Russia is quietly building a pro-Kremlin power base across Africa by targeting the continent's youth and academic institutions with state-funded educational programs and cultural influence campaigns, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said on June 12.

According to Andrii Yusov, the agency's spokesperson, the Kremlin's strategic aim is to shape a future generation of African elites that are politically and ideologically aligned with Moscow's interests.

"African education and sports are increasingly being used by Russia as tools of hybrid influence with a view to forming a new generation of political and administrative elites loyal to the Kremlin,” Yusov said in a statement.

HUR says that Russia has been preserving and even expanding government-funded university quotas for African students, particularly in fields such as agriculture, engineering, pedagogy, and medicine. These programs are designed to build networks of influence while providing young professionals with technical skills under the umbrella of Russian ideology.

In parallel, Moscow is pushing to introduce Russian language courses and teacher training initiatives in prominent African universities. The long-term goal, according to Yusov, is to synchronize African educational systems with Russian standards.

Russia has long been using hybrid warfare and disinformation in Africa, particularly since it started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

While some African countries have maintained a neutral stance or abstained from key U.N. votes condemning Russian aggression, Ukrainian officials and independent analysts say the Kremlin is actively working to tilt that neutrality in its favor by exploiting historical Soviet ties and offering academic and economic incentives.

Beyond education, HUR also flagged the Kremlin's growing investment in youth sports programs on the continent as part of its broader hybrid warfare toolkit.

Bloomberg reported in June 2024 that the Kremlin is coercing thousands of migrants and foreign students, particularly from Africa, to fight in its war against Ukraine.

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The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Moscow possesses the world's most advanced nuclear systems but must significantly strengthen its ground forces, Russian state media reported on June 11.

As Russia continues its war against Ukraine, Moscow has increased investment in its military. Russian defense spending has reached its highest level since the Cold War at 6.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Putin claimed that Russia's nuclear triad has the highest share of new equipment among nuclear powers.

"Currently, the share of modern weapons and equipment in the strategic nuclear forces is already 95%. This is a good indicator, in fact, it is the highest of all nuclear powers in the world," Russian state media reported Putin saying.

Putin then called for Russia's ground forces to be improved as quickly as possible.

"The dominant force in conducting modern military operations of any scale and intensity remains the ground forces. And it is important to increase their combat capabilities in the shortest possible time," he said.

Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia first began its armed aggression against Ukraine in 2014, when its proxies occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and Russia annexed Crimea.

Russia regularly strikes civilian infrastructure in its ongoing war against Ukraine. On June 11, a Russian drone attack on Kharkiv killed at least three people and injured 64 others.

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The Kyiv IndependentKate Tsurkan

Errol Musk, the father of U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, has arrived in Moscow to attend the Forum of the Future 2050, a pro-Kremlin event scheduled for June 9-10,  the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on June 8.

The report comes amid a high-profile public conflict between Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest businessman, and his former ally, U.S. President Donald Trump. In May, Musk announced he would step down as an advisor to Trump and as the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Since then, he has emerged as a major critic of the president.

The pro-Kremlin event will be hosted by the Tsargrad Institute and led by far-right Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin.

"I am eager to meet everyone. As far as I know, Russians are among the most intelligent people on the planet. It would be foolish not to ask their opinion on all sorts of issues," Errol Musk was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency TASS.

Among the forum's panels are sessions titled "Russian Space: The Race for Mars" and "The Battle for Hearts and Minds: The Ideology of Sovereign Russia."

According to Kommersant, scheduled speakers include Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, and prominent state TV anchor Ekaterina Andreeva.

Errol Musk, a former South African businessman and politician, has publicly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him "a strong leader" and saying that "it would be foolish not to admire Putin" in an April interview with BBC Russia.  

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Errol's attendance at the far-right event comes amid growing scrutiny of his son, Elon Musk, whose role as the head of SpaceX and the Starlink satellite network places him at the center of both U.S. defense operations and Ukraine's battlefield communications.

