Czechia reacts to Ukrainian strike on Russian strategic aircraft

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, commenting on the attack on Russian strategic aircraft, has said that it is in Europe's interest to have a strong and well-armed Ukraine as an ally.
Source: Lipavský on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda
Details: Lipavský noted that after the Ukrainian attack on Russian airfields, he expects Russian strategic aircraft to violate NATO airspace by 30% less.
"It is confirmed that it is in our security interests to have a strong, stable and well-armed Ukraine as an ally," he added.
Background:
On 1 June, a series of strikes on Russian aircraft took place at at least four airfields in Russia.
A Ukrainska Pravda source said this was a special operation by the Security Service of Ukraine which resulted in the destruction of about 40 aircraft, including strategic bombers.
A source also told Ukrainska Pravda that the special operation, codenamed Pavutyna (Spider's Web), had been in preparation for over a year and a half. As part of the operation, the special services first transported FPV drones to Russia and then mobile wooden crates in which the drones were hidden.
Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide reiterated Ukraine's right to defend itself following a series of drone strikes on Russian airfields on Sunday 1 June.
Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

36 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Gold prices slip as Trump sets two-week deadline over Iran-Israel conflict involvement

Gold prices slumped in early European trading on Friday morning, after US president Donald Trump set a two-week deadline to decide on whether the US would get directly involved in the Iran-Israel conflict. In a briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read a message from Trump: "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks." This provided some relief to investors who were concerned about the potential for more immediate US involvement in the conflict. Foreign ministers from UK, France and Germany are due to hold talks with Iranian officials in Geneva later on Friday to discuss Iran's nuclear programme. Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Markets upbeat as UK and EU begin talks on Iran and Trump sets two week deadline European stocks opened higher on Friday morning, on the back of Trump's two-week pause. Meanwhile, gold prices fell, signalling that investors had become less risk averse, as the precious metal is considered to act as a safe haven asset amid political and economic uncertainty. Gold futures (GC=F) were down 1.3% at $3,363.10 an ounce at the time of writing, while the spot gold price fell 0.7% to $3,348.84 per ounce. Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, said: "Some temporary relief but not enough for anyone to hang their hats on properly as the situation remains way too unpredictable. "Base case has started to shift in the direction of direct US involvement, which opens up a pandora's box of mess, but markets seem to be clinging to expectation that it all remains contained like it has in the past. The meeting today is material and could shift the needle — stay sharp." Oil prices rose on Friday morning, trading at six-month highs, as investors assessed the latest developments around the Iran-Israel conflict. Brent crude futures (BZ=F) advanced 0.4% to $77 a barrel, at the time of writing, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) climbed 0.7% to trade at $75.66 a barrel. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio Oil prices have surged over the past week, driven higher by concerns that the escalating conflict could lead to a disruption of global supply. There is particular focus on the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Iran, with around a fifth of global supplies passing through this channel. Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "For now, Iranian oil exports look to be unaffected with a report by Kpler suggesting tanker loadings had reached 2.2 million barrels per day so far this week, a five-week high. "Price support looks firm on the demand side after US crude inventories plummeted by 10.1 million barrels compared to a forecasted fall of just 0.6 million." The pound edged higher 0.1% against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) on Friday, trading at $1.3472 at the time of writing, helped by weakness in the greenback. The US dollar index ( which tracks the greenback against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.3% to 98.66. The muted currency moves came as investors weighed the latest UK economic data releases. Data published on Friday showed that UK government borrowing rose to £17.7bn in May, which was up from £17bn a year earlier. Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said: "May's borrowing came in at the highest ever for the month outside of the pandemic and will only add to speculation that the chancellor will have to announce more spending cuts or further tax increases at the next budget if she wants to meet her fiscal rules and pay for her spending plans." Read more: Why bitcoin and gold are rallying as bond yields hit 30-year highs Separate data, also released on Friday, showed that UK retail sales slumped 2.7% in May, which was much lower than the average forecast of a 0.5% fall in a Reuters poll. "How much people are prepared to spend in the shops is a good indication of how confident consumers are feeling, or not, about their personal finances," said Hewson. 'It's interesting that on the day the latest the latest GfK survey suggests people were feeling a little less nervous in May after April's bill hikes, retail figures show sales in the same period were significantly down." In other currency moves, the pound was little changed against the euro (GBPEUR=X), trading at €1.1704 at the time of writing. More broadly, the UK's FTSE 100 (^FTSE) rose 0.5% to 8,838 points at the time of writing. For more details, on broader market movements check our live coverage here. Read more: Looming petrol price increase could hit fragile consumer confidence Bank of England holds interest rates at 4.25% amid inflation fears Eurozone inflation falls below ECB target to 1.9%

UPI

39 minutes ago

• UPI

EU; U.K. hold talks with Iran as clock ticks down on Trump deadline

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (C-R) arrives for the Europe-Iran summit in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday morning. Photo by Martial Trezzini/EPA-EFE June 20 (UPI) -- The European Union and Britain met for crisis talks with Iran on Friday to try to determine a way out of the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel over Tehran's nuclear development program. The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Britain and the EU's foreign policy chief sat down with their Iranian counterpart in Geneva with the clock ticking, after President Donald Trump set a 14-day deadline Thursday to him to decide on direct U.S. involvement. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were "aimed at obtaining from Iran a lasting rollback of its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs." British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who flew in overnight from consultations in Washington on Thursday with U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio, said that despite the perilousness of the situation, "we are determined Iran should never have a nuclear weapon." However, he called for all sides to seize the window of opportunity that had opened up. "Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one," Lammy wrote in a post on X. Trump is considering a plan to join Israeli strikes, which have been underway for seven days, by deploying U.S. bombers to attack underground nuclear facilities using massive bunker-busting guided bombs -- but put the final decision to give diplomacy a chance. "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in a statement. The Geneva summit got underway after another night of back-and-forth attacks between Israel and Iran. Israel Defense Forces said in a update on X that more than 60 of its fighter-jets struck dozens of military targets with more than 100 pieces of ordnance, including missile production facilities in the Tehran area that it described as a "key industrial" hub serving the Iranian Defense Ministry. The IDF also claimed it carried out airstrikes on the Tehran headquarters of defense ministry's research and development program, the SPND agency, which works on leveraging emerging technologies for military applications. Iranian forces struck the southern Israeli city of Beersheeba the second day in a row, injuring seven people and severely damaging buildings after a missile struck a road near high-rise residential blocks, leaving a large crater and setting cars ablaze. The injured were taken to the city's Soroka Hospital, which itself was struck by an Iranian missile on Thursday, injuring 80 people and causing significant damage. The BBC reported blazes near the Microsoft building in Beersheba's Gav-Yam technology park, which Tehran had claimed was the intended target of Thursday's missile strike. An IDF spokesman claimed Iranian forces had planned for Friday's airborne assault on Beersheba to be much larger, but were thwarted after Israeli forces destroyed three missile launchers on the ground in Iran as they were being prepared for use in the attack. Four attack drones launched from Iran were also intercepted overnight, the IDF said. No information was provided on where they were downed or their intended targets.

Bloomberg

42 minutes ago

• Bloomberg

UK Launches Security Review Over Vandalized Military Jets

The UK will conduct a full review of security at its biggest airbase after a pro-Palestine activist group posted a video on X claiming to have damaged two military aircraft there. The video shows at least two people traveling across an airfield at night on motorized scooters, and includes footage of one of them spraying red paint onto a plane. The group, Palestine Action, said it had damaged two aircraft at the Brize Norton Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire.