🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 Here's a closer up view of the approximate situation in Konstantinovka right now.

The locations of heaviest fighting are marked in green, the two remaining roads leading out of the city are marked in yellow, and new Russian DRG activity is marked in pink.

I think we can expect a full Ukrainian withdrawal to the northwestern suburbs over the next two weeks, where they will presumably make a final stand in the Battle of Konstantinovka.

🔗 AMK Mapping

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 The Russian gamble in Lyman...

As Ukrainian forces continue their counterattacks north of Lyman, Russia appears to have taken a gamble, concentrating their assault forces near Lyman in a sudden attempt at taking the city, instead of deploying them to slow down the Ukrainian advance on the flanks.

🔗 AMK Mapping

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 Here's a closer-up view of the approximate situation in Lyman, showing the current Russian infiltration routes.

Right now, Russian soldiers are operating within the city centre and most other districts of Lyman, and have established stable control over several blocks in the northern suburbs.

I warned about these increased Russian infiltrations a little over a week ago, and since then the situation for Ukraine has rapidly become critical. We may be witnessing a repeat of Konstantinovka unfold, but it remains unclear as to how much Russia will be able to consolidate in these new areas.

🔗 AMK Mapping

🇺🇦⚔️🇷🇺 Here's a closer-up view of the approximate situation north of Lyman, where Ukrainian forces are continuing their counterattacks aimed at eliminating the Russian bridgehead west of the Nitrius River.

Fierce battles continue for the areas of Zelena Dolyna, Novoe, Lypovoe, Katerynovka, Shandrygolovo, Ridkodub, and Novomykhailovka. Because of these recent advances, this Russian bridgehead is now at serious risk of being cut off, especially considering that Russia is concentrating most of its assault forces to capture Lyman itself.

However, if Lyman falls before Ukraine can cut off the bridgehead, Russia may be able to advance north to rear of the Ukrainian forces who are attacking the salient from the south, in order to secure the bridgehead.

This is why I call it the "Russian gamble in Lyman".

🔗 AMK Mapping

🇺🇸🇱🇾⚡️ — The Trump administration is pursuing a U.S.-backed power-sharing arrangement aimed at reunifying Libya’s rival eastern and western administrations while boosting foreign investment in the country’s energy sector, according to FT.

The plan seeks to establish a unified government and consolidate Libya’s fragmented institutions. Washington is also encouraging American energy companies to expand their presence in Libya, with officials projecting that oil production could potentially double to 3 million barrels per day by the end of the decade.

The proposed framework would place Saddam Haftar, son of eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar, at the head of an executive presidential council, while Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh would remain prime minister in western Libya.

Supporters argue the plan could complement UN-led political efforts and help stabilize the country after years of division, while critics question whether the rival factions are willing to share power and warn that deep mistrust between the two camps could undermine any agreement.

Recent progress cited by U.S. officials includes a joint national budget, development funding agreements between east and west, and participation by both sides in U.S.-led military exercises.

🇺🇸❌🇮🇱 Israeli Channel 13 claims that the reason why the MoU between the U.S. and Iran wasn't made public is because the White House wants this deal to be kept away from Israeli officials and the Jewish lobby who would mount a massive media campaign against president Trump for agreeing to it in the first place

Israel fears that it will be forced after Friday's signing ceremony to withdraw from the "security zones" in Lebanon. The IDF is almost unanimously opposed to returning to the UNDOF 2000 "Blue Line" border between Lebanon and Israel.

@CIG_telegram

🇺🇸🕊🇮🇷 Bloomberg claims to have gotten a copy of the MoU that will be signed on Friday by the U.S. and Iran in Switzerland

1. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States, together with their allies in the current war, declare upon the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding an immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, and undertake that from now on they will not launch any hostile action against each other, and will refrain from the threat or use of force against each other. The final agreement will confirm the provisions of this Article and the remaining Articles.

2. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs.

3. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States undertake to negotiate and reach a final agreement within a maximum period of 60 days, extendable by mutual consent.

