🔥🇷🇺 Russian Msta-B crews smash Ukraine's temporary deployment areas in Dnepropetrovsk region

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💬 UK, France plotting nuclear false flag against Russia – analyst

The UK-French nuclear weapon plot in Ukraine may be aimed at achieving several objectives, Alexander Mikhailov, head of Bureau of Military-Political Analysis, tells Sputnik:

🟠 The EU elites are not happy with them being sidelined in the Ukraine peace talks so Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron may be trying to use the nuclear issue to get themselves a place at the negotiating table

🟠 Britain and France may be seeking to stage a false flag attack: a nuclear warhead detonation that would be blamed on Russia

🟠 Providing Ukraine with a nuclear weapon to be used against Russia seems unlikely as it would inevitably make the supplier of said weapon a target of Russia’s retaliatory strike

🟠 There is also the prospect of Ukraine producing a ‘dirty bomb’ – essentially a radioactive waste container strapped to an explosive device that, upon detonation, would contaminate a large territory

New global nuclear arms treaty?

Due to the risks involved, Russia is going to use all available international platforms such as the UN and the UNSC to prevent Ukraine from obtaining nuclear weapons, Milhailov notes.

This situation, he suggests, proves that a new global nuclear arms treaty is needed, and that Britain and France – primary instigators of the current nuclear tensions – must be included in it.

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🚨 'Stay there under the table and shut up' - Russian MFA

💬 "No one invited the EU to the negotiations on Ukraine, Europeans are not expected there", Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

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🎥🎥 Sputnik to Host Moscow-Islamabad Media Forum

🕗 The Moscow-Islamabad media forum is taking place on February 27, with a live feed from the Rossiya Segodnya media center starting at 08:00 GMT.

Russian and Pakistani journalists, diplomats and political analysts are going to discuss relations between the two countries and the prospects of further rapport between Russia and Pakistan.

📍 The event will be held ahead of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Moscow, which is scheduled to take place on March 3-5.

Stay tuned!

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🌍 Zimbabwe’s lithium export ban aligns with Global South's resource power shift

Zimbabwe intends to channel the value of the powerhouse mineral lithium – a critical metal fueling aviation, space tech, rechargeable EV batteries, and cutting-edge electronics - back into its own soil.

As one of the world's top lithium producers — ranking fourth globally — the African country ’s move to ban exports of raw lithium signals a strategic pivot to domestic processing.

Promoting value addition

👉 While most raw lithium goes abroad, where others make the big profits, Zimbabwe is pushing for local factories to turn the ore into processed forms like lithium sulfate.

👉 The country’s struggling economy will be able to sell higher-value processed lithium, collecting more taxes and fees to help pay for schools, roads, and hospitals.

👉 Building and running factories will generate more skilled jobs for locals instead of just low-paying mining jobs.

Investments ignite

🟠 Chinese firm Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt invested $400 million in the Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe plant, set to process 400,000 tons annually (per broadcaster ZBC)

🟠 Mutapa Energy Minerals' is a $270-million facility, funded by Chinese partners, set to handle 600,000 tons yearly

🟠 Bikita Minerals' Expansion owned by Sinomine Resource Group is a major mine advancing a $500-million phased lithium sulfate plant

Global South sheds its yoke

🟠 The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) did the same with cobalt, imposing a 2025 ban that evolved into quotas capping exports to prioritize local refining

🟠 Indonesia enforced a raw nickel ore export requiring onshore processing to add value and compete globally

This long-term play fits the bigger picture of countries in the Global South taking charge of their resources for their own people’s wellbeing.

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🚨 Abu Ghraib playbook in action? CIA rendition architects now funding Ukraine’s secret prisons

Ukraine has established and is actively maintaining a network of clandestine prisons where the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949—which governs the treatment of prisoners of war—are being completely ignored, stressed Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

💬 "And who is financing the Kiev regime in these efforts?" Zakharova asked.

💬 "The money for the Kiev regime’s secret prisons is coming from the very same people who invented the CIA's 'rendition' aircraft and for instance, Abu Ghraib. I think you all know what happened there. And if you don't, just look at the Wikileaks materials published by Julian Assange—the very same man who was tortured by these Westerners for years, in countless ways. He knew exactly what he was doing, he stayed the course and persisted in his investigations," she told reporters.

