TYB
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/jpl/caltech-welcomes-astrophysicist-ray-jayawardhana-as-new-president/
3xtra NASA
https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/nasa-will-send-a-soccer-ball-to-the-moon-if-the-us-wins-the-world-cup
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/science-news/2026/07/01/nasa-cdc-air-quality-world-cup-2026/
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/armstrong/a-day-of-flight-testing-at-nasa-armstrong/
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/link-spacecraft-set-for-mission-to-boost-nasas-swift-observatory/
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/2026/07/01/weather-delays-launch-of-mission-to-boost-nasas-swift/
Caltech Welcomes Astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana as New President
Jul 01, 2026
Ray Jayawardhana begins his tenure today as the 10th president of the California Institute of Technology.
His selection as Caltech’s president, and as the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of astronomy, was announced Jan. 6. Jayawardhana succeeds Thomas Rosenbaum, who had served as Caltech’s president since 2014.
Founded in 1891, Caltech manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA. The lab traces its origins to 1936, when a group of Caltech graduate students and other rocket enthusiasts began pioneering work in rocket propulsion.
Once NASA was established in 1958, JPL became the space agency’s first and only federally funded research and development center.
“Today, I’m honored to begin my service as Caltech’s 10th president,” Jayawardhana wrote in his first message to the Caltech community.
“Long before this day appeared on the horizon, Caltech and JPL have held a special place in my mind as beacons of humanity’s most ambitious acts of exploration and discovery.”
Looking ahead, Jayawardhana said he will be a fierce advocate for the Institute’s mission and the people who advance it, partnering with Caltech and JPL colleagues and other stakeholders to ensure the Institute will continue to have transformative impact on humanity.
He also said he aims to pursue bold, catalytic investments in “blue-sky” ideas on campus, at JPL, and across the Institute’s suite of global observatories; enrich the educational experience of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars; and expand the Institute’s engagement with the public.
“Dr. Jayawardhana steps into this role at a pivotal moment for Caltech, JPL, and NASA,” said Dave Gallagher, director of JPL.
“We look forward to working closely with him on missions that will help define a new era of U.S. exploration — extending humanity’s reach into the solar system, unlocking extraordinary scientific discovery, and inspiring future generations to dare mighty things.”
Jayawardhana comes to Caltech from Johns Hopkins University, where as provost he oversaw the university’s 10 schools as well as an expansive portfolio of interdisciplinary programs, academic centers, and core administrative and operational units.
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Prior to Johns Hopkins, he served as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Hans A. Bethe Professor and professor of astronomy at Cornell University.
Earlier in his career, he was on the faculty at the University of Toronto, where he held a Canada Research Chair and served as senior adviser on science engagement to the university’s president. Jayawardhana earned his Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University and a B.S. in astronomy and physics from Yale University.
A pioneering astrophysicist, Jayawardhana investigates the origin and evolution of planets and planetary systems, as well as the formation of stars and brown dwarfs.
Using the largest telescopes on the ground (including the W. M. Keck Observatory, which Caltech co-manages with the University of California) and in space (especially NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope), he and his collaborators use remote sensing to characterize planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, with an eye toward assessing the prospects for life beyond Earth.
He is a core science team member for the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph instrument aboard the Webb telescope, and his research group has led Gemini Observatory large programs on high-resolution spectroscopy of exoplanetary atmospheres.
Jayawardhana will continue his research alongside his presidential responsibilities as a Caltech professor of astronomy in the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy.
“Time and again, I’ve been struck not only by the audacity and brilliance of the work underway here, but also by this community of creative and original thinkers who seem constitutionally incapable of leaving the hardest questions unanswered,” Jayawardhana wrote in his note to the Caltech and JPL community.
The appointment marks a return to an early source of inspiration for the astrophysicist.
Growing up as a self-described “space-obsessed kid” in Sri Lanka, Jayawardhana wrote to JPL asking for images from NASA’s Voyager and Viking missions (JPL manages Voyager and played a major role in Viking). A few weeks later, a package arrived at his childhood home.
