June 11: E-Stories
InUkraine CombatSitRep BehindLines Russia-China InEurope InOtherNews
Catching up…
For specific news about Trump, his regime and its dealings with Russia, I direct you to Olga’s substack. She and Julie Roginsky publish a weekly podcast, “Pax Americana”, which is highly informative.
For a general view of news from various geopolitical threatres, Scott’s EA Worldview is always superb.
“Our people are home. Ukrainians are returning home from Russian captivity.
Today, an exchange began, which will continue in several stages over the coming days. Among those we are bringing back now are the wounded, the severely wounded, and those under the age of 25.
The process is quite complex, with many sensitive details, and negotiations continue virtually every day.”
Stories we’re following…
Overnight June 10: Kyiv under massive attack for the past 4 hours, largest attack of the war. Apartment buildings are burning all over the city.
Ukraine shoots down nearly 500 drones, missiles in Russian record strike, Air Force says. Ukraine had reportedly neutralized 479 Russian drones and missiles, with 292 shot down, and 187 jammed or lost via electronic warfare.
Russian missile and drone barrage hits Odesa, killing 1 and injuring 8, damaging maternity hospital. Four. In Odesa, one was killed and at least four were wounded in the latest Russian attack on June 10.
“The Russians are demanding that Putin strike Kyiv with the "Oreshnik" system. They want harsher actions — they’re tired of negotiations." - said the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky. (Mo: this is sick.)
Andrea Opachi: Locals in Mariupol complain that the Kalchik River has been poisoned by Russian occupiers. They dump poisons that have killed all life and made the water putrid. Russia is also destroying the nature of Donbas.
Russian forces are blackmailing families of Ukrainian prisoners of war, according to the Coordination Headquarters for POW Affairs. Spokesperson Petro Yatsenko reports unknown individuals impersonating Russian officials are pressuring families to take specific actions - an attempt to sow distrust, discord, and overwhelm state structures with disinformation.
52% of Ukrainians oppose any territorial concessions, even if it prolongs the war — KIIS survey. Only 10% are willing to accept Russia’s “peace plan,” while 82% are firmly against it.
Russia sentences 2 Azov fighters to over 20 years in prison. Russian authorities accuse sniper Ruslan Orlov and paramedic Artem Novikov of shooting three civilians in Mariupol in April 2022.
Ukrainians greeting the Ukrainian POWs coming home. Most of the Ukrainian POWs returned today had been held since 2022, including defenders of Mariupol — GUR representative Andrii Yusov said.
Sibiha: "The Russians put a list of ultimatums on the table in Istanbul that are unsuitable for diplomacy." The head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Russia still hasn't responded to the peace agreement that Ukraine submitted before the meeting in Istanbul.
Combat Situation
Ruslan Trad: The situation on the front in Sumy region is developing rapidly and is difficult for Ukrainian forces. The Russian army is preparing for assault operations - we believe they will begin very soon. The Russians are also using a significant number of drones against the city of Sumy itself.
ISW: Russian forces recently advanced to the Dnipropetrovsk-Donetsk administrative border as Kremlin officials continued to demonstrate that Russia has wider territorial ambitions in Ukraine beyond Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts and Crimea.
Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Lyman. Russian forces recently advanced near Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, Novopavlivka, and Kurakhove.
The Russian Su-35 shot down in Kursk Oblast by a Ukrainian F-16 was detected by a Swedish-made Saab 340 AWACS aircraft, which had been transferred to Ukraine, as reported by BILD. The aircraft identified the target at a distance of nearly 300 kilometers and relayed the coordinates to the F-16 pilot.
Behind the Lines
Jacopo Iacoboni—Head of German Intelligence Bruno Kahl: "We have intelligence that confirms that for Russia, Ukraine is just a step on the road to the West. They don't need to send armies of tanks for this, they just need to send "little green men" to Estonia to protect the Russian minority, supposedly calling it oppressed."
Kahl then added that, “luckily,” the United States takes the Russian threat seriously, and cited contacts with American colleagues, presumably from foreign services, the CIA. “Thank God, they take it as seriously as we do.” Kahl explained Moscow’s plan quite clearly; Berlin is not expecting an advance of armies and tanks (which are now starting to run low), but that Article 5 of the NATO Charter will be called into question : Russian leaders, he says, are considering the possibility of creating clashes that will not turn into a large-scale military clash, but will test Trump’s United States to see if it will respect its commitments to common transatlantic assistance. The only thing Kahl did not explain was the methodology of the German intelligence sources, although the most likely thing is interception of direct communications. Signal intelligence.
