Ukraine launches 40-day operation to push Russia to end the war

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Ukraine launches 40-day operation to push Russia to end the war<br>//<br>ICC judges sue convicted criminal Donald Trump after US attempt to intimidate the court<br>//<br>Russia rations fuel from occupied Crimea to Siberia as Ukrainian drones decimate refineries nationwide<br>//<br>UN inquiry finds Israel deliberately targeted Gaza children, amounting to genocide<br>//<br>Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, former DUP leader, found guilty on all 18 counts of child sexual assault, including rape<br>//<br>Hungary's Magyar moves to end President Sulyok's mandate by constitutional amendment<br>//<br>Starmer resigns, wants orderly transfer of power, Burnham overwhelming favourite<br>//<br>Ukraine launches 40-day operation to push Russia to end the war<br>//<br>ICC judges sue convicted criminal Donald Trump after US attempt to intimidate the court<br>//<br>Russia rations fuel from occupied Crimea to Siberia as Ukrainian drones decimate refineries nationwide<br>//<br>UN inquiry finds Israel deliberately targeted Gaza children, amounting to genocide<br>//<br>Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, former DUP leader, found guilty on all 18 counts of child sexual assault, including rape<br>//<br>Hungary's Magyar moves to end President Sulyok's mandate by constitutional amendment<br>//<br>Starmer resigns, wants orderly transfer of power, Burnham overwhelming favourite<br>//

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Oil refinery in Moscow, Russia, after Ukrainian strikes.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has approved a 40-day operation to push Russia towards ending the war, timed to a stalled negotiation and directed at the oil revenue that funds the fighting. The Western price cap on Russian crude, the financial side of that pressure, faces a 15 July review that could loosen it.<br>Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 25 June that he had approved a 40-day operation by Ukraine's Security Service aimed at compelling Russia to end its war, timed to a stalled peace negotiation. He gave no detail on how the campaign would run, or whether it would be military, intelligence-led or an information effort. The decision followed a briefing by the Security Service chief, Major General Yevhenii Khmara, on Ukraine's long-range and medium-range strike plans, which Ukrainian officials call "sanctions".<br>Zelenskyy said the operation was meant to influence Russia and press for an end to the war rather than force a capitulation. Ukraine cannot dictate terms to a larger power that still believes it is winning, but it can raise the cost of continuing and time that pressure to a negotiation stuck for months.<br>The strikes began within a day. Drones from the Security Service's Alpha unit hit the Zaliv shipyard in occupied Kerch on 26 June, setting fire to the cable-laying ships Volga and Vyatka, the nearly finished ferry Petropavlovsk and an S-400 air defence system covering the Kerch Strait. The Security Service said the two vessels were being built for Russia's defence ministry to carry an underwater acoustic surveillance system. Russian-installed authorities in Crimea imposed a regional state of emergency the same day, a week after Ukrainian forces struck a railway bridge over the North Crimean Canal and as attacks on fuel depots and power stations left much of the peninsula short of electricity.<br>Russia's refining chain<br>Over recent weeks Ukraine has concentrated long-range fire on Russia's energy infrastructure. Repeated drone strikes shut down the Moscow Oil Refinery, which is unlikely to restart before the end of the year. The Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez refinery in Kstovo, Russia's fourth-largest and its second-largest producer of petrol, went offline on 24 June after a drone strike damaged a primary refining unit, two industry sources told Reuters. Drones also hit the Vtorovo oil pumping station in the Vladimir region, part of the network that feeds fuel to the Moscow area and to Baltic export ports.<br>"Hell is beginning," Ukraine's defence minister, Mykhailo Fedo<br>Authorities in more than 20 regions have imposed restrictions on petrol sales. Crimea has suspended civilian fuel sales entirely, and Russian tourists have left the peninsula. "Hell is beginning," Ukraine's defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said in an interview on 17 June, as Ukrainian strikes cut logistics and isolated the peninsula.<br>Refineries are harder to repair than oil fields and easier to hit with cheap drones, and the damage falls on both the war economy and domestic morale. Oil and gas are Russia's largest source of war revenue, about a quarter of the federal budget. Strikes on the refining and export chain squeeze that budget while reaching a population long insulated from the war.<br>The 40-day window<br>Ukraine timed the campaign to a diplomatic deadline. The Trump administration spent the first half of 2026 pushing both sides towards a settlement. The first trilateral talks were held in Abu Dhabi and a further round in Geneva on 17 and 18 February, around a US-drafted plan that Ukraine and its...