Rnews Crooked Bough News Round-up: Russia Times

Russia Times

— US mulls placing nukes in more NATO countries – FT: at 6/3/26 9:02pm
Countries neighboring Russia, including the Baltic states, have already shown interest The US is mulling the deployment of its nuclear weapons to more NATO states in Europe, the Financial Times has reported, citing sources familiar with the discussions. Russia has already said that any NATO nuclear moves toward its borders would not go unanswered. The potential move comes as Washington seeks to reassure allies unsettled by plans to reduce US troop numbers and critical weapons systems in Europe and redirect some resources to Asia and other regions, the FT said on Tuesday. The US is broadly scaling back its military presence in Europe, where more than 80,000 US troops were stationed in 2025 under a system of combined territorial defense and deterrence dating back to the end of World War II. Read more US to cut wartime troop commitments to NATO – Reuters Last month, the Pentagon canceled the planned rotation of 4,000 troops into Poland, shortly after announcing the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany. The FT paper described the talks as “highly confidential” and said they may not lead to any changes in existing nuclear-sharing arrangements. Currently six NATO countries host US nuclear weapons and dual-capable aircraft (DCA) certified to deliver them – Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Türkiye, and the UK. Several NATO members on the bloc’s eastern flank, including Poland and some Baltic states, have expressed interest in hosting US nuclear weapons and DCA, people familiar with the matter told the FT. Read more NATO’s nuclear moves will not go unanswered – Moscow European NATO members remain heavily dependent on the US for key capabilities, though they have drastically increased their military budgets in recent years on the pretext of a supposed Russian threat. Moscow has repeatedly voiced concern over NATO’s buildup in Europe, condemning the region’s militarization and the bloc’s intensified military activity near its western borders. Russia argues that Western governments are using “ostentatious Russophobia” to justify turning the EU into a military bloc and to divert attention away from domestic issues. The Kremlin has stated that it has no intention of attacking any NATO nation, but has warned that it would aim its nuclear arsenal at countries hosting weapons directed at Russia.
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— Hezbollah must withdraw from Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon – US: at 6/3/26 8:00pm
West Jerusalem and Beirut have agreed to implement a renewed ceasefire after US-mediated talks in Washington Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a renewed ceasefire that requires Hezbollah to stop firing and withdraw its operatives from southern Lebanon, according to a joint statement released after US-mediated talks at the State Department on Wednesday. The talks followed weeks of Israeli strikes and ground operations in Lebanon, as well as Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel. Washington has said previous ceasefire efforts were undermined by Hezbollah attacks carried out without the approval of the Lebanese government. “The ceasefire is contingent on a complete cessation of Hizbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hizbollah operatives from the South Litani Sector,” the joint statement read. “The two sides agreed with the guidance of the United States to swiftly advance the creation of pilot zones in which the Lebanese Armed Forces will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors.” Read more Hezbollah drones soar above medieval fortress captured by Israel (VIDEO) The latest arrangement is not a completely new ceasefire but an effort to implement and reinforce previous understandings, with the prospective pilot zones as the main new element. Lebanon previously demanded that Israel withdraw from its territory as part of any lasting arrangement, while Israel has insisted that Hezbollah must be removed from the border area before it ends its operations. Israel sent troops across the border after Hezbollah supported Iran in the face of the US-Israeli attack in February, and renewed its ground push in recent weeks, including the capture of Beaufort Castle, also known as Qalaat al-Chakif. © Murat Usubali / Anadolu via Getty Images The 900-year-old Crusader fortress, located on a strategic hilltop, was previously used by Israel as a base during its two-decade occupation of the region, which ended in 2000. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move a “dramatic shift” and said he had ordered the military “to expand its ground maneuver in Lebanon.” Read more Trump confirms calling Netanyahu ‘f***ing crazy’ The occupation and mounting civilian casualties have complicated US peace negotiations with Iran, as Tehran has demanded that the deal include an end to hostilities in Lebanon. Lebanese health authorities said on Wednesday that more than 3,500 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since early March. US President Donald Trump called Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” during a heated phone conversation after the Israeli leader threatened to bomb Beirut again, Axios reported.
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— WATCH drone strike on Kuwait airport caught on security footage: at 6/3/26 6:06pm
The clip disputes Iran’s previous claim that the damage was likely caused by a US air-defense missile that veered off course Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation has released a video it says shows the moment an alleged Iranian drone hit a terminal at Kuwait International Airport on June 3. The agency described the incident as a “brutal Iranian drone attack,” saying it caused loss of life, serious injuries, and extensive material damage. Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry previously said at least one person had been killed when a projectile struck Terminal 1 at the airport and other “vital facilities,” including diplomatic missions. Several other people were injured, the ministry added, without giving a number. اللحظات الأولى للاعتداء الإيراني الغاشم من قبل المسيرات الذي تعرض له مبنى الركاب T1 في مطار الكويت الدولي بتاريخ 3 يونيو 2026 وتسبب بخسائر بالأرواح وإصابات بشرية بليغة وأضرار مادية جسيمةThe first moments following the brutal Iranian drone attack on Terminal 1 (T1) at Kuwait… pic.twitter.com/eTzQoVXB4K— الطيران المدني (@Kuwait_DGCA) June 3, 2026 Tehran has denied deliberately targeting the passenger terminal. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed earlier that the damage was likely caused by a US Patriot missile launched to defend an American base in Kuwait from Iranian strikes. Read more US Patriot missile devastated Gulf state airport – IRGC “Our investigation and research into the Kuwaiti passenger terminal attack shows that the IRGC’s air force did not fire at this target,” an IRGC spokesman said. He claimed the destruction was caused by “an error in the American Patriot systems” after an interceptor failed to hit Iranian missiles and landed on the terminal. The incident followed an exchange of US and Iranian strikes. The IRGC said it had launched attacks on US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, including the US Fifth Fleet headquarters, after American strikes on Qeshm Island. The US Department of War claimed that Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait failed to hit their targets, saying two projectiles fell short or broke apart en route. Kuwait said its air defenses were responding to missile and drone attacks during the incident.
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— Trump confirms calling Netanyahu ‘f***ing crazy’: at 6/3/26 5:32pm
The US president says he confronted the Israeli prime minister over Israel’s attack on Lebanon US President Donald Trump has confirmed reports that he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” during a heated phone conversation over Israel’s military operations in Lebanon. Axios reported earlier this week that Trump had angrily urged Netanyahu to cancel planned strikes on Beirut, warning that further escalation could jeopardize ongoing US-Iran negotiations and a fragile regional ceasefire. Speaking on the New York Post’s ‘Pod Force One’ podcast on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged using the language attributed to him. ”I did,” he said when asked whether he had called Netanyahu “f***ing crazy.” “I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon. At some point I said, ‘We gotta stop this. We gotta stop it.’” Trump added that he still had a “very good relationship” with the Israeli leader. The US president also dismissed claims that Netanyahu had pushed him into the conflict with Iran, saying anyone making such accusations was “the enemy.” Read more ‘You’re f***ing crazy!’ Trump yelled at Netanyahu for derailing Iran talks – Axios Israel has intensified its campaign in Lebanon in recent days, carrying out strikes it says are aimed at Hezbollah commanders and infrastructure. Israeli troops have also advanced further into southern Lebanon, including the capture of Beaufort Castle, a medieval fortress overlooking the Litani River. Lebanese health authorities said on Wednesday that more than 3,500 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since early March. The escalation has drawn criticism from Tehran, which insists that the US-Iran ceasefire framework also covers Lebanon. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned on Tuesday that continued Israeli operations could derail diplomacy. ”If the Israeli aggression against Lebanon continues, we will not only halt the path of negotiations, but we will also be in direct confrontation with the enemy,” he wrote on X. The tensions come as the eight-week-old ceasefire between Iran and the US faces renewed strain. US Central Command said it carried out “self-defense strikes” on Iran’s Qeshm Island on Wednesday, while the IRGC said it targeted US-linked assets in the Gulf in retaliation for recent American attacks. Kuwait International Airport was reportedly struck during the exchange.
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— Germany fails to win UN Security Council seat for first time ever: at 6/3/26 5:19pm
Berlin’s defeat comes as calls grow to reform the world body in favor of the Global South Germany has failed to win a temporary seat on the UN Security Council for the first time, losing a General Assembly vote to Austria and Portugal. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called the outcome “a real disappointment,” after Berlin had won all six of its previous bids. Portugal won 134 votes and Austria 131 in the contest for two seats allocated to the Western Europe and Others group, while Berlin received only 104 votes in a secret ballot on Wednesday. Zimbabwe and Trinidad and Tobago were elected unopposed to seats reserved for Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, respectively. Kyrgyzstan secured the Asia-Pacific seat after defeating the Philippines, meaning the five incoming elected members will replace Pakistan, Somalia, Greece, Denmark, and Panama for a two-year term beginning on January 1, 2027. The vote was presided over by former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who is serving as president of the UN General Assembly. Austria Wins UN Security Council Seat for 2027–28, Defeating Germany. Watch how Austria celebrates #austria #unitednations #un #securitycouncil pic.twitter.com/qsr9im2YVq— Markus Iser (@maecx) June 3, 2026 Germany’s failed bid marked a break from its previous Security Council campaigns, which were traditionally preceded by years of coordination within the Western group. In earlier races for the 1977–1978, 1987–1988, 1995–1996, 2003–2004, 2011–2012, and 2019–2020 terms, Berlin either ran unopposed or entered as a clear favorite, and chose to stay on the sidelines when facing serious competitors. Berlin has also long sought a permanent seat on the Security Council, arguing that the body must be expanded to better reflect today’s political and economic realities, while also promoting itself as a major UN donor and supporter of multilateralism. Wadephul said last year that the council should include additional permanent and non-permanent seats, especially for underrepresented regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Read more Absence of Africa on UN Security Council ‘indefensible’ – Guterres Germany has framed its push for a permanent seat as part of a wider Global South demand for reform of a body still dominated by Western powers. African leaders have called for at least two permanent seats for the continent, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described Africa’s exclusion from permanent membership as “indefensible.” India has also pushed for permanent membership, citing its population, economy, democratic system, and UN peacekeeping record. New Delhi has said it is “eminently suited” for a permanent seat, while using its Voice of Global South initiative to cast itself as a representative of developing nations in debates over global governance. The Security Council has 15 members: five permanent veto-holders – Russia, China, the US, the UK, and France – and ten elected members, half of whom are replaced each year for staggered two-year terms.