“I still remember the thrill of finding the manila envelope waiting for me … with the unmistakable JPL logo,” he recalled in remarks to the JPL community in January. Inside was a viewbook filled with images of Jupiter and Saturn.
“Holding it in my hands, I felt a rush of amazement, as if I were sharing in the grand quest to explore other worlds despite growing up in a remote corner of this one.”
Now, as Caltech’s president, that childhood inspiration has come full circle.
“As an astrophysicist, I have the deepest respect for JPL’s enduring contributions to humanity’s quest to explore the solar system and beyond. And as Caltech’s president, I’m excited to work alongside you in that quest.”
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NASA
@NASA
For 250 years, America has pushed the boundaries of what’s possible.
From the invention of the airplane to the first steps on the Moon and the missions shaping tomorrow, NASA embodies the fearless spirit of discovery that defines our Nation.
As we celebrate America's 250th with @Freedom250, we honor the innovation, courage, and scientific leadership that have propelled America forward. NASA continues to expand the frontier for the next generation.
🚀 The countdown to America’s 250th starts now. Just 3 days to go.
7:27 AM · Jul 1, 2026
https://x.com/NASA/status/2072326243085582573
extra social media NASA
https://x.com/NASA/status/2072078155452490188
https://x.com/NASAJohnson/status/2072006175013339215
https://x.com/AstroKomrade/status/2072038541186482285
https://x.com/mkratsios47/status/2072009940302975207
Why isn't there a NASA Rapid Response account?
Would be a good way to get it all under one umbrella for quick perusing.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/solar-system/in-1776-the-solar-system-only-had-6-planets-now-it-has-8-does-it-end-there
extra general space
https://www.c-span.org/program/america-250/smithsonian-national-air-space-museum-rededication-ceremony/682026
https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/events/national-air-and-space-museum-host-rededication-ceremony
In 1776, the solar system only had 6 planets. Now, it has 8. Does it end there?
July 1, 2026
Over the past 250 years, the number of "planets" in our solar system has ranged from six to nine — and, briefly, even 11 — depending on what astronomers knew at the time and how they defined a planet.
As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, that changing tally offers a unique lens on humanity's evolving understanding of the cosmos since 1776.
Throughout history, astronomers have discovered new worlds, identified entirely new classes of celestial objects and repeatedly revised the very definition of a planet.
The result is a surprisingly complicated answer to one of astronomy's most basic questions: How many planets are there in our solar system?
"The change in the number of recognized planets well represents how science is done," Kevin Schindler, historian and public information officer at Lowell Observatory, told Space.com.
"Scientists discover something — a planet, dinosaur fossil, or beetle, for example — study it and classify it. With further study, and by studying more examples, scientists learn more and update their understanding of the thing, sometimes reclassifying it."
When the United States declared independence in 1776, astronomers recognized just six planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
That changed only five years later when William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, expanding the known solar system and increasing the planet count to seven.
The tally grew again in 1801 with the discovery of Ceres, a world orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.
Three similar objects were found soon afterward, and for a time astronomers considered all of them planets, briefly bringing the total to 11.
However, as additional objects were discovered, scientists realized they represented a distinct population and those objects were reclassified as asteroids, reducing the planet count down to seven, Schindler explained.
Neptune's discovery in 1846 raised the total to eight, while Clyde Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory in 1930 established the familiar nine-planet solar system.
This changing planet count underscores a broader pattern in humanity's journey of exploration and discovery over the past 250 years.
"I think it shows that exploration and the thirst to understand the universe around us is ingrained in us, it's part of our DNA and we continue to want to learn," Schindler said.
"Our founding fathers established the United States based on scientific principles such as reason and logic, observation, evidence-based analysis, and openness to debate different points of view and be open to change."
For much of the 20th century, the answer seemed settled: The solar system had nine planets.
However, beginning in the late 1950s, advancing spacecraft technology allowed scientists to study planets, moons and smaller bodies up close, revealing worlds far more diverse and dynamic than could be seen through telescopes alone.
Then, in the early 1990s, astronomers began discovering a growing population of icy worlds beyond Neptune.
