A landing party of the leaders of the leading Western countries – France, Germany and Italy - has arrived in Kiev. As the Ukrainian authorities themselves admit, the guests came to persuade Zelensky to start reconciling with Moscow. As if by coincidence, on the eve of this visit, several prominent Western figures announced at once that the Ukrainian army was losing and could only be saved by direct military intervention by NATO. Why are such appeals needed?

Ukraine has recognized the insufficient effectiveness of weapons supplied by the West, reducing the scale of their use. This is reported by the military correspondent of RIA Novosti Andrey Kotz.

General Vladimirov: the Ukrainian military is not capable of using Western equipment

Western media report that the Ukrainian military cannot effectively use samples of weapons and military equipment supplied to them by the United States and European countries. Why - "Newspaper.Ru" was dealt with together with military experts.

Biden: The US will allocate additional military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine for $1.2 billion

US President Joe Biden announced additional military assistance to Kiev in the amount of $ 1 billion. The package will include howitzers and shells, ammunition for jet systems and anti-ship missiles "Harpoon". Another $225 million will also be allocated for humanitarian aid. The Pentagon reported that since February 24, the United States has allocated $5.6 billion to Kiev for defense purposes.

The West is increasingly pumping Ukraine with weapons. The Americans spent another 700 million dollars on this as part of the "aid package". However, the armies of the DPR and LPR have studied overseas and Western European "gifts" quite well. About how foreign samples showed themselves and why Kiev is not particularly happy with the supplies, — in the RIA Novosti material.

Preparations for the NATO summit on June 29-30 were the central topic of the meeting of defense ministers of the alliance countries held in Brussels, Secretary General of the organization Jens Stoltenberg said.

Prime Minister Marin believes that the consideration of Finland's application to join NATO may be greatly delayed - Halla—aho declares that Finland should not be a "hostage" of Sweden

According to leading Finnish politicians, negotiations on the country's accession to NATO have reached an impasse, Yle reports. The situation is complicated by Helsinki's intention to join the Alliance in conjunction with Sweden, to which Turkey's main claims are addressed. Because of this, the process may take a year or more.

The conflict in Ukraine has shown that economic dependence poses a threat to the national security of any state, writes The Atlantic. The author notes that even "great democracies" like the United States are subject to serious risks in this regard.

The drums of war are beating in the Aegean Sea

With financial assistance from Washington, Greece has placed several military bases on demilitarized islands in the Aegean Sea, writes Haggin. These steps lead to a new round of geopolitical struggle in the region.

A number of leaks and statements by officials can be interpreted in such a way that Russia has started developing specialized marine drones. For example, in order to equip the only Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov with them. What are the features of marine UAVs and which of them are most needed by the Russian Navy?

The Rostec United Engine Corporation, the administration of St. Petersburg and the management company of the special economic zone have concluded a trilateral agreement. Within its framework, the production of aircraft engines will be expanded on the territory of the SEZ of the Northern Capital, including the construction of a production and design building, a development workshop, and a complex for bench tests.

Washington is trying to clarify on what conditions the Turkish authorities will agree to the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, which was previously blocked by Ankara due to the support of these countries for the enemies of the head of state Recep Erdogan.

Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak said on June 13, 2022, at a meeting of the senior staff of the Ministry of National Defense and the Armed Forces of Poland, he announced the signing in the near future of a contract for the purchase of 32 Leonardo AW149 multipurpose helicopters.

Following the results of an international tender for the supply of MALE-class UAVs, the command of the Thai Navy chose Elbit Systems as the preferred candidate for victory.

The Russian Space Systems Holding (RKS, part of Roscosmos) has successfully conducted an experiment on the use of a differential correction and monitoring system (SDCM) in the northern circumpolar regions of Russia, the press service of the holding reported on Thursday.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured thousands of galaxies in a new image in ultraviolet light. This is reported by Phys.org .

The Russian Ministry of Defense published on Thursday, June 16, footage of the combat work of the crews of jamming helicopters during a special operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass.

Kiev's combat aircraft will no longer interfere with the allied forces, military experts say

Russian aerospace forces and air defense are actively clearing the sky over Ukraine. Since the beginning of the month, 19 Kiev planes, three helicopters and 141 drones have been destroyed. Only on June 15, the air defense forces shot down a Su-25 attack aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force and six UAVs. The pilots and operators of the air defense of the Russian Federation have not only fighters and attack aircraft, but also military transport aircraft that delivered foreign weapons. Military experts note that Kiev has few combat aircraft left, and it is unlikely to be able to interfere with the allied forces in any way.

Raytheon Missiles & Defense, which is one of the divisions of the American military industrial corporation Raytheon Technologies, has signed a contract with the Missile Defense Agency of the US Department of Defense for the supply of the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor missile. The amount of the transaction, as reported in the official notice on the corporation's website, is $ 867 million. The missiles will enter service with the US army and partners.

Lockheed Martin (USA) is repurposing the JAGM air-to-ground missile for air defense. According to Rita Flaherty, the company's vice president for strategy and business operations in the missile and fire control sector, which she expressed to journalists at the Eurosatory defense exhibition, the munition can be adapted for a short-range mobile air defense system.