WORLD BRIEFING: June 6, 2024

Russia has knocked out or captured more than half of Ukraine’s power generation, causing the worst rolling blackouts since the start of its full-scale invasion in 2022. Moscow’s missile and drone attacks in recent months have homed in on Ukrainian power plants, forcing energy companies to impose nationwide shutdowns while scrambling to repair the damage and find alternative supplies. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine’s domestic energy production was about 55 gigawatts of electricity, among the largest in Europe. That power generation capacity has currently dropped below 20GW, due to bombardments or to Russian occupation taking those plants offline, according to Ukrainian officials. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told government meeting on Thursday that the consequences of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector are “long-term”, which means that saving power “will be part of our daily life in the years to come”. A Russian attack on Saturday struck energy facilities in five regions, causing significant damage, said Kyiv energy minister German Galushchenko. The latest strikes have also targeted pumping facilities for underground natural gas storage being used by EU customers. Though these pumps can be easily replaced, the attacks do highlight concerns about security of supply come winter — both for domestic use and exports to the bloc. One Ukrainian government official described Saturday’s assault as “devastating” while another said it was likely to mean that by winter residents would be spending a vast majority of their day without electricity. - FT

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on June 5 that Russia could provide advanced long-range weapons to Western adversaries in an "asymmetric" response to Ukrainian missile strikes deep into Russian territory. Putin, speaking in rare press conference with foreign news organizations at Russia's annual economic forum in St Petersburg, said Russia was thinking of delivering such weapons to regions of the world from which they could strike the countries that are supplying weapons to Ukraine. “If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a warzone to attack our territory and create problems for us, why don't we have the right to supply weapons of the same class to regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those [Western] countries?" Putin asked. “That is, the response can be asymmetric. We will think about it," he told reporters. - RFE/RL

India’s bruised and battered opposition, which was largely written off in the lead-up to the national election as too weak and fragmented to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his powerful Hindu nationalist governing party has scored a stunning comeback, slowing the Modi juggernaut and pushing his Bharatiya Janata Party well below the majority mark. It’s uncharted territory for the populist prime minister, who needs the help of his allies to stay in power. That could significantly change his governance style after he enjoyed a commanding majority in Parliament for a decade. The election results released Wednesday also marked a revival for the main opposition Congress party and its allies, who defied predictions of decline and made deep inroads into governing party strongholds, resetting India’s political landscape. The opposition won a total of 232 seats out of 543, doubling its strength from the last election. “The opposition has proved to be tremendously resilient and shown courage of conviction. In many ways it has saved India’s democracy and shown Modi that he can be challenged — and even humbled by denting his image of electoral invincibility,” said journalist and political analyst Rasheed Kidwai. - AP

A Kremlin-backed media outlet - the Prague-based Voice of Europe - was used to funnel hundreds of thousands of euros — up to 1 million a month — to dozens of far-right politicians in more than five countries to plant Kremlin propaganda in Western media that would sow division in Europe and bolster the position of pro-Russian candidates in this week’s European Parliament elections, according to interviews with a dozen European intelligence officials from five countries. Officials described the Russian operation as among the most ambitious undertaken by the Kremlin in Europe in its efforts to undermine support for Ukraine and create divisions in the transatlantic alliance. Internal Kremlin documents obtained by one of the European intelligence services and reviewed by The Post show for the first time that Voice of Europe was part of an influence campaign established by the Kremlin in close coordination with Viktor Medvedchuk, the Putin ally who until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led a pro-Moscow opposition party in Kyiv. It was later managed by a key Medvedchuk lieutenant who, other documents show, worked closely with a unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, responsible for Ukraine and some former Soviet states, otherwise known as the FSB’s Fifth Service. - Washington Post

Police in France have arrested a 26-year-old Russian-Ukrainian man on suspicion of trying to make explosives and planning a violent act. The man was badly burned after an explosion on Tuesday in a hotel room in Roissy-en-France, near Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport. Investigators found evidence of equipment and materials intended to be used for bomb-making in his room, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office said. Guns and false passports were also found, according to French media reports. Anti-terror prosecutors have opened an investigation. They are working with France's domestic spy agency, a source told the Reuters news agency. The suspect is currently being interviewed in hospital, after being treated for severe burns and then arrested. He is reportedly a Russian-speaker from the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, much of which is currently occupied by Russia. - BBC

The leading countries for export of aircraft parts to Russia are Gabon, Thailand and UAE. Oddly enough, none are know for aircraft parts production. Gabon alone supplied in 2023 nearly $2bn in parts - including engines for Boeing & Airbus - to Russia despite western sanctions. The Maldives has become a transit point for shipments that circumvent sanctions against Russia. In the year after Russia invaded Ukraine, about 400,000 U.S.-made semiconductors worth a total of $53.6 million were shipped to Russia via the Indian Ocean country despite sanctions