Guterres

Iran launched its first direct military attack against Israel on Saturday. The Israeli military says Iran fired more than 100 bomb-carrying drones toward Israel. Hours later, Iran announced it had also launch much more destructive ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Discussions are ongoing to decide whether EU-Turkey relations will be on the European Council's agenda at the two-day EU summit in Brussels starting Thursday. 

The UN Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus for a year and urged all parties including rival Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to take steps "to de-escalate tensions in and around the buffer zone" dividing the Mediterranean island.

As many as 136 UN workers have lost their lives in the last 75 days in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas while several employees of the world body have been forced out of their homes, the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterrres said. Guterres said that no one has ever seen such number of casualties of the UN staff in the history of the world organisation.

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has stated that Israel is willing to consider "small tactical pauses" in the fighting in Gaza but firmly rejected the possibility of a ceasefire. This comes amid intensifying Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, with the Israeli military claiming to target infrastructure linked to the radical group Hamas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Two Turkish sources told Reuters on Thursday that the meeting would primarily discuss Black Sea grain exports.

The Zero Waste Project, which aims to reduce the volume of non-recyclable waste, has achieved an economic gain of 96 billion Turkish Liras ($3.7 billion), Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki has said.

He added that currently both sides are confident that they can win.
"This was a Russian invasion against international law, against the Charter of the United Nations, but I don't see that Russia is willing to withdraw from the territories it has occupied at this moment, and I think that Ukraine hopes to retake them," said Guterres.

Day 426 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.N. secretary-general on June 20 spoke over phone and discussed initiatives aimed at resolving the ongoing crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, Türkiye's Communications Directorate said in a statement.

The call addressed the initiatives aimed at resolving the ongoing crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the statement.