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— Violent clashes erupt at protest over Henry Nowak’s murder (VIDEOS): at 6/3/26 3:52pm
Police treatment of the stabbing victim falsely accused of racism by his killer has sparked public outcry Hundreds of people have gathered in Southampton to protest the murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak and his treatment by the police in his final minutes. The protesters initially gathered outside the city center police station before moving closer to the home of his killer, Vickrum Singh Digwa. The rally on Tuesday followed the release of police bodycam footage showing officers handcuffing the stabbing victim while ignoring his pleas for help after his murderer falsely accused the student of carrying out a racist attack. The footage revived debate over claims of unequal police treatment of different ethnic groups, also known as “two-tier policing,” and sparked a nationwide outrage. The rally on Tuesday followed the release of police bodycam footage showing officers handcuffing the stabbing victim and failing to respond to his pleas for help after the suspect falsely accused him of carrying out a racist attack. The footage revived debate over claims of unequal police treatment of different ethnic groups – often described by critics as “two-tier policing” – and prompted widespread public anger. Protests in Southhampton continue with police now protecting the home of Vickrum Digwas family following the release of the horrific bodycam footage of Henry Nowak. pic.twitter.com/sHTGpXRvHZ— Pacific Wire (@ChynoNews) June 2, 2026 The rally participants chanted Nowak’s name and “I can’t breathe” – the words he was saying while being arrested. Activist Tommy Robinson joined the protest, telling the crowd that the case was “about race.” At some point, violence erupted. Videos that surfaced on social media showed the crowd pelting the riot police with various objects. Chairs, cans, flares, bricks, bins and an e-scooter were reportedly thrown at the officers, forcing them to retreat from some areas. ?? Ingleses partem para cima da polícia que protegeu um muçulmano assassino.As cenas da morte do estudante inglês Henry Nowak, esfaqueado por um muçulmano, enfureceram a população de Southhampton. pic.twitter.com/OJbY1KEucK— Rafael Fontana (@RafaelFontana) June 3, 2026 The police responded by pushing back, including by hitting the protesters with riot shields. Eleven police officers as well as a police dog were injured in the clashes, according to reports. Two people were arrested over the incidents, with the police saying that the number of arrests will increase as they were reviewing footage from the scene. Riot erupts in Southampton between police and protesters as Henry Nowak protest turns ugly. Full video on YT. #henrynowak #Southampton pic.twitter.com/ItfF9XNBIm— Urban Pictures (@Urban_Pictures) June 3, 2026 Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the violence at the protest by calling it “disgraceful and completely unacceptable.” He also criticized Reform UK leader Nigel Farage for what he called an “unforgivable” response to Nowak’s murder. Farage had earlier called on the British public to respond to the incident with “pure, cold rage” and called it a proof of the “two-tier culture.” READ MORE: Anger in the UK: Henry Nowak’s murder and the protests that followed (VIDEO, PHOTOS) Hampshire police chief, Alexis Boon, told the BBC that “we, as a society, cannot accept … the violent scenes” seen at the protests. He accused some of the protesters of seeking to cause “disorder and trouble” while denying allegations of two-tier policing.
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— US Patriot missile devastated Gulf state airport – IRGC: at 6/3/26 1:18pm
An Iranian strike on the American base in Kuwait triggered air defenses which hit the country’s international hub, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp has claimed The damage to Kuwait International Airport’s Terminal 1 was likely caused by a US Patriot missile launched to defend Washington’s regional military base from an Iranian attack, Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed. However, footage later released by Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation appears to dispute this claim. The incident took place during a US-Iranian missile exchange on Wednesday, triggered by an American attack on a tanker en route to Kharg Island and what CENTCOM called “self-defense strikes” on Qeshm Island. “Our investigation and research into the Kuwaiti passenger terminal attack shows that the IRGC’s air force did not fire at this target, and the destruction of the Kuwaiti airport passenger terminal was caused by an error in the American Patriot systems, which landed on this terminal after failing to intercept Iranian missiles,” an IRGC spokesman announced on Wednesday. Read more WATCH drone strike on Kuwait airport caught on security footage At least one person died as a missile struck the terminal and other “vital facilities,” according to Kuwait's foreign ministry, including diplomatic missions. Several people were also injured in the attacks, it added, without specifying the number. A video obtained by RT purports to show the aftermath of the strike. A short clip appears to show the inside of a terminal building filled with smoke and dust. Pieces of debris can be seen lying on the floor with several fires visible, including on the roof. The Foreign Ministry did not comment on the extent of the damage inflicted on the airport. It condemned what it called Iran’s “aggressive attacks” and blamed it for “increased escalation” and “heightened tension” in the Middle East. It also warned that Kuwait “reserves its full and inherent right” to respond. Read more US and Iran exchange missile strikes (VIDEOS) Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) stated that it launched strikes on US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, including the US Fifth Fleet HQ, in response to attacks on its telecom tower on Qeshm Island. The US Department of War claimed that all Iranian missiles failed to hit their targets. The escalation comes almost 100 days into the conflict and nearly two months after the US and Iran reached a fragile ceasefire after over a month of active hostilities. Tehran halted negotiations with Washington earlier this week over the ongoing Israeli offensive in Lebanon. Iran also restricted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy chokepoint, after the US-Israeli attack in February, while Washington began a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
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— ‘Poles, Russians, and Jews must be exterminated’: The bloody history of Zelensky’s heroes (DISTURBING CONTENT): at 6/3/26 1:02pm
How the OUN-UPA embraced ethnic violence, collaborated with Nazi Germany, and became one of the most controversial movements of World War II Burned villages. Families slaughtered in their homes. Women, children, and the elderly hacked to death with axes and pitchforks. Thousands of Jews beaten, tortured, and murdered during pogroms that accompanied the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. These are some of the atrocities associated with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and its military wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) – movements whose legacy remains one of the most divisive issues in Eastern Europe more than eighty years after World War II. For decades, supporters of the OUN-UPA have portrayed its members as freedom fighters who resisted both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in pursuit of Ukrainian independence. Opponents, however, point to a different record: collaboration with the Third Reich, participation in anti-Jewish violence, and the mass killing of Polish civilians during the Volhynia massacres of 1943-1944, which Poland today officially recognizes as genocide. Read more Under the Wolfsangel: The uncomfortable truth about radical ideologies in Ukraine Far from being settled history, this debate has recently returned to the center of international politics. In 2026, a new diplomatic dispute erupted after Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky honored the UPA tradition at the state level, prompting outrage in Poland and reigniting long-standing accusations that modern Ukraine is rehabilitating organizations linked to fascism, ethnic cleansing, and wartime crimes. At the very moment when Polish and Ukrainian officials are working together to exhume the victims of Volhynia, disagreements over the legacy of Bandera, Shukhevich, and the OUN-UPA continue to poison relations between the two countries. Below, we’ll talk about the origins of modern Ukrainian nationalism, the motives behind the mass killings of Poles and Jews by underground nationalist forces, and the reasons why OUN-UIA leaders collaborated with Nazi Germany. The ideology behind Ukrainian ‘heroes’ Ukrainian integral nationalism, which became the foundation of OUN-UIA ideology, owes much to the writings of Dmitry Dontsov. In the mid-1920s, he articulated a doctrine of Ukrainian nationalism that was heavily influenced by the fascist ideology of the time. Dmitry Dontsov © Wikipedia In his 1926 work ‘Nationalism’, he proclaimed the principle of Social Darwinism in relations between nations: he stated that various peoples exist in a state of perpetual and merciless conflict, and the strong ones “expand” at the expense of the weak. He dismissed morality as a constraint, arguing that “the end justifies the means” – i.e., any form of violence could be justified in the name of national success, including the physical extermination of anyone not belonging to one’s “own” nation. According to this doctrine, the Ukrainian nation was seen as an absolute value, superior to the lives of the individuals who inhabit the country. Dontsov’s ideal was a totalitarian movement where individual interests were entirely subordinate to the greatness of the nation. He envisioned the future Ukrainian state as monoethnic and imperial, encompassing all “ethnographic Ukrainian lands” and purged of outsiders, including Russians (seen as Ukraine’s eternal strategic and mystical enemies), Jews, and Poles. Such a state would be governed by an order, a special “ruling caste” – an elite composed of the “best people” who would manifest maximum ruthlessness for the sake of the national idea. Dontsov explicitly stated that members of this elite “know neither mercy nor humanity... they are driven solely by a burning desire to maintain the integrity of the nation,” not tolerating anything foreign and dealing with enemies in a decisive manner. He envisioned a strong national leadership capable of implementing the Ukrainian liberation policy in order to address urgent challenges. From this perspective, Dontsov believed that the leaders of fascist, totalitarian, and anti-communist states – most notably Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler – could serve as role models for Ukrainians. Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler © Getty Images Dontsov extolled fanaticism and amorality, asserting that the driving forces of nationalism should be will, strength, expansion, and violence, along with racism, fanaticism, mercilessness, and hatred. It’s no surprise that such an ideology inherently permitted and justified political terror. Dontsov established close ties with the Ukrainian Military Organization and urged his comrades to abandon discussions with opponents and resort to radical actions for the sake of the nation. “You will attain a Ukrainian state or perish in the struggle for it,” proclaims the precept from Dontsov’s ‘Decalogue of the Ukrainian Nationalist’. In this manifesto, a “true patriot” is instructed to avenge fallen comrades and harbor hatred for the enemies of his nation. In essence, Dontsov proclaimed violence a virtue. By the early 1920s, many of his followers, including members of the Ukrainian Military Organization, resorted to individual acts of terror against those they deemed agents of “anti-Ukrainian policies.” The rise of the OUN The Ukrainian Military Organization was a clandestine military group founded in 1920 by Colonel Evgeny Konovalets who spent over 10 years in exile and hoped to one day return and seize power in Ukraine. The organization’s mission was to fight against Polish and Soviet authorities for Ukraine’s independence, employing tactics of terror and inciting a “revolutionary explosion among the Ukrainian people.” Evgeny Konovalets © Wikipedia In 1921, Stepan Fedak attempted to assassinate Polish Prime Minister Jozef Pilsudski by shooting the “dictator” of the Polish Republic. The operation failed (Pilsudski emerged unscathed) but it underscored the radicals’ willingness to take extreme measures. Over the following years, Ukrainian nationalists continued their underground activities, including political assassinations and sabotage. In 1926, in Lviv, 19-year-old Roman Shukhevich, who would later lead the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, shot and killed Polish school supervisor Jan Sobinski. He was accused of persecuting Ukrainian students, and thus the nationalists believed he deserved death. Each year the number of victims of such violence grew