European politicians better 'fasten their belts' ahead of Viktor Orban's peace mission next week, Hungarian FM says

"Today is Sunday, which means that the first week of the Hungarian EU presidency is slowly coming to an end, during which it became clear to everyone that this is going to be a peace mission for the next six months. The Hungarian government will do everything to contribute to ending the war in the neighborhood," the Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

The past week has shown that it is the many "pro-war politicians" who are exacerbating the crisis in the EU by supplying Ukraine with weapons, fantasizing about sending troops there and talking about using nuclear weapons, Szijjarto stressed.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Russia's capital Moscow with a delegation on July 5 and held a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He called the visit the next stage of a peace mission, with the previous stage being his trip to Kiev on July 2. Orban said he intended to hold several "equally unexpected" meetings next week.

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📹 Watch Russia’s Iskander missile system hit Ukrainian Patriot surface-to-air missile system battery in Odessa region

The Russian military destroyed two Patriot launchers and a radar station near the village of Yuzhnoye, Odessa region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

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🇨🇳 The world’s biggest coast guard vessel: What’s known about China's CCG-5901 ‘monster’ ship

Amid China’s decades-long disputes over territorial ownership of several islands in the South China Sea, the country has been carrying out regular patrol missions in the area.

Recently, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela wrote on X that the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) 5901 ship anchored in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

What is known about this vessel?

▪️CCG-5901 is a renamed version of CCG-3901, a 12,000-ton Zhaotou-class patrol cutter deployed in 2017, making their characteristics overlap;

▪️Dark Vessel Detection technology, used by Philippine Coast Guard, established that the ship is 165-meters long;

▪️It is reportedly almost two times larger than US Navy Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser;

▪️The ship has an H/PJ-26 76 mm naval gun (similar the Soviet AK-176) and two 30 mm auxiliary guns;

▪️It is equipped with an anti-aircraft gun with the lethal radius of eight meters;

▪️The anti-aircraft shells’ rate of fire is up to 120 rounds per minute;

▪️The maximum effective range against surface targets is 15.7 km;

▪️CCG-5901 has two Z-8 helicopters (one on deck and one in the hangar), several unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs);

▪️The vessel can travel up to 25 knots (46 km) per hour;

▪️Its operational range is 10,000-15,000 nautical miles;

Earlier this week, China and the Philippines held the ninth meeting of the bilateral consultation mechanism on the South China Sea. The two sides agreed to continue to maintain a dialogue to reduce tensions in the region.

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Who will benefit from booming demand for uranium?

A scramble for uranium has developed after the Ukraine conflict and short-sighted Western sanctions on Russia exposed Europe’s dependency on Russian oil and gas, The Economist has argued.

About 10% of the world's electricity is generated from uranium in nuclear reactors.

But the problem is that Kazakhstan, that boasts a close mutually-beneficial relationship with Russia, is the largest uranium producer in the world.

With a US ban on uranium enriched in Russia to kick in in August, the West is scrambling to devise ways to import mined uranium from Kazakhstan directly, noted the publication.

A glance at the stats shows who stands to gain from the uranium boom.

▪️Kazakhstan’s uranium reserves ranked first in the world in 2022, amounting to approximately 316,000 metric tons;

▪️Kazakhstan led the field in uranium production in 2023, churning out 22,967 metric tons (43% of global exports). Kazakhstan is projected to produce 31,000 tons by 2025;

▪️Russia controls 25% of uranium production in Kazakhstan. State firm Rosatom secured second place in terms of uranium reserves in 2023 after it purchased a 49% stake in the Budenovskoye field - expected to become the world’s biggest source of the mineral;

▪️Kazakhstan relies on Russia for the conversion of uranium ore into nuclear fuel. Rosatom ranks in the top three in all stages of the nuclear fuel cycle;

▪️Russia accounts for roughly 44% of the world's uranium enrichment capacity;

▪️Around half of Kazakhstan’s uranium goes to China, supplying almost two-thirds of its uranium intake. The China National Uranium Corporation already signed joint mining ventures that will grant it nearly 60% of future uranium production in Kazakhstan.

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🇭🇺 Hungarian PM Viktor Orban is on his way to China, where he is expected to arrive on Monday morning, Hungarian media reported, citing sources.

