“Clutching Her One Decent Meal of the Day.”

Felicity Spector—I have been a television news journalist for 37 years, I live in London, and I’ve been traveling frequently to Ukraine since the summer of 2022. Firstly to support an Odesa-based non-profit called Bake for Ukraine, which does amazing work baking and delivering Ukrainian sourdough bread to people in need and frontline communities.

I also wrote a book last year called * Bread and War*, telling the stories of Ukrainians who work or volunteer in food and are helping their country keep going during war. It’s been an honour to give a platform to their experiences!

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“All of a sudden someone shouted ‘drone!’ and everyone raced back down to the basement”

We were driving fast through Kherson city a few months ago, towards the Dniprovsky district near the river, with a van delivering hot meals to people who had been forced to leave their homes in Antonivka. We passed many burned-out buildings and boarded-up homes, and it was a relief to find the aid distribution place where everything was being organised really efficiently in a safe space underground.

I saw one elderly lady struggling to climb up the steps with a bottle of drinking water and her box of food, and one of the volunteers rushed over to help her. All of a sudden someone shouted ‘drone!’ and everyone raced back down to the basement until they could hear soldiers shooting it down.

I couldn’t imagine the distress of that elderly lady, robbed of her home, clutching her one decent meal of the day, and dodging that kind of lethal threat just to make it back to her accommodation alive. We drove back to Chornobaivka extremely fast, a local volunteer shouting directions from the back seat.

Kherson goes through these nightmares every hour of the day.

I find joy through discovering all the beautiful food in Ukraine, so I always make sure of seeking out something delicious when I can, especially **syrniki **[curd cheese pancakes]. I am lucky to get support from the amazing friends I have made—and also I can’t think straight without good coffee so I always travel with a box of drip packs in my bag.

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They can support Bake for Ukraine by donating directly to my JustGiving or through Bake for Ukraine.

You can order my book at:Waterstones | Duckworthbooks | Blackwells | Amazon

I’m on Instagram and Substack, which is always free to read.

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**Russia’s Energy Fortress Has Open Gates—**Ukraine hasstruckanother Russian refinery, this time in Yaroslavl roughly 700 kilometers from Ukrainian territory, as Kyiv’s campaign against Russia’s war-funding oil system moves from occasional punishment to systematic economic warfare.

Oil revenue funds Moscow’s war on Ukraine, refineries turn crude into usable military and civilian fuel, and repeated strikes force shutdowns, repairs, rerouting, and air-defense dilemmas far from the front. Ukraine has hit 11 Russian oil facilities in May alone, including Kirishi, one of Russia’s largest refineries, while major plants in central Russia have reportedly been forced to halt or reduce output after drone attacks.**Gabbard Leaves—**Tulsi Gabbard isleavingas U.S. director of national intelligence, citing her husband’s cancer diagnosis, with deputy Aaron Lukas set to take over as acting DNI when she exits on 30 June. The personal reason is real, but the timing is interesting: Gabbard has long spread falsehoods about Ukraine, and she built her brand on anti-interventionism—which, Ukraine aside, has not been Trump's approach in the world's hot spots.**Rubio Lands in India—**Marco Rubioarrivedin India for his first visit as secretary of state, with meetings expected to focus on trade, energy, and defense cooperation. The trip comes at a delicate moment for U.S.-India relations: the two countries are still trying to finalize a broader trade agreement, Washington wants to expand energy sales to reduce India’s reliance on Russian oil, and New Delhi is watching U.S. engagement with Pakistan and China closely. Rubio is also expected to meet Quad foreign ministers (United States, Australia, India, and Japan), keeping the Indo-Pacific security format alive at a time when China’s influence remains the main strategic concern for both sides. He also paid a visit to Mother Teresa’s shrine at her Missionaries of Charity mother house.Where Pilots, Points, and Factories Meet—Ukraine held its“Wild Drones”competitionnear Truskavets, bringing together pilots from 19 elite military units and frontline drone manufacturers for races, interceptor trials and direct feedback sessions.