by the dozens. Read more They tortured, murdered, committed ethnic cleansing. Meet Ukraine’s ‘national heroes’ That same year, the organization found its ideological “compass” in Dontsov’s published work titled ‘Nationalism’. This solidified its stance as an ultra-nationalist and fascist organization. The organization founded by Konovalets was the largest and most radical of its time, but it wasn’t the only one. In 1929, the First Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists took place in Vienna, where various factions – including the Ukrainian Military Organization – came together to form a new entity: the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Led by Konovalets, the movement’s ideology was rooted in the principles set forth by Dontsov, elevating the cult of strength, blood, and national superiority to an absolute value. During the 1930s, the OUN engaged in underground activities, particularly in Galicia. It was also during this period that Stepan Bandera emerged as a prominent figure among the nationalists. Young, ruthless, and determined, he quickly established himself as one of the recognized leaders of the OUN, gaining notoriety through violent acts against high-ranking Soviet and Polish officials. In 1933, Bandera organized the high-profile assassination of Soviet diplomat Andrey Mailov, who worked at the Soviet consulate in Lviv. The assassin, Nikolay Lemik, shot the diplomat inside the consulate building. However, the OUN considered its real “triumph” the assassination of Polish Interior Minister Bronislaw Pieracki in June 1934. Pieracki was the mastermind behind a campaign known as “pacification” which aimed to suppress the Ukrainian nationalist movement in Galicia. Bandera personally selected Grigory Matseiko to carry out the assassination. Matseiko fatally wounded Pieracki right on the street in Warsaw. Stepan Bandera © Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Getty Images A Polish court sentenced Stepan Bandera to death for organizing the murder, but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. During his trial, Bandera showed no remorse, and stated: “We know how to value our lives and those of others, but our idea is worth making millions of sacrifices for.” Bandera’s imprisonment did not last long – he was released in 1939 after Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and quickly rejoined the nationalist movement. By the late 1930s, after Konovalets was assassinated by Soviet intelligence agent Pavel Sudoplatov, the OUN splintered into factions of “moderates” and “radicals.” This division became apparent by 1940, as the organization split into the Melnik faction (led by Andrey Melnik) and the Bandera faction (led by Stepan Bandera). Despite their differences, both factions remained committed to the ideas of integral nationalism and sought allies to combat their common enemies in Ukraine. Soon, they found such an ally in Nazi Germany. Andrey Melnik © Wikipedia Terror against Jews Ukrainian nationalists placed their main hope in Adolf Hitler, with whom Konovalets met several times in the 1930s. They believed that with the support of the Nazis, they could finally build an independent state. As Dmitry Dontsov wrote at the time, “For us, the most important aspect of Hitlerism is its commitment to a decisive struggle against Marxism.” The connections between the nationalists and the Nazis were so significant that in 1939, just a few weeks before WWII broke out, Andrey Melnik personally met with Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the chief of the Abwehr. As a result of these negotiations, the OUN received specific directives from the German command on gathering intelligence about the USSR and conducting subversive activities in Poland. However, the collaboration with the Nazis did not distract the Ukrainian nationalists from what they considered more pressing tasks: eliminating ethnically foreign elements. In a May 1941 directive, the OUN explicitly stated that Russians, Poles, and Jews were enemies of the Ukrainian nation and must be annihilated. In the early days of Nazi Germany’s war with the USSR in June 1941, nationalists called on people to take up arms and “destroy the enemy,” declaring: “Muscovites, Hungarians, Jews – these are your enemies. Eliminate them!” And words soon turned to actions. After German forces captured Lviv on June 30, 1941, Ukrainian nationalists unleashed a brutal pogrom against the city’s Jewish population. OUN militants, operating as part of the so-called Ukrainian People’s Militia and the Nachtigall Battalion, organized raids on Jewish residents. People were publicly beaten, tortured, and many were murdered right in the streets or executed after being tortured. Over the course of a few days, thousands of Jews were brutally killed. Similar atrocities occurred throughout the region; the occupying authorities encouraged anti-Semitic violence, which local nationalists eagerly participated in. Ukrainians abuse a Jew, probably during the pogrom in July 1941. © Wikipedia The OUN viewed Jews as “supporters of the Moscow-Bolshevik regime” and welcomed their extermination. Many members of the OUN later served in auxiliary police forces for the Nazis, actively participating in the Holocaust by herding Jewish people into ghettos and camps, escorting death marches to Babi Yar in Kiev, and personally executing prisoners. Although later the UIA declared a fight against Germany, by early 1943 almost all Jews in Volynia and Galicia had been killed, with the active help of Ukrainian nationalists. Few managed to escape, and only a handful of people survived the war within the ranks of the UIA – these were mostly doctors or specialists who were tolerated for practical reasons. Hunting for Poles However, the primary targets of the ethnic cleansing efforts of the OUN-UIA were the Poles of Galicia and Volynia, whom the nationalists regarded as historical enemies and “occupiers” of Ukrainian lands that needed to be expelled or eliminated. Plans for these atrocities were devised long before the Volynian massacre: as early as 1938, the OUN’s internal doctrine outlined a project for an uprising aimed at “sweeping away every last Polish element” from Western Ukrainian territory. This document cynically stated that “Polish colonists are the hostile force against which the struggle must be ruthless, brutal, and zoological... Those Poles who resist will be destroyed in this fight, while the others must be forced to flee beyond the Vistula [river].” The OUN demanded that no Poles remain on Ukrainian territory, seeking complete “national purity.” Moreover, the doctrine explicitly stated that “no methods should be considered too harsh... Poles, Russians, and Jews must be exterminated.” These sinister plans began to be implemented in the spring of 1943 when the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (the military wing of the OUN) carried out the massive slaughter of the Polish population in Volynia. The Volynian massacre of 1943 became one of the bloodiest crimes of WWII in Eastern Europe. UIA units and armed nationalist peasants attacked hundreds of Polish villages with the intent of physically annihilating all Poles living on “Ukrainian” land. Terror reached its peak in July 1943 during ‘Bloody Sunday’ on July 11, when dozens of settlements were simultaneously attacked by militants. Polish victims of a March 26, 1943 massacre committed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) assisted by locals in the village of Lipniki, in occupied Ukraine. © Wikipedia The methods of execution were unbelievably cruel. People were killed indiscriminately: women, the elderly, children, and infants; many were not just shot but hacked with axes, stabbed with pitchforks, or bludgeoned to death. The homes of Poles were burned to the ground, their property looted; entire villages vanished in flames and were reduced to charred ruins. Historians estimate that 60,000-100,000 Poles were barbarically killed by the OUN-UIA in Volynia and the surrounding areas. Polish partisan groups later responded with retaliatory terror against Ukrainian villages; however, the initiative for the large-scale extermination of civilians belonged squarely to the Ukrainian nationalists. The modern Polish Sejm and historians classify the Volynian massacre as an act of genocide. Numerous accounts indicate that the slaughter was premeditated by the leadership of the OUN, which sought to realize Dontsov’s vision of a “monoethnic” state at any cost. As a result of the actions of the OUN and UIA, Poles in Volynia and Eastern Galicia were virtually annihilated. Waves of refugees fled their homes to escape the violence. The ethnic landscape of the region was radically reshaped through mass terror tactics. Repression was not limited to Poles and Jews: UIA militants also targeted Ukrainians who refused to support them or were suspected of “disloyalty,” labeling them as traitors. A mass grave containing victims of the UPA, discovered in the Village of Ostrovetskaya. © Wikipedia Nazi collaborators The activities of Ukrainian nationalists extended beyond the extermination of Jews and Poles. Under the command of Roman Shukhevich, the head of the OUN military branch, two diversionary Abwehr battalions were formed – the Nachtigall Battalion and the Roland Battalion. These Ukrainian units became part of the Wehrmacht and, in June 1941, crossed the Soviet border dressed in German uniforms and under German command, invading the territory of the Ukrainian SSR alongside the Nazis. Subsequently, the Germans formed the Schutzmannschaft Battalion 201 from the Nachtigall and Roland battalions. It was dispatched to Belarus to combat partisans. This battalion was also commanded by Roman Shukhevich, who would later become the supreme commander of the UIA. In 1942, the soldiers under his command participated in punitive expeditions aimed at “pacifying” Belarusian villages suspected of aiding partisans (in other words, burning down entire settlements along with their inhabitants). Throughout this period, the OUN hoped to reap political benefits from its alliance with the Nazis. On June 30, 1941, immediately after capturing Lviv, Bandera’s followers, led by Yaroslav Stetsko, proclaimed the establishment of the Ukrainian State and formed a pro-German “government.” In its declaration of statehood, the OUN openly expressed the intention to collaborate with Nazi Germany, which “under the leadership of its Führer Adolf Hitler is creating a new order in Europe and assisting the Ukrainian people in liberating themselves from Moscow’s occupation.” Roman Shukhevych and Yaroslav Stetsko © Wikipedia However, these expectations were soon dashed. Adolf Hitler had no intention of granting independence to Ukrainians or creating the proposed ethnocratic Ukrainian state stretching from the Carpathians to the Volga. By July 1941, the German authorities had arrested Stepan Bandera, Yaroslav Stetsko, and several other OUN leaders for overstepping their authority. Despite this, at the grassroots level, the OUN continued to serve the Third Reich. Hundreds of Ukrainian nationalists worked for the Nazi authorities, police forces, and auxiliary SS units. The Ukrainian police, which included OUN members, participated in guarding ghettos and conducting mass executions of Jews, as well as carrying out punitive operations against partisans and the civilian population. Read more ‘They used axes to spare the ammo’: How modern Ukraine’s Nazi heroes massacred civilians during WWII In fact, until the end of 1942, the OUN acted as an ally of the Nazis in their fight against the USSR and “racially alien” peoples. Only when the tide of war turned against Germany did the Ukrainian nationalists try to position themselves as a “third force” fighting both the Nazis and the Bolsheviks. Even after this shift, however, the UIA continued to unofficially collaborate with the German command – documents show instances of local ceasefires and agreements between the insurgents and the Wehrmacht during 1943-1944. Apparently, the common enemy – Soviet power – brought them closer together than any ideological differences. *** None of this helped save the Bandera and Melnik movements, however. After defeating Nazi Germany, the USSR turned its attention to the Ukrainian nationalists, effectively blockading western Ukrainian regions. State security agents cleared area after area. By 1950, most of the rebel leaders had been either killed or captured (Roman Shukhevich was killed in 1950, and Vasily Kuk, the last leader of the Ukrainian nationalist underground, was arrested in 1954). All centers of resistance had been suppressed by 1956. The few OUN figures who survived ended up in exile in the West. Stepan Bandera settled in Munich under the protection of Western intelligence services after the war; however, he was assassinated in 1959 by Soviet agent Bogdan Stashinsky using cyanide gas. Other prominent OUN members – Yaroslav Stetsko, Nikolai Lebed, and Stepan Lenkavsky – settled in Europe and North America, continuing their ideological work by publishing journals and books and lobbying for the “Ukrainian cause” during the Cold War between the USSR and the USA. Within the émigré community, the OUN and UIA gradually became symbols of anti-Soviet resistance, while their dark past was hushed up.
