Vladimir Putin and RT head Margarita Simonyan in 2022

EA on Times Radio and TVP World: Permission for Ukraine’s Long-Range Strikes on Russia?

Friday’s Coverage: Putin Worries About Long-Range Strikes Inside Russia

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1636 GMT:

At least six civilians have been killed and 25 wounded by Russian attacks in the past 24 hours.

A Russian airstrike on the village of Yampil in the Sumy region in northern Ukraine killed two civilians and injured six, including a 4-year-old child.

Three people were slain and four injured in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

In the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, one person was killed and seven injured. An educational institution, two high-rise buildings, six houses, a bus, and cars were damaged.

UPDATE 1204 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted about the exchange of 103 POWs on each side with Russia.

Zelenskiy said 21 officers and 82 privates and sergeants were released by Russia. They included “defenders of the Kyiv and Donetsk regions, Mariupol and Azovstal, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions”.

An image of the freed Ukrainians:

UPDATE 1056 GMT:

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 103 prisoners of war on each side, the Russian Defense Ministry says.

The Ministry said the Russian troops in the exchange, brokered by the UAE, had been among those captured during Ukraine’s six-week incursion into the Kursk region in western Russia.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that the Kursk operations, with hundreds of Russian troops surrendering, has replenished the “exchange funds” for swaps.

Zelenskiy posted on Friday about the freeing of 49 Ukrainian troops and civilians.

UPDATE 1021 GMT:

Ukraine air defenses downed 72 of 76 Iran-type drones fired by Russia overnight.

The UAVs were intercepted over the Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Dnipro, Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, and Sumy regions. Two others returned to Russian-held territory.

UPDATE 0721 GMT:

After Russia’s killing of three of its staff, the Red Cross has suspended operations from its Dnipro office in south-central Ukraine.

The three humanitarian workers were killed by a Russian strike in the Donetsk region on Thursday as they prepared to distribute food and coal to vulnerable residents near the frontline.

Two others were injured as a truck with humanitarian aid and a car were destroyed.

Three civilians were killed and four wounded in Russian strikes on Donetsk on Friday.

UPDATE 0701 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thanked Finland for its latest commitment of military aid:

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The US has sanctioned the Russian State outlet RT for “functioning like a de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus”.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the new measures following meetings in Ukraine and Poland. They include the blacklisting of three entities and two individuals linked to Rossiya Segodnya, the Russian State media company.

He said the Kremlin established a new unit in RT, formerly known as Russia Today, with “cyber operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence” last year. The objective is to spread Russian influence around the world through “information operations”, covert intervention, and military procurement.

Blinken summarized:

Today, we’re exposing how Russia deploys similar tactics around the world. Russian weaponization of disinformation to subvert and polarize free and open societies extends to every part of the world.

The FBI reported earlier this month that RT had funneled nearly $10 million to hard-right US influencers through the Tennessee-based Tenet Media. The company funded polemicists such as Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson to produce videos seeking to influence the outcome of the US Presidential election.

Blinken said RT is also crowdfunding weapons and equipment for Russian troops in Ukraine, including sniper rifles, weapon sights, body armor, night-vision equipment, drones, radio equipment, and diesel generators.

“While the crowdfunding campaign is out in the open, what’s hidden is that this program is administered by the leaders of RT,” Blinken said, naming RT’s head, propagandist Margarita Simonyan.

RT targeted countries in Europe, Africa, and North and South America to topple leaders whom the Kremlin opposes and promote politicians whom it supports. He referred to the October 2024 elections in Moldova, Ukraine’s neighbor and a target of the Kremlin’s “hybrid war”.

RT is aware of and prepared to assist Russia’s plans to incite protests should the election not result in a Russia-preferred candidate winning the Presidency.

Biden and Starmer Meet in Washington

US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in Washington on Friday.

As expected, the two leaders did not announce the lifting of the ban on Ukraine’s long-range strikes inside Russia.

US and British officials indicated earlier this week that the Biden Administration, after months of hesitation, will permit Kyiv to deploy UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. However, the decision would not be publicized to avoid further antagonism of the Kremlin.

Asked about the Kremlin’s threat of “World War III” if the missiles are used against Russia’s military targets, Biden said, “I do not think much of Vladimir Putin.”

The leaders were joined by Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who conferred with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday.

Starmer said yesterday that talks were not about a decision on the Storm Shadows: “We’ve had a long and productive discussion on a number of problems, including Ukraine, as you’d expect, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific, talking strategically about tactical decisions.”

But Biden said in response to a question about whether he is prepared to let Ukraine fire missiles deeper into Russia, “We’re going to discuss that now.”