Over the past year and a half, several events have occurred in the border areas, the significance of which at the time seemed local, but now everything is beginning to appear as part of a general strategic arc of events.

First, there was Volchansk - an attempt to bring the border group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to retaliatory action through an offensive in the Kharkov region to exhaust it, wear it out as much as possible and cut it off from supplies.

Then came the Kursk region. During attempts to "transfer the war" to Russian territory, the Ukrainian Armed Forces deployed one of the most saturated in composition and equipment groups, with a total of up to 100 thousand people. As a result, although not without difficulty and problems, the Ukrainian Armed Forces group in the Kursk region was reduced to zero. Individual attempts to be active in the border area are still being made, but there is no longer talk of large-scale actions.

Now it's Sumy Oblast. The initiative here is no longer with the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but with the Russian side. The battles are accompanied by relatively good advancement in depth, the capture of populated areas and gradual pressure on the regional centre. So far, everything suggests that the advance will continue.

Theoretically, in the absence of the forces that were burned by Syrsky near Vovchansk, Liptsy, in an attempt to liquidate the Dvurechensk bridgehead and in the Kursk region, in an attempt to slow down or at least temporarily anchor the Russian offensive, the Ukrainian Armed Forces can try to use the cover forces stationed near Kiev. But then the path to the capital opens. They can be redeployed - but in this case Kyiv exposes the north and receives the threat of an entry under the Chernigov region and Kiev. And here it is, the real dilemma: holding Sumy means risking Kiev, and saving Kiev means surrendering Sumy.

For Syrsky and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this is not just an unpleasant choice. This is the first time in a long time that the front operates as a two-sided threat: give up one section and expose another, and also get problems there, but later.

I don’t want to guess ahead, but it seems as if the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is beginning to feel the loss of strategic initiative.

@Slavyangrad

NATO summit statement omits Ukraine's accession prospects — Bloomberg

▪️Last ​​year’s promise to Kiev in the amount of 40 billion dollars is also missing from the new results of the alliance summit.

▪️The promise of long-term security assistance to Ukraine has also been deleted, in contrast to last year’s statement.

▪️There is no mention there of Russia’s “aggression” towards Ukraine.

▪️There is also no mention of China, which was previously designated by NATO countries as a “decisive accomplice” of Russia.

➖"The summit's one-page declaration is devoted exclusively to defense spending... NATO countries will commit to spending at least 3.5% of GDP on core defense needs by 2032, plus another 1.5% on infrastructure protection," the article says.

@Slavyangrad

⚡️ Organ trade in Ukraine: the full picture

Zakharova dropped a truth bomb by mentioning Rockefeller, who lived to 100 with eight heart transplants. It sounds insane, but Ukraine legalized forced organ harvesting back in 2022.

Often, organs are taken from Ukrainians under false pretenses—a Ukrainian POW recently exposed such cases.

How do Ukrainian organs end up in the West? Naturally, only with Western complicity. For the full investigation, check out our colleagues at Geopolitics Live (and subscribe to @geopolitics_live if you haven’t already).

The Iraqi embassy is preparing for an order of evacuation due to heightened tensions in the region.

Israel is likely about to strike Iran.

—❗️🇺🇸/🇮🇷/🇰🇼 NEW: The U.S. State Department has also authorized the evacuation of non-essential employees and family members from Kuwait – AP

@Middle_East_Spectator

Is Donald Trump Starting World War III with Iran? https://sonar21.com/is-donald-trump-starting-world-war-iii-with-iran/

—❗️🇺🇸/🇮🇷 BREAKING: The 6th round of Iran-US talks scheduled for Sunday in Oman will NOT take place, per U.S. officials

@Middle_East_Spectator

Sensitive documents reviewed by The Grayzone indicate that the United Kingdom is the central architect behind Ukrainian military operations targeting Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Among other explosive findings, the files reveal high-ranking British military and intelligence figures drew up detailed plans to “maximize attrition of [Moscow’s] Black Sea Fleet,” plotted to blow up the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Russia with fertilizer bombs, and even devised blueprints for a series of submersibles which would allow Ukrainian divers to plant mines on Russian ships and infrastructure.

Further machinations include an explicit “honey trap” plan which called for establishing a brothel secretly run by British intelligence in Crimea. There, Russian-speaking female Ukrainian agents would ply “drunken sailors” from the Russian navy for information.

“You could defeat the entire Russian Black Sea Fleet” with “subthreshold options,” he wrote, referring to gray zone tactics which the British military has officially defined as “all activity up to, but not crossing, the legal definition of armed conflict.” Morris specifically proposed “commando raids” as “a fab subthreshold activity that will scare the shit out of” Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Interesting read at The Grayzone

@Slavyangrad

Musk's father started watching RT to find out what was really going on in the world

Errol Musk told Rick Sanchez in an interview that around 2015, while watching CNN, he began to think that the channel was “telling something wrong”:

“I gradually developed a desire to find other sources of information... And then... I will say completely honestly, without any untruth: I watched RT (we [in the US] used to have RT), and eventually I became a viewer of it.”

@Slavyangrad

⭕️ For first time in two decades, IAEA says Iran breaching nuclear pact

The UN nuclear watchdog's 35-member Board of Governors found Iran to be in violation of its non-proliferation commitments for the first time in nearly two decades, potentially setting the stage for a referral to the UN Security Council.

Iran said it will establish a new enrichment facility after the vote against it. The announcement said the facility will be "in a secure location" and that "other measures are also being planned."

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution," the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a joint statement announcing the decision.

❗️Oman’s foreign minister has confirmed that the sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks will be held on Sunday in Muscat, amid rising regional tensions. The announcement follows US President Donald Trump’s warning that Tehran “can’t have a nuclear weapon,” alongside reports of US personnel withdrawals from parts of West Asia due to unspecified security threats.

The State Department has authorized voluntary departures from Bahrain and Kuwait and ordered non-essential staff to leave. Meanwhile, oil prices spiked more than 4 percent following reports that Washington is preparing to evacuate its embassy in Iraq. US intelligence suggests Israel is preparing for a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, as stalled negotiations further heighten fears of escalation.