US accuses Russian of laundering millions, helping Moscow obtain sensitive technology. U.S. prosecutors have charged cryptocurrency entrepreneur Iurii Gugnin with laundering over $500 million and helping sanctioned Russian entities bypass export controls.
German lubricant supplier Addinol sees Russian profits soar thanks to its products’ critical importance for defense enterprises The Russian subsidiary’s wartime profits have grown fivefold, with the manufacturer of missile homing heads among the buyers.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to announce that his government plans to meet the NATO benchmark target of two per cent of the country's GDP by March, Radio-Canada has confirmed.
Manitoba NDP Premier Wab Kinew unveils bold national plan for Hudson Bay Energy Export Terminal to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney building a stronger, united Canada as a global energy superpower.
Michael Pompeo: America Loses If Russia Wins
The world is watching Ukraine, and what they see will determine America’s standing on the world stage for decades to come. If Russia emerges from this conflict appearing victorious, America’s interests — and those of our partners in Europe and around the world — will be severely damaged.
This isn’t hyperbole — it’s the stark reality of how power projection works in the 21st century. When adversaries believe they can defeat American interests and allies without consequence, they grow bolder. When allies doubt America’s commitment to their security, they seek other arrangements — hedging with the Chinese Communist Party, or the Islamic Republic of Iran, or both.
These dynamics are already underway, and a perceived Russian victory would only accelerate them. If America relinquishes its leadership of the free world, our economy, our security, and our future will be in peril. Make no mistake, leading the world is costly, but the benefits far exceed those costs. The alternative — ceding spheres of influence or global leadership to brutal regimes that want our grandchildren to live in tyranny — is far too high a price to pay.
China is watching Ukraine to gauge American commitment to Taiwan. Iran is measuring our resolve as it advances its nuclear program and regional aggression. North Korea is calculating whether America will actually defend South Korea. If Russia succeeds in Ukraine, each of these adversaries will conclude that American security guarantees are hollow promises — a perception already seeded by the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and years of appeasement.
A Russian victory would permanently destabilize European security, making America less safe by forcing NATO to defend territory under far more dangerous circumstances. Instead of containing Russian aggression in Ukraine with Ukrainian forces, the West would face the prospect of direct military confrontation with an emboldened Russia that has learned it can seize territory without a decisive American response.
Russia is constructing concrete shelters for fighter jets at the Saky airbase in occupied Crimea.
On the night and morning of June 10, mobile Internet was disconnected in the Leningrad Region amid Ukrainian drone raids on the region. This was reported by Governor Alexander Drozdenko. "An air alert has been declared in the Leningrad Region, and a UAV attack is being repelled. Restrictions on mobile communications and the Internet have been introduced in a number of districts," he wrote on his Telegram channel early in the morning.
Meanwhile in Russia & China…
South Korean Samsung Display has stopped purchasing Russian gold, tungsten and tantalum, according to the company's financial statements. Previously, these metals were supplied by Krasnoyarsk Non-Ferrous Metals Plant, Solikamsk Magnesium Plant and other Russian enterprises.
Experts do not rule out that the refusal could lead to an increase in the cost of electronics by 2-5%. In 2021, the company worked with 11 Russian suppliers, but in 2024, it excluded them from the chain.
Samsung did not reply to Kommersant's request. Some experts admit that Samsung may purchase Russian metals through intermediaries, which will increase the final price of the devices. Others believe that the company has completely switched to Asian suppliers.
Errol Musk in Moscow for a ‘conference’, which will most likely end with the Russians gifting him a company or two. His statements really don’t matter except to confirm in whose pay Musk’s father is.
Mediazona: Vigilante Russian. The rise of far‑right “Russian Community”, with anti‑migrant and anti‑gay raids, assaults, and at least one death
Far-right activists from a group calling itself the “Russian Community” are increasingly being linked to violent assaults, anti-migrant raids, and mass brawls across Russia.
Recently, a court in the city of Kovrov ordered the arrest of two of its members for kidnapping an 18-year-old male. According to investigators, the accused tortured and threatened to kill the guy. While these activists have now found themselves in detention, members of the “Russian Community” have typically evaded responsibility for violence due to their close ties to security forces and the public patronage of Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee.
Their raids have already turned fatal. A month ago, an attack carried out by the group led to the death of Gor Ovakimyan, a 37-year-old Armenian native living in the Leningrad region; no suspects have been named in the resulting criminal case for causing death by negligence.
