Today, Ukraine recaptures territory, Anthony Blinken visits Beijing for high-stakes talks, and Benjamin Netanyahu pushes ahead with controversial reforms. From TLDR News, this is your daily briefing for Monday the 19th of June 2023. Over the weekend, we've seen a number of developments in the ongoing war in Ukraine. From the Ukrainian side, the most positive news on this was the news that a number of towns have been recaptured as part of the ongoing counter-offensive.
Over the weekend, the Ukrainian military captured the village of Piati Kratky on the western edge of Zaporizhia. This was reported on Telegram on Sunday morning by Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in the region, who said the village had fallen under Ukrainian operational control. There was, however, no comment from Ukrainian officials or their military, although they often do take time to confirm battlefield changes. In total, this means that Ukraine has recaptured eight localities from Russian forces since the counter-offensive began in June, at least according to Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malia.
She went on to claim that 113 square kilometers have been liberated. However, while territory moving hands to Ukraine may seem like good news on the surface, there are some knock-on effects. On Sunday, the UK's Ministry of Defense claimed that both Russia and Ukraine are experiencing high casualties. They claimed that Russian losses are probably at their highest level since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March.
In fact, they even admitted that the most intense fighting took place in southeastern Zaporizhia, where Ukraine retook territory over the weekend. Additionally, they claimed that while Ukraine had made small advances, the Russians were conducting relatively effective defensive operations. On the Russian side of things, the head of the Wagner group, Evgeny Prigozhin, sarcastically asked Politico over the weekend to provide his private army with Lockheed Martin F-35 jets. Essentially, Prigozhin was asked to comment on a story about his men using ammunition acquired from an American company by the outlet over the weekend.
He refused to comment and instead sent a sarcastic voice note, asking for US-made sniper rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers, alongside the aforementioned jets. I ask you to talk to your contacts so that we can get these supplies, Prigozhin said. He added, I have one more request for you, F-35s. If it's possible, as we previously discussed, to buy up supplies via New Zealand.
They may need to refuel in Hawaii, but I don't really foresee a problem. Before we continue with the briefing, I just wanted to let you know that our new show, TLDR's Race Across Europe, is now out on YouTube and Nebula. We'll share the full trailer at the end of the video, but please do check out the show if you haven't already. It's linked below, and thanks for your support.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is in Beijing for what's being dubbed by many as high-stakes talks with his Chinese counterparts. The visit, which is the first by a top American diplomat since 2018, comes at a time when relations between the United States and China are less than ideal, with protracted disputes over technology, trade, and Taiwan, to name just a few. Blinken had been set to visit China at the beginning of the year, but that visit was postponed when a Chinese spy balloon entered US airspace, an intrusion that triggered a further deterioration in already delicate relations. Since then, the relationship has only gone from bad to worse, after two confrontations between US and Chinese militaries in the South China Sea, confrontations described as unnecessarily aggressive and dangerous.
Neither side is said to be expecting any major breakthroughs from the talks. Rather, US officials have stressed that the main goal of the talks are to reopen lines of high-level communication, stabilize relations, and push for cooperation on global issues, such as climate change. Over the weekend, President Biden said he was hoping that over the next few months, he'd be meeting his counterpart, President Xi, again, before the balloon episode derailed further cooperation. So, that's Blinken's visit to Beijing.
Let's move on and discuss what's been happening in Israel. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that his government will push ahead with controversial judicial reforms after opposition legislators suspended talks. The judicial reforms, among other things, seek to dilute Supreme Court powers and give the government more control over appointments to the courts. The reforms ultimately sparked unprecedented street protests throughout the country when first proposed by Netanyahu.
Those protests pushed the government into launching negotiations with opposition lawmakers in a bid to find a compromise solution. Talking to his cabinet, Netanyahu stated that, we gave a month, and then another month, and then another month, three months. Their representatives did not agree to the most basic understandings. The intention was just to waste time.
