Victoria Nuland

Victoria Nuland, the third-highest ranking US diplomat and frequent target of criticism for her hawkish views on Russia and its actions in Ukraine, will retire and leave her post this month, the State Department said Tuesday.

Ukraine's spy chief on Thursday said Kiev's forces were planning to step up their attacks on Russian infrastructure sites, following a spate of drone strikes on Russian energy facilities this year.

"The number of attacks on Russian infrastructure is likely to increase," Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine's GUR military intelligence unit, said in a social media post.

The United States' sale of new 40 F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye is not subject to any conditions as the Greek media has claimed, the Turkish sources have said, underlining that these warplanes will be used in line with the security needs of the Turkish Armed Forces.

Fighting in Ukraine during the previous day was fought in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and clashes were also fought in Kharkiv and Kherson, in the east and south of the country.
On the other hand, more than 10 drones of the Ukrainian armed forces attacked the Belgorod region in the past 24 hours, with more than 120 shells fired at towns and villages in the border region.

Washington has reopened the window for Ankara's return to the F-35 co-production program, on the well-known condition that it removes its Russian S-400 missile defense system from Turkey. Similar discussions had taken place in the past, even with proposed alternatives for relocating the S-400s even to neighboring Azerbaijan, but to no avail. 

The modernization process of Türkiye's existing fleet of F-16s will commence without delay, immediately after the 15-day period granted to the U.S. Congress for potential objections to the sale of fighter jets and upgrade kits, says U.S. Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.

The United States is prepared to let Turkey back into its F-35 fighter jet program as long as the issue of its acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile defense system is resolved, Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has told CNN Turk. 

The second-ranking US diplomat met Niger's military leaders on Monday to press to reverse a coup but reported no headway a day after an ultimatum from the West African bloc ECOWAS was ignored.

Türkiye and the United States have agreed to further deepen their cooperation in all domains of mutual interest and intensify dialogue at all levels at a Strategic Mechanism meeting that addressed the former's demand to buy 40 F-16s and Sweden's bid to join NATO.

Senior officials from the Turkish and American foreign ministries were due to convene on June 23 to discuss bilateral ties and international developments within the framework of the Strategic Mechanism.