"In his address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Pope Francis' calls for Kiev to enter peace negotiations with Russia to end the war. Zelensky didn't mention Francis by name, but he clearly took shots at the leader of the world's Catholics. "They support us with prayer, with their discussion and with deeds," the Ukraine president said. "This is indeed what a church with the people is."
"Not 2,500km away, somewhere, virtual mediation between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you," he continued with the dig. European media described Zelensky's comments as a sharp rejection of the call for negotiations. Ukraine officials have taken particular offense at Pope Francis essentially declaring that Ukraine's military has been defeated by Russia. But it was Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, who had the fiercest condemnation. He said there will be no "peace talking with Hitler". He continued: “If we want to finish [the] war, we have to do everything to kill [the] dragon.” ZH
"Poland’s Foreign Minister, returned after a ten-year spell in opposition, has said NATO soldiers are already in Ukraine, thanking alliance member states so deployed for taking “this risk”, the latest comments in a growing European conversation on boots on the ground for Kyiv.
Radosław Sikorski, speaking in the Polish Parliamen during an event marking the 25th anniversary of Poland signing the NATO treaty, declared with certainty there are already troops from the alliance stationed in neighboring Ukraine." Breitbart
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back at Biden after the US president issued a "red line" warning against a military ground attack on the refugee-packed city of Rafah in Gaza's south. Starting Sunday Netanyahu responded by vowing to press forward with the planned offensive on Rafah, believed to be imminent, when asked about the Biden red line statement. "We'll go there. We're not going to leave them. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn't happen again. Never happens again." ZH
"It was confirmed on the 8th that North Korea attempted to jam Global Positioning System (GPS) signals in response to the regular US-South Korea joint training Freedom Shield (FS). The Joint Chiefs of Staff detected several GPS jamming signals fired by North Korea towards the Five West Sea Islands from noon on the 5th to the 7th. However, it was reported that no significant damage occurred as the output of the GPS jamming signal launched this time was weak." VG
"The latest cyberattack to hit France follows a warning from Attal's defense adviser just last week that the Olympics games in July and European Parliament elections in June could be "significant targets".
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's office said several state bodies were targeted but did not provide details.
"Many ministerial services were targeted" from Sunday "using familiar technical means but of unprecedented intensity," Attal's office said." France24
"Britain’s HMS Queen Elizabeth has caught fire while docked in Scotland to unload ammunition prior to having its propeller shaft repaired. The propeller issue had caused the £3 billion ($3.85 billion) warship to miss NATO’s largest exercise in decades last month.
The blaze broke out while the carrier was docked at Glenmallan...The HMS Queen Elizabeth was unloading ammunition at the time of the incident. From there, it is due to head to the port of Rosyth to undergo repairs to its starboard propeller shaft coupling." RT
"The Russian military has repelled a largescale Ukrainian incursion into BelgorodRegion....The purported attack, said to have taken place on Sunday and involving tanks and artillery, targeted the region’s Grayvoronsky District on the border with Ukraine....It was carried out by the Artan special forces unit of the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR)....Kiev’s troops were hit by artillery, aviation and drones as soon as they began assembling into battle formation....Russian forces used weapons including Lancet loitering munitions and FAB guided aviation bombs to repel the incursion." RT
"In the past 24 hours, 64 combat engagements took place on the battlefield in Ukraine. At the same time, the Ukrainian Air Force struck 10 enemy concentration areas. The Russian invaders carried out 4 missile attacks and 88 air strikes, as well as 96 MLRS attacks on the positions of the Defense Forces of Ukraine and populated areas. As a result of Russian terrorist attacks, unfortunately, there are dead and wounded among the civilian population. Private residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were destroyed and damaged. More than 150 settlements in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions came under enemy artillery fire. In the Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna sectors, the enemy maintains a military presence in the border areas, conducts sabotage activities to prevent the deployment of Ukrainian troops to the threatened areas, and increases the density of minefields along the state border in the Belgorod region.
In the Kupiansk sector, the enemy did not conduct any offensive (assault) actions.
In the Lyman sector, the Ukrainian forces repelled eight enemy attacks in the vicinity of Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region; Terny, Yampolivka, Spirne, and Rozdolivka in the Donetsk region.
In the Bakhmut sector, the Ukrainian defense forces repelled five enemy attacks near Klishchiivka, Andriivka, and east of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region.
In the Avdiivka sector, the Ukrainian defenders repelled 17 enemy attacks in the areas of Berdychi, Orlivka, Tonenke, Pervomaiske, and Nevelske in the Donetsk region.
In the Novopavlivka sector, the Ukrainian defense forces continue to hold back the enemy in the areas of Krasnohorivka, Heorhiivka, Novomykhailivka, and Urozhaine in the Donetsk region, where the enemy, with the support of aircraft, attempted to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops 25 times.
In the Orikhiv sector, three enemy attacks were repelled in the areas south of Novodarivka and northwest of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region.
In the Kherson sector, the Defense Forces continue to hold their positions. Over the past day, the enemy made four unsuccessful assault attacks." Ukrin