The event was part sport, part procurement lab: pilots tested systems, units competed for hardware such as Vampire heavy drones, and manufacturers used battlefield complaints to adjust designs that can change significantly within months. It also showed how far Ukraine has formalized the drone war, from verified-kill points that units can spend on online defense marketplaces to growing demand for automation so fewer operators can control more systems.**Ukraine Rejects a European Half-Seat—**Volodymyr Zelenskyy hasrejecteda German proposal to give Ukraine an interim form of EU “associate” membership, arguing that Kyiv should not be brought into European institutions without a real voice. The idea would allow Ukraine to take part in EU meetings and institutions without voting rights, while gradually gaining access to parts of the EU budget and security guarantees, including a political commitment to apply the bloc’s mutual-defense clause.

Berlin presents it as a bridge between candidate status and full accession, especially given the practical difficulty of admitting Ukraine quickly. Kyiv’s response is that the political moment has changed: with Viktor Orbán no longer blocking the process after Hungary’s election, Ukraine wants accession talks to move forward in a full and meaningful way.

Mustafa Nayem, a key Ukrainian civil society voice who helped lead the 2014 Maidan Revolution,notedthat when it comes to defense, it is Ukraine that has much to offer Europe, and so Ukrainians need not beg.**China’s Diplomatic Split Screen—**Xi JinpinghostedDonald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Beijing within the same week, offering both leaders similar state-visit theater but using noticeably different diplomatic choreography. Trump received the higher-ranking airport welcome and a heavily business-focused visit, with U.S. executives and officials talking of trade, aircraft sales, agriculture, and tariff relief.

Putin’s visit produced a lengthy joint statement, a larger government-heavy delegation, and documents spanning energy, banking, nuclear issues, and political alignment. The contrast is revealing. Beijing is treating Washington as a power to bargain with and Moscow as a partner to integrate more deeply into its anti-Western orbit, even if the relationship remains unequal.

**Taiwan Watches the Waterline—**Taiwan says China hasdeployedmore than 100 navy, coast guard, and other vessels across waters stretching from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific, in a sharp increase in activity after Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing. Taipei’s security chief Joseph Wu described the move as a threat, while Taiwanese officials say the vessel count had already been rising before the summit and has now climbed above 100.Starship Takes a Bigger Step—SpaceXlaunchedthe upgraded V3 version of Starship fromStarbase, Texas, in the rocket’s 12th test flight, completing most major objectives: stage separation, mock satellite deployment, atmospheric re-entry, and a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The flight was not flawless—one Starship engine failed, an in-space engine restart was skipped, and the Super Heavy booster did not complete its planned boost-back burn—but it still marked a clear step forward. SpaceX is building the vehicle around full reusability, heavier Starlink deployments, future lunar missions, and, eventually, more ambitious deep-space plans.

**Hunter Biden Meets the Ukraine-Hating Right—Candace Owens, a frequent voice against Ukraine,**aired a nearly two-hourinterviewwith Hunter Biden, an unlikely meeting between a right-wing podcaster who spent years attacking him and the son of a Democratic former president who has long been a favorite target of Trump-world media.

The conversation moved through addiction, the laptop scandal, corruption allegations, the Epstein files, Charlie Kirk conspiracy theories and Hunter Biden’s resentment toward parts of the Democratic establishment, while Owens apologized for turning his lowest moments into political entertainment.

What makes the pairing politically interesting is not reconciliation, but realignment: the Ukraine-hostile, anti-establishment right and the anti-Trump Democratic orbit are discovering shared language in grievance, suspicion and contempt for the people they believe run Washington.What was not discussed:How Hunter Biden had been paid byPutin-friendly energy firm Burisma, which contracted him from Moscow starting in 2014 when his father, as U.S. vice president, was running Obama’s foreign policy that allowed Putin to take Crimea from Ukraine.

**Old Tech, New Signal War—**Ukraine’s Defense Ministry hascodifiedAerobavovna’s AB12TC aerostat, a tethered airborne platform designed to lift communications and control equipment 100 to 700 meters above the battlefield and keep it there for up to 72 hours.

It can carry roughly 5 kg of payload, including digital and analogue relay systems, FPV drone command links, video transmission equipment, and communications suites such as HIMERA, SILVUS, L3Harris, and MPU5, while heavier 10 kg and 25 kg versions are already being prepared. More than 50 systems have reportedly been delivered to the Armed Forces, Special Operations Forces and National Guard.

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