NYT: China’s Chokehold on This Obscure Mineral Threatens the West’s Militaries
China’s strict controls on the export of heat-resistant magnets made with rare earth minerals have exposed a major vulnerability in the U.S. military supply chain. Without these magnets, the United States and its allies in Europe will struggle to refill recently depleted inventories of military hardware.
For more than a decade, the United States has failed to develop an alternative to China’s supply of a specific kind of rare earth crucial for the manufacture of magnets for missiles, fighter jets, smart bombs and a lot of other military gear. Rare earth minerals are a central issue in the trade talks between the United States and China now underway in London.
China produces the entire world’s supply of samarium, a particularly obscure rare earth metal used almost entirely in military applications. Samarium magnets can withstand temperatures hot enough to melt lead without losing their magnetic force. They are essential for withstanding the heat of fast-moving electric motors in cramped spaces like the nose cones of missiles.
On April 4, China halted exports of seven kinds of rare earth metals, as well as magnets made from them. China controls most of the world’s supply of these metals and magnets. China’s Ministry of Commerce declared that these materials had both civilian and military uses, and any further exports would be allowed only with specially issued licenses. The move, according to the ministry, would “safeguard national security” and “fulfill international obligations such as nonproliferation.”
The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning is conducting drills about 725 miles south of Tokyo and for the first time, east of the remote island of Iwo Jima, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal. The drills, also involving seven other Chinese navy ships, are taking place in waters that could be strategically important should a conflict between China and the U.S.break out or if the Chinese military tries to take over Taiwan.
Recently, China has stepped up its military exercises from Japan to the Philippines, including staging simulated blockades of Taiwan. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said recently that threats to the island from China “could be imminent.”
A third Chinese national is accused of smuggling biological materials into the U.S. for work at a University of Michigan laboratory. Chengxuan Han, of the People's Republic of China, is charged with smuggling goods into the U.S. and making false statements.
Authorities say Han is a doctoral student at the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. According to a criminal complaint, in 2024 and 2025, Han sent four packages to the U.S. from China containing concealed biological material. The packages were addressed to persons associated with a University of Michigan laboratory.
The destroyer that capsized in front of Kim Jong Un is now stationed at the border with Russia It is possible that the Russians are helping to repair it, CNN reports. The ship is docked at the Rajin port — while it is not a major shipbuilding facility, it has the capacity for small repairs and maintenance. In the 2024 report by the West Point Institute for Modern Warfare, United States Military Academy, the Rajin economic zone is referred to as "an important point of cooperation between North Korea and Russia."
Civil.Ge: Giorgi Bachiashvili, the jailed former head of the Co-Investment Fund and one-time close associate of Bidzina Ivanishvili, claimed that Anri Okhanashvili, the head of Georgia’s State Security Service, was aboard the aircraft that “illegally brought” him back to Georgia.
“This was a special operation ordered by Ivanishvili and carried out by the State Security Service. Mr Anri Okhanashvili was aboard the plane I was abducted with,” Bachiashvili said on June 9 at Tbilisi City Court, which currently hears his case on the ‘Mtkvari HPP’ project. The criminal case involves charges of negligence resulting in grave consequences during his tenure as general director of Ivanishvili’s Co-Investment Fund.
Scabolz Panyi: New footage sparks outrage: Hungarian police stopped an ambulance in Budapest to let a motorcade of one of Viktor Orbán's friends arriving at CPAC Hungary pass.
The Slovak ambassador’s car is seen in the convoy—likely carrying Slovak PM Robert Fico. Social media erupts. The video was posted on Hungarian Reddit and then picked up by the Hungarian Telex news outlet.
Szabolcs Panyi: “I don’t want to threaten anyone, but we have everything—including how KNBSZ [Orbán’s military intel] paid its asset. We documented it all.” In his first interview with a Hungarian outlet, Zelensky tells Válasz Online about Orbán's "dishonesty" and his espionage in Ukraine.
“His policy is, unfortunately, anti-Ukrainian. And anti-European. He is using this in his domestic policy: he wants to turn the war in Ukraine to his own advantage in the elections. That is dishonest”, Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells Válasz Online about Orbán.
Zelensky on Orbán and Hungary: "Viktor Orbán’s position does not reflect the position of the whole of Hungary. This is the difference between Hungary and Russia: in Russia, Putin’s position is the same as the one held by his society."
