Ukraine

• The Nova Kakhovka dam in Donetsk was indeed destroyed early yesterday - despite the pro-Russia local governor initially saying it was intact - and it flooded the towns and farms downstream, raising wheat and corn prices. Ukraine and Russia both blamed the other for destroying the dam and its power plant.
• Ukraine's hydropower company says the explosion occurred in the plant's machine room and caused damage so extensive that the dam and plant cannot be restored.
• Russia's defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, repeated Kremlin claims that Russia thwarted Ukraine's counteroffensive and estimated his forces killed or wounded over 3,700 Ukrainian troops in the process. It's unusual for Shoigu to read a press update like this himself - usually a spokesman would address the media - and Shoigu's personal involvement suggests Russia considered it an important announcement.
• That said, The Economist assessed that Ukraine's counteroffensive that began Sunday is probably only the prelude to a much larger effort: these first incursions may be designed to probe Russian vulnerabilities before the rest of Ukraine's force is deployed along the 560-mile (900-km) front.
• According to The Washington Post, U.S. officials were aware that Ukrainian military officials loosely directed the covert sabotage targeting the Nord Stream pipelines in September, and even warned Germany and other countries of Ukraine's plans months before the attacks happened (in June).
• It seems U.S. and European officials then kept that intel quiet as speculation mounted about who was responsible - perhaps out of fear that EU and public opinion about supporting Ukraine would waver if it became widely known that Ukraine was sabotaging infrastructure.

• The Saudi-sponsored LIV Golf League announced a merger with the PGA Tour, which it had contentiously competed with (some critics objected to Saudi "sport washing" - hosting big sports events to distract attention from its poor human rights record - and others criticized LIV for dividing the golf world by paying premiums to draw top talent away from the PGA).
• The merger is certainly a win for Saudi: it further confirms that unlimited investment can buy powerful influence over professional sports.

• Iran unveiled a new Fattah ("Conqueror") missile that it said is hypersonic and capable of traveling 15 times the speed of sound for up to 870 miles (1,400 km).
• Iranian officials claimed "there exists no system that can rival or counter this missile," but that could be hyperbole: it's hard - especially under sanctions - to make a missile that can change trajectories mid-flight to avoid interception, and Iran offered no proof that this one can do that.
• Meanwhile, Iran reopened its embassy in Saudi seven years after it was closed.

• On May 30, China rather quietly began drilling the deepest-ever borehole as part of a scientific exploration into the 145-million-year-old Cretaceous System. The program aims to drill 6.2 miles (10 km) deep, which will take around 457 days.