As such, Netanyahu pledged to commence with active steps and push forward with the reform, commensurate with the mandate we were given. The government nominally has enough votes to pass the reforms, assuming all vote in favour, with the governing coalition holding 64 of the Knesset's 120 seats. Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, noted that members of Netanyahu's coalition voted, in a secret ballot, in favour of an opposition lawmaker joining the judicial appointments committee, suggesting some tension around the plans. On Saturday, at least 17 people, including 5 children, were killed in an airstrike on the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, in what has been branded by the country's health ministry as a massacre.
The airstrike marks the latest escalation in a brutal power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and comes just a day after a top Sudanese army general threatened to step up attacks on the paramilitary group, urging civilians to stay away from houses where the RSF are located, because the military will, quote, attack them at any time. At this point, we will attack them anywhere. Between us and these rebels are bullets. The RSF alleged that the strike was conducted by the Sudanese army, claiming that it downed a military fighter jet, though this has not yet been independently verified.
Following the strike, a 72-hour ceasefire was then agreed between the army and the RSF, starting on Sunday at 6am Khartoum time, though past ceasefires have not been observed. According to the UN, the conflict has displaced some 2.2 million in the country, with more than half a million seeking shelter in neighbouring countries, most notably Chad. In our final uplifting story, we take a look at major breakthroughs in understanding just how embryos develop. Within the space of a single day last week, scientists from three separate labs, including the likes of the University of Cambridge and Caltech, unveiled synthetic or model human embryos, all developed using stem cells.
The synthetic embryos closely mirror the very earliest stages of human development and could provide vital insights into the impact of genetic disorders and causes of recurrent miscarriage. In the case of the model embryos developed by the University of Cambridge's Gordon Institute, they even have heartbeats and traces of blood. Though scientists were at pains to stress that they are specifically designed to lack the potential of developing into a fetus. OK, so as promised, before we go, here's the trailer for TLDR's Race Across Europe.
To celebrate the 10,000th order from the TLDR merch store, we committed to hand-delivering orders to a bunch of real TLDR fans. So, we split into three teams, assigned points to each delivery location on the map, and let teams try to score as many points as they could in just 30 hours. The problem? Well, only one team is allowed to make each delivery, and any team which doesn't make it to the location of the 10,000th order by the end of the game is disqualified.
Welcome to TLDR's Race Across Europe. We speak to you now. Why is the British passport the worst? Oh no!
I'm gonna be fuming if they beat us. Zach is obviously thinking, like, Nah, Ben's not a threat, you know? Have you spoken to any other teams? Guys, let's not look good.
And, uh, thank you for all the hard work. This is the worst thing that could have happened. And I wouldn't put it past you to just find a little... What do you mean?
What? What? What? How does that happen?
Could come through some other police barricade. Genuinely a very much open question as to whether or not Jack gets back to the UK in time. It's within an hour. That is not possible.
Did you get your ticket? Who's got the tickets? I'm so sorry. Now, we'd absolutely love it if you check out the new series.
It's linked below. And you can find the first episode on the TLDR EU YouTube channel. And we'll be releasing every subsequent episode a week early on Nebula too. It's not just the race that's on Nebula either.
We also publish an extended version of the Daily Briefing on Nebula each and every day. With today's extended edition featuring our discussion of episode 3 of the Race Across Europe. It wouldn't have been that bad if it wasn't for how smug you lot were. That's the streaming service we're building with a bunch of our creator friends.
Many of whom you'll likely to be already watching. That means that by signing up, you not only get an extended ad-free daily briefing every single day, you also get to watch exclusive and ad-free videos from the best educational creators on YouTube. That's things like Real Life Law's incredible Modern Conflicts, which breaks down contemporary disputes around the world. Neo's Underexposure, which beautifully dives into complex and shadowy topics you've always wanted to know more about.
Or Extremities from Wendover Productions, which uncovers some of the world's most remote places. All of