Ukraine's Strike Deep Inside Russia Revives Fighting Spirit
Welcome to the weekend issue of Brussels Edition, Bloomberg's daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. Join us on Saturdays for deeper dives from our bureaus across Europe.
More than three years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and with enemy troops grinding forward, apathy and pessimism had started to spread across the war-torn country. But one day and one daring operation was enough to stun the world and give the nation much-needed hope.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Digital Trends
20 minutes ago
- Digital Trends
The Stop Killing Games movement hits a major milestone for game preservation
The consumer initiative Stop Killing Games has gotten one step closer towards its goal of preventing game publishers from effectively deleting online games after discontinuing their service. The European Citizens' Initiative just passed the required 1 million signatures needed to appear before the European Commission, where it could then lead to legislation being put in place. For those unaware, the Stop Killing Games movement was started by content creator Ross Scott after Ubisoft's The Crew was taken offline in 2024. Without any official servers, this always-online game that people purchased was rendered useless. This prompted Scott to begin a campaign that seeks to require publishers to transition their games into a playable state after ending support. Ways this could be done include adding an offline mode and giving players the ability to host private servers. The main goal of this initiative is to remove the ability for publishers to remotely disable games, thus making preservation impossible. The initiative also calls out the misleading nature of purchasing a good when, in reality, it is just a license with a hidden expiration date. Recommended Videos The petition, which just crossed the minimum 1 million signature threshold, will now be presented to the European Commission with the hopes of bringing enough attention to the matter to put new laws into place that will require publishers to offer some way to continue playing their games after ending official support. This comes just days before the July 31 deadline, but that still doesn't guarantee it will be effective. For one, the petition will be vetted to ensure there are no invalid signatures so more signatures are still being collected to hopefully account for that. Second, appearing before the European Commission doesn't necessarily mean any legislative action will be taken. Sadly, this movement is only possible in the EU right now, so those of us in America are unable to sign to show our support. However, this initiative's passing would still likely benefit us as well. The rationale here is that if publishers are required to offer an offline mode or private servers in the EU, there's no reason not to apply it worldwide. Considering how many games — even single-player ones — require an online connection today, this issue will only grow as time goes on. If you're curious about this initiative, there's an extensive FAQ page that gives detailed answers to all the major questions you might have.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Putin and Trump discussed Iran and Ukraine in phone call, Kremlin official says
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have discussed Iran, Ukraine and other issues by phone, the Kremlin said. The call on Thursday was their sixth publicly disclosed chat since Mr Trump returned to the White House. While discussing the situation around Iran, Mr Putin emphasised the need to resolve all issues by political and diplomatic means, said Yuri Ushakov, his foreign affairs adviser. The United States struck three sites in Iran on June 22, inserting itself into Israel's war aimed at destroying Tehran's nuclear programme. On the conflict in Ukraine, Mr Ushakov said Mr Trump emphasised his push for a quick halt to the fighting, and Mr Putin voiced Moscow's readiness to pursue talks with Kyiv. At the same time, the Russian leader emphasised that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the 'root causes' of the conflict, Mr Ushakov said. Mr Putin has argued he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to fend off a threat to Russia posed by Ukraine's push to join Nato and protect Russian speakers in Ukraine – arguments rejected by Kyiv and its allies. He insisted that any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine abandon its Nato bid and recognise Russia's territorial gains. Thursday's call follows the Pentagon's confirmation that it is pausing shipments of some weapons to Ukraine as it reviews US military stockpiles. The weapons being held up for Ukraine include air defence missiles, precision-guided artillery and other equipment. The details on the weapons in some of the paused deliveries were confirmed by a US official and former national security official familiar with the matter. Mr Ushakov said a suspension of some US weapons shipments to Ukraine was not discussed in the Trump-Putin call. