Iran’s oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, who was invited to the meeting of the OPEC monitoring committee in Vienna, left the meeting about an hour after it started and said he did not consider it possible to reach an agreement with OPEC on quota adjustments.

“I do not think it is possible to reach an agreement,” said the Iranian minister to reporters in a hotel. “It was a protocol meeting. It wasn’t good,” he told reporters. He did not state exactly why he left the meeting.

However, …

On Thursday June 21, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone to ensure that Ukrainian Ombudsperson Lyudmyla Denisova is given access to Oleg Sentsov and other Ukrainian prisoners, Poroshenko’s press service reported.

“The head of the Ukrainian state urged [Putin] to release the Ukrainian prisoners held in Russian prisons and in its occupied territories. He also pointed out the importance of giving Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova …

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has begun an offensive in the south against the opposition forces in the Daraa Governorate. Artillery and aircraft have bombarded the eastern regions of the territory, including regions previously classified as de-escalation zones in agreements between Russia and the US. The SAA’s offensive is the largest since the assault on Ghouta in the spring of 2018.

SAA infantry forces encountered intense resistance from the Syrian opposition regiments, Turkish news agency …

Ukraine's international reserves are sufficient to meet public debt payments until the end of 2020, said the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, Yakiv Smolii, the bank’s press service reported.

"The volume of Ukraine's international reserves is enough to go through a period of peak payments on public debt until the end of 2020 and without external financing but further prospects for the country’s economic growth will directly depend on progress in the implementation of structural reforms, …

The United States commends Ukraine for adopting a law on the Anti-Corruption Court and emphasizes the need to amend the law that will ensure this court considers existing cases under its jurisdiction, stated US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.

"The United States commends Ukraine for adopting a law to establish an independent anti-corruption court. We were pleased to see this important piece of legislation passed with broad support in the Verkhovna Rada. With this move, Ukraine …

During a government meeting ,the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Stepan Poltorak offered to buy five divisions of Patriot anti-aircraft defense systems with funds seized during anti-smuggling operations that are to be transferred to the state budget, the Ukrainian TV channel 24 reports.

"$4 billion would be enough for us to buy five divisions of Patriot air defense systems and completely cover the border with Russia," Poltorak said.

The United States decided to supply weapons to Ukraine in …

Hans-Georg Maassen, who currently serves as President of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, blamed Russia for a recent large-scale cyberattack on German power grids and energy companies in an interview with media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland’s newspaper. 

"The modus operandi is in fact only one of [multiple] indications that point to Russian control of the attack campaign," he said. Hans-Georg Maassen did not reveal details of the investigation.

Germany’s …

 “The U.S. remains troubled by reports of increasing Syrian regime operations in southwest Syria within boundaries of de-escalation zone negotiated between U.S., Jordan and Russia. U.S. continues to warn both Russia and the Assad regime of the serious repercussions of these violations,” wrote the US state department spokesperson, Heather Nauert, on Twitter.

In a statement issued by the US State Department's press service, Washington warned Moscow and Damascus about "serious repercussions" if …