SpaceX holds billions in Pentagon and NASA contracts, including a $1.8-billion agreement with the U.S. intelligence community to build a classified spy satellite system.

Despite initially aiding Ukraine by providing Starlink terminals to stabilize battlefield communications, Elon Musk has increasingly echoed Kremlin-aligned narratives.

He has suggested that President Volodymyr Zelensky lacks public support in Ukraine and has repeatedly called U.S. aid a driver of a "never-ending draft meat grinder."

Those statements have been warmly received by Russian officials, military bloggers, and state media outlets, which have praised Musk as a voice of reason and a critic of Western involvement in the war.

Dmitry Novikov, deputy chairman of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee, said on June 6 that Moscow is ready to grant political asylum to Musk following his public dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump.

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The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy

Errol Musk, the South African billionaire and father of Elon Musk, traveled to Moscow to take part in a Kremlin-aligned ideological forum “Future-2050” organized by Alexandr Dugin, a central figure in Russia’s Kremlin-backed nationalist movement. During his visit, Musk Sr. expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and repeated several Ukraine-related narratives of Kremlin propaganda.

Forum hosted by Russian World ideologist Alexandr Dugin

On 7 June, Russian propaganda outlets Tsargrad and REN TV reported that Errol Musk had arrived in Moscow to attend the “Future Forum-2050.” The event is organized by Alexandr Dugin, who is widely known as the chief ideologist of the “Russian World” concept and a vocal supporter of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. Dugin has long advocated for the destruction of Ukrainian statehood and played a role in pro-Russian protests in 2014.

The forum is backed by Konstantin Malofeev, a Russian Orthodox businessman recognized for financing projects promoting radical anti-Western and anti-democratic ideologies.

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Forum agenda includes Russian ideological and military themes

The forum is structured around a series of panels and discussions focusing on Russia’s ideological future and military aspirations. The announced topics include:

• “The fight for souls and minds. The ideology of sovereign Russia”
• “Russian cosmism. The race for Mars”
• “Digital sovereignty. Artificial intelligence in the service of Russia”
• “Patriotic education. The image of the hero of our time”
• “Wars of the future. Gamification of war”

Among the invited speakers are Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, state TV host and top propagandist Ekaterina Andreeva from Channel One, and a number of propagandists from Western countries.

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Ukrainian officials have denied Russian claims that Kyiv failed to participate in a prisoner of war (POW) exchange and body repatriation effort planned on 6 June, saying no official date had yet been agreed upon.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on 7 June that Russian officials publicly accused Ukraine of refusing to engage in an exchange of POWs and bodies of killed in action (KIA) soldiers.

According to ISW, the claims were made by Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, Russian GRU Deputy Chief Alexander Zorin, and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. They alleged that Russia was prepared to hand over severely wounded and sick POWs, those under the age of 25, and approximately 6,000 KIA bodies as agreed in Istanbul on 2 June.

Zorin further claimed that Russian representatives had waited on the Belarusian border for the Ukrainian side to finalize technical details of the exchange. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova and Federation Council Committee Deputy Chair Andrei Klimov also echoed accusations that Ukraine refused to accept the return of the bodies.

Ukraine refutes Russian claims

In response, the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs denied all Russian allegations. The office clarified that no date for the repatriation had yet been set and emphasized that lists for the POW exchange were still being finalized between both sides.

The Ukrainian headquarters reaffirmed Ukraine’s “full commitment” to constructive engagement aimed at ensuring the successful implementation of both the KIA repatriation and POW exchange agreements.

“The Kremlin’s unwillingness to engage in good faith in lower-level confidence building measures designed to facilitate larger peace negotiations further demonstrates Russia’s disinterest in peace negotiations,” ISW wrote.

A Trump official who dismantled a counter-disinformation office in the United States government has links to the Kremlin, the Telegraph reported on June 3.

