Two homes in Thailand ‘damaged’ by artillery fire in Myanmar
Thai media reported on Friday that two homes belonging to Thai residents of Tak Province’s Mae Sot District were damaged by artillery fire during fighting between the Burma Army and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) along the Thai-Burma border in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township on June 26. Myawaddy is located across the Moei (Thaungyin) River from Mae Sot and 81 miles (130 km) east of the Karen State capital Hpa-An.
The report added that fighting broke out when regime forces launched a counteroffensive to regain control of Myawaddy’s Minletpan village, which the KNLA seized from the pro-regime Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) in November. No casualties were reported. A Mae Sot school temporarily closed down last Monday due to “fear of clashes” between the KNLA and regime forces across the border, Thai media reported on June 22.
Three Burma nationals living in Thailand’s Phop Phra District, located in Tak Province 27 miles (44 km) south of Mae Sot, were reportedly killed by an explosion from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that detonates upon impact, known as a “suicide” drone, that crossed into Thai air space from Myawaddy during fighting over control of the regime’s Wawlay outpost on June 2. Four migrants from Burma and two Thais were injured by stray bullets in Mae Sot District on March 31.
Drugs worth $600 million destroyed nationwide
Thick clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky on the outskirts of Yangon, Mandalay and the Shan State capital Taunggyi on Friday as authorities burned more than 50 tons of heroin, opium, ketamine, methamphetamine, marijuana and crystal meth — some $600 million USD of confiscated illegal drugs destroyed nationwide. Burma has long been one of the world’s largest producers of heroin and methamphetamine.
In January, the regime claimed the country’s largest-ever seizures of illicit drugs and drug-manufacturing equipment, taken from a total of 12 drug production sites during a series of raids in northern Shan State. This year, the street value of drugs destroyed was more than double last year’s total. In Yangon alone, some $321 million USD worth of 31 different types of drugs were set ablaze, the regime reported.
Every year, Burma marks the United Nations’ International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking with drug burning events. The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which captured significant swaths of northern Shan before signing a ceasefire in October with the military, announced Thursday that it would destroy about $5.5 million USD worth of drugs seized in TNLA-controlled territory. Read more
Sai Redacted on the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent
When conceptual artist and peace educator Sai Redacted stepped onto the global stage at the Oslo Freedom Forum to accept the 2026 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent, he did so wrapped in the coarse, stark fabric of a political prisoner’s uniform. For Sai, the clothing was not a mere theatrical prop; it was a physical manifestation of his own bloodline.
The only child of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s Shan State Chief Minister Lin Htut, who was abducted by the military during the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, Sai has spent the last five years dodging checkpoints, operating under a shifting sequence of pseudonyms, and living out of a single 20-kilogram suitcase.
In an exclusive, DVB Newsroom interview following his award ceremony, Sai spoke about the immense personal losses that fund his art, the terrifying reach of transnational repression, and why he believes Burma is rapidly being turned into a “new Tibet” under heavy Chinese intervention. “We are even at that stage that we have to be happy that our family members are in the prisons,” Sai stated. Read more
News by Region
MAGWAY—Five civilians, including two children, were killed and three others were injured by airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force on Natmauk Township on Thursday, residents told DVB. Natmauk, located 34 miles (54 km) east of the region’s capital Magway, is partially controlled by the People’s Defence Force (PDF).
A PDF member in Natmauk told DVB that two fighter jets attacked with rockets and dropped two bombs. He added that there was no ongoing fighting at the time of aerial attack. A Natmauk resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity that at least 10 homes were destroyed by the bombs.
NAYPYIDAW—The regime’s Department of Myanmar Examinations announced on Sunday that 133,673 out of 255,228 students passed the 2026 matriculation exams held in March, which is a pass rate of 52.37 per cent. This indicates an increase from 48.06 per cent in 2025 when 99,924 out of 207,898 students passed, regime media reported.
It’s also an increase from 32.06 per cent in 2019-20 when 291,798 out of 910,299 students passed the matriculation exam, according to DVB data. The Institute for Strategy and Policy (ISP-Myanmar) reported that over 6.3 million out of around 13 million school-age children remain out of school in the 2026-27 academic year which began in June.
SAGAING—At least 25 people were arrested in Monywa Township June 18-20 for allegedly participating in the online “Flower Strike,” which marks Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday on June 19 for the last five years since her detention during the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, according to DVB data.
Residents told DVB that flower vendors were ordered closed June 18-20. Sources in the police told DVB that officers would question anyone purchasing flowers and take legal action against those involved in the online campaign. The 25 arrested were either accused of wearing or holding roses in public places, or on social media. Read more
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