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— Anger in the UK: Henry Nowak’s murder and the protests that followed (VIDEO, PHOTOS): at 6/3/26 1:02pm
The fatal stabbing of the 18-year-old student has sparked outrage over race, policing, and knife crime in Britain The murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak has sparked national outrage in the UK after police bodycam footage submitted to court showed officers arresting and handcuffing him as he lay dying, while his killer remained uncuffed after falsely claiming to be the victim of a racist attack. The case has triggered protests, renewed accusations of two-tier policing, and an investigation into how British authorities handled the incident. Who was Henry Nowak? Nowak was an 18-year-old University of Southampton student from Chafford Hundred, east of London in Essex. He was walking back to his student accommodation on December 3, 2025, when he was attacked in Belmont Road. Protestor holds photo of Henry Nowak outside Portswood Police station in Southampton, England. © Getty Images / Finnbarr Webster Who killed Henry Nowak? Vickrum Singh Digwa is a 23-year-old Sikh from Southampton who had no previous convictions before the murder. He lived with his family on St. Denys Road in Southampton and had been helping his brother with Deliveroo deliveries on the night of the attack. Prosecutors, however, have described him as a man with a “weapons obsession.” A British court heard that he had trained with weapons since the age of 12, slept in a bedroom surrounded by weapons, and had frequently searched for weapons on his phone. © Police handout Police reportedly also found a cache of more than 20 weapons at Digwa’s family home, including flick knives, knuckledusters, swords, a machete, an extendable baton, an axe, and an air rifle. The murder On December 3, 2025, while en route to his accommodation in Southampton, Nowak encountered Digwa in Belmont Road. Shortly before the attack, Nowak recorded Digwa openly wearing a large blade hitched on his belt. In the video, Nowak can be heard saying: “You’re a bad man, say you’re a bad man,” to which Digwa replies: “I am a bad man.” The video cut off after that. Digwa then stabbed Nowak five times, including wounds to the backs of his legs and a fatal wound to the heart. Police later found Nowak’s phone hidden in Digwa’s pocket. The police response Police were called to the scene by Digwa’s brother Gurpreet, who told officers that they had “just been attacked racially by some white person.” This was a lie. When officers arrived, Digwa told police that Nowak had racially abused him, punched him, grabbed his hair, and torn off his turban. Police believed Digwa’s account and treated Nowak as the suspect. Bodycam footage showed officers handcuffing Nowak, who was lying on the ground and repeatedly telling them he had been stabbed and could not breathe. One officer responded: “Don’t think you have, mate.” Nowak was dragged across gravel, placed under arrest for assault, and left in handcuffs as he lost consciousness and drowned in his own blood. Digwa, who still had the murder weapon on him, was not handcuffed. The trial Digwa was arrested after officers eventually realized Nowak had been stabbed, and was later charged with murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place. He denied murder and claimed he had acted in self-defense. His defense argued that Digwa was attacked first and feared that Nowak could use his blade against him. Digwa also claimed he had not realized he had inflicted the fatal chest wound.Prosecutors rejected that account, describing the racism allegation as a “wicked lie” and claiming that Digwa attacked Nowak without provocation, filmed him while he was wounded, and did not immediately call police or an ambulance. The court also heard that Nowak’s phone, found hidden in Digwa’s pocket, contained no evidence of racial abuse. Has Digwa been sentenced for the murder of Nowak? The jury convicted Digwa on May 28 and on Monday, he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years. Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, was also found guilty of assisting an offender after hiding the murder weapon and will be sentenced on July 17. Less than a day after Digwa was sentenced, he appeared again at Southampton Magistrates’ Court alongside his father Moga Singh, 52, and brother Gurpreet, 27, on separate weapons charges linked to the cache found at the family home. The religious weapon argument Digwa attempted to justify carrying a blade by citing his Sikh faith. Practising Sikhs are legally allowed to carry a small ceremonial knife known as a kirpan. ?? This is the knife that Vickrum Digwa used to kill Henry NowakHe said he carried it as part of his Sikh faithSikhs in the UK are allowed to carry knives called Kirpans, but for regular Brits, if they carry a knife the same size, they face a prison sentenceBaptized Sikhs… https://t.co/a80RqLpo6T pic.twitter.com/WJ7956fy51— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 2, 2026 The court heard, however, that Digwa was carrying both a small traditional kirpan concealed under his clothing and a much larger 21 cm knife worn openly on his belt, with which he stabbed Nowak five times. Judge William Mousley KC rejected Digwa’s attempt to link the killing weapon to Sikh religious practice, telling him that he had brought shame upon his family, his community and his religion. Response The case has prompted outrage and condemnation across Britain, with much of the anger focused not only on the killing itself but on the way police treated Nowak after accepting Digwa’s false racism allegation. Nowak’s father, Mark, said his son “did not die with dignity” and described the police treatment as “inhumane and degrading.” Protestor outside Southampton Central Police Station holds a placard during a rally demanding "Justice for Henry Nowak". © Getty Images / Lab Ky Mo; SOPA Images; LightRocket “Henry told officers that he could not breathe nine times. He told them that he had been stabbed four times,” he said. He contrasted this with Digwa’s treatment, saying the killer was believed, initially left uncuffed, and later taken inside the family home, where police “even took him to the kitchen so he could choose his food.” How have UK politicians reacted to Nowak’s death? Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called on the British public to respond with “pure, cold rage.” In a statement on Tuesday, Farage described the case as “proof, if ever there was any, that we’re living in a two-tier culture in this country where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities.” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the footage “awful,” said there had been “multiple failures,” and urged the government to treat the case as seriously as it had treated the killing of George Floyd in the US. The fear of being called racist was greater than dealing with Henry Nowak’s murder. We should respond to this with pure cold rage. Britain’s historic way of life is being thrown away. pic.twitter.com/4N6vL76q1F— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 2, 2026 UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the bodycam footage was “really harrowing” and that there were “serious questions for police,” including how accusations of racism shaped their decision-making. However, he rejected claims that Britain has a problem with “two-tier policing.” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood also warned MPs against politicizing the case, insisting it was about murder, not about Sikhism or race. Public outrage and protests Public anger escalated after Digwa’s sentencing and the release of the police bodycam footage. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Southampton, outside the city’s police station and later near the Digwa family home chanting Nowak’s name and “I can’t breathe.” Riot erupts in Southampton between police and protesters as Henry Nowak protest turns ugly. Full video on YT. #henrynowak #Southampton pic.twitter.com/ItfF9XNBIm— Urban Pictures (@Urban_Pictures) June 3, 2026 Activist Tommy Robinson addressed the crowd outside the police station, telling demonstrators the case was “about race.” Violence erupted. Chairs, cans, flares, bricks, bins and an e-scooter were reportedly thrown at riot police, forcing officers to retreat in some areas. Eleven officers and a police dog were injured, according to reports. Two people have been arrested so far while police said they are reviewing footage and could make additional arrests. Read more UK released killer because ‘detaining him was racist’ – inquiry A history of differential treatment The Nowak case has renewed the broader debate over “two-tier policing” and whether the British authorities hesitate to act against minority suspects, even in cases of serious violence, while responding harshly to public anger over immigration and crime. Some examples include the 2023 Nottingham murders, when a paranoid schizophrenic migrant killed three people after mental health workers released him out of fear of being perceived as racist, and the 2024 Southport murders, where police appeared to grant leniency and refused to disclose the identity of a Rwandan teenager who killed three young girls and injured ten others at a dance class. The protests that erupted in response have been met with rapid arrests and prison sentences while the British government has faced accusations of cracking down on free speech and arresting citizens for any form of criticism of immigration, crime, and policing failures. Read more Musk accuses UK of drive to ‘suppress free speech’ The latest incident has also tied into the UK’s long-running knife-crime crisis, with critics arguing that police and politicians prioritize policing speech, protests, and “hate incidents” while failing to get dangerous blades and violent offenders off the streets. How is the British establishment reacting to public anger over Nowak’s death? In parliament, Starmer commended Nowak’s family for showing “extraordinary dignity” after his life was “stolen in appalling circumstances.” He said there were “serious questions to answer,” but condemned the Southampton clashes as “disgraceful and completely unacceptable.” “This is a time for serious work, not rage,” the prime minister said. Policing minister Sarah Jones has also appealed for calm. The National Police Chiefs’ Council is reviewing its anti-racism commitments after MPs raised concerns that the guidance could encourage officers to treat people differently based on ethnicity. Read more UK nurseries told to report ‘racist’ toddlers to police What happens next? The Independent Office for Police Conduct is reviewing bodycam footage and trial material and is expected to report within three months. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary has apologized for how Nowak was treated. One of the four officers involved has resigned, while the other three continue to serve and are being treated as witnesses. The Attorney General’s Office is also considering requests to review Digwa’s sentence under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
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— Russian SMEs growing on stronger supply-chains to giants: at 6/3/26 12:56pm
Large companies are increasingly sourcing components from smaller home-grown suppliers, a SPIEF panel has heard Large Russian companies are increasingly turning to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for software, technology products, and industrial components – a trend officials and business leaders say could help raise the sector’s relatively modest share of the national economy. The strengthening of the SME sector’s role was discussed on Wednesday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2026 (SPIEF), where government officials, entrepreneurs, and business associations examined ways to accelerate growth amid high borrowing costs and tax changes. Maria Glukhova, executive vice president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), said demand from corporate giants is creating new opportunities for smaller firms. “Software procurement from SMEs has increased for a third of the surveyed companies,” Glukhova said, citing an RSPP survey of large Russian businesses. Read more St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2026: Is the West returning? According to the survey, around a quarter of respondents reported increasing purchases of technological solutions from SMEs, while a similar share said they were buying more components and equipment from smaller suppliers. Glukhova attributed the trend to the greater flexibility of smaller companies. “Large companies are not always as agile as small and medium-sized businesses,” she said, noting that SMEs are often better able to adapt products and services to customer needs. Officials view stronger ties between large corporations and smaller suppliers as an important mechanism for expanding the SME sector’s economic footprint. Russia has around seven million SMEs and individual entrepreneurs employing roughly 19 million people, or nearly one-third of the workforce, Deputy Economic Development Minister Tatyana Ilyushnikova told the panel. Despite their significant role in employment, SMEs account for only about a fifth of Russia’s GDP, according to Economic Development Ministry estimates. By comparison, small and medium-sized businesses generate roughly 43.5% of US GDP. Read more Indian pharma major to build new Moscow plant At the same time, Glukhova warned that many SMEs remain cautious about expanding operations despite growing demand from large customers. Smaller businesses are more sensitive than larger firms to rising prices, higher taxes, and financing costs, she said. Participants at the forum argued that increasing procurement from SMEs, particularly in high-tech sectors, could help narrow the gap between the sector’s share of employment and its contribution to economic output. This year’s SPIEF, being held from June 3 to June 6, is focused on economic growth, industrial development, technological sovereignty, and international cooperation, including with BRICS and Global South countries.
