WAR IN UKRAINE: June 1, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 463
Shelling on the western Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, has injured eight people, Russian authorities say. The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, blamed the attack on the town of Shebekino on Ukrainian troops - BBC
Meanwhile, President Zelensky has reiterated that Ukraine should urgently be allowed to join Nato and the EU at a summit with European leaders in Moldova
Three people have died, including a young girl, in a new night-time missile attack on Kyiv, regional police said. It's the fourth attack this week and comes after 17 strikes were launched on Kyiv throughout May. Analysts say Moscow is trying to deplete Ukraine's air defences ahead of a long-expected counter-offensive - BBC
The chairmen of the foreign affairs committees of the parliaments of the 19 NATO member states call for Ukraine to be given a clear road map for joining NATO at the upcoming Vilnius Summit of the alliance.
Italy is preparing a military aid package for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The new support was announced by the Minister of Defense of Italy, Guido Crosetto, European Pravda reports. The supply of weapons was discussed at the Italian parliamentary committee on control over special services. The content of the aid is classified.
Required reading…
Opinion: The war on Russia’s doorstep just got uncomfortably close
(CNN) — Those expecting that the upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive will be a shock and awe bombing campaign similar to the 2003 US strikes on Iraq will be disappointed.
To be sure, there is a sort of unspoken pressure on the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to press ahead with its planned counteroffensive as soon as possible – and demonstrate that the billions of dollars of Western military aid is capable of pushing Russian President Vladimir Putin at least back to pre-2022 full-scale invasion lines.
Read my full CNN OpEd here