Europe

KYIV, June 2 (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces in Kyiv said on Friday they shot down 36 Russian missiles and drones in and around the capital overnight, with two people injured by falling debris before authorities lifted air raid alerts across most of the country.

Russia has launched about 20 missile and drone attacks on Kyiv since the beginning of May, a surge in strikes that the government says appears aimed at derailing Ukraine's preparations for a major counter-offensive.

MOSCOW, June 1 (Reuters) - One of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's close allies on Thursday publicly criticised Russia's most prominent mercenary, casting Yevgeny Prigozhin as a blogger who yells all the time about problems, drawing a stern rebuke from a top Wagner fighter.

Addressing Prigozhin in a video message using the diminutive of "Zhenya" and the familiar Russian form of you ("ty"), Adam Delimkhanov, a close ally of Kadyrov, told Prigozhin:

01 June 2023; MEMO: NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday he would soon travel to Turkiye to discuss Sweden's NATO membership, in a bid to close a process that has been delayed due to objections from member countries, Turkiye and Hungary, Reuters reports.

Speaking during a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo, Stoltenberg said he had spoken earlier this week to Tayyip Erdogan, who was re-elected as Turkiye's President on Sunday.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said, on Thursday, it had uncovered a US National Security Agency (NSA) plot using previously unknown malware to access specially made so-called backdoor vulnerabilities in Apple phones, Reuters reports.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said several thousand Apple phones had been infected, including those of domestic Russian subscribers.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Italy has lifted its embargo on arms sales to Saudi Arabia after years of restriction, amid the recent peace initiatives to resolve the conflict in Yemen.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian air defenses shot down more than 30 Russian cruise missiles and drones in Moscow’s sixth air attack in six days on Kyiv, local officials said Friday.

The Ukrainian capital was simultaneously attacked from different directions by Iranian-made Shahed drones and cruise missiles from the Caspian region, senior Kyiv official Serhii Popko wrote on Telegram.

02 June 2023; MEMO: A confidential European Union report warned of what it described as "drastic acceleration" of Israeli pressure on the Palestinian population in Jerusalem in the past year, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.

The report, which was seen by El Pais, was delivered to the EU's External Action service (EUAA) by the diplomatic representatives in Jerusalem and Ramallah of nearly all EU member states in addition to the EU delegate.

MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/: Moscow has formally denounced the Russian-Ukrainian treaty governing joint use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, based on the fact that Ukraine is no longer a littoral state as regards these bodies of water, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said at a plenary meeting of the State Duma, or lower house of Russia’s parliament, on Thursday.

MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/: Ukrainian attacks on the Belgorod Region are unable to affect the course of the special military operation, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question about whether strikes and attacks on that region by the Ukrainian army would affect the special military operation and its geographical aspect.

"Certainly, this is unable to have any effect on the course of the military operation. But I am not authorized to say anything about the nuances," he added.

MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/: Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, has described the Ukrainian regime’s actions as terrorism, pointing out that the only way to counteract terrorists is to destroy them.