"The discovery of Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) — numerous objects similar to Pluto but with orbits extending much farther away from the sun — tells us a lot about our 'local' environment," astronomer Kyler Kuehn, director of science, technology and operations at Lowell Observatory, told Space.com in an email, emphasizing the impact discovering TNOs has had on the classification of Pluto.
"While Pluto was the first TNO to be discovered, the fact that there could be millions of similar objects populating the outskirts of the solar system naturally leads to the question 'Why should we treat Pluto differently than any of the others?'" Kuehn said.
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The growing number of TNO discoveries ultimately established that Pluto was part of the Kuiper Belt, a vast reservoir of icy bodies extending beyond Neptune's orbit.
As a result, Pluto was no longer viewed as a unique outlier, but rather one member of a much larger population. This dramatically reshaped astronomers' understanding of the solar system, exposing a far more complex outer frontier than anyone in 1776 could have imagined.
"It doesn't fit into the relatively tidy structure of the solar system as understood in 1776," Schindler said. For 18th-century astronomers, "it likely wouldn't be a surprise to find new planets or a new class of planet-like bodies (asteroids), but the discovery of an entire new zone of bodies, which was more [chaotic], probably would have been a surprise, showing that the solar system is not nearly as tidy and stable as believed."
The debate surrounding Pluto's classification culminated in 2006, when the International Astronomical Union adopted a formal definition of a planet.
Under that definition, a planet must orbit the sun, be massive enough to become nearly round under its own gravity and have "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit.
While Pluto met the first two requirements, it did not meet the third and was reclassified as a dwarf planet, dropping the official planet count from nine back down to eight.
Controversy over Pluto's classification continues today. Schindler said scientists who oppose Pluto's planethood typically favor a dynamical definition focused on how a body interacts with and dominates its orbital environment.
Meanwhile, those who favor Pluto's return to planetary status generally support a geophysical definition based on an object's physical properties.
In fact, Pluto's 2015 flyby by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft further fueled the debate by revealing a surprisingly complex world with mountains, glaciers and active geology.
"There has not been any resolution between the two sides," Schindler said, noting that public interest has also helped keep the debate alive.
Most recently, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman added his voice to the conversation by saying he believes Pluto should once again be considered a planet and that the scientific community should revisit its classification.
"Arguing about the technical definition of 'planet' doesn't actually change anything about the (dwarf) planet itself, but how we classify things can be extremely important to the kinds of questions we even think to ask, " Kuehn added.
"Scientific definitions have changed and will continue to change over the course of decades and centuries as we learn more."
The changing planet count demonstrates the foundations of how science works.
Schindler compared Pluto's reclassification to the dinosaur Brontosaurus, which was renamed Apatosaurus after further study before later regaining its original classification as scientists refined their understanding.
Therefore, future discoveries, both within our solar system and beyond it, could further reshape scientists' understanding of planetary systems and how planets are classified.
"That might lead us to a more useful definition of planet than anything we are even considering now," Kuehn said. Looking forward, "I think we will learn a lot more about the extreme edges of our solar system — we have barely scratched the surface."
Two hundred and fifty years ago, astronomers knew of only six planets. Today, the official count in our solar system stands at eight, as the debate continues over whether that number tells the whole story.
As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, the changing planet count serves as a reminder that discovery is never finished.
Every new observation has the potential to reshape our understanding of the cosmos — just as it has since America's founding — and perhaps even change the answer to one of astronomy's oldest questions: How many planets are there in our solar system?
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SpaceX Starlink Mission
July 1, 2026
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is targeting the launch of 24 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 10 minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX.
This will be the seventh flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched NROL-105 and five Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
There is the possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl-17-46
Freedom 250: vigilance beyond the gate
July 1, 2026
Let’s cut the noise. This July 4, as we celebrate 250 years of American freedom, remember that our combat readiness doesn't stop at the base gate.
Freedom isn't free, and our nation's defense rests on each one of you being ready for the fight. We can't afford to lose a single Airman or Guardian to a preventable mistake, especially during a time of celebration.