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Denmark after meeting with major European Union backers that he may talk to Mr Trump in the coming days about the suspension of US weapons deliveries. 'I hope that maybe tomorrow, or close days, these days, I will speak about it with President Trump,' he said. Asked about his expectations from the Trump-Putin call, he said that 'I'm not sure that they have a lot of common ideas, common topics to talk (about), because they are very different people'. The previous publicly known call between Mr Trump and Mr Putin came on June 14, a day after Israel attacked Iran. The resumed contacts between Mr Trump and Mr Putin appeared to reflect both leaders' interest in mending US-Russian ties that have plummeted to their lowest point since the Cold War amid the conflict in Ukraine. On Tuesday, Mr Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron held their first direct telephone call in almost three years.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Did Zelensky Wear A Suit? Ukrainian President's NATO Outfit Leaves Crypto Bettors In Shambles
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. What is a suit? This seemingly simple question is at the center of a $53 million dispute on the popular cryptocurrency betting platform Polymarket. Specifically, cryptocurrency bettors are split on whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent NATO summit attire was a suit. Zelensky's wardrobe decisions have become a hot-button topic since his ill-fated meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in February. At that meeting, Zelensky's signature military-esque sweatshirt, donned as an act of solidarity with Ukrainian troops fighting Russia's invasion, attracted snide comments from Trump. 'You're all dressed up today,' Trump said, referring to Zelensky as he stepped out of his car. Don't Miss: — no wallets, just price speculation and free paper trading to practice different strategies. Grow your IRA or 401(k) with Crypto – . In recent months, this incident has inspired multiple betting markets on whether Zelensky will wear a suit on Polymarket. The most recent market, 'Will Zelensky wear a suit before July?' was supposed to resolve on Tuesday, but is still open on Thursday amid disputes over whether what he wore at the NATO summit at The Hague on June 24 was a suit. At the summit, Zelensky ditched his signature military-style sweatshirt for a black military-style black jacket, black shirt, and black pants, an outfit widely reported by several media outlets and an official Polymarket X account as a suit. While this reporting consensus should have typically led to the resolution of the market in favor of bets that Zelensky would wear a suit, the market is in dispute. Trending: New to crypto? on Coinbase. For one, some have taken issue with the unorthodox style of Zelensky's outfit. 'I dno [dunno] what kind of suit you wear but what the Z man worse [wore] is NOT a suit!' a user under the name 'Grinch' said on Polymarket's Discord. At the same time, others have pointed out that Zelensky wore a similar outfit in May, but the market resolved 'No,' suggesting it was not a suit. On the other hand, some have argued that individual opinions on whether or not it was a suit should not matter, citing the mass media coverage and the condition for resolution of the market. That condition reads, 'The resolution source will be a consensus of credible reporting.' Voices in this camp argue that the market only resolved "No" in May because there was no reporting far, two attempts to resolve the market in the affirmative on Universal Market Access have been blocked. UMA is a decentralized finance oracle and dispute resolution protocol partnered with Polymarket. The protocol allows token holders to vote on the truthfulness of assertions based on real-world data. The clarification from the second resolution attempt reads, 'At the time of this clarification, 09:33am ET July 01, a consensus of credible reporting has not confirmed that Zelenskyy has worn a suit.' This clarification has stoked manipulation claims. 'The June market must resolve Yes,' a user under the name 'vazelin' said on Discord. 'There is overwhelming consensus from global media, including Polymarket itself. If this resolves No like May, it damages trust.' The recent dispute raises questions about the fairness and reliability of prediction markets in nuanced situations. The dispute comes as Polymarket is reportedly close to announcing a $200 million raise that will see it achieve unicorn status. Polymarket has yet to return a Benzinga request for comment. Read Next: Named a TIME Best Invention and Backed by 5,000+ Users, Kara's Air-to-Water Pod Cuts Plastic and Costs — Image: Shutterstock This article Did Zelensky Wear A Suit? Ukrainian President's NATO Outfit Leaves Crypto Bettors In Shambles originally appeared on Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