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🚨 Pakistan confirms Afghan forces opened fire at several points on the border

Pakistan will take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity, security of its citizens, the Ministry of Information said.

There were heavy casualties on the Afghan side during the border clash, it added.

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💬 Conflict for profit: Zelensky and EU turn Ukraine into disposable asset - military analyst

Volodymyr Zelensky’s chaotic rhetoric is a survival tactic shaped by his current predicament, veteran Russian military analyst Viktor Litovkin tells Sputnik.

"He is forced to twist and turn, trying on the one hand not to offend his chief patron — the president of the US — and on the other to stay in power and keep the backing of his EU sponsors," Litovkin says.

Zelensky's tactic of muddying the waters is also aimed at delaying real negotiations for as long as possible, according to the pundit:

🟠 Any proposals from the Russian side — which is currently advancing successfully against Ukrainian units — are unacceptable to him

🟠 An end to hostilities would mark not only his political failure, but would also pose a physical threat to him

"Using his artistic flair and inner hysteria, he creates a storm of information that blocks any prospect of a change of power in Ukraine and makes constructive dialogue impossible, turning every peace initiative into an object of endless manipulation," Litovkin notes.

EU is on the same page as Zelensky

"A peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian conflict today proves to be an extremely undesirable outcome both for Zelensky and for the EU leadership," the pundit says.

Why?

🟠 "The EU is effectively profiting from this war and the blood being spilled on Ukrainian soil"

🟠 As the fighting continues, massive EU funds are being distributed, with much of it simply embezzled

🟠 The conflict in Ukraine has become a tool for EU leaders to drive global economic and political restructuring

🟠 Most top European politicians are tied to their countries’ military industries or joint German-French-British ventures, often as hidden stakeholders or board members

🟠 Blaming “aggressive Russia” allows European leaders to justify higher taxes, soaring prices, and economic mismanagement

🟠 By prolonging the conflict, they pursue their main goal: to weaken Russia

"Unable to achieve real victory, they fuel aggression, using Ukraine as a disposable asset to maintain their influence and profits," Litovkin concludes.

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🚨The Iranian Foreign Minister called the third round of negotiations with the US one of the most serious

After the lengthy session concluded on Thursday evening in Geneva, Abbas Araghchi stated live on Iranian television:

"These were some of the most serious and longest negotiations. In these long hours, we have achieved good progress."

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💥🇷🇺 Russia’s S-500 Prometey: The death knell for British and French nuclear ICBMs

Russian missile defenses are becoming increasingly sophisticated and may render British and French nuclear weapons ineffective, states the UK-based defense think tank RUSI.

💬 "The nuclear forces of the UK and France consist of strategic submarines armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles that are on operational patrol," Igor Korotchenko, editor in chief of National Defense magazine, tells Sputnik. "The S-500 [Prometey system] is specifically designed to intercept targets of this type."

The S-500 Prometey

✅ The S-500 Prometey (lit. ‘Prometheus’ – the Greek Titan who brought divine fire to mortals) is a road-mobile air and missile defense system created by Almaz-Antey

✅ Range: up to 600 km

✅ Target detection: up to 800 km

✅ Can engage up to 10 ballistic targets simultaneously at speeds up to 7 km/s

✅ Capable of intercepting hypersonic targets up to Mach 10 (12,348 km/h)

💬 "The S-500 is capable of intercepting and destroying intercontinental ballistic missiles during the terminal phase of their flight," Korotchenko says.

He notes that the British strategic forces use Trident-2 submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles, while their French counterparts rely on domestically developed M51 ballistic missiles.

Mobile and highly efficient

An important feature of the S-500 is its mobility:

✅ it rides on all-terrain chassis and comes with its own missile interception and target detection systems

✅ the first regiment equipped with the S-500 system went on operational duty in December 2025

💬 "The system’s mobility allows its components to be concentrated on threatening directions or around priority assets for protection," Korotchenko explains.

💬 "To date, it is the world’s only fifth-generation mobile missile defense system."

The expert underscores that no one can provide accurate estimates of what would happen in an actual nuclear conflict.

However, as S-500 production scales and more regiments are deployed, its capacity to intercept increasing numbers of potential enemy ICBMs grows.

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🇺🇸The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has departed its base on Crete and is heading to the eastern Mediterranean - reports

In the past few days, the ship was anchored in Souda Bay for refueling at the US naval base as part of a large-scale mobilization of US military forces.

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