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— Indian pharma major to build new Moscow plant: at 6/3/26 11:44am
A Moscow cluster will participate in the industrial development of drugs in collaboration with an Indian company’s unit Indian pharma major Hetero Labs has agreed with the city of Moscow to build a new plant and expand pharmaceutical collaboration in a special economic zone in the Russian capital. A memorandum of cooperation was signed by Anatoly Garbuzov, Minister of the Moscow Government, and Murali Krishna Reddy, Director of Emerging Markets at Hetero Labs Limited, on the sidelines of the ongoing St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2026). “We believe that such a synergy between the city and foreign partners will help create the most promising, the most high-tech pharmaceutical drugs,” Garbuzov told RT. He added that Moscow is one of the largest centers of pharmaceuticals and medical instrumentation in the country and more than 300 industry enterprises operate in the capital. ???? A Dose Of Investment! One Of Indias Largest Pharma Firms Signs Deal For Moscow Production At SPIEF, Moscow authorities signed a memorandum of intent with Hetero Labs on the implementation of a new industrial investment project.Under the agreement, the company will… pic.twitter.com/ax5bMakhe2— RT_India (@RT_India_news) June 3, 2026 Garbuzov, who is also the head of investment and industrial policy in Moscow, said the pharma industry in Russia’s capital is looking for international expertise. “India is really the world leader in the production of various pharmaceuticals.” Sanjay Nayak, CEO of Makiz Pharma, a wholly owned unit of Hetero Labs, said his firm would set up a factory for producing oncological and other products. The Moscow government has provided the land for the facility and offered incentives like tax rebates and assured buy-back of some pharma products, he said. Hetero Labs produces active pharmaceutical substances and ready-made dosage forms for the treatment of HIV, hepatitis, cancer, and tuberculosis. Makiz already has a manufacturing facility in Moscow. Read more India and Russia turn 2025 upheaval into a new power script India plans to increase pharma exports to Russia, the Netherlands, and Brazil as New Delhi aims to expand its presence beyond the US, its largest market, due to tariff-related concerns, Reuters reported last September. The Technopolis Moscow SEZ has 14 companies, 10 of which have already started production of drugs for the treatment of oncological, autoimmune, cardiological and other diseases. Garbuzov also said the city is open to investment from the Indian electric car industry, and that a delegation of 18 Russian companies had visited India to explore market opportunities.
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— Has Hungary opened the EU door for Kiev?: at 6/3/26 11:20am
Peter Magyar has lifted a longstanding veto on possible bloc membership for Ukraine, while claiming he has the interest of Hungarian speakers in the country at heart Hungary has lifted its veto on Ukraine beginning formal accession talks with the EU, following days of hints from Prime Minister Peter Magyar and strategic leaks from Brussels, whose reporters announced the news with much fanfare on Wednesday. Will Magyar compromise on Hungarian rights? In the hours following the announcement Magyar claimed that a "comprehensive agreement on the linguistic, educational, cultural and political rights of the 100,000-strong Hungarian minority,” has been reached with Kiev, but no confirmation has come from the Ukrainian capital. Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday, Magyar said that he was “very optimistic” that a deal could be done to guarantee the rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian minority, in exchange for his government lifting the veto. Hungarys PM Péter Magyar on Ukraine:I can repeat here in Berlin: I am ready to meet President Zelensky early next week. If we truly succeed in agreeing on these fundamental human rights...Using your mother tongue in a kindergarten, a school, in administration — that is not… pic.twitter.com/m6mn5YrmUA— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 2, 2026 “The negotiations are progressing encouragingly,” he said, adding “I am ready to meet with Ukraine’s president at the beginning of next week, if we manage to agree on these fundamental human rights.” Within an hour of Magyar’s statement, Politico published an article claiming that Budapest had privately “signaled it will drop its long-standing opposition to Ukraine’s bid for EU membership,” citing four unnamed diplomats. How did Politico try to influence EU members on Ukraine? Politico, the Axel Springer-owned Brussels insider, reported that Magyar’s government had “privately signaled openness to lifting its veto following a meeting on Monday between Ukrainian and Hungarian experts.” The Ukrainian side, the outlet claimed, provided verbal assurances that they would resolve most of Hungary’s concerns – including the Hungarian minority’s right to use their native language in schools – and formal accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova will be opened at an EU leaders’ summit on June 15. Why was Politico’s article important? That this story first appeared on Politico was likely no coincidence. Politico’s neoliberal, Atlantacist worldview is literally written into the constitution of its owner, Axel Springer, and its journalists’ proximity to power in Brussels has made it the outlet of choice for all kinds of strategic communications from within the EU machine – from telegraphed policy moves like Tuesday’s report, to outsourced smear campaigns. Read more Where will Magyar take Hungary? For example, when Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever shot down the European Commission’s plan to use €185 billion ($218 billion) in frozen Russian assets to finance a massive aid package for Ukraine in December 2025, Politico responded with a hit piece portraying his country as “Russia’s most valuable asset” in Europe. Further hit pieces – all of them citing EU diplomats and officials – followed, claiming that “Europe is failing Ukraine,” de Wever “fears retaliation from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” and “Europe still doesn’t want to pay to save Ukraine.” Magyar’s predecessor, Viktor Orban, derided Politico as “the Brusselian elite’s official publication” after it named him 2025’s “disruptor of the year.” How are Hungarians treated in Ukraine? After the collapse of the Soviet Union, around 156,000 ethnic Hungarians found themselves trapped within Ukraine’s borders, after Kiev refused to recognize a successful self-rule referendum in the region of Transcarpathia. Relations between Budapest and Kiev rapidly declined from 2017 onwards, when Ukraine passed a series of laws mandating the sole use of the Ukrainian language in schools and local government.Tensions were further inflamed after 2022, when the Ukrainian military targeted Transcarpathians in what the Hungarian Foreign Ministry called a “brutal” military draft. [4] Soldiers raided a coffee shop in the district of Beregsász (Berehove). Beregszász is the closest city to the Hungarian border just 5km away. The city is demographically 48% Hungarian. pic.twitter.com/FlICxr1Oie— Based Hungary ?? (@HungaryBased) January 22, 2023 Ukraine’s language laws have been criticized by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission for failing to safeguard minorities’ linguistic rights, and condemned by human rights organizations. Why lift the veto now? Orban maintained that Ukraine joining the EU would drag the bloc into open war with Russia, undercut Hungary’s agricultural sector, and effectively give a free pass to the corruption and criminality of the Ukrainian government. However, the Transcarpathia issue was the brightest of red lines for Orban, with the then-prime minister declaring in 2023 that Hungary “will not support Ukraine in any issue in international life until the previous laws that guaranteed the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians are returned.” More than 2 million Hungarians have made their will clear: NO to Ukraine’s EU accession! ❌ Their voice cannot be ignored, we cannot consent to decisions that go against their will. Ukraine’s EU membership would mean the ruin of the European Union, we must not and will not allow… pic.twitter.com/AOUdxUu3iO— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) June 27, 2025 Anita Orban, Magyar’s foreign minister (and no relation of Viktor), has maintained this policy, telling an interviewer last month that “until the situation of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine is resolved, we cannot make progress in any other area.” Hungary’s concerns are laid out in an 11-point plan. Anita Orban has refused to say whether her government would compromise on these demands, but Politico noted that Ukraine would address “most” – but not all – of the points, and added that this would be done without “passing new legislation in Ukraine.” All of this suggests that the Ukraine's language laws have not been repealed or replaced, but that Magyar has been forced to abandon some of the document’s points, which have not been made public. It is unclear, but likely, that Magyar and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed Ukrainian membership of the EU when they met to discuss frozen funding for Hungary last week. Read more EU considering revoking veto powers for new members – Guardian Although Magyar said afterwards that the funding issue is “not connected in any way with the issue of Ukraine,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said beforehand that she expected Hungary to lift the veto ahead of the June summit. With accession a pet project of von der Leyen, and with Vladimir Zelensky set to attend the summit, it is highly likely that Magyar came under significant pressure to resolve the dispute before next week. Could anyone else block Ukrainian attempts to join the EU? With Viktor Orban out of office, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is now considered the EU’s most Ukraine-skeptic head of state. However, while Fico maintains cordial relations with Russia and opposes all military aid to Ukraine, Zelensky claimed that the Slovak prime minister would support Ukraine’s EU membership bid after the two met in Armenia last month. Has Zelensky’s veneration of Nazi collaborators harmed Ukraine’s EU bid? Polish President Karol Nawrocki said last week that Ukraine “is not ready to be part of the European family,” after Zelensky granted the title ‘Heroes of the UPA’ to a Ukrainian commando unit. The UPA, or Ukrainian Insurgent Army, was the armed wing of Stepan Bandera’s Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and collaborated with Nazi forces to murder around 100,000 Polish civilians in what is now western Ukraine between 1943 and 1945. ??? HUGE! Polish President Karol Nawrocki REJECTS Ukraine Joining the European Union:"There is NO place in the European family for bandits and murderers who killed women and children. Such bandits cannot be glorified." pic.twitter.com/VerNXtjpPA— Based Hungary ?? (@HungaryBased) June 1, 2026 However, Nawrocki added that supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia remains Poland’s “strategic goal.” Even if Nawrocki wanted to block Ukrainian accession, the decision would not be his to make. Poland’s government is run by Nawrocki’s pro-Brussels rivals, and Nawrocki would be unable to veto any accession treaty without finding a majority of MPs or senators to support him. What comes next for Ukraine? Euronews’ report suggests a win for von der Leyen and her expansionist plans for the EU, and barring the emergence of some last-minute obstacle, formal talks will likely be confirmed on June 15. However, with the accession process in motion, all of the old issues between Kiev and its European counterparts will return to the forefront: corruption, agricultural market disruption, and the prospect of a permanent welfare recipient joining the European bloc. These long-term issues could be far more challenging for Zelensky and his officials to solve than the Transcarpathia impasse ever was.
