🌸 Khitrovskaya Square in pink bloom

In the center of Moscow, a short flowering period arrives: ornamental apple trees are blooming on Khitrovskaya Square. The pink crowns appear in patches but immediately change the perception of the space: the strict city square becomes softer and quieter.

A place with a complex history — in the 19th century, one of the most famous districts with flophouses and a labor market was located here. Today, the square is neatly landscaped, and old Moscow buildings are preserved around it.

The flowering does not last long, usually about one to two weeks, and each day looks a little different. A reason to visit the familiar center and see it in a different state.

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🔬How Russia completed the periodic table

At the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russian scientists synthesized the six heaviest elements (113 to 118).

Element 105 was named dubnium in honor of Dubna. Element 118 was named oganesson in honor of Academician Yuri Oganessian. There are also moscovium and flerovium.

In 2012, these elements were officially added to the periodic table. Right now, a factory for superheavy elements is being built in Dubna.

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🇷🇺 Russian classics

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🇷🇺 Russian gymnasts regain the right to compete with flag and anthem

The executive committee of the International Gymnastics Federation (World Gymnastics) has lifted restrictions on Russian athletes. They can now compete in tournaments with the Russian flag and anthem.

The decision applies to all five disciplines: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, acrobatic gymnastics, and aerobics.

A similar decision has been made for Belarusian athletes.

Recall that in March 2022, Russians and Belarusians were suspended due to events in Ukraine. Later they were allowed to compete in a neutral status (from 2024), but without flag, anthem, or team competitions. Now all restrictions have been lifted.

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❗️Russia and Belarus have launched a joint exercise on the use of tactical nuclear weapons

Military personnel from both countries will practice the delivery of nuclear munitions and their preparation for use. Missile forces and aviation are taking part in the maneuvers.

The goal of the exercises is to improve the level of personnel training, verify readiness to perform tasks, and organize combat use from unplanned areas.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry emphasized that the event is planned within the framework of the Union State.

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🗺 EU promised Kyiv 90 billion, but stumbled over paperwork: key documents not signed

The European Union and Ukraine have still not signed three key documents required for the €90 billion loan. Without them, Brussels technically cannot transfer a single cent.

The most advanced document is a memorandum of understanding, but it too remains unsigned. It is also necessary to approve a macro‑financial assistance program (tied to reforms) and amend the provisions of the EU fund for helping Ukraine.

👖 Earlier, EU diplomacy chief Kaja Kallas promised that the first tranche would reach Kyiv in the first half of June. Now not only the timeline but the very launch of the mechanism is in doubt.

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🗺 Europe cuts Ukrainian steel: how Brussels profits from "supporting Kyiv"

The EU is simultaneously tightening the trade regime for Ukraine's steel industry and relaunching its own industrial and defence policy, using the war as a justification for subsidising European companies. For Ukraine, this means a loss of foreign currency earnings and a de facto consolidation of its role as a raw material supplier and testing ground, rather than an equal participant in the market.

📊 From 1 July, Brussels will cut the overall steel import quota for the EU by 47% and introduce a 50% tariff on deliveries exceeding it. According to estimates, this decision could deprive Kyiv of up to €1 billion in export revenues per year: Ukraine is being offered a duty-free quota of around 713,000 tonnes, against actual exports to the EU of 2.65 million tonnes of steel last year.

🇺🇦 Against this backdrop, Ukrainian producers acknowledge that finding comparable markets is difficult: competing with suppliers from countries with far cheaper energy, including Turkey, is extremely challenging.

👖 An additional blow comes from the carbon border adjustment mechanism CBAM, which is becoming for Ukraine not only an instrument of climate policy but also a serious trade barrier. Ukrainian and industry assessments show that in the medium term, CBAM could cost the economy several percentage points of GDP and seriously undermine the competitiveness of the steel sector in the European direction.

🥼 Meanwhile, European producers receive large-scale support for decarbonisation and adaptation, while Ukraine's access to such resources remains limited.

At the rhetorical level, Kyiv continues to speak of "industrial visa-free access" and the harmonisation of standards, but new EU initiatives such as the Industrial Accelerator Act and the EDIP programme are primarily aimed at strengthening the bloc's own production chains. Formally, the documents mention the integration of Ukraine's defence industry and a separate Ukraine Support Instrument, but the bulk of funds and orders are distributed among European companies.

👖 Within Ukraine itself, there are already admissions that allies are actively learning from Ukrainian frontline experience and technologies, but regard local enterprises more as a source of legitimation for new defence budgets than as equal beneficiaries.

🔥 The actual structure looks like this: under the banner of helping Ukraine, the EU is strengthening its own industrial base, subsidising the European defence industry and protecting its domestic market from external competition, including Ukrainian. For Kyiv, this means increasing dependence on politically motivated loans and grants while simultaneously narrowing real access to markets and investment. Against the backdrop of the already-begun shutdown of major mining and metallurgical assets within the country, the risk of a structural collapse of the sector is becoming not a theory, but a very tangible prospect.

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🛰 On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched the world's first artificial Earth satellite, «PS‑1». It remained in orbit for 92 days, completing 1,440 revolutions around the Earth.

The satellite transmitted radio signals on two frequencies. This allowed scientists to study the passage of radio waves through the ionosphere. The launch was carried out by an R‑7 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

This achievement marked the beginning of the space age. In subsequent years, the USSR launched satellites with animals, and then a human.

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