Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has arrived in Kiev for the first time since 2022 when the Ukrainian crisis escalated, his press secretary Bertalan Havasi told national news agency MTI.

He noted that Orban intends to discuss here “the possibility of establishing peace” and bilateral relations.

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🎥 Watch how Russian Mi-28NM attack helicopter demolished an enemy temporary deployment point with an X-39 LMUR missile.

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◾️Iran will support Lebanon ‘with all means’ if Israel launches offensive against Hezbollah, adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei said

◾️Russian forces carry out a group missile strike on Ukraine’s Mirgorod airfield using Iskander-M system

◾️Hungary’s PM Orban arrives in Ukraine for the first time since 2022

◾️How likely is Ukraine to face a default in August?

◾️IDF shares footage showing destruction of the largest long-range missile manufacturing facility in Gaza

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North Korea performs successful test-launch of new Hwasongpho-11Da-4.5 tactical ballistic missile

"The test-fire was conducted with a missile tipped with a simulated heavy warhead to verify flight stability and hit accuracy at the maximum range of 500 kilometres [310 miles] and the minimum range of 90 kilometres," the statement read.

The launch took place on Monday, the Voice of Korea broadcaster reported.

The Hwasongpho-11Da-4.5 is a tactical ballistic missile with the capability to carry a super-large warhead weighing 4.5 tons. According to the Korean broadcaster, the test launch of this missile was conducted as part of the routine activities of Pyongyang's Missile Administration and its affiliated defense science centers.

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Why has Australian PM declined to attend upcoming NATO summit?

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has decided not to travel to Washington to attend the NATO summit scheduled for July 9-11, and Defense Minister Richard Marles will make the trip instead, Australian media reported.

An Australian government source told the Sydney Morning Herald that the decision was made after Albanese failed to confirm a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden ahead of the summit. As a result, Albanese's office advised the prime minister not to travel to the summit as it could invite further criticism, the source said.

Albanese had been expected to meet his counterparts from Japan, South Korea and New Zealand as members of the so-called Indo-Pacific Quartet at the summit, which marks NATO's 75th anniversary.

Australia is a NATO partner. The invitation to attend this year's summit was sent by the alliance's outgoing secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.

Albanese's presence at two previous summits, in Madrid in 2022 and Vilnius in 2023, drew sharp criticism from Beijing, as well as from former Prime Minister Paul Keating and former foreign minister Bob Carr. They argued that the US and European countries should not interfere in the affairs of Indo-Pacific countries.

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France hurtling towards ‘uncontrollable situation’ regardless of elections outcome

France today “no longer has the means for its policy,” and the results of the parliamentary elections cannot change that, Emmanuel Leroy, president of the Institut 1717, for a new Franco-Russian alliance, told Sputnik.

He underscored that quite possibly next Sunday, Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally (RN) will not obtain an absolute majority required to govern in the country, creating “an objectively uncontrollable situation.”

“The country will be in a state of incapacity to be governed in a valid manner, and we will probably observe a crisis situation which will bring France completely to its knees on the international political level,” speculated the French political scientist.

“Emmanuel Macron's bet today is to play on the victory of this party [RN] in such a way as to create a situation of political chaos in France,” suggested Leroy.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has already stated that Macron's centrist coalition will pull out around 60 of its candidates to allow other contenders to have a chance to defeat the RN. But this could be nothing more than a “window dressing,” said Leroy.

The analyst noted that whether France switches to a right-wing or left-wing policy, this “wouldn’t change the fundamentals.”

And these fundamentals are that the France of Emmanuel Macron, which has been “at the forefront in the desire to completely engage in this war in Ukraine to help the regime [led] by Zelensky,” is in phenomenal debt. “I remind you that France has an official public debt of 3,000 billion euros, and that this sum is absolutely non-repayable,” the former Russia adviser to Marine Le Pen stressed.

