainian president used the start of Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the EU to demand that Brussels maintain the momentum behind accession and open new negotiating chapters before the end of the Irish presidency.

German prosecutors have filed charges against a Ukrainian national over the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea in 2022.

The suspect, named only as Serhii K under German privacy laws, is alleged to have led and co-ordinated the attack on the pipelines that transported natural gas from Russia to Germany, German media reports say.

They say he is the same person arrested in Italy last summer and extradited to Germany in November. He has denied involvement.

More …

Germany: Ukrainian national charged over Nord Stream blasts

German federal ‌prosecutors ⁠have filed ⁠charges ​against a ​Ukrainian ​national ‌over a series of Nord ‌Stream pipeline blasts in September 2022, ‌German ​media reported on Wednesday.

Public broadcaster ARD and newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung and Zeit named the accused as Serhii K. , who was detained in Italy on a German arrest warrant in August 2025 and extradited to Germany.

The 50-year-old Ukrainian soldier from Kyiv is accused of leading a team of seven accomplices in the operation which destroyed three of four key Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

A parcel bomb blast wounded a Ukrainian oligarch and two others in Monaco on Monday in an unprecedented act that has rocked the super-safe principality.

A couple and a teenager were wounded in the explosion at about 9pm on Monday in a residential building on a street along the border with France.

A source close to the investigation who asked not to be named told AFP that one of those wounded was the Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev.

More news from Ukraine!

Canada is supplying Ukraine with drone training, Ukraine is sharing that training with Mexican Cartels via the Ukrainian International Legion
Intelligence agencies, including Mexico’s National Intelligence Center and Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), have confirmed that…

— Julian Assange (@ImJulianAssange) June 30, 2026

h/t XC

The European Commission has proposed extending the temporary protection regime granted to displaced Ukrainians until March 2028, but with a politically explosive change: newly arriving Ukrainian men of military age who do not have authorization to leave their country would be excluded from that automatic protection.

For now, the restriction would not affect those already covered by the European system. But it would change the entry route for a very specific category of people: Ukrainian men with the legal or potential capacity to fight.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged devastating missile and drone strikes on each other’s capitals last week. Ukraine dazzled the world with its onslaught of jet-powered drones over Moscow, which destroyed the city’s main oil refinery, but Russia also demonstrated that despite Western sanctions and consistent drone strikes on key industrial facilities, it’s managing to produce a growing arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles with improved precision, targeting, and guidance systems — which could be shared with Iran.

Ukraine’s UN envoy, Andrii Melnyk, warned that Kyiv could reconsider its current ceasefire proposal if there was no meaningful international push to end the war, saying “our patience is not endless”.

Melnyk said Ukraine remained open to direct negotiations with Russia but cautioned that its offer of a ceasefire along the current front lines was already a significant concession. “If the security council would further choose a wait-and-see approach, I cannot exclude that Ukraine may recalibrate and modify its offer. Ceasefire along the de facto ‌front line is already a great compromise,” he said.