Russia deploys about 370,000 troops in battles against Ukraine

Russia currently uses about 369,000 soldiers and approximately 5,900 units of heavy weaponry in the war against the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to the latest data, Russia has deployed up to 48 brigades and 122 regiments in the hostilities against Ukraine; the occupation forces amount to about 315 formations.

Russia is using about 369,000 fighters and about 5,900 units of heavy weaponry against Ukrainian troops.

According to available information, the Kremlin's long-term plans remain unchanged – to force the leadership of Ukraine to negotiate.

To achieve this, the occupiers will soon focus on conducting offensive operations to oust the Defence Forces from essential centers of Donetsk Oblast.

At the same time, it seems extremely unlikely that Russia will conduct offensive operations from the Belarusian front shortly.

However, the aggressor will continue threatening Ukraine’s civilian and military infrastructure by launching large-scale missile attacks.

Thus, Russia continues its full-scale armed aggression and, based on the latest information, has not given up its plans to destroy Ukraine as an independent state.

Poland Wants to Ban Grain Imports from Ukraine by End of Year

The Minister of Development and Technology of Poland, Waldemar Buda, has stated the need to keep an embargo on grain from Ukraine until at least the end of the year.

"We will not lift our measures until similar measures are introduced at the European level. Time is on our side. We will keep Polish decisions until the situation stabilizes," the minister said on Radio Zet.

When asked about the European Union wants the embargo on goods from Ukraine until the end of June, Waldemar Buda replied that "it is impossible to lift the embargo in June."

"Otherwise, it may happen that after the harvest, Ukrainian grain will once again fill the silos that we are now so determined to empty," explained the Minister of Development.

When asked whether Poland will maintain the embargo until at least the end of the year, despite the EU, Buda stated: "In Poland, probably yes."

Currently, five EU countries – Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary – have banned imports of Ukrainian food, primarily grain, until 30 June. Initially, Poland also banned the transit of Ukrainian grain through its territory, but at the end of last week, the transit was unblocked.

On Wednesday, the third round of negotiations (Ukr) between the European Commission and the ministers of agriculture of the five countries failed. The European Commission is becoming irritated by the fact that more and more products are being added to the list. It agreed to ban imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds, which was already an unprecedented decision.

Dozens of Russian diplomats in Northern Europe may be undercover spies

Journalists from news agencies in several Northern European countries have found that many employees of Russian diplomatic missions in the region are likely to be undercover spies.

An article by the Finnish news outlet Yle tells that the project also involved Norwegian NRK, Swedish SVT, and Danish DR news agencies in cooperation with the Dossier Centre (an organization engaged in tracking the criminal activity of various people associated with the Kremlin – ed.) founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled Russian businessman and opposition activist. The journalists identified several dozen people who were employees of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) or Federal Security Service (FSB) but who worked undercover as diplomatic staff. Sources from the intelligence services said these people are usually assigned to secondary positions, while key people in diplomatic missions can rarely be undercover spies.

Yle has identified three of these Russians. Among them is Dmitriy Otorochkin, an alleged SVR officer who first worked at the Russian Embassy in Helsinki. He was then transferred to Copenhagen, where he was eventually expelled in the spring of 2022. He had three pages on the VKontakte social network with different names and places of residence but with photos that made him easily identifiable.

Another one is 60-year-old Vladimir Komarov, who also worked at the embassy in Helsinki, and 37-year-old Dmitry Dvinyaninov, who were apparently GRU officers. They were expelled in the spring of 2022.

The Finnish Police estimate that up to a third of the Russian embassy's diplomats may be undercover spies. One of the officials, speaking anonymously, said that the Finnish services had intervened several times when such "diplomats" tried to establish contact with Russians in Finland for espionage purposes.

SVT journalists tracked down 21 alleged spies in Sweden, with at least thirteen of them continuing to work in Stockholm until at least April 2022.

The Norwegian broadcaster NRK notes that 38 Russian intelligence agents linked to diplomatic missions in Northern Europe have been identified as part of the investigation.

Another one is located in strategically important Svalbard - Andrei Chemerilo, the Russian Consul General in Barentsburg, most likely connected to the GRU, Russian Defence Intelligence. The Dossier Centre came to this conclusion because Chemerilo had once lived at an address known to be a training center for GRU officers. Chemerilo himself denies any links to the intelligence service.