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— Is Hungary about to give Ukraine the EU green light?: at 6/3/26 11:20am
Peter Magyar seems ready to lift Viktor Orban’s longstanding veto on potential membership for Kiev Hungary is on the cusp of lifting its veto on Ukraine beginning formal accession talks with the EU, according to hints from Prime Minister Peter Magyar and strategic leaks from Brussels. But why now? And will he compromise on Hungarian rights? Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday, Magyar said that he is “very optimistic” that a deal can be done to guarantee the rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian minority, in exchange for his government lifting the veto. Hungarys PM Péter Magyar on Ukraine:I can repeat here in Berlin: I am ready to meet President Zelensky early next week. If we truly succeed in agreeing on these fundamental human rights...Using your mother tongue in a kindergarten, a school, in administration — that is not… pic.twitter.com/m6mn5YrmUA— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 2, 2026 “The negotiations are progressing encouragingly,” he said, adding “I am ready to meet with Ukraine’s president at the beginning of next week, if we manage to agree on these fundamental human rights.” Within an hour of Magyar’s statement, Politico published an article claiming that Budapest had privately “signaled it will drop its long-standing opposition to Ukraine’s bid for EU membership,” citing four unnamed diplomats. What did Politico say? Politico, the Axel Springer-owned Brussels insider, reported that Magyar’s government had “privately signaled openness to lifting its veto following a meeting on Monday between Ukrainian and Hungarian experts.” The Ukrainian side, the outlet claimed, provided verbal assurances that they would resolve most of Hungary’s concerns – including the Hungarian minority’s right to use their native language in schools – and formal accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova will be opened at an EU leaders’ summit on June 15. Why was Politico’s article important? That this story first appeared on Politico was likely no coincidence. Politico’s neoliberal, Atlantacist worldview is literally written into the constitution of its owner, Axel Springer, and its journalists’ proximity to power in Brussels has made it the outlet of choice for all kinds of strategic communications from within the EU machine – from telegraphed policy moves like Tuesday’s report, to outsourced smear campaigns. Read more Where will Magyar take Hungary? For example, when Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever shot down the European Commission’s plan to use €185 billion ($218 billion) in frozen Russian assets to finance a massive aid package for Ukraine in December 2025, Politico responded with a hit piece portraying his country as “Russia’s most valuable asset” in Europe. Further hit pieces – all of them citing EU diplomats and officials – followed, claiming that “Europe is failing Ukraine,” de Wever “fears retaliation from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” and “Europe still doesn’t want to pay to save Ukraine.” Magyar’s predecessor, Viktor Orban, derided Politico as “the Brusselian elite’s official publication” after it named him 2025’s “disruptor of the year.” How are Hungarians treated in Ukraine? After the collapse of the Soviet Union, around 156,000 ethnic Hungarians found themselves trapped within Ukraine’s borders, after Kiev refused to recognize a successful self-rule referendum in the region of Transcarpathia. Relations between Budapest and Kiev rapidly declined from 2017 onwards, when Ukraine passed a series of laws mandating the sole use of the Ukrainian language in schools and local government.Tensions were further inflamed after 2022, when the Ukrainian military targeted Transcarpathians in what the Hungarian Foreign Ministry called a “brutal” military draft. [4] Soldiers raided a coffee shop in the district of Beregsász (Berehove). Beregszász is the closest city to the Hungarian border just 5km away. The city is demographically 48% Hungarian. pic.twitter.com/FlICxr1Oie— Based Hungary ?? (@HungaryBased) January 22, 2023 Ukraine’s language laws have been criticized by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission for failing to safeguard minorities’ linguistic rights, and condemned by human rights organizations. Why lift the veto now? Orban maintained that Ukraine joining the EU would drag the bloc into open war with Russia, undercut Hungary’s agricultural sector, and effectively give a free pass to the corruption and criminality of the Ukrainian government. However, the Transcarpathia issue was the brightest of red lines for Orban, with the then-prime minister declaring in 2023 that Hungary “will not support Ukraine in any issue in international life until the previous laws that guaranteed the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians are returned.” More than 2 million Hungarians have made their will clear: NO to Ukraine’s EU accession! ❌ Their voice cannot be ignored, we cannot consent to decisions that go against their will. Ukraine’s EU membership would mean the ruin of the European Union, we must not and will not allow… pic.twitter.com/AOUdxUu3iO— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) June 27, 2025 Anita Orban, Magyar’s foreign minister (and no relation of Viktor), has maintained this policy, telling an interviewer last month that “until the situation of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine is resolved, we cannot make progress in any other area.” Hungary’s concerns are laid out in an 11-point plan. Anita Orban has refused to say whether her government would compromise on these demands, but Politico noted that Ukraine would address “most” – but not all – of the points, and added that this would be done without “passing new legislation in Ukraine.” All of this suggests that the language laws will not be repealed or replaced, and that Magyar will abandon some of the document’s points, which have not been made public. It is unclear, but likely, that Magyar and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed Ukraine’s EU membership when they met to discuss frozen EU funding for Hungary last week. Read more EU considering revoking veto powers for new members – Guardian Although Magyar said afterwards that the funding issue is “not connected in any way with the issue of Ukraine,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said beforehand that she expects Hungary to lift the veto ahead of the June summit. With accession a pet project of von der Leyen, and with Vladimir Zelensky set to attend the summit, it is highly likely that Magyar has come under some pressure to resolve the dispute in the coming week. Could anyone else block Ukraine’s path to the EU? With Viktor Orban out of office, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is now considered the EU’s most Ukraine-skeptic head of state. However, while Fico maintains cordial relations with Russia and opposes all military aid to Ukraine, Zelensky claimed that the Slovak prime minister would support Ukraine’s EU membership bid after the two met in Armenia last month. Has Zelensky’s veneration of Nazi collaborators harmed Ukraine’s EU bid? Polish President Karol Nawrocki said last week that Ukraine “is not ready to be part of the European family,” after Zelensky granted the title ‘Heroes of the UPA’ to a Ukrainian commando unit. The UPA, or Ukrainian Insurgent Army, was the armed wing of Stepan Bandera’s Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and collaborated with Nazi forces to murder around 100,000 Polish civilians in what is now western Ukraine between 1943 and 1945. ??? HUGE! Polish President Karol Nawrocki REJECTS Ukraine Joining the European Union:"There is NO place in the European family for bandits and murderers who killed women and children. Such bandits cannot be glorified." pic.twitter.com/VerNXtjpPA— Based Hungary ?? (@HungaryBased) June 1, 2026 However, Nawrocki added that supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia remains Poland’s “strategic goal.” Even if Nawrocki wanted to block Ukrainian accession, the decision would not be his to make. Poland’s government is run by Nawrocki’s pro-Brussels rivals, and Nawrocki would be unable to veto any accession treaty without finding a majority of MPs or senators to support him. What if nothing happens? Despite all the signs pointing to a deal between Budapest and Kiev, nothing is set in stone at the moment, and it’s possible that some last-minute obstacle could emerge between now and June 15. The passage of the summit with no deal would represent a setback for von der Leyen and her maximalist plans for Ukraine, but even if Zelensky secures formal accession talks, all of the old issues between Kiev and its European counterparts will return to the forefront: corruption, agricultural market disruption, and the prospect of a permanent welfare recipient joining the European bloc. These long-term issues could be far more challenging for Zelensky and his officials to solve than the Transcarpathia impasse ever was.
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— EU pushing Armenia to expel Russian Orthodox Church – intel service: at 6/3/26 10:20am
Brussels has made severing religious ties with Moscow a condition for integration with the West, according to the SVR The European Union is pressuring Armenia to expel the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) from the country as a prerequisite to EU integration, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has alleged. In a statement on Wednesday, the SVR said that EU officials had made severing religious ties with Moscow a condition for closer ties with the West, a policy it said is being pursued by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The landlocked nation maintains close economic ties with Russia and hosts one of Moscow’s few military bases abroad. It is set to elect a new parliament on Sunday. Critics of Pashinyan have warned that he is steering Armenia down a path similar to Ukraine’s after the 2014 Western-backed coup. One of Kiev’s hallmark policies has been a crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which authorities accuse of promoting Russian interests. Armenia’s religious landscape differs from Ukraine’s. The country’s dominant religious institution is the Armenian Apostolic Church, an ancient denomination that broke with mainstream Christianity in the 5th century, centuries before the Great Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Read more Another post-Soviet country is following Ukraine’s path. Will the ending be different? The ROC does not recognize the Armenian Church as canonical, but regards it as a close Christian ally with shared traditions and common goals. The ROC maintains its own diocese in Armenia, encompassing five parish churches, a monastery, and two military chapels. In its report, the SVR referenced a May statement by two Armenia-based NGOs that accused an ROC priest of influencing the upcoming election through his sermons, including those delivered at a church on the Russian military base in Gyumri. The agency said the allegations are part of a campaign orchestrated by Brussels and that EU operatives “are currently fabricating compromising evidence” to smear other Russian clergy. Pashinyan’s government was rocked by mass protests in 2024 and 2025, as critics, including senior figures in the Armenian Apostolic Church, accused him of betraying national interests in his handling of the conflict settlement with neighboring Azerbaijan. The prime minister, in turn, accused his opponents of plotting a coup and launched prosecutions against the alleged organizers, including several members of the clergy.
