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Gen. Christopher Donahue, the top Army general in Europe and Africa, will be stepping down. The news was first reported by The Atlantic’s Nancy A. Youssef and Missy Ryan.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed to Task & Purpose that Donahue will soon relinquish command of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, which is expected to announce the move on Wednesday. Donahue took over the top role at the command in December 2024. 
During the U.S.

Negotiations between the United States and Iran continue, and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz appears to be gradually increasing.

Shipping companies are finally expressing greater confidence in their ability to safely pass through the waterway following ceasefire agreements between the U.S., Israel, Hezbollah, and Iran – but there’s still a long way to go.

The U.S. Navy aircraft carriers USS Nimitz (CVN-68), USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) underway in the Western Pacific on 12 November 2017.

With vendors facing lengthy wait times to test new technology, the Army plans to increase industry access to its domestic ranges over the next several weeks, according to senior service officials, who said that at least two of those sites will mimic Ukrainian frontlines. 
The service is also planning to establish a range abroad where the Army and industry “can start to do much more aggressive testing,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said Tuesday, though he declined to say which international U.S. ally the service will partner with to build it.

The United Kingdom (UK) has been one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the first major Western head of state to visit Kyiv and declare his support for Ukraine shortly after the February 2022 invasion.

HMS Prince of Wales. Image Credit: Royal Navy.

HMS Prince of Wales Aircraft Carrier. Image Credit: Royal Navy.

The UK has served as a training ground for thousands of Ukrainian soldiers.

U.S. President Donald Trump again expressed optimism about the prospects of a peace deal with Iran on Tuesday, June 23, going as far as claiming that the regime had “fully and completely agreed” to nuclear inspections.

The president’s optimism contradicted denials from Tehran that it had made any such concession, and came as the Iranian president insisted the country’s missile program was untouchable.

U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress aircraft fly by the 81st Liberation Day Parade, leveraging a training sortie during the U.S.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade and occupy Crimea in March 2014, it was trumpeted as one of his greatest accomplishments.

Taking back Crimea, which Russian nationalists had always insisted belonged to Moscow and not to Ukraine, was one of the most public demonstrations for the former KGB Lt. Col. that permitted him to say he was making Russia strong again.

Msta-S Russian Army. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

WARSAW, POLAND – Those watching the war between Ukraine and Russia have by now come to expect regular attacks on Moscow’s oil industry – hitting refineries, storage facilities, oil terminals for loading into tankers, etc.

The purpose of these attacks, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said on multiple occasions, is to enact what he calls “long-range sanctions” that would deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to keep funding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

Neptune Missile. Image Credit: Government of Ukraine.

Russia can’t pretend it isn’t enduring a fuel crisis thanks to the Ukraine war. While Crimea’s recent fuel woes are nothing new, the crisis has worsened in recent days, with half of the civilian population left without electricity due to Ukrainian strikes and fuel sales halted entirely.

It’s a problem that has gained significant media attention throughout June, but now it has extended beyond the peninsula. Ukrainian long-range strikes have brought the fuel crisis to Siberia.

U.S. Army Pvt.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 was meant to be one of Vladimir Putin’s greatest achievements – despite the geopolitical chaos and condemnation it attracted.

But more than a decade later, the peninsula is now becoming a symbol of how badly Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine is going. This isn’t what Putin planned.

Putin in Red Square in 2017 Creative Commons Image.

Overnight on June 22-23, Ukrainian forces launched another wave of long-range strikes against Russian infrastructure and logistics in and around Crimea.

Rocket Lab successfully launched a military payload into orbit on Friday less than 17 hours after receiving orders from the Space Force, once again advancing the service’s ability to quickly put new satellites on orbit.
The company’s Pioneer payload was launched aboard a Rocket Lab Electron space vehicle from the firm’s private launch site in Mahia, New Zealand, as part of the Space Force’s Victus Haze mission.