When Orbán visited Kyiv last July during his so-called "peace mission", he didn't tell Zelensky that he's travelling to Moscow a few days later. Zelensky: "I didn’t know about it... He knew in advance, he knew what he was doing. Is that an honest relationship? No, it isn’t."
Zelensky on Orbán: "He is using Ukraine for his own electoral purposes. He does not understand that this will have much more serious & dangerous consequences: the radicalization of Hungarian society and its anti-Ukrainian sentiment. By not helping us, he is doing Putin a favor."
In Europe…
BBC: Multiple injured' in attack at school in Austria: Several people are reported to be injured after a shooting at a secondary school in the Austrian city of Graz. Police spokesman Fritz Grundnig tells broadcaster ORF that gunshots were heard in the Dreierschützengasse high school.
Reports in the Austrian media say at least 9 people were killed in the attack, with the number of injured believed to be in “double digits,” as reported by Kronen Zeitung. 12 further people are injured, “some seriously,” Austria’s interior minister Gerhard Karner said, confirming earlier reports from emergency services. Local media report the former 21-year old student gunman killed himself.
Reuters: The European Commission on Tuesday proposed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, aimed at Moscow's energy revenues, its banks and its military industry.
"Our objective is crystal clear. We renew our call for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire lasting at least 30 days. Such a pause in hostilities would be a critical step toward alleviating civilian suffering and fostering meaningful dialogue to secure enduring peace," said Ursula von der Leyen.
Key measures:
Ban on Nord Stream 1 & 2 transactions;
Oil price cap lowered to $45/barrel;
77 more "shadow fleet" vessels listed;
Ban on Russian oil-derived products;
Full SWIFT ban for 22 Russian banks;
€2.5B export bans on tech & materials.
The new package proposes banning transactions with Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines, as well as banks that engage in sanctions circumvention. The Commission has also proposed lowering the Group of Seven nations (G7) price cap on Russian crude oil to $45 a barrel, from $60 a barrel, in a bid to cut Russia's energy revenues.
"Russia's goal is not peace, it is to impose the rule of might ... strength is the only language that Russia will understand," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a press conference.
The Commission proposes adding 22 more Russian banks to its list and broadening restrictions on them beyond a removal from SWIFT, a global financial messaging system, to a full transaction ban. It also proposes expanding the scope to banks from third countries, and lists the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) as well as its subsidiaries and wider network.
The Polish Armament Agency, responsible for military equipment supplies, has cancelled the purchase of 32 S-70i helicopters (the export version of the American Black Hawk) for the Polish army from Lockheed Martin's PZL Mielec, Onet reported on Friday. "We have not cancelled any contract. We have closed the process related to the purchase of S-70i Black Hawk helicopters.
This decision is based on an analysis of the current geopolitical situation and the development of military events in Ukraine," said Polish Deputy Defence Minister Pawel Bejda. According to the chief of a headquarters of the Polish armed forces forces General Veslav a Kukuli, Warsaw has decided "change priorities helicopter programs." This is necessary. for more effective adaptation to challenges modern wars , Reuters reports .
POLITICO: Poland won't back away from its support for Ukraine or its growing role in the EU despite the government's defeat in last week's presidential election, the country's top diplomat told POLITICO on Monday.
"The presidency continues in the hands of the opposition," center-right Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said following populist-nationalist Karol Nawrocki's victory, but insisted common ground could be found on key geopolitical issues.
"President Nawrocki comes from the [Law and Justice Party] side of the Polish political divide and I remind you that the majority of defense contracts that we are now financing were signed under the previous government, so I expect him to be pro-defense," the veteran Polish politician said. "He clearly agrees with the national consensus that Russia has to be deterred."
Swiss Info: The Russia affair in the Swiss secret service: ‘This is espionage’
Employees of the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) have been cooperating with Russian contacts for years. Highly sensitive data apparently flowed out – and ended up with Russian intelligence services. The affair centres on the FIS cyber team – and a collaboration with the controversial software company Kaspersky. Research by SRF Investigativ shows that when friendly intelligence services threatened to end cooperation, the Swiss intelligence service reacted.
In other news…
The Cipher Brief: President Donald Trump told reporters today that talks with Iran toward a nuclear deal were not going well because Tehran was insisting on preserving its capability to enrich uranium.
“They’re just asking for things that you can’t do,” Trump said. “They don’t want to give up what they have to give up. You know what that is. They seek enrichment. We can’t have enrichment.”
Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, said today that Iran claims to have stolen information about Israel’s nuclear program that “seems to refer” to Israel’s Soreq Nuclear Research Center.
As a DOGE Bro Sets Up Shop at Treasury, His Wife’s Finances Invite Scrutiny
A DOGE associate who was embedded at the Department of Treasury now has a top job at the agency—but his family’s business ties could represent a major conflict of interest, The Nation has learned. Sam Corcos founded a start-up health technology company with Casey Means, whom President Trump recently tapped as his nominee for surgeon general, and now Corcos has been appointed interim chief information officer at Treasury. Yet Corcos has possibly failed to disclose his wife’s own extensive financial ties to the healthcare industry—as well as her business dealings with at least one Russian oligarch under investigation from American intelligence agents.
NBC News: The White House is looking for a new chief of staff and several senior advisers to support Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after a series of missteps that have shaken confidence in his leadership, but it has so far found no suitable takers, according to four current and former administration officials and a Republican congressional aide. At least three people have already turned down potential roles under Hegseth, according to a former U.S. official, the defense official and a person familiar with the matter.
Arthur Schwartz, a Republican operative with close ties to the Trump administration, dismissed the accounts of infighting and said Hegseth is a highly effective defense secretary.
Hegseth will testify before lawmakers on Capitol Hill three times this week, his first appearance since his confirmation hearing. His testimony is scheduled to focus on the Pentagon budget, but no Defense Department budget has been provided to Congress as of yet.
Vance, Wiles and others have looked for job candidates in some of the traditional places, including inside the White House and on Capitol Hill, according to the second former U.S. official, a defense official and a congressional aide.
Secretary Hegseth added to the statements below: "This administration has a completely different view on this conflict. We believe peaceful settlement through negotiations serves the interests of both sides and our nation, especially with all competing interests worldwide."
Gov Gavin Newsom: “I was just informed Trump is deploying another 2,000 Guard troops to L.A. The first 2,000? Given no food or water. Only approx. 300 are deployed — the rest are sitting, unused, in federal buildings without orders. This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego. This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.” (1:14 a.m.)
CNN: Protesters and police are still facing off in Los Angeles, with tense standoffs currently in the Arts District and Little Tokyo. Moments ago, police escorted a CNN crew out of one of these protest zones. Throughout the day, police used flash bangs and rubber bullets to disperse protesters after objects were thrown at them. Anti-ICE protests have occurred across the country.
Police have declared all of Downtown Los Angeles an unlawful assembly area after arresting dozens over the weekend. About 300 National Guard troops are on the ground after President Donald Trump deployed them to protect federal personnel and property. It’s the first time a president has called in the National Guard without a state’s request or consent in decades. Another 500 Marines are ready to deploy.
California has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a judge to declare the callup of National Guard troops unconstitutional and for the court to halt future deployments.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will sue the Trump administration over the deployment, which he and LA Mayor Karen Bass have called inflammatory. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan tried to clarify today that he wasn’t calling for Newsom’s arrest, saying, “there was no discussion about arresting Newsom,” when he warned that anyone blocking immigration enforcement in LA, including the governor and Bass, could face arrest.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass accused the Trump administration of using her city as a “test case” for the federal government taking over from local and state authorities and said the intervention was completely unwarranted. She told a press conference on Monday that the city had been peaceful before Ice raids that began last week, adding “this is chaos that was started in Washington DC” and that “nothing warranted the raids, nothing was happening”.
WaPo—The Insurrection Act: An 1800s law called the Insurrection Act authorizes the president to deploy military troops domestically for law-enforcement purposes in an emergency. More than a year before his reelection, The Post reported Trump and his allies discussed plans to use that law to deploy troops inside U.S. borders.
What constitutes an emergency under the Insurrection Act is vague, according to Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney now at the University of Michigan Law School. She said that could give Trump wiggle room to simply declare an “insurrection" when it fits his political goals.
"It seems to me that this visible use of force is more about showing power to silence protesters and to score political points with immigration hawks than it is about easing unrest,” McQuade said.
Trump raised additional concerns when he described the protesters on social media Sunday as “violent, insurrectionist mobs." On Monday, he appeared to walk that back: “I wouldn’t call it quite an insurrection,” he told reporters at a White House event. "But it could have led to an insurrection.”
The journalist Terry Moran was suspended from ABC News due to this post. He is remembered for the interview he did with Trump, and Trump kept insisting during the interview that the tattoos on Garcia’s fingers belonged to the TDA gang.
