On the same day that the European Union has approved the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, the United States has also launched a new round of economic retaliation against Moscow for the Ukraine war.These sanctions directly target 17 Russian oligarchs and personalities close to the country's president, Vladimir Putin, including Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.Also the cellist Sergey Roldugin, very close to Putin and intermediary of the Russian leader, will be the target of the sanctions announced this Thursday by the United States Department of the Treasury.On the other hand, 16 financial entities, several yachts owned by Putin and three private planes will be persecuted by Washington.All Russian-based TV channels will be banned from broadcasting in Latvia from Wednesday, the national broadcasting regulator announced on Monday.Since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Latvia's National Council for Mass Electronic Media (NEPLP) had already banned several major Russian TV channels from broadcasting in the Baltic country, citing warmongering, aggressive propaganda against Ukraine and its citizens, as well as a threat to the security of Latvia.The new decision affects about 80 channels from Russia that are still available in Latvia, mainly through some cable or IPTV operators."We have made this decision in the wake of recent amendments to the Law on Electronic Mass Media, which requires that TV or radio channels registered in a country that aggressively threaten the territorial integrity and independence from another country," NEPLP president Ivars Abolins told AFP.Vladimir Putin stated that the Russian Armed Forces will return to attacking new targets if the West decides to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles."If they do supply them, we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our weapons, which we do not lack, to attack those targets that we have not hit so far," the Russian leader said in an interview on his country's public television.All this after the capital of Ukraine, kyiv, woke up on Sunday shaken by new explosions.The Ukrainian authorities came to denounce that a Russian missile passed dangerously close to the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, in the south of the country, in an incident that they came to classify as an "act of nuclear terrorism".A plane of the Russian airline Aeroflot left Sri Lanka on Monday after being held for four days, after a court suspended an injunction that prevented the flight from leaving the island due to the termination of a private agreement as a result of the sanctions against Moscow for the invasion. from Ukraine.The plane finally left Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport this afternoon for Moscow, airport sources confirmed to EFE, a planned trip since June 2 with 191 passengers and 13 crew members on board.A Sri Lankan court today suspended a previous court order that stopped the departure of the aircraft, based on a commercial dispute between Ireland's Celestial Aviation, one of the largest aircraft leasing firms, and Aeroflot.Russian troops deployed heavy weapons, such as the Iskander-M short-range hypersonic tactical ballistic missile systems, on Belarusian territory along the border with Ukraine, the kyiv General Staff announced, quoted by The Kyiv Independent.Russia also positioned anti-aircraft artillery and Pantsir medium-range surface-to-air missile systems, S-400 missile systems, and operational and tactical aircraft along the border.Since Russia invaded Ukraine, much has been said about the echoes of World War II and the dangers of a third.But the current global moment looks much more like a return to the Cold War.Once again, the United States is assembling a coalition of democracies to take on a Russia-China axis.Once again, the dangers of nuclear war are at the center of international politics.And once again, there is a large bloc of non-aligned countries - now generally known as the 'global south' - that is intensely courted by both sides.Read the full note at this link.US authorities have filed documents to seize two planes belonging to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.The operation was carried out based on the accusation that the planes were made in the United States and are subject to US sanctions imposed in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Russia has begun handing over the bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the plant where the last Mariupol battle was fought and which has become a symbol of resistance against Moscow's invasion.Dozens of bodies of fighters recovered from the ruins of the bombed-out factory, now occupied by Russia, have been flown to kyiv for DNA testing and identification of the remains, said Maksym Zhorin, a military commander and former leader of the Azov Regiment.The Azov Regiment was one of the Ukrainian units that defended the factory for nearly three months before surrendering.It is unclear how many bodies may still remain in the factory, which was relentlessly shelled by surrounding Russian forces from land, air and sea.Russia today accused the United States of being behind several cyberattacks against "critical infrastructure" in the country that would have been carried out with the help of Ukraine."Under the pretext of defending democracy, they (the US) have unleashed a cyber aggression against Russia and its allies," Andrei Krutskij, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Computer Security Department, said today.According to Krutskij, quoted by the RIA Nóvosti agency, Washington uses Ukraine's "cyber army" for these attacks."Attacks using computer technologies against Russia's critical infrastructure are constantly increasing," the official said, warning the US that Moscow would give these actions a "firm" response.Bridget Brink, United States Ambassador, confirmed that the Administration of President Joe Biden will increase Ukraine's assistance to an "unprecedented" level to guarantee its defensive capabilities in the war against Ukraine."As I told Reznikov, Ukraine has inspired the world with its courage and ingenuity," said the ambassador, who has assured that Washington will do "everything possible to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield," said Brink herself. in a publication on his Twitter social network profile.Already last week, President Biden announced the dispatch of new Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) to Ukrainian forces to deal with the Russian invasion and hit "key targets."A Ukrainian brigade claimed to have destroyed a KA-52 Alligator helicopter, a flagship aircraft of the Russian Air Force and the favorite of President Vladimir Putin, who often uses it for transportation.According to the Ukrainian armed forces, after being hit by a missile, the helicopter did a "dramatic somersault" in the air, then fell to the ground and exploded.Apparently, the entire crew of the helicopter was killed.It is the newest unit of Russian fighter aircraft, which has been manufactured since 2008 and is equipped with a laser guidance system, an anti-tank missile system, aerial bombs and other weapons.The construction of a KA-52 is around 16 million dollars.Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski warned on Monday that there is a risk that up to 75 million tons of grain will remain unexported due to the Russian blockade of his country's ports.At a press conference in kyiv, the president explained that he has had talks with the United Kingdom and Turkey to get a third country to guarantee the passage of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, dominated by Russia.Two points in the Ukrainian capital were attacked this morning with missiles.Several shells hit two neighborhoods in eastern kyiv, on the left bank of the Dnieper River.The explosions did not cause more than one injury, according to the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, but significant material damage.The city had been calm for weeks after the latest attack, which left one dead in a residential building on April 28.kyiv and Moscow accuses each other about the goals achieved in the capital, while, on the battlefield of Donbass, in the east of the country, their armies continue to dispute control of the city of Severodonetsk, in the Lugansk region.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is lying when he says that he will not attack the Ukrainian city of Odessa, on the Black Sea and the country's only commercial port that Moscow does not yet control."Putin says he will not use trade routes to attack Odessa. This is the same Putin who told German Chancellor (Olaf) Scholz and French President (Emmanuel) Macron that he would not attack Ukraine, days before launching full-scale invasion against our country," Kuleba said on his Twitter account on Monday."We cannot trust Putin, his words are empty," added the Ukrainian foreign minister.The city of Odessa, on the edge of the Black Sea, has suffered some Russian attacks since Moscow began its invasion of the country on February 24.Russia has warned American news organizations that they risk losing their accreditation unless the treatment of Russian journalists in the United States improves, Reuters reported.Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, announced last week that she would summon the heads of the US media to notify them of "tighter measures."At Monday's meeting, he outlined the difficulties for Russian journalists in the United States, including visa renewals, bank account freezes and alleged harassment by intelligence agencies, warning that if these reporters cannot work freely , journalists in Russia risked similar difficulties with their visas, accreditations and bank accounts.Putin signed a law in March imposing a prison sentence of up to 15 years for intentionally spreading "fake" news about the military, prompting some Western media to pull their journalists out of Russia.The director general of the IAEA, the UN nuclear agency, Rafael Grossi, announced on Monday that he is preparing to send an international mission to the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, the largest in Europe, to guarantee its safety in the midst of the current war.In a speech before the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Grossi said that it is "essential" that Ukraine can continue to fulfill its safeguards obligations (nuclear controls) without hindrance.Russian General Román Kutúzov would have lost his life this weekend during an offensive that he led in the Donbass region, in eastern Ukraine, according to Russian media reports.He would be the fourth highest-ranking military officer who, according to Moscow accounts, dies in the Kremlin military operation;According to kyiv, the number of deceased Russian generals would be 13.Russia will send a delegation to Turkey on Monday and Tuesday to discuss with Ankara the necessary mechanisms for the export of grains and food from Ukraine, which includes the demining of Black Sea ports, as stated today by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov."We will specify all the details. The specialists leave today for Turkey, tomorrow my delegation travels and I hope that there we will be able, if not to put an end to it - since that must be done by our leaders - at least plan the variants in detail," said the chief. of Russian diplomacy at a press conference.The Kremlin denounced on Monday a "hostile act" by three European countries that closed their airspace to the plane of the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, who was prevented from a planned trip to Serbia."These kinds of hostile acts against our country can cause some problems ... but they cannot prevent our diplomacy from continuing to do its job," Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters.Lavrov himself described as "inconceivable" and "scandalous" the decision of the three European countries (Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro).Lavrov had planned to travel to Belgrade to meet with authorities from Serbia, one of the few European countries that remain close to Russia after the start of the military invasion of Ukraine in February.Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky visited command posts and front positions in Lisichansk, a city separated by the Donets River from Severodonetsk, where the Ukrainians are repelling the advance of the Russians, who were about to take the location.He also went to Bakhmut, about 50 kilometers to the southwest, and spoke with some soldiers, the presidential service said."I want to thank you for the great work, your service, protecting us all, our State. I am grateful to all of you," he told them.