Situation Reports

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war, AP reported on May 19.

Sources within Russia's Embassy in Mozambique confirmed that the Russian research vessel Atlantida K-1704 had been fired upon around three miles (about 5 kilometers) off the coast of Tambuzi island on May 10, located in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, Club of Mozambique reported on May 19.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro's center-right Democratic Alliance secured the most votes in the May 18 snap election, winning 32%, ahead of the center-left Socialist Party with 23% and the far-right Chega party, which surged to 22.6%, Reuters reported on May 19.

During a televised presidential debate on May 18, frontrunner candidate Lee Jae-myung from South Korea's Democratic Party recognized the importance of the U.S. alliance, but added "relationships with China and Russia [were] also important and must be managed wisely," and that "diplomacy must always prioritize national interest and be approached pragmatically," the South China Mornign Post reported May 19.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 19 that Israel will "take control" of all of the Gaza Strip, AFP reported.

Centrist, pro-EU Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, who ran as an independent, won Romania's presidential run-off on May 18 with 53.8% of the vote, defeating far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) leader George Simion, who secured 46.2% despite having led the first round by over 20 points, Politico reported May 19.

Liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski from Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Civic Coalition won the first round of Poland's presidential election on May 18 with 31.4% of the vote, ahead of conservative challenger Karol Nawrocki, backed by the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, who secured 29.5%, Reuters reported May 19.

Aguila Saleh, the president of Libya's eastern parliament, the House of Representatives, called on May 19 for Government of National Unity Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah to give up power "voluntarily or involuntarily," Al-Wasat reported the same day.

Libyan Finance Minister Khalid Al-Mabrouk and more than five other ministers and deputy ministers of the internationally recognized Government of National Unity resigned from the government on May 16, Libya Review reported the same day.

Japan's ruling party and most major opposition parties in the Diet passed the Active Cyber Defense Law, which will enable the government to take offensive cyber action during peacetime against overseas targets believed to be facilitating cyberattacks against Japan, The Asahi Shimbun reported on May 16.