Darren Beattie, who was appointed to the State Department in February 2025 as under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, has come under scrutiny for his pro-Russian views. According to the Telegraph, Beattie is married to a Russian woman with links to the Kremlin.

His wife – Yulia Kirillova – is the niece of Sergei Chernikov, a former Russian official who reportedly helped Russian President Vladimir Putin in the election campaign which first brought him to power in 2000.

Beattie notably played a role in dismantling the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office, or R/FIMI, which was previously tasked with tracking and countering disinformation from Russia, China, and Iran.

R/FIMI was officially shut down in April 2025, according to a press statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who claimed that the office "spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving."

According to sources cited by the Telegraph, Beattie relentlessly pursued R/FIMI after his appointment to the State Department. Secretary Rubio confirmed that Beattie played a significant role in dismantling the agency.

Beattie also showed a keen interest in classified materials related to Russia, raising concerns about granting him access to sensitive information. The sources also expressed concerns about whether he had been adequately vetted – a process that can take anywhere from a couple of months to over a year to complete.

Beattie previously served in the first Trump administration but was ousted after allegedly attending a white nationalist conference in 2018. Since then, he reinvented himself as an "alt-right media" figure and founded the news outlet Revolver.

Through Revolver, Beattie has long criticized R/FIMI and promoted narratives aligned with Kremlin disinformation. He has argued that the U.S. orchestrates "color revolutions" around the world, including in Ukraine – a common narrative used in Kremlin propaganda to delegitimize pro-democracy movements as Western-backed coups.

Beattie has also written social media posts suggesting that Western institutions should be "infiltrated" by the Kremlin, and has attacked the so-called "globalist American empire."

Two months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Beattie wrote on X: "Imagine the whining from the Globalist American Empire if Putin 'invades' Ukraine... love it when our national security bureaucrats fail!"

The Trump administration has repeatedly come under fire for its perceived sympathies toward Russia. It has also been criticized for shuttering R/FIMI, particularly amidst a global "information war."

According to the National Endowment for Democracy, Russia spends an estimated $1.5 billion annually on disinformation and foreign influence campaigns. In Europe alone, the Kremlin is believed to be behind 80% of disinformation operations.

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The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova

On 25 May, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin is conducting a coordinated campaign of military escalation and psychological warfare aimed at weakening Ukraine and eroding Western support.

ISW wrote that Putin “is leveraging long-range strikes against Ukrainian cities, aggressive rhetorical campaigns, and excessive pessimism in the West about the battlefield situation in Ukraine in a multi-pronged effort to degrade Ukrainian morale and convince the West that a Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable and that supporting Ukraine is futile.”

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According to ISW, Russia has intensified long-range missile and drone attacks over the last eight months, launching seven of the largest combined strikes of the war since January 2025.

Weaponizing pessimism and pressure

ISW emphasized that the Kremlin is simultaneously saturating the information space with calls for Ukraine to accept concessions on sovereignty and territorial integrity. These demands, however, are not new. ISW notes they are in line with longstanding Russian war aims, and this shows that “Russia’s demands have not changed over the last three years of war.”

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Despite the messaging, ISW points out that the battlefield situation has changed significantly since early 2022. Russia has suffered three years of manpower and equipment losses, weakening its military’s capacity to achieve large-scale offensive success.

On the ground, Russian progress stalls

ISW reports that Russian advances have slowed, with forces relying increasingly on poorly trained and poorly equipped infantry to sustain pressure. Nevertheless, Putin remains committed to masking battlefield realities with a media and missile campaign intended to disrupt international unity and end Western military assistance.

“Putin remains deeply committed to distracting from the realities of the battlefield situation, however, as bringing about the cessation of Western military assistance to Ukraine is Russia’s only real hope of winning this war,” ISW concludes.

Russia’s massive missile and drone assault kills at least 12 civilians, injures 52, between two prisoner swaps