June 16, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day: in 1487, Battle of Stoke Field: King Henry VII of England defeats the leaders of a Yorkist rebellion in the final engagement of the Wars of the Roses.
QOTD: “We have also now verified reports that the Chinese military has been training Russian military personnel to fight in Ukraine,” EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said Monday after a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg. “We are carefully assessing the implications.”
US/IRAN/SHIPPING - Hormuz Reopening Stirs Debate Over How Long Until Normal Shipping Returns
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-06-16/reopening-hormuz-to-shipping
US President Donald Trump sounds confident the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to shipping starting Friday. At the Group of Seven leaders summit in France this week, it’s clear European allies don’t share his optimism.
Washington and Tehran still need to decide on the final steps for the interim peace deal that’s also being called a memorandum of understanding, set to be signed in Switzerland on Friday. Neither side has released a text.
As Bloomberg’s Oliver Crook reports from the G-7 summit in Evian, European diplomats say it’s not realistic to think the strait will see energy, commodities and goods trade flowing normally in just a few days. Also unclear is whether vessels will be charged tolls in the future.
Dalia Fahmy, director of international relations and diplomacy and associate professor of political science at Long Island University, told Bloomberg Television that it’s “only the beginning” of a series of negotiations, with the reopening of Hormuz just one of several things to discuss.
UKRAINE/RUSSIA/MIL/ENERGY - Ukrainian drone strike halts operations at Moscow oil refinery, sources say
https://www.reuters.com/world/moscow-oil-refinery-damaged-ukrainian-drone-attack-mayor-says-2026-06-16/
A Ukrainian drone attack started a fire at the refinery that is the largest fuel supplier to the Moscow region on Tuesday, and two industry sources told Reuters that it had halted operations.
The sources said the strike on Gazprom Neft's refinery in southeast Moscow damaged a primary refining facility that accounts for 53% of the plant's capacity. A second unit is expected to resume operations soon, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Witness footage verified by Reuters showed a fierce blaze and dense black smoke rising from the refinery after the attack.
Local emergency services later said the fire had been put out and had not affected operations - information that was contradicted by the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a facility at the site had been damaged, without giving further details.
In a separate development highlighting the pain that Ukrainian drone strikes are inflicting, Russian oil producer Tatneft announced nationwide caps on purchases at its fuel stations following an attack on its refinery in Tatarstan last week.
EU/UKRAINE - EU, Ukraine start formal accession talks after Orban delay
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-ukraine-start-formal-accession-talks-after-orban-delay/a-77566611
The EU and Ukraine on Monday formally opened the first stage of accession negotiations with a view to Kyiv one day joining the 28-member bloc.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 turbocharged an idea that at one point was contentious among the country's electorate.
For the past two years, the process had been on hold. That's because starting it requires unanimous approval from existing EU governments, and Hungary's former Prime Minister Viktor Orban was blocking the move.
The talks had already started on a technical level despite the Hungarian obstruction.
Hungary's new prime minister, Peter Magyar, recently announced that he had reached an agreement with Ukraine on measures to strengthen the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minorityin the country. Magyar had made such an agreement a condition for lifting Budapest's veto of Ukraine's EU accession talks.
EU/CHINA/RUSSIA/UKRAINE/MIL - EU Says China Trained Russian Troops to Fight in Ukraine War
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-16/eu-says-china-trained-russian-troops-to-fight-in-ukraine-war
The European Union’s top diplomat said China has been training Russian troops to fight in Ukraine, sharpening Brussels’ criticism of Beijing’s enabling role in the conflict as the bloc weighs a tougher economic and security stance.
“We have also now verified reports that the Chinese military has been training Russian military personnel to fight in Ukraine,” EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said Monday after a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg. “We are carefully assessing the implications.”
Kallas did not name or elaborate on the reports. Reuters reported last month that the Chinese military secretly trained about 200 Russian military personnel in China late last year and some have since returned to fight in Ukraine.
The report, which cited European intelligence agencies and documents, said the covert training sessions focused on the use of drones and were outlined in an agreement signed by senior Russian and Chinese officers in Beijing last July.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately response to a request for comment. China previously denied the Reuters report, calling it an attempt to shift the blame for the war.
US/ENERGY/MENA - Exclusive: The US is using an Iranian smuggling tactic to sneak oil out of the Gulf
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-is-using-an-iranian-smuggling-tactic-sneak-oil-out-gulf-2026-06-16/
The United States military has overseen scores of secretive ship-to-ship oil transfers to keep Gulf energy exports flowing, using aerial and water drones as well as helicopters in an operation to guide convoys to awaiting tankers.
The operation on the edge of the Strait of Hormuz employs a shuttling technique long used by Iran to skirt sanctions. Two specific locations where the oil transfers take place were identified by 11 people familiar with the operation – one off the coast of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and the other off Oman’s port of Sohar. It started in early May, and at least 92 ships have been involved in the transfers, according to shipping data and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters.
As recently as June 11, 17 pairs of ships could be seen carrying out simultaneous oil transfers at the two sites, according to satellite images reviewed by Reuters.
An Apache helicopter downed by Iran on June 9, sparking retaliatory bombings by the U.S., was involved in the mission, according to four sources, including a former U.S. official with knowledge of the attack. Using satellite imagery, Reuters counted six pairs of tanker ships clustered together in a small area off the port of Sohar the day the Apache was shot down.
Reuters could not confirm what role the Apache played in the operation. In response to Reuters questions, a U.S. defense official said no Central Command forces are taking part in an offshore ship-to-ship oil transfer operation. Both crew members were rescued by a drone boat, U.S. officials said.
