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A satellite view of Vuhledar, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, September 25, 2019. 2024 Planet Labs Inc./

via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY MANDATORY CREDIT.

Russia captures key Ukrainian town

Ukrainian officials acknowledged on Wednesday that Russian forces had taken the hilltop town ofVuhledar in the past few days. There are several reasons why this development matters for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The seizure of this town demonstrates Russia’s determination to exert its advantage over Ukrainian forces in both manpower and firepower. Russian troops tried and failed to take this town at least four times over the past two and a half years, at a great cost to Russian lives.

It also demonstrates that Russian commanders and fighters are learning as they go. Instead of trying to take the town head-on, as they’ve done multiple times here and elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, the Russians first took smaller towns to the east and west before moving on Vuhledar from both sides. Thisflanking maneuver helped make the retreat from the town by Ukrainian forces more chaotic and bloodier than past troop withdrawals. Russians are trying similar approaches in other target areas.

Vuhledar is astrategically important town in Donetsk province in Ukraine’s Donbas region because it stands close to a rail line that links Russian-occupied Crimea with the eastern Donbas region.

Finally, the loss of this town brings Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, a step closer to tough choices about where to continue the fight in this region and where to concede. But it also gives him another argument to make with Ukraine’s Western allies in his bid to win more military and financial support.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi speaks at a meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Park Jin, in Busan, South Korea, on Nov. 26, 2023.

Kyodo via Reuters Connect

Hard Numbers: Ukraine and China talk Russia, France prepares for terrorist attempts at Olympics, New Zealand abuse scandal, Hunger expected to spike in Africa

12: Ukraine’s top diplomatmet with China’s foreign minister on Wednesday, signaling that China would like to play a more central role in finding a diplomatic end to the conflict. The talk comes after China’s previous attempt to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, a 12-point plan put forward in 2023, wasquickly dismissed by European leaders for being pro-Russia.

1,000: Ahead of Israel’s opening football match against Mali at the Olympic Games on Wednesday night, around1,000 French police officers formed an “anti-terror perimeter.” The game, along with a match between Ukraine and Iraq, have both been given the designation of high-risk because of their connections to global conflicts.

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Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau arrives to the venue on the last day of the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain on June 30, 2022.

Jakub Porzycki via Reuters Connect

NATO goes all-in on Ukraine, Canada gets a slap on the wrist

At the NATO meeting in Washington this week, President Joe Biden announced a new air defense commitment for Ukraine that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is also in town, has long wanted. Ukraine’s defense against Russia is a central topic on the occasion of the alliance’s 75th anniversary as Putin steps up the Russian war effort.

Despite its own military aid and commitments to Ukraine, which run into the billions, Canada has been getting plenty of attention for its lack of spending. US officials criticize PM Justin Trudeau’s government for failing to meet NATO’s defense-spending target of 2% of GDP – it hit just the 1.38% GDP mark last year.

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Handout photo shows Left to right: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Ukraine) with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Vilnius. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to the NATO Summit on Wednesday July 12, 2023, ahead of the inaugural meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Photo by NATO via ABACAPRESS.COM

Ukraine gets a NATO promise, sort of

NATO allies will reportedly announce today that Ukraine’s progress towards joining the organization is “irreversible.” The language will appear in the joint communiqué released by the alliance to conclude its three-day summit in Washington.

But when, precisely, that irreversible momentum will culminate in a NATO membership card for Kyiv is still no clearer now than it was three days ago.

Reports suggest that the allies spent hours hashing out how explicit to make any conditions in the text, but there seem to be two main hurdles: ending the war with Russia, and getting Ukraine’s governing and military institutions up to NATO-level snuff.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sit in a F-16 fighter jet at Skrydstrup Airbase in Vojens, Denmark, August 20, 2023.

Ritzau Scanpix/Mads Claus Rasmussen via REUTERS

Hard Numbers: Ukraine finally getting F-16s, Hooliganism ahead of Euro semifinal, Snake smuggling in China, Rwanda says no refund to the UK

60: NATO countries have started transferring US-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, the White House announced on Wednesday. Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium have pledged to provide roughly 60 of the fighter jets to Ukraine amid its war with Russia. Kyiv has been pushing for NATO countries to provide F-16s for well over a year. This first batch is being donated by the Dutch and Danish, though it’s unclear precisely how many are being sent at this time.

5: Hooliganism continues to plague the beautiful game … At least five people were injured in Dortmund, Germany, in clashes between Dutch and English football (soccer) fans ahead of the Euro 2024 semifinal between the two countries on Wednesday. Some of the violence was reportedly linked to Dutch fans attacking English fans in bars and attempting to steal flags.

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi walk during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence near Moscow, Russia July 8, 2024.

Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS

Indian PM Narendra Modi: a “bleeding heart” in Moscow

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to take a swipe at Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, even if only a subtle one.

Just moments after the Russian president welcomed him to the Kremlin, Modi lamented that his “heart bleeds” whenever children are killed in war.

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How Ukraine's EU membership would change Europe
EU accession talks with Ukraine will have a long-term impact on war | Europe In :60

How Ukraine's EU membership would change Europe

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm.

To which extent is the betting scandal overshadowing everything else in the last week of the UK election campaign?

Well, I mean, the Conservative Party has been the one thing after the others. They never really got traction for any of their attempts to have a, from them, positive message in this particular campaign. So it's downhill. I think to be quite honest, the election campaign is now only about the size of the catastrophic defeat for the Conservative Party. And then, of course, the Labor Party is surviving with very high figures without much clarity on exactly what the policies are going to be for the incoming Labor government.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, on the first day of the G7 summit at the Borgo Egnazia resort, in Savelletri, Italy, June 13, 2024.

REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki

G7 meeting: Ukraine and Meloni take center stage

Leaders from the G7 countries met Thursday in Italy’s Puglia region, where the future of Ukraine aid was high on the agenda

Who’s there? The meetings are hosted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is at the height of her political power after European Parliamentary elections last weekend. She stands in contrast to other G7 leaders from Canada, the US, the UK, Japan, and Germany, all of whom are on shakier ground domestically.

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