Here is the brutal reality: Last summer, we lost 16 of our own, not in combat, but during their off-duty time. Over the last five years, 50 have died in vehicle accidents, and last fiscal year alone, we saw a five-year high with eight members drowning.
These aren't just statistics; they were teammates and a critical loss to our force. Not in combat. Not in the line of duty. We lost them to entirely preventable events and critical miscalculations in risk.
These were your wingmen or fellow Guardians who thought, "I'm good to drive," "I don't need a helmet," or "The water doesn't look that rough." They were wrong, and they paid for it with their lives.
This Fourth of July, don’t let the excitement of our nation’s Freedom 250 celebration distract you or a teammate from maintaining an operational mindset — a single critical miscalculation is all it takes to end in tragedy.
The Air Force’s and Space Force’s contributions to America extend beyond the battlefield.
Airpower and spacepower play integral roles in the history of our nation by defending our homeland, deterring or defeating our enemies, supporting our friends, spurring innovation, and supporting our way of life. The future of that proud legacy depends on you.
You wouldn’t launch a jet without going through a preflight checklist, or execute a space launch or a convoy operation without any planning.
Apply that same tactical mindset to your off-duty activities this weekend. Threat detection on the home front is critical to keeping you in the fight.
So whether you're supporting operations, turning wrenches on the flightline, conducting training, grilling for the cookout, swimming with friends and family, or going on a road trip, you are constantly balancing your goals against the risks in front of you.
On the road: If you are traveling, treat it like a movement order. Plan your route, account for fatigue, and do not push past your physical limits.
A motor vehicle accident resulting from exhaustion or impaired driving is an unmitigated risk that compromises the mission just as effectively as an adversary.
On the water: The water is an unforgiving environment that respects neither rank nor experience. With water-related fatalities hitting a five-year high, situational awareness is critical. Assess the conditions, understand the limits of your environment, and use the right equipment.
Your family, your unit, and your country are counting on you to make the right decisions that will keep you in the fight. Assess the risks, look out for each other, make the smart calls, and cultivate a culture of safety to ensure everyone comes home safe.
Stay vigilant. Stay ready.
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4531306/freedom-250-vigilance-beyond-the-gate/
https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article-Display/Article/4530931/always-above-freedom250
https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article-Display/Article/4530928/celebrating-independence-day-freedom-250
extra Space Force
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4530796/from-coast-to-coast-launch-takes-a-team/
https://x.com/MDW_USARMY/status/2072067994604208192
XMM-Newton helps revise distance to outer spiral arms
01/07/2026
The European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra X-ray space telescopes have spotted the aftermath of three bright explosions echoing through the outer spiral arms of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
By measuring the distance to these echoes, they find the outer arms to be up to 10% further away than we thought.
Perhaps surprisingly, we don’t know much about the structure of our galaxy’s outer regions.
It’s difficult to observe our galaxy from the inside; the Solar System is well embedded in its disc, preventing a bird’s eye view, and many regions are obscured by thick clouds of cosmic dust.
But this is changing: we’ve learnt a huge amount since the launch of ESA’s star-surveying Gaia space telescope.
Using data collected by Gaia, scientists are currently mapping the Milky Way galaxy in more detail than ever before by measuring precise distances to its stars.
Before Gaia, we weren’t even sure if our galaxy had two or four spiral arms (we now know the answer to be four).
Now, another of ESA's missions has found a new way to map the extremities of our galaxy.
“We usually model the Milky Way's outer arms indirectly based on what we know of how our galaxy rotates, but doing it this way leaves room for error," says Beatrice Vaia of Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Italy, who led the research as part of her PhD.
“Instead, we did something new: we looked at the aftermath of three cosmic explosions that took place in far more distant galaxies.
These explosions flung out X-rays that echoed through several of the Milky Way’s outer arms – and we measured the distances to these echoes directly.”
X-ray light was thrown out by three bright explosions known as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The X-rays bounced around and were scattered by dust grains within the Milky Way galaxy’s spiral arms, forming bright rings that were then picked up by XMM-Newton and Chandra.