BRAZIL/POL - Lula widens lead over Flavio Bolsonaro in Brazil election second-round, CNT/MDA poll shows
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/lula-widens-lead-over-flavio-bolsonaro-brazil-election-second-round-cntmda-poll-2026-06-16/
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva extended an advantage over Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in a potential runoff in the October general elections, a CNT/MDA poll showed on Tuesday.
Lula would receive 49.3% of the votes in a runoff, compared with 36.8% for Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, according to the poll.
In an April survey, Lula was seen with 44.9% of the votes, and Flavio Bolsonaro with 40.2% .
CNT/MDA interviewed 2,002 people from June 10-14 in 143 Brazilian municipalities. The survey's margin of error is of 2.2 percentage points in either direction.
SHIPPING/US/TECH - The Dangerous Tech Found Aboard ‘Dark-Fleet’ Tankers Captured by the U.S.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-dangerous-tech-found-aboard-dark-fleet-tankers-captured-by-the-u-s-34762a3a?mod=hp_lead_pos7
As tankers ferry sanctioned oil from Iran and Russia around the world, their criminal owners are using a mishmash of digital tools to control crews and cover their tracks.
The practices, discovered by U.S. Coast Guard cyber teams, have left ships in the so-called dark fleet exposed to bad actors who could use those weaknesses to cause an explosion or oil spill.
The Coast Guard’s discoveries, which haven’t been previously reported, paint a picture of criminal bosses skimping on physical-safety measures while relying on information systems that could be exploited or hacked, making some tankers far more dangerous to the environment, to other mariners and to the crews on board than previously known.
“We’ve known for years that the dark fleet posed significant physical risks, because we knew they were operating old ships, they weren’t maintaining them,” said Rear Adm. Jason Tama, head of the Coast Guard’s Cyber Command. “But what we didn’t know until these boardings was what type of cyber risks were aboard these ships.”
With the U.S. and Iran on the verge of officially signing a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, analysts say dozens of dark-fleet vessels stuck in and around the Persian Gulf could resume their illicit trade, significantly adding to the number of tankers being pursued by the U.S., and putting more potential ticking time bombs back out on the ocean.
After elite U.S. forces fast-rope from helicopters onto the deck of a tanker and seize control of the ship, a slower and less dramatic boarding often follows: A U.S. Coast Guard cyber control team is lowered onto the vessel in baskets, along with computers and technical equipment to secure and analyze the ship’s digital infrastructure.
Their findings, detailed in a new report shared exclusively with The Wall Street Journal, have both surprised and alarmed officials. They say the ships are intentionally skipping the physical inspections and digital due diligence that are typically required of legitimate tankers carrying hazardous cargo.
To start, the ships are often loaded with expensive, high-bandwidth communications systems that keep them connected to the internet at all times. They are also running remote desktop applications such as AnyDesk and TeamViewer that enable dark-fleet owners and handlers to control and tamper with a ship’s systems from afar.
CANADA/US/ECON/POL - Canada More Focused on Tariff Relief Over USMCA Renewal, Ambassador Says
https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/canada-more-focused-on-tariff-relief-over-usmca-renewal-ambassador-says-ffc3d593?mod=world_feat3_americas_pos1
Canada’s priority in trade talks with Washington is to seek relief from hefty U.S. tariffs on key industrial sectors like steel, aluminum and automobiles, the country’s ambassador to the U.S. told a Toronto audience.
Former pension-fund and BlackRock executive Mark Wiseman said Canadians shouldn’t get too focused on the formal review process starting on July 1 concerning the existing U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade treaty, USMCA. Wiseman told a business audience that senior Trump officials, led by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, have indicated they are eager to keep the pact intact, although with changes. Even if there is no agreement to renew after July 1, USMCA’s terms will remain in place for another decade, until 2036.
Canadian officials, instead, are preoccupied about the sector-specific tariffs of up to 50%, which are squeezing segments of country’s manufacturing sector. “Those tariffs are the ones that are biting in terms of impact on the Canadian economy,” Wiseman said. “We need to find a path forward on quickly” on those sectoral tariffs, “because unlike everything else under USMCA, the default is they’re staying in place, and they are incredibly, incredibly painful to wide sectors of the of the Canadian economy.”
Canada’s chief minister for U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc, has said Ottawa is unwilling to agree to changes to USMCA or other policies—such as a province-led ban on U.S. wines and spirits—until the sector-specific tariffs are eased. Canada is America’s largest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum, and fourth-largest in light-motor vehicles.
US/MILITARY/NATO/EU - US Asks Europe to Plug NATO’s Military Gaps as It Withdraws
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-16/us-asks-europe-to-plug-nato-s-military-gaps-as-it-withdraws?srnd=phx-politics
The US is asking Europe to designate more of its military hardware for a NATO crisis, pressing the continent to fill gaps as Washington withdraws assets from the alliance.
President Donald Trump’s administration asked the UK and its other North Atlantic Treaty Organization members to identify which military assets it doesn’t currently declare to the military alliance, the UK’s military chief told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. The US wants those undeclared assets to be reassigned to “bolster the capacity” of NATO, he said.
Trump is planning to slash the military assets he would send to defend the continent, raising questions about how NATO might replace those capabilities. The cuts could include a 30% reduction in available strategic bombers, which European nations do not possess, a complete loss of reconnaissance and attack drones, a 50% decline in naval vessels and a 33% decrease in fighter jets, Bloomberg reported last week.
“As the situation in US policy settles and becomes clearer, that is definitely a factor that we must consider,” said Richard Knighton, the UK’s chief of the defense staff, referring to the ask and the US withdrawal. He said the UK already declares most of its assets to NATO.