President Joe Biden urged G7 leaders to “stay together” against Russia’s war on Ukraine. While kicking off the summit in the Bavarian Alps on Sunday, leaders agreed to strengthen sanctions by banning imports of Russian gold. The move came shortly after Russian missiles rained down on Kyiv earlier that morning and is additional effort to weaken Russia’s economy.
Henry Kissinger is one of the most well-known figures in U.S. foreign policy. Recently he delved into geopolitics once again, citing an appeasement strategy to satisfy the Kremlin in order to “save” Ukraine. These comments have drawn outrage in not just Kyiv, but much of the world. This is not the first time in history Kissinger has cited appeasement and a willingness to leave a smaller country out to dry against a neighboring country with imperialistic ambitions. These misguided foreign policy takes extend back to the 1960s.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda wants his country's government to immediately begin consultations with the European Commission, regarding the possible implementation of sanctions on Kaliningrad transit.
The head of the Alliance spoke about this today during a round table held under the auspices of the European media outlet Politico on the eve of the Madrid NATO summit, Ukrinform reports.
General Jens Stoltenberg says the western military alliance will boost its high readiness forces to "well over 300,000" in response to Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid, Stoltenberg said on June 27 that the alliance will enhance its battle groups on its eastern flank up to brigade levels.
"We will strengthen our forward defenses...We will transform the NATO Response Force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000," Stoltenberg told reporters.
NATO will increase the strength of its rapid reaction force nearly eightfold to 300,000 troops as part of its response to an “era of strategic competition,” the military alliance’s secretary-general said Monday.
The NATO reaction force currently numbers around 40,000 soldiers which can deploy quickly when needed.
Coupled with other measures including the deployment of forces to defend specific allies, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the move is part of the “biggest overhaul of collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War.”
Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported on Monday that it successfully carried out a missile strike on a rocket manufacturing plant in Kiev, which was being used to produce ammunition for multiple launch rocket systems.
The strike was carried out on Sunday with four high precision missiles, all of which reached the Artyom rocket-manufacturing plant, located in the Shevchenkovskiy district of Kiev, without damaging civilian infrastructure in the city, the ministry reports.
A fresh New York Times report has confirmed what many already suspected - that the CIA is still very active inside Ukraine - especially with training as well coordinating weapons among its Ukrainian allies. The Times report details "a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training," based on US and European intelligence officials with knowledge of the operations.
Last week, on June 23, a United States government agency under the name Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the Helsinki Commission, held a Congressional briefing titled “Decolonizing Russia”.