By studying how these ring-shaped echoes slowly expanded over time, Beatrice and colleagues were able to pinpoint the distance of the scattering dust grains.
As these lie in clouds within the arms of our galaxy, the team could directly measure the distance of the arms.
Besides confirming the known distance to the Perseus arm, the scientists found that two of the Milky Way galaxy’s arms – Outer Scutum-Centaurus Arm and Outer Arm – lie up to 10% further away than we thought.
A joint effort
While ESA’s Gaia has revolutionised our understanding of the Milky Way galaxy, the distance measurements available so far from the telescope are less precise for the outer arms.
Using X-rays to probe the distances to dust clouds, as XMM-Newton and Chandra did here, is highly accurate out to longer distances, allowing the research team to revise the map of the outer Milky Way galaxy.
“This finding is a great example of how ESA’s longer-standing missions – such as XMM-Newton, which launched in 1999 – still have a hugely important role to play in exploring the Universe,” says Erik Kuulkers, ESA XMM-Newton project scientist.
“Now in its third decade, XMM-Newton continues to return a steady stream of groundbreaking science on everything from the brightests ever GRB, to stars being shredded by black holes, to X-ray snapshots of Mars.
It’s even more exciting when missions team up, as they did here. Together, they can reveal huge amounts about the skies around us.”
What we know of our home galaxy will continue to grow in coming years.
Alongside ever more detailed data from Gaia’s fourth and fifth data releases (planned for December 2026 and after the end of 2030, respectively), ESA’s next generation X-ray observatory NewAthena is poised to transform X-ray astronomy, and enable scientists to explore far fainter X-ray echoes in the outskirts of our galaxy.
More information
The researchers combined observations of GRBs 221009A (spotted in 2022), 160623A (2016), and 031203 (2003); the bright, dust-scattered, ring-shaped echoes of each were observed by XMM-Newton, Chandra, or both between December 2003 and November 2022.
'Accurate distances of the Galactic spiral arms from dust-scattered X-ray emission of gamma-ray bursts' by B. Vaia et al. was published on 29 June in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/XMM-Newton/XMM-Newton_helps_revise_distance_to_outer_spiral_arms
extra ESA and frens
https://www.esa.int/Space_in_Member_States/Germany/Das_Grundgeruest_der_Asteroidenmission_Ramses_steht
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/The_space_under
https://x.com/asc_csa/status/2072289576199004514
Why the Alaska understandings no longer matter
30 Jun, 2026 21:21
The exchange between Sergey Lavrov and Marco Rubio over whether agreements were reached in Alaska last year, or whether proposals were merely put forward, says much about the current level of mutual understanding.
In substance, however, it is less a basis for further action than a commentary on attitudes.
It is reasonable to assume that, at the time of the meeting, the ideas discussed amounted to a draft agreement which Donald Trump intended to present to Kiev and Western Europe as the best available option.
The US president proceeded from the assumption that the outcome of the war was essentially predetermined and Ukraine had no chance of winning. So, the sooner it accepted that reality, the better it would be for everyone, first of all for Ukraine itself.
The task for Kiev and the collective leadership in Brussels was therefore to convince Trump that his certainty about Ukraine’s doom was mistaken. Ten months after Anchorage, they appear to have succeeded.
Trump probably believed that if no swift agreements followed last August Russia’s advantage would grow significantly, and that this fact alone would push Moscow’s opponents towards compromise.
That hasn’t happened in any spectacular way. Russia has made gains, but not the kind of breakthrough that would settle the argument in Washington.
Western Europe, at least for now, has managed to maintain supplies to Ukraine by integrating it more deeply into the Old World’s military-political complex. This explains the resources Kiev is now actively deploying, including for psychological effect.
Broadly speaking, Trump doesn’t care much how the conflict ends. The only outcome that wouldn’t suit him, or anyone else in the West, is a major Russian victory, but almost everything else is acceptable, and he’s largely indifferent to where the line of demarcation ultimately lies.
Trump has said more than once that, if the combatants wish to keep fighting, they may do so for as long as they want and are able.
Washington will not make extraordinary political or diplomatic efforts to stop the war, especially when it has a more important issue before it in the unresolved situation with Iran.
