Russia

• Washington is launching the “Ukraine Content Aggregator,” an artificial intelligence program designed to detect so-called Russian disinformation online. The Institute
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that the Black Sea grain export deal designed to keep goods flowing through Ukrainian ports has been extended for two more months. The Institute
• British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte have agreed to work to form an “international coalition” to ship American-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. AWC
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow is ready to look at peace proposals for the conflict in Ukraine from African leaders and Brazil. AWC
• Hungary on Wednesday said it would continue to block EU aid to Ukraine due to Kyiv’s “increasingly belligerent” attitude. AWC
• North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said Wednesday that it “detected and tracked” a Russian military aircraft operating in Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on May 15. AWC

Middle East

• The US has proposed to Israel to conduct joint military planning on potential attacks on Iran, Axios reported Wednesday. AWC
• Axios reported Wednesday that the Biden administration wants to make a strong diplomatic push for a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel before the end of the year. AWC
• Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will attend an Arab League summit this Friday in Saudi Arabia for the first time in over a decade. AWC