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🚴‍♀️ French cyclist fined €205 for kissing wife at Tour de France

Lidl-Trek cyclist Julien Bernard has been fined by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) for making a short stop on stage seven of the Tour de France during which he was kissed by his wife.

The fine for “indecent or inappropriate behavior during a race and causing damage to the image of the sport” was 200 Swiss francs (€205).

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📊 The National Rally is expected to win 210-228 of the 577 seats in the French parliament, which does not give it an absolute majority, according to Belgian media.

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"No one has said exactly 10 years," said NATO's outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, commenting on the timeframe for Ukraine's accession to the alliance. He noted that Ukraine's status as a country at war makes its NATO membership a complex issue.

Just a couple days ago - on July 5 - Stoltenberg expressed hope that Ukraine would become a member to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization within 10 years.

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If the National Rally wins the elections in France, Marine Le Pen will try to initiate talks on Ukraine, according to candidate lawmaker Christophe Verzini.

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A closer look at Irbis, the new Russian mobile radar system deployed in the Ukrainian conflict

Russian forces operating in the Ukrainian conflict zone started employing a new radar system that makes it a lot harder for Kiev troops to garner the element of surprise.

So, what is known about the new mobile radar system?

▪️Irbis is a new mobile radar station that has a range of about 150 kilometers and can quickly detect all kinds of ground and airborne threats.

▪️The radar can be used to locate enemy artillery, rocket launchers and mortars, as well as UAVs, FPV drones and aircraft, thus making Irbis a potent instrument of both air defense and counterbattery operations.

▪️Irbis’ high mobility, coupled with the fact that it needs little time to deploy or to pack up and move out, makes the radar system a difficult target for the enemy.

▪️To further increase Irbis’ survivability, it is typically escorted by a team of soldiers equipped with anti-drone weaponry and electronic warfare gear.

▪️Irbis’ crew is also housed in a special armored compartment that protects them from shrapnel.

▪️Russia's Defense Ministry also revealed that Irbis has already been used several times to thwart Ukrainian attacks against civilians by detecting incoming rockets and promptly relaying the data to air defense units.

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A ‘bridge’ too far: NATO bosses mull how to better dangle membership carrot before Ukraine’s nose

Mere days before the launch of the NATO summit in Washington DC, the bloc’s leadership apparently strives to keep up Ukraine’s hope of one day joining the bloc, even if the odds of Kiev being granted membership are slim.

With the summit slated to kick off on July 9, NATO bosses are trying to work out the wording of their promises to Ukraine, with news website Euractiv claiming that “negotiations on the draft declaration text are expected to remain ongoing until the very last minute.”

Specifically, NATO officials push the so-called “bridge to NATO” narrative that entails Ukraine receiving tangible benefits, like training for its armed forces and military aid, that mark Kiev’s metaphorical road to the membership in the bloc.

At the same time, some of the NATO members want to force Ukraine to undergo certain domestic reforms before it is allowed into the bloc, amid debates whether to portray Kiev’s journey into NATO’s fold as irreversible.

Basically, the media outlet notes - citing several NATO diplomats familiar with the matter - that bloc officials are trying to figure out “how to link the words ‘bridge’, ‘irreversibility’, and ‘reforms’,” i.e. wrap all of the aforementioned components in one preferably non-contradictory package.

One senior European diplomat, however, told Euractiv: “It’s nice that we’re getting into the business of building bridges, the question is how strong or stable are they?”

“It makes a difference whether the bridge is made of paper, wood or steel and certainly it makes a difference whether it’s short or rather long-distance,” the diplomat added.

“The thing about the bridge is that we don’t know how long it is,” another NATO diplomat reportedly remarked.

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❗️A coalition of left-wing parties is leading the elections in France, with the right-wing National Rally coming third, French media reported, citing exit polls.

Macron's coalition is in second place and could receive from 150 to 175 seats in parliament according to the preliminary results of the second round of elections in France, media reported.

None of the party coalitions in France has an absolute majority in parliament according to preliminary election results, media reported.

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📹 At the headquarters of the Socialist Party of France, part of the coalition of left forces, the preliminary election results were greeted with applause.

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