According to Leroy, by potentially allowing Jordan Bardella to head the French government, Macron could be setting the president of the National Rally up for the role of a fall guy.

If and when France finds itself in a financial crisis “comparable to the one that Greece experienced a few years ago,” Macron could shift the blame, and the responsibility on to the National Rally,” the analyst suggested.

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More than 180 candidates running in France’s parliamentary race refused to take part in the run-off in order to prevent the 'National Rally' party from winning

◾️After the first round, Macron and the leftists wasted no time in declaring their intention to oppose Le Pen's party. They called on those who came in third to withdraw from the run-off. Their strategy involved encouraging voters to support the main competitors of the 'National Rally'.

◾️According to Le Monde, 121 candidates from the leftists, 60 from the president’s coalition, and several contenders from other parties refused to continue running in the election race.

◾️The 'National Rally' leader Jordan Bardella has already condemned such tactics and slammed these moves as 'dishonest and unnatural'.

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"The world will tremble" after the escalation that Belarus is being dragged into, President Alexander Lukashenko says.

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❗️Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov has approved the schedule for constructing the new Russian space station. It should be completed in 2033.

Contracts have also been signed for the building of the station itself, along with a new spacecraft, launched by the Angara-class rocket to carry cosmonauts and supplies to the station from the Vostochny cosmodrome.

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🎥 Yemeni Houthis have released a video promising to sink the aircraft carrie, USS Theodore Roosevelt, once its arrives in Red Sea waters.

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❗️ Nine Ukrainian aircraft were hit in 24 hours, the Russian Ministry of Defense says — following reports that the Netherlands will soon transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

Five operational Su-27s and two more that were under repair were destroyed at the Ukraine's Mirgorod airfield by Iskander ballistic missiles, the ministry said earlier.

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Here are the latest statements by Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

🔸Putin and Modi will discuss regional and global security issues, as well as trade and economic cooperation;

🔸The Kremlin does not expect anything from Orban’s visit to Kiev;

🔸During Orban's visit to Kiev, the responsibilities for Brussels' interests will take precedence, due to Hungary's Presidency of the EU Council.

🔸Peskov declined to comment on Trump's remarks regarding the potential resolution of the Ukrainian crisis.

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'It has been practically studied, there are no secrets left for us'

Russian experts have fully studied the ATACMS missile fuze, which consists of many components and mechanisms.

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Foreign-made equipment destroyed, hit or intercepted by the Russian armed forces over the past 24 hours:

▪️ Bayraktar TB2 UAV (Turkish-made)
▪️ Three M198 155 mm howitzers (US-made)
▪️ One FH70 155 mm howitzer (British-made)
▪️ One L119 105 mm howitzer (British-made)
▪️ One M777 155 mm howitzer (US-made)
▪️ One Panzerhaubitze-2000 155 mm self-propelled howitzer (German-made)
▪️ Two AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radars (US-made)
▪️ Six "Storm Shadow" cruise missiles (British-made)
▪️ One "Hammer" guided aerial bomb (French-made)
▪️ One HIMARS missile (US-made)

More from the Russian MoD briefing:

🔸 The Armed Forces of Ukraine lost 1800 servicemen in the last 24 hours.

🔸 Russian air defenses shot down 81 UAVs in 24 hours.

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🎥 Criminals used to smuggle cigarettes from Ukraine, but now they traffic Ukrainians themselves — it's more profitable.

A minibus with hiding places seized by the Ukrainian border service was earlier typically used for smuggling cigarettes. Now it's used to smuggle draft dodgers as well.

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Hungarian PM Victor Orban's statements after meeting with Zelensky in Kiev:

◾️ Orban said he asked Zelensky to consider any opportunity for a ceasefire before peace talks and thinks it could speed up negotiations;

◾️ Hungary is ready to help with the modernization of Ukraine's economy;

◾️ The issue of peace in Ukraine will be the main one during the next 6 months of the Hungarian EU Presidency.

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