4. Immediately upon the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, the United States Lift the naval blockade and prevent any interference or obstruction against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and restore traffic within a maximum of 30 days to its full capacity; the traffic of ships shall be proportional to the pre-war volume of traffic on the part of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States also undertakes to withdraw its forces from the surrounding areas within 30 days after the final agreement.

5. Upon signing this Memorandum of Understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately take steps to ensure that the movement of merchant ships from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of ​​Oman and vice versa is resumed within 30 days to the pre-war volume, taking into account the need for the removal of technical obstacles and the neutralization of mines by Iran.

6. The United States undertakes, together with its regional partners, to create a comprehensive plan agreed upon by both parties for the rehabilitation and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran, While ensuring financing of at least $300 billion. The implementation mechanism of this plan, as part of the final agreement, will be formulated within 60 days.

7. The United States commits to ending, on a schedule to be agreed upon as part of the final agreement, all types of sanctions currently facing the Islamic Republic of Iran, including resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and all unilateral U.S. sanctions, both primary and secondary.

8. The Islamic Republic of Iran reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States have agreed that the fate of enriched material and the fate of all other mutually agreed nuclear-related issues, including Iran’s nuclear needs, will be adequately addressed in a final agreement; the final agreement will confirm the provisions of this Article.

9. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States agree that, pending a final agreement, they will maintain the status quo: Iran will maintain the status quo on its nuclear program, and the United States will not impose new sanctions on Iran or strengthen its forces in the region.

10. The United States undertakes that immediately after the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, and until the date of the lifting of sanctions, the United States Treasury Department will issue waivers for exports of Iranian crude oil, petrochemical products and their derivatives, and all related services, including banking, insurance, transportation, and the like.

11. The United States undertakes that, in light of the progress of negotiations towards a final agreement, frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be released and made fully available. These funds, whether held in the master account or transferred, will be used for any final beneficiary payment determined by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and will be fully available for use. The United States undertakes to issue all necessary permits and licenses on this basis.

12. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States agree that an implementation mechanism will be established to oversee the successful implementation of and future commitment to the Final Agreement.

13. Following the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, and upon receipt of assurances regarding the commencement of implementation of Articles 4, 5, 10, and 11 of this Memorandum of Understanding, and the continued implementation of these steps, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States will enter into negotiations for a Final Agreement solely with respect to the remaining Articles.

14. The final agreement will be approved through a binding resolution of the UN Security Council.

🔗 Bloomberg

📱 Pentagon used Elon Musk’s Grok AI to fire 2,000 missiles at Iran, official says

Donald Trump’s administration turned to Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot to launch thousands of missiles in Iran, according to a top defense official.

In a sworn statement defending the trillionaire from a lawsuit alleging xAI data centers are illegally polluting Black communities, the Pentagon’s artificial intelligence chief said the chatbot’s continued operation is “a matter of paramount national security” — and was used to fire more than “2,000 munitions at 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours.”

Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI, is among four AI models “currently capable of supporting national security applications,” according to Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer.

The chatbot is also one of three products “equipped to support mission-critical operations” in top secret settings, Stanley wrote.

The filing appears to be the first explicit admission from an administration official that the government is using Musk’s AI to bomb Iran, joining several other AI systems that have come under intense scrutiny after U.S.-led attacks killed hundreds of civilians, including children.

Outside analysts have suggested that the Pentagon’s AI-driven targeting — in addition to human error that failed to check whether target maps were up to date — may have played a role in the Minab school bombing.

The targets for Operation Epic Fury were identified with the aid of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Maven Smart System, which uses AI to lay out data on a dashboard to support officials in their decision-making.
Those AI products do not explicitly create targets but work within Maven to identify potential points of interest for military intelligence.

In court filings on Monday, the Pentagon said it relies on xAI’s Grok Gov Model, a suite of products designed to work with federal agencies with features “found in no other frontier AI model,” according to Stanley.

The Pentagon would be “severely” impacted by a court ruling that prevents xAI from being “deployed, refined and upgraded” across the Pentagon, according to the Department of Justice.

