WATCH: Ukrainian F-16 jet shooting down a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile at low altitude, likely using an AIM-9 Sidewinder.

Russia bans Armenian fruit exports; Pashinyan promises farmer compensation.

Russia’s Rosselkhoznadzor has expanded import bans on Armenian agricultural products to now include stone fruits (apricots, peaches, plums, cherries) and grapes — hitting right at harvest season.

Earlier bans this month already blocked tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and strawberries.

Russia officially cites phytosanitary violations, but the timing is widely seen as political pressure.

Armenia has been drifting toward the West and away from Russian-led alliances like the CSTO. Parliamentary elections are June 7, with Pashinyan seeking a third term.

Since ~90% of Armenian fresh produce exports go to Russia, the impact is severe with few quick alternatives.

Pashinyan has promised government compensation to affected farmers.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya command (the IRGC’s wartime HQ) declared that resumption of direct hostilities is inevitable and that Iran “will not surrender”.

They woved operations will continue until Israel and the US “surrender and express complete regret,” with threats of even more “destructive and extensive operations.”

Kremlin:

War could end “by end of day” if Zelensky orders Ukrainian troops to withdraw from Russian regions.

Former Israeli intelligence chief Tamir Hayman says Turkish President Erdogan convinced Trump to scrap a Kurdish-led operation that was intended to serve as the opening move in a wider U.S.-Israeli plan against Iran.

Israel inaugurates its embassy in Fiji with traditional dancing.

Israeli Channel 12:

A source in the Israeli PM's team says reports about Trump personally warning Netanyahu about prison or saying he is hated worldwide are false.

The call was tense and focused on both leaders' complaints about each other's social media posts after their previous conversation.

Trump felt Netanyahu's post implied the war was continuing at full intensity, while Netanyahu felt Trump's post suggested Israel had agreed to a ceasefire on all fronts.

Trump did say it is becoming harder to defend Israel's position internationally.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz:

Within Lebanon, there is no ceasefire, and the IDF continues its activities against Hezbollah.

Germany's Chancellor Merz:

We want to make Germany an affordable place to do business again.

We have a problem with price competitiveness in Germany.

Even if not everyone likes to hear it, Germany has become too expensive.

In many areas, we are no longer competitive because we can no longer keep up on price with the regions of the world that compete with us.

Germany's Chancellor Merz:

There is no reason for pessimism or doom-and-gloom about our country's future.

Germany’s best years are not behind us; very good years are ahead of us—in East Germany, in West Germany, in Germany as a whole, and in Europe.

Germany's Chancellor Merz:

People tell me: "Why don't you work together with the AfD? They agree with you on many issues. You would have a majority in the German Bundestag."

I will not do that. And there is a very simple reason. This party wants to take Germany back to the time before Adenauer.

With Adenauer, we left the age of nationalism behind us in Germany. And I will not lead the Federal Republic of Germany—and I will not lead my party—back behind the era of Adenauer.

Germany's Chancellor Merz:

We are 450 million consumers in the European Union.

The European Union has 100 million more consumers than the United States of America. We must not make ourselves smaller than we are.

A Chinese technical briefing slide claims the PL-16 next-generation air-to-air missile will reach 300+ km range using a variable-thrust rocket motor.

It also features an AESA radar seeker and two-way data link.

For comparison: PL-15 domestic ~200km, US AIM-120D ~180km.

Hackers took over high-profile Instagram accounts — including the Obama White House account, a Space Force general, and Sephora — by simply asking Meta's AI support chatbot to change the email address on the target account.

The bot complied.

Meta had rolled out AI support with account recovery powers to all users in March, billing it as "solutions, not just suggestions."

Source: 404 Media

Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes, in a new interview, confirms the US was prepared to go to war for the Baltic states in 2014, but not for Ukraine.

"We were worried they were going to do a little green men play in the Baltic states. We would have sent troops. That was the message of the speech."

On Crimea, he says the White House was caught completely off guard:

"The briefing is: the Russians had taken Crimea. It's happened. We did not have advanced warning."

On Ukraine never being Obama's red line:

"Ukraine was not that line."

Putin exploited it — and Rhodes admits Obama's later decision not to arm Ukraine after Donbas was also a mistake he personally disagreed with.

Source: LRT

Polish opposition politician Krzysztof Bosak (Konfederacja) is demanding Ukraine's EU accession be blocked and Polish Starlink funding halted after Zelensky named a Ukrainian special forces unit after UPA fighters — the militia responsible for the Volhynia massacre of tens of thousands of Polish civilians in 1943-45.

Bosak called it a deliberate insult while Poland continues financing Ukraine's war effort.

Separately, Poland is backing EU-level discussions to restrict temporary protection benefits for conscription-age Ukrainian men abroad, though full deportations remain legally blocked under EU rules.

Major Polish benefit reductions for Ukrainian refugees already took effect in March 2026.

Hungary's PM Péter Magyar:

Viktor Orbán lied to the Hungarian people for years — that the EU was Hungary's enemy, that Hungary's job was to stop Brussels.

In reality, Orbán did not stop Brussels.

He stopped Hungary's development — successfully, for long years.

John Bolton:

Iran believes it can outlast Trump — that it has more patience than he does because he's so desperate to get the price of oil down.