Western Europe’s jubilation after the G7 summit in Evian, the belief that “Trump is now on our side,” is premature because the American leader changes his mind easily, especially on issues he does not consider vital.
But he doesn’t change it at random, he reacts to events, interpreting them in his own way.
Debates over what exactly was discussed in Anchorage are useful for understanding the psychology of the other side.
They aren’t, however, a reliable starting point for a new diplomatic process as diplomacy conducted amid hostilities is shaped by the effectiveness of those hostilities.
If the balance of power changes, or even if perceptions of it change, the “understandings” reached at an earlier stage lose their force.
The same applies to the Istanbul talks of spring 2022, arguably the most comprehensive of all possible settlement options and the closest to the originally stated aims of the campaign.
Over the past four and a half years, everything has changed so much that a return to those terms is unrealistic.
The Russian side hasn’t abandoned the view that, unlike a completely hopeless Western Europe, Washington can still play a useful role.
That’s correct, but first, the White House must be brought back to the realization that a military victory for Russia’s opponents is impossible. Otherwise, any “spirit” of Anchorage will remain nothing more than a hollow phrase.
https://www.rt.com/news/642413-alaska-understandings-rubio-lavrov/
extra RT
https://www.rt.com/russia/642442-zaluzhny-challenge-zelensky-election/
https://www.rt.com/news/642398-czech-zelensky-nazi-tribute/
https://www.rt.com/russia/642423-west-bubble-lies-ukraine/
https://www.rt.com/news/642432-ai-digital-nuclear-weapons/
Ukraine’s Drone Campaign Forces Russia to Buy Gasoline From India
Jul 01, 2026, 11:30 AM CDT
Russia has started importing refined fuel from India by sea in a bid to mitigate critical domestic fuel shortages triggered by sustained Ukrainian drone attacks on its energy infrastructure.
In an exclusive Reuters report, industry sources revealed that an initial shipment of at least 60,000 metric tons (510,000 barrels) of gasoline has been dispatched from India via two tankers destined for Russian ports.
Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked offline roughly 30% of Russia’s oil refining capacity, pushing domestic refining throughput to a 21-year low during peak summer demand.
With gasoline consumption spiking to at least 110,000 metric tons per day in the busy summer months, Moscow is scrambling to meet a deficit of ~25,000 tons (212,500 barrels) per day, according to Reuters.
Last week, the Russian parliament approved urgent tax amendments offering subsidies for fuel imports. These subsidies are explicitly pegged to Indian delivery costs and port prices to make maritime imports economically viable.
The Kremlin plans to import 400,000 metric tons of gasoline monthly from India and various other countries. Regional allies have also stepped up: Belarus tripled its gasoline rail deliveries to Russia to over 70,000 tons in the first half of June.
Unfortunately for Moscow, its land-based neighbors lack the spare capacity required to resolve the crisis on their own.
India has become an unlikely supplier to Russia’s fuel market. After buying record volumes of discounted Russian crude, Indian refiners are now exporting gasoline back to Russia as domestic shortages worsen.
India imported roughly 2.6 million to 2.7 million barrels per day of Russian crude in June, more than half of its total oil imports. Those refineries have ample capacity to process the crude into gasoline and other fuels, allowing India to supply markets that Russia can no longer fully serve itself.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes have repeatedly hit Russian refineries, fuel depots and petrochemical facilities over the past year, reducing refining capacity and forcing Moscow to restrict fuel exports to protect domestic supplies.
The attacks have exposed the difficulty of defending energy infrastructure spread across Russia’s vast territory.
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Ukraines-Drone-Campaign-Forces-Russia-to-Buy-Gasoline-From-India.html
other Russia and Ukraine
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-drone-makers-great-war-nato-12141121
https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/russia-at-war/secret-ukrainian-drone-factories-war-russia/
https://kyivindependent.com/kyiv-bucharest-open-direct-line-of-communication-after-russian-drone-struck-romania/
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/79311
https://censor.net/en/news/4011283/russian-attack-drones-move-across-ukraine