🔗 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-grok-ai-iran-missiles-pentagon-b2997321.html

📰 Global trust in traditional news outlets has fallen to record lows with respondents citing poor coverage by traditional media outlets of stories related to migrants, economic woes and wars

The research published on Tuesday suggests that public trust worldwide is at 37%, three points down on this time last year. In the UK, it has fallen by five points to 30% - 20 points lower than 10 years ago.

More than half of respondents said they now get their news from third-party platforms like social media and video networks, although a similar number still use news websites and TV news as well. Traditional sources are still more popular in the UK.

"Our data points to a mix of anxiety, disengagement and cynicism from audiences, many of whom don't like the way publishers are covering long-running news stories such as immigration, inflation and international conflict," the institute said.

In the US, trust in news stands at 25%, and is even lower (15%) among politically right-leaning Americans.

Some major news outlets have seen big drops, with trust in both CBS News and Fox News down 10 points from 2025, and CNN falling by six.

Online news video is now mainstream everywhere: 77% globally consume online news video each week, and a majority now watch online news video in every market covered by the report. It's now ahead of broadcast TV news in every market apart from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

The findings are based on an online survey of almost 100,000 people in 48 markets.

🔗 https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2026/dnr-executive-summary

🇮🇱⚔️🇮🇷 Israel preparing for collapse of US-Iran deal, orders military to develop target banks

The Israeli government has instructed its military and security establishment to continue developing target banks and preparing for future escalation, anticipating that the upcoming US-Iran peace agreement will quickly collapse. According to a report by the Israeli newspaper Maariv, officials in Tel Aviv believe the accord is unlikely to endure, despite acknowledging that Israel has not been granted full access to the finalized text.

Israeli Minister Zeev Elkin alleged that Israel was completely excluded from the negotiations and remains uncommitted to the terms. Elkin stated that because Israel is not a party to the negotiations, it could not demand to review the memorandum of understanding, adding that the document holds no binding authority over Israeli actions.

The minister also revealed that international mediators attempted to secure Israeli approval for a complete military withdrawal from Lebanon as part of the broader agreement. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly rejected the proposal outright, even as the deal calls for a halt to Israeli operations.

🔗 The Cradle

🇮🇱📉 The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange index, TASE, has collapsed following the announcement of a US-Iran deal

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange fell sharply on June 15th in a negative response to the US-Iran agreement, which investors see as disadvantageous to Israel. The Tel Aviv 35 Index fell 2.01% to 4,255.89 points, the Tel Aviv 125 Index fell 2.34% to 4,191.81 points; and the BlueTech Global Index fell 1.60% to 689.98 points. The TelBond 60 corporate bond index fell 0.03% to 426.97 points. Turnover totaled NIS 5.83 billion in equities and NIS 5.90 billion in bonds.

From Monday to Wednesday, TASE lost 2 billion in market cap. TASE peaked in May at 17.2 billion shekels in market cap and it is now below 13.9 billion shekels

@CIG_telegram

✡️😡 Ben Shapiro throws a fit over Trump's Iran deal:

"Mohammad Ghalibaf will apparently on Friday be literally in a photo-op with the Vice President—I cannot express to you how stomach turning that is!"

"I don't care who the Vice President is, I don't care who the President is!!"

"If Israel is not a signatory to the agreement … how in the world could you tie Israel's hands when it comes to self-defense?!"

"This is not a popular MOU in Israel!"

🔗 Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews)

🇸🇴🇮🇱 Somaliland's defense minister says there are no discussions with Israel on opening a military base in the country currently

However The Somali Guardian reported on Sunday that Israel had opened an intelligence base in Somaliland and there were discussions over the possible establishment of an Israeli military base.

Earlier today, Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, stated that Israel and Somaliland have cooperated “under the radar” for “many years.”

“For many years, we cooperated under the radar in a series of operations that will remain classified,” Katz said, adding that both sides are now determined to take security ties “to new heights.

🔗 https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2026/06/17/no-talks-to-establish-israeli-military-base-in-somaliland-defense-minister-says