Ukraine

• U.S. officials confirmed Ukraine's claims that a small number of Russian soldiers are being shifted from Ukrainian battlefields to defend their homeland against the Ukrainian incursion that started last week - which continues to make progress into Russia.
• Analysts note that Ukraine is also shifting some of its more experienced units into the Russian offensive, so Russia's shifts won't necessarily change the balance in Ukraine.
• Pres. Zelensky further poked Russia by mentioning the idea of forming military administrations to govern the Russian border villages Ukraine has seized. Russia has evacuated almost 200,000 people from those regions.
• Separately, a German court issued a warrant to arrest a Ukrainian man suspected of blowing up the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and the WSJ published an exclusive account of the audacious plot (https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/nord-stream-pipeline-explosion-real-story-da24839c).
• According to the WSJ, Pres. Zelensky initially approved the brazen plan - which involved specially trained deep sea divers on a rented pleasure yacht - but revoked his approval after the CIA got wind of it and asked him to cancel the operation.
• However, his then-commander in chief, Valeriy Zaluzhniy, reportedly went ahead with it anyway (Zaluzhniy now denies involvement and says the army wouldn't have been authorized to conduct foreign operations like this).

• Peace talks on ending the Sudanese civil war opened in Geneva yesterday, but Gen. Al Burhan's side didn't show up.

• Like Sudan's Al Burhan yesterday, Hamas didn't show up for peace talks today.
• Israeli negotiators met with mediators instead, and Hamas left the door open to consulting with mediators after talks conclude - if Israel proposes anything serious enough to merit consultation.

• The Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of its takeover of Afghanistan by parading American weapons it captured as the U.S. hastily withdrew.
• Taliban speeches marking the occasion appealed abroad for recognition, but did little to show why any country should recognize the Taliban and its regressive policies.

• The World Health Organization formally declared the ongoing outbreak of mpox (fka monkeypox) in central and easter Africa a global health emergency. There are now over 17,000 suspected infections spanning 13 countries.