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— India expresses interest in buying up to 200 Russian aircraft: at 6/3/26 10:11am
The head of the United Aircraft Corporation has said the first “Superjet” could be made in the South Asian country in 3 years India has expressed an interest in buying up to 200 Russian regional aircraft, the head of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has said.Airline companies in the country have expressed an interest in the Il-114-300 and SJ-100 planes, Vadim Badekha, the head of the UAC, told TASS in an interview ahead of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2026).Russia showcased the SJ-100 Superjet and the Il 114 300 turboprop plane at the Wings India 2026 airshow in Hyderabad earlier this year. “We are talking about 100-200 aircraft,” Badekha said. He added that the first Superjet could be made in the South Asian country in 3 years.The twin-engine Superjet can seat up to 100 passengers, while the Il-114-300 can carry 68. Both planes fall under the category of regional aircraft; they can be used to connect small towns to major airline hubs. For India, they are ideal for connecting its rapidly growing tier-2 and tier-3 cities.India was the third-largest global air passenger market in 2025, with 160 airports operating scheduled flights, compared to 74 in 2014. New Delhi has allowed 100% foreign direct investment in most sectors of civil aviation.India's regional aircraft market is also growing rapidly, with the demand for such aircraft projected at 300-400 over the next two decades. Currently the market is serviced by planes made by the Franco-Italian company ATR, Canada’s Bombardier and Brazil’s Embraer. Read more Russia and India are about to put their joint civil aviation fleet on the global map UAC has signed an agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, India’s state run defense aerospace company, for possible licensed production of the SJ-100 at their facilities. New Delhi has been seeking to establish its own regional jet airliner program for some time, which resulted in the partnership with UAC.Badekha had said earlier that the manufacture of 20-40 Superjets per year in India would be a “good pace.” He has estimated the potential of Indian and nearby markets at 200-300 aircraft.The head of UAC also said that production of the Il-114-300 should be localized in India. The aircraft maker has signed a preliminary agreement for the supply of six of the turboprop planes with the Indian company Flamingo Aerospace.India has insisted that foreign OEMs making regional planes set up assembly lines in the country and give component orders to local manufacturers.
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— Russia-Tanzania ties developing intensively – Putin: at 6/3/26 8:42am
Trade turnover rose by 25% last year, the Russian president has noted Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised ties with Tanzania as developing “intensively,” as he welcomed his counterpart from the African nation, Samia Suluhu Hassan, for talks in Moscow on Wednesday. Putin noted that this year marks the 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, adding that bilateral trade increased by 25% last year and stressing that economic cooperation should continue to expand. According to the Russian leader, opportunities for growth exist across a range of sectors, including energy, geological exploration, transport, logistics, healthcare and education. “[Bilateral relations] have always developed at a good level and intensively,” Putin said. He noted that the Tanzanian president had chosen Russia for her first state visit abroad after taking office in November. Read more Tanzanian leader’s Russia visit will take ties to new level – expert Samia, in turn, said the visit carried “special significance” both for her personally and for Tanzania. She noted that more than half a century had passed since the previous state visit, when Julius Nyerere, the first president of the African state, traveled to the Soviet Union in 1969. She also expressed gratitude for Russia’s role in Africa’s liberation movements and stressed Moscow had made an important contribution to Tanzania’s development over the decades. “We [Tanzania] have been working with Russia to date and with the much development we are talking in my country, Russia has got a great contribution on it,” the Tanzanian leader said. READ MORE: Africa’s bold choices: Examining the strength of Russia ties in 2025 The talks came after Tanzania hosted the third meeting of the Russian-Tanzanian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in May. During the meeting, Kitila Alexander Mkumbo, Tanzania’s minister of state for planning and investment in the president’s office, said that “developing cooperation in the agricultural sector can make a significant contribution to food security and job creation.” READ MORE: Tanzania-Russia cooperation key to food security – minister
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— Czech court orders fugitive trans neo-Nazi to be sent back to Germany (PHOTO): at 6/3/26 7:24am
Marla-Svenja Liebich was previously convicted of multiple offenses, prompting a debate about professed gender and prison choice A Czech regional court has ordered a transgender neo-Nazi fugitive convicted of multiple offenses to be deported back to Germany, according to Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP). Marla-Svenja Liebich, formerly known as Sven Liebich, had previously sparked an uproar over prison placement in Germany after undergoing a legal gender change. Liebich was sentenced to 18 months in prison on multiple counts in 2023, including incitement to hatred, insult, trespass, and defamation. The former member of the banned far-right group Blood and Honor appealed the sentence but lost. In 2024, just weeks after Germany’s new Self-Determination Act came into force, Liebich legally changed gender and became officially recognized as a woman. Following the change, Liebich petitioned to serve the sentence in a women’s prison – a move that was approved by a court. The ruling triggered a public debate, with some critics alleging tactical misuse of the law and warning of potential loopholes. German Interior Minister Aleksander Dobrindt has slammed the case as evidence of the law’s potential for abuse. Liebich failed to report to prison in August 2025 after fleeing the country. Earlier this year, the 56-year-old was apprehended by Czech police in the western town of Krasna, near the German border, and put in pre-trial custody. Read more German neo-Nazi changes gender to serve sentence in women’s prison – media In December 2025, while still on the run, Liebich told Euronews that he had applied to change legal gender status again, saying that being a woman no longer felt right. Commenting on the extradition ruling, a spokesperson for the regional court in the western Czech city of Plzen told AFP that Liebich has three days to appeal, otherwise the extradition order will become final and the German authorities are expected to take custody within ten days. Liebich reportedly opposed extradition during an initial hearing in Plzen on May 18, arguing that it could result in placement in a men’s prison. Liebich’s gender transition was widely regarded by commentators and critics as an attempt to mock the Self-Determination Act, introduced under the previous government. In 2022, he disrupted an LGBTQ Pride parade in the eastern German city of Halle, where activists said participants were called “parasites on society.”
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— Czech court orders fugitive trans neo-Nazi to be sent back to Germany: at 6/3/26 7:24am
Marla-Svenja Liebich was previously convicted of multiple offenses, prompting a debate about professed gender and prison choice A Czech regional court has ordered a transgender neo-Nazi fugitive convicted of multiple offenses to be deported back to Germany, according to Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP). Marla-Svenja Liebich, formerly known as Sven Liebich, had previously sparked an uproar over prison placement in Germany after undergoing a legal gender change. Liebich was sentenced to 18 months in prison on multiple counts in 2023, including incitement to hatred, insult, trespass, and defamation. The former member of the banned far-right group Blood and Honor appealed the sentence but lost. In 2024, just weeks after Germany’s new Self-Determination Act came into force, Liebich legally changed gender and became officially recognized as a woman. Following the change, Liebich petitioned to serve the sentence in a women’s prison – a move that was approved by a court. The ruling triggered a public debate, with some critics alleging tactical misuse of the law and warning of potential loopholes. German Interior Minister Aleksander Dobrindt has slammed the case as evidence of the law’s potential for abuse. Liebich failed to report to prison in August 2025 after fleeing the country. Earlier this year, the 56-year-old was apprehended by Czech police in the western town of Krasna, near the German border, and put in pre-trial custody. Read more German neo-Nazi changes gender to serve sentence in women’s prison – media In December 2025, while still on the run, Liebich told Euronews that he had applied to change legal gender status again, saying that being a woman no longer felt right. Commenting on the extradition ruling, a spokesperson for the regional court in the western Czech city of Plzen told AFP that Liebich has three days to appeal, otherwise the extradition order will become final and the German authorities are expected to take custody within ten days. Liebich reportedly opposed extradition during an initial hearing in Plzen on May 18, arguing that it could result in placement in a men’s prison. Liebich’s gender transition was widely regarded by commentators and critics as an attempt to mock the Self-Determination Act, introduced under the previous government. In 2022, he disrupted an LGBTQ Pride parade in the eastern German city of Halle, where activists said participants were called “parasites on society.”
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— Zakharova slams Western media for ignoring Starobelsk massacre: at 6/3/26 6:44am
The BBC and CNN have rejected an invitation to visit the site of the deadly Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian college dorm Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has urged the participants of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to begin every conversation with Western journalists with the word “Starobelsk.” Starobelsk is a town in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic where 21 people, mostly teenage girls, were killed and dozens more injured in a multi-wave Ukrainian drone attack on a college dorm on May 22. Western politicians turned a blind eye to the atrocity, while the BBC and CNN rejected an invitation by the Russian authorities to visit the site of the attack. During her Wednesday appearance at a panel on SPIEF, entitled ‘Your Words are Like Bullets: How Information has Transformed into the Most Powerful Weapon of the Modern Era,’ Zakharova expressed outrage over BBC Russia correspondent Steve Rosenberg coming to the forum in St. Peterburg, but not to Starobelsk. Read more Putin vows ‘inevitable punishment’ for Starobelsk massacre “They pour you coffee here; there are interesting speakers here and no crying mothers, who lost their children under the ruins of Starobelsk. Here, you won’t have to defend your position before the BBC headquarters in London, insisting that this absolutely must be covered,” she said about the choices made by Rosenberg. The Western media’s refusal to report on the deadly Ukrainian drone attack on the college dorm was “absolute cynicism,” the spokeswoman insisted. By constantly reminding them about Starobelsk, SPIEF’s guests will make Rosenberg and his colleagues understand that their position is “abnormal,” she said. It is because of this stance by the BBC “that their population doesn’t understand what’s happening. And yet, like an obedient, zombified herd, they continue to contribute to the funding of the Kiev regime,” Zakharova stressed. Read more Ukrainian drone kills eight civilians on Moscow-Crimea bus – governor Later in the day, TASS journalists asked Rosenberg if BBC would report on the latest terrorist attack by Ukraine. On Wednesday morning, at least eight civilians were killed and 11 others wounded after Kiev’s drone struck a passenger bus in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). “We’ll tell [about it] today. I don’t understand why they say that the BBC is silent,” he replied. According to Zakharova, Western leaders are well-aware what happened in Starobelsk, but they decline to talk about it in an attempt to make the public “accept the killing of people based on national, ethnic, cultural and linguistic grounds as a new ethic.” The only way to resist this push is to “preserve journalism as a field that deals with the media space based on objectivity, legality and morality,” she insisted.
