US News

• Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui on Sunday called for world leaders to recognize the “folly” of nuclear deterrence at a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of the US dropping an atomic bomb on the city, killing an estimated 140,000 people. AWC

Russia

• The majority of Americans oppose additional spending on the war in Ukraine, according to a CNN poll that was released on Friday. AWC
• The US, China, and India attended talks on the Ukraine war in Saudi Arabia on Saturday that were aimed at convincing neutral countries to support Ukrainian demands for a peace deal. AWC
• Russia has vowed it will respond to a Ukrainian attack that hit a Russian oil tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea on Friday night, which came after Ukraine’s first strikes on a Russian commercial port. AWC
• The acting governor of Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine’s southern Kherson Oblast said Sunday that Ukrainian forces used British-provided Storm Shadow missiles to strike a bridge that connects Kherson to Crimea. AWC
• Ukrainian drones struck a Russian commercial port for the first time since the start of the war. Novorossiysk was shut down for a few hours after it was hit by Ukrainian air and sea drones. Two percent of the world’s oil supply and grain are shipped from Novorossiysk. AWC
• A Ukrainian official said Thursday that the US and Ukraine have started talks on security guarantees for Ukraine, part of a plan for Washington to provide long-term military support for Kyiv. AWC
• The International Monetary Fund has said it expects the Russian economy to grow by 1.5% this year despite the US-led Western sanctions campaign against the country, which President Biden once vowed would “turn the ruble into rubble.” AWC
• Ukrainian forces have still made no breakthroughs against Russian forces in the counteroffensive despite sending thousands of more troops to the front for a renewed push in the southeast, POLITICO reported Tuesday, citing unnamed Pentagon officials. AWC
• Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki claimed on Thursday that Wagner fighters were deployed to Belarus in an attempt to “destabilize” bordering NATO countries, which the alliance refers to as its eastern flank. AWC
• The Times of London reported Thursday that the British Royal Air Force intercepted 50 Russian planes over Estonia in the past four months while it led NATO’s air policing mission on Russia’s border. AWC
• The White House is expected to formally ask Congress to authorize additional funding for the Ukraine war as soon as this week, Punchbowl News reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. AWC
• The first batch of Abrams tanks that the US is providing Ukraine was authorized for shipment over the weekend and is expected to arrive in the country in early fall, the US Army’s top acquisition official said Monday. AWC
• A Ukrainian official told POLITICO on Tuesday that all Russian ports and ships, including commercial vessels, are considered legitimate military targets as the war in Ukraine is escalating in the Black Sea. AWC
• A Western official told CNN in an article published Tuesday that it’s “extremely” unlikely that Ukraine will make progress in its counteroffensive in the coming weeks that will alter the balance of the war with Russia. AWC
• The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that US-provided cluster bombs are fueling the Ukrainian counteroffensive and detailed how Ukrainian forces are using the civilian-killing munitions against Russian soldiers. AWC
• The US deployed four Navy destroyers in response to Russian and Chinese vessels operating near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, which stretch far into the northern Pacific Ocean. AWC

Iran

• The US military may place armed troops on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a move that would significantly raise tensions between the US and Iran, The Associated Press reported Thursday. AWC

Niger

• Nigeria’s Senate has warned against military intervention in neighboring Niger after Nigerian President Bola Tinubu requested backing for such an action against Niger’s new military junta. AWC
• President Biden on Thursday called for the immediate release of Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum, who’s been detained since being ousted by a military coup last week. AWC
• Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland traveled to Niger’s capital Niamey on Monday and held what she described as “difficult” talks with members of the junta that ousted Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum in a July 26 coup. AWC