From Italy and the World

CNN  —  Russia may be forced to use a nuclear weapon if Ukraine’s counteroffensive succeeds, senior Russian official Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday – the latest in a series of nuclear threats made during Moscow’s invasion by the key ally of President Vladimir Putin. “Just imagine that the offensive… in tandem…

Ukraine’s forces are “gradually moving forward” around the battered city of Bakhmut, while also claiming some gains elsewhere on the eastern front, a military spokesperson told CNN on Sunday. Surrounding Bakhmut, Kyiv’s military has generally been able to gain hundreds of meters per day and capture kilometers of territory each week,…

CNN  —  Italy’s defense minister called his country’s decision to join a flagship Chinese infrastructure scheme “wicked,” as the government weighs up whether continue as part of the scheme. In an interview with the Corriere della Serra newspaper published Sunday, Guido Crosetto said that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)…

More than 100 Wagner Group mercenaries have moved toward the Suwałki corridor, a small stretch of NATO territory separating the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad from Belarus, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday. Morawiecki called it “a step toward a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.” Poland’s government has…

Ukraine CNN  —  At a secret makeshift military base a nondescript van and pickup truck tow two gray objects covered by tarpaulin mounted on trailers. In the driving rain, they resemble something more akin to a Boston Whaler, rather than hiding one of Ukraine’s most closely guarded secrets. Perched on…

CNN  —  More than 100 troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving towards a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, Poland’s prime minister says, who warned they could pose as migrants to cross the border. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Saturday that his government had…

CNN  —  Ukraine has passed legislation moving its official Christmas holiday to December 25, further distancing itself from the traditions of the Putin-aligned Russian Orthodox Church, which celebrates the holiday on January 7. The bill was passed by Ukraine’s parliament earlier this month. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed it into law…

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, on April 4, 2023. Maxim Shemetov/Reuters/FILE Moscow reserves the right to take tough measures in response to a missile attack that wounded more than a dozen people in the Russian border region of Rostov on Friday, a foreign ministry spokesperson…

CNN  —  The Ukrainian military is doubling down on efforts to break through thick Russian defenses in its counteroffensive in the south, which has struggled to gain momentum since being launched at the beginning of June. Ukrainian officials have said little about what fresh units are being committed to the…

CNN  —  Russia said it shot down a Ukrainian missile over the southern Russian city of Taganrog and that fragments from the blast injured several civilians. It’s believed to be the first time that Taganrog – some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border with Ukraine — has been hit…

Berlin CNN  —  The remains of a German mountain climber who went missing 37 years ago while hiking along a glacier near Switzerland’s iconic Matterhorn have been recovered, as melting glaciers lead to the re-emergence of bodies and objects thought to be long lost. Climbers hiking along the Theodul Glacier…

China is providing technology and equipment to Russia that is increasingly important to Moscow’s war in Ukraine, according to a newly released report compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.  The report is unclassified and largely cites open-source data and western press reporting to support its claims. But it…

CNN  —  Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company, was spotted inside Russia on Thursday for the first time since he led an armed rebellion against the Russian military last month. Prigozhin was seen in St. Petersburg, meeting with an African dignitary on the sidelines of the Russia…

Jerusalem CNN  —  Israel’s minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, on Thursday joined a group of Jewish Israelis in visiting what is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, drawing condemnation from Palestinian authorities and Israel’s neighbors. “This morning I…

CNN  —  After two months of painstakingly slow progress on the battlefield, Ukraine appears to be ramping up its counteroffensive, deploying thousands of extra troops to the southern front and signaling a new phase of the operation, US and Russian officials said. Ukraine has committed more forces to the southeast…

CNN  —  A summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and African leaders began in St. Petersburg on Thursday, with a far lower turnout than previous years. Just 17 heads of African states are attending this year, the Kremlin has confirmed, less than half of the 43 heads of state that…