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— Russian army gets rid of ‘Terminators’: at 6/3/26 6:37am
The specialized armored vehicle designed to support tanks has been rebranded, its producer says Russia has renamed the BMPT Terminator, a specialized armored vehicle built to support tank operations, as ‘Spiridon’ in an effort to move away from its association with the Hollywood film franchise. The infantry fighting vehicle features tank-grade protection and a broad range of heavy weapons. It was developed to survive in urban combat, where main battle tanks can lose the advantage offered by their long-range firepower, while standard infantry fighting vehicles may lack sufficient armor. The imminent rebranding move was highlighted on Tuesday by Omsktransmash, a heavy machinery plant which subcontracts for Russia’s main armored vehicle manufacturer, Uralvagonzavod. A campaign to select a new name for the system was launched in late 2025, inviting more than 2,000 proposals. “Today, society and the army agree that we should move away from foreign names. Our armor has its own Russian character. And our history has more heroes than Western movies,” a plant spokesman said. Uralvagonzavod later confirmed the name had been changed. © Uralvagonzavod Press Service Spiridon is a traditional Russian male name of Greek origin, now mostly preserved among Orthodox clergy. Spiridon of Tremithus was a pre-schism Christian saint who is honored in both Eastern and Western traditions. Spiridon of Pechersk was a 12th-century Russian saint buried at the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, where he lived as a monk. Omsktransmash said Spiridon emerged as the preferred option because of its spiritual associations and because it is derived from a Greek word for box – echoing Russian military slang for armored vehicles. A tradition of military humor Read more Tulip, Pinocchio & Serving Tray: Bizarre names of Russian weapons (PHOTOS) The Russian military often gives weapons historical or geographic names, though it also sometimes chooses humorous ones. The Peresvet laser system, for instance, was named after a warrior monk who fought in the Battle of Kulikovo, a key event in the re-emergence of the Russian state after centuries of fragmentation under Mongol domination. Among the more tongue-in-cheek traditions is the habit of naming heavy artillery systems after flowers – the more destructive the weapon, the softer the floral reference. The TOS-1 incendiary rocket system is nicknamed Buratino, after the Soviet adaptation of the fairy tale ‘Pinocchio.’ The Soviet version also centers on a magical wooden doll, but lacks the religious undertones of the original story. Other examples include an autocannon nicknamed “little ballerina,” an anti-tank missile called “baby-girl,” and an artillery control system known as “zoo.”
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— Russian nuclear sub conducts missile test (VIDEO): at 6/3/26 5:45am
The Arkhangelsk has struck a target located some 200 km away, the Northern Fleet has said Russia’s Northern Fleet has released footage of its Arkhangelsk nuclear submarine performing a successful missile test in the Barents Sea in the Arctic. The vessel fired an Oniks cruise missile from an underwater position, hitting a target imitating a surface ship some 200 km away, the fleet said in a statement on Wednesday. The Arkhangelsk is the third entry in Russia’s Project 885M Yasen-M, representing a modification of fourth-generation submarines with a reduced acoustic field that makes them increasingly hard to detect and track by sonar. Besides the Oniks missiles, Yasen-M vessels are also armed with Kalibr cruise missiles and Tsirkon hypersonic missiles. The Arkhangelsk has been in service with the Northern Fleet since December 2024. Il sottomarino a propulsione nucleare Arkhangelsk ha effettuato un lancio missilistico nel Mare di Barents, secondo quanto riportato dalla Flotta del Nord.Il sottomarino ha colpito un bersaglio navale con un missile da crociera Onyx a una distanza di 200 km.Fonte TASS pic.twitter.com/3pd0qXGUI0— michelino riformato (@michelinorifor1) June 3, 2026 During his tour of the submarine last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the crew that it was “the most modern, the best-equipped, capable of performing a wide variety of tasks.” The Arkhangelsk and other Yasen-M vessels “can do everything,” Putin stressed, referring to their ability to strike targets underwater, on the surface, and on land.
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— The Lebanon escalation: Netanyahu is betting Trump can’t stop him: at 6/3/26 5:37am
As Israel expands the war in Lebanon, Washington’s influence over its closest ally looks increasingly limited In recent days, Israel has intensified its military campaign in Lebanon, taking the operation to a whole new level. This isn’t just another exchange of strikes in the south of the country, but a demonstrative expansion of Israel’s ground presence beyond the previous boundaries of the conflict. Israeli forces crossed the Litani River and captured Beaufort Castle, a symbolically and strategically significant fortress perched on a high cliff in southern Lebanon. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that the operation was carried out at the direction of the political and military leadership, while the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) explained its objective as the elimination of Hezbollah infrastructure and fighters in the Beaufort area. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the capture of Beaufort as a “dramatic stage and a dramatic change” in Israel’s policy in Lebanon. The goal is to deepen and expand control over areas previously under Hezbollah’s influence. Essentially, this means that Israel is no longer limiting itself to targeted strikes and border deterrence. It is now attempting to create a new military-political reality in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah’s former zone of influence is to be transformed into an area of either direct or indirect Israeli control. The significance of these actions extends beyond the Lebanese front, however. In recent weeks, Netanyahu has essentially been playing the same game: trying to undermine any kind of agreement between Iran and the United States. The negotiation track was already extremely fragile, vague, and fraught with mutual distrust. But for Israel, even the slightest chance of a compromise between Washington and Tehran is unacceptable. If Trump finally relinquishes the idea of a direct military escalation (such a scenario is unlikely but still possible) and attempts to broker at least a temporary deal with Iran, Israel risks finding itself without the previous level of American involvement, but with the lingering threat of an ‘axis of resistance’ that has every chance of resurfacing in the near future. Read more Here’s what you need to understand about Russia and its neighbors This is precisely why the expansion of the operation in Lebanon can be seen as a tool for exerting pressure not only on Hezbollah, but also on the entire negotiation framework surrounding Iran. Netanyahu is demonstrating that even if Washington is willing to discuss de-escalation, Israel retains the right to expand the theater of military operations where it deems necessary. He is thereby forcing Iran to respond, raising the cost of negotiations for Tehran, and simultaneously making it more difficult for Trump to present the diplomatic process as manageable and successful. Iran’s reaction was almost immediate. Tehran announced its withdrawal from negotiations with the US, citing Israel’s actions in Lebanon. Iran’s logic is understandable: the Lebanese front was seen as part of a broader ceasefire, and Tehran perceives the Israeli operation as a violation of the regional balance of agreements. For Iran, this is a convenient argument to demonstrate that Washington is either incapable of controlling Israel’s actions or is deliberately allowing them while talking about de-escalation. In other words, Netanyahu achieved the intended effect: US-Iran negotiations have come under additional pressure. Israel formally explains the operation as necessary to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure and ensure the security of Israel’s northern regions. But politically, it appears to be an attempt to disrupt any – even temporary – stabilization of the situation between Washington and Tehran. For Netanyahu, a ceasefire is dangerous because it would draw attention back to the responsibilities of his government, the internal crisis, and the cost of a protracted war. The continuation of the conflict, however, gives a legitimate reason to declare a state of emergency, issue mobilization orders, and focus on security. In this situation, the US has proposed a new ceasefire initiative to Israel and Lebanon. The American plan appears quite pragmatic: in the first stage, Hezbollah must cease all attacks on Israeli territory, and Israel, in turn, would refrain from escalating the conflict in Beirut. In other words, Washington is not so much trying to resolve the Lebanese crisis definitively as to urgently stop its escalation before it derails the broader plan, which primarily involves negotiations with Iran. Read more This crisis could make or break Türkiye The problem, however, is again Netanyahu. Axios reported that an extremely tense phone call took place between Trump and Netanyahu, in which the US president lashed out at the Israeli prime minister and demanded that he stop the strikes on Beirut. Trump was furious and made it clear to Netanyahu that he was behaving recklessly, undermining Israel’s position, and turning even its allies into hostages of his own military logic. Trump himself later confirmed that he talked with Netanyahu but did not reveal what they discussed, limiting himself to a general statement about his hope for a quick agreement. However, this is precisely where the main political paradox emerges: Trump had already declared peace, had already tried to portray the situation as a move toward de-escalation, and had already talked about a ceasefire. But in practice, this did not deter Israel. West Jerusalem continued to act as it saw fit, while Washington once again found itself publicly calling for restraint but unwilling to actually constrain the Israeli leadership. It is no coincidence that the far-right, extremely radical Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said, “This is the time to tell our friend, President Trump, ‘no’.” Ben-Gvir essentially articulated what Netanyahu is doing in practice: Israel is ready to accept US support, US diplomatic cover, and US security guarantees, but is not prepared to automatically submit to American demands if that means stopping the war. Ben-Gvir is simply stating what the radical wing of Israeli politics has long demanded of Netanyahu: not to agree to a ceasefire, not to give in to US pressure, and not to allow Trump to turn the Lebanese front into part of his deal with Iran. Therein lies the weakness of the American position. Trump may get angry, shout, and exert pressure on Netanyahu, demanding not to attack Beirut, but Netanyahu operates on a different basis: that no matter what Israel does, the US will still be forced to support it. For the Israeli prime minister, this is not just a show of diplomatic confidence; it is the foundation of his entire current strategy. He understands that Washington cannot afford an open break with Israel, especially in the face of a confrontation with Iran and pressure from the pro-Israel lobby within the US political system. Read more Another post-Soviet country is following Ukraine’s path. Will the ending be different? This is precisely why American ceasefire initiatives look increasingly unconvincing. Formally, the US is offering a de-escalation plan, but in reality, Netanyahu reserves the right to interpret any threat as grounds for a new strike, a new military operation, and a new expansion of control. As a result, instead of a lasting agreement, the ceasefire turns into a temporary pause that Israel can terminate at any moment if it is deemed advantageous from a political or military standpoint. The main point is that Netanyahu is not interested in ending the war. A ceasefire deprives him of his main political resource: state of emergency mobilization. As long as the war continues, he can talk about security, the survival of the state, and the fight against Hezbollah and Iran. As soon as a real ceasefire is established, questions of his personal responsibility, the internal crisis, Israel’s international isolation, and the price the country is paying for the protracted military campaign will return to the forefront. Therefore, the current escalation in Lebanon is no surprise to anyone. The Lebanese front is increasingly turning into a mechanism for exerting pressure on Iran, the US, and the entire architecture of possible regional de-escalation; and if anyone believes that lasting peace can be achieved, I’d say they are either too optimistic or too naive.
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