Fighting The intelligence service of Norway issued a warning that Russia was “gaining the advantage” in the conflict in Ukraine because it was sending more troops and supplies from North Korea, China, Iran, and Belarus. The chief of the military intelligence section, Nils Andreas Stensones, stated that in order to reverse the situation, Kyiv would require “extensive” military support from the West.
According to preliminary analysis, Russia launched a hypersonic Zircon missile toward the Ukrainian capital last week, the first time the weapon has been used in combat, according to researchers in Kiev. According to Russia, the Zircon can move nine times faster than the speed of sound and has a 1,000 km (625 mi) range.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, air defense systems shot down one Kh-59 cruise missile and 14 of the 17 drones that Russia had launched over night. There were some damaged structures, especially in Dnipro, the capital city, but no injuries were reported.
In areas of Ukraine it controls, the Kremlin refuted Ukraine’s accusation that its soldiers were utilizing Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system for military communications. The equipment could not be deployed, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, because it was not formally given to Russia nor certified for use there.
Diplomacy and politics
The European Union took a step toward its goal of utilizing the proceeds to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine when it passed a bill requiring windfall earnings from Russian central bank assets that had been frozen. Russian central bank assets worth about 300 billion euros ($323 billion) were blocked following the nation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.
The US Justice Department announced that Canadian-Russian Kristina Puzyreva, who was involved in a multimillion dollar plan to transfer drone and missile parts to Russia for use in warfare against Ukraine, has entered a guilty plea to money laundering conspiracy in a US court. She might spend up to 20 years behind bars.
