As a barrage of Ukrainian drones descended on Moscow in the early hours of Thursday, Russia’s response appeared more like a scramble, and less like a well-planned strategic defense. Videos from the streets of the capital showed glimpses of the ensuing chaos. Footage verified by CNN and analyzed by experts shows soldiers firing portable, shoulder-mounted air-defense systems from a busy highway, as traffic cautiously passes by. People run for safety as a drone, probably downed by Russian air defenses, plummets into a building in a sprawling marketplace. In another video, what appears to be a Russian defense missile likely misses its target and instead hits an oil storage tank on the outskirts of Moscow. One weapons expert from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute told CNN that it was “a Russian own-goal,” ending in a mushroom cloud of smoke and the huge top of the tank blasting into the air.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/19/europe/ukraine-broke-through-russias-air-defenses-intl
US President Donald Trump’s comments to an Italian media outlet about the country’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have sparked a fresh diplomatic incident. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Friday that he was canceling a planned trip to the United States, where he was slated to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in response to Trump’s reported remarks. Tajani called Trump’s claims “offensive,” while Meloni said they were “completely fabricated.” It is the latest dip in the deteriorating relationship between the once-close leaders and a further fracture between the US and its European allies, coming after signs of repair at the G7 summit this week in France.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/19/politics/italy-trump-meloni-tajani
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could have denied Trump’s claim that she begged him to take a photo together, and left it at that. Instead, she went much further. She posted a video on X Friday that made a show of standing up to Trump and linked the episode to his ill treatment of allies. “I can only say that it’s a shame he doesn’t have the same determination with the enemies of the West, with the enemies of the United States, with leaderships with which he instead appears much more accommodating,” Meloni said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/19/politics/trump-foreign-leader-rebukes
The wood paneling on the new presidential aircraft is the highest quality, President Donald Trump says. The flag on the tail is waving just right. The colors, no longer robin’s egg-blue, are a “much better” and “more appropriate look.” Unveiling “the world’s most luxurious plane,” as he called it at Joint Base Andrews on Friday, Trump appeared relieved to finally have an airplane that matches his own proclivities. “Everything was designed good. It was my taste, I will say,” he told a crowd of airmen, who watched him descend from the new aircraft — donated by the government of Qatar — on red-carpeted stairs after taking a tour. “I like the color of the American flag, right? That makes sense.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/19/politics/trump-plane-air-force-one
Vice President JD Vance jumped at the chance to be the face of a peace agreement designed to end months of unpopular war with Iran, a significant risk given the administration had spent months trying to get Tehran to fold with little success. The last week has only made that decision seem more perilous — turning what could have been a career highlight into a potential blunder for Vance and any 2028 ambitions. A formal, in-person summit planned for Friday was derailed at the last minute, with the vice president canceling his flight to Switzerland Thursday evening. GOP hawks vocally protested the administration’s decision to not share specific text immediately and, since seeing it, have roundly criticized the accord as too generous to Iran. One Republican senator described it as “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.” And President Donald Trump and Vance have given conflicting statements about the path forward, including on what would happen if Iran violated the agreement.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/19/politics/vance-iran-peace-agreement