🚨 🇷🇺 Putin holds phone conversation with UAE President - Kremlin

The presidents exchanged views on the dangerously deteriorating situation in the Middle East region.

🔊Putin stressed the need to stop escalation of the Middle East conflict and resolve it through negotiations

🔊He expressed gratitude for assistance and support provided to Russians staying in the UAE

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️ CHERVONAYA ZARYA IN THE SUMY REGION FREED

With the settlement of Chervonaya Zarya in the Sumy region liberated, the Russian army has expanded the buffer zone along the Bryansk and Kursk regions, halting attacks on civilian infrastructure.

🟠 Russian air and missile firepower obliterated energy infrastructure supporting the Kiev regime’s forces and temporary deployment points of foreign mercenaries

🟠 Air defense superiority: two Storm Shadow missiles and 350 UAVs were shot down by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,370 troops killed or wounded

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🇵🇰 Pakistan can be a ‘big player’ in North-South Transport Corridor – ex-envoy

Pakistan has always believed in regional connectivity and complementarity, former high commissioner of Pakistan to India Abdul Basit told Sputnik.

The International North-South Corridor and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) can complement each other in the longer term, he said.

Pakistan can play a huge positive role in furthering regional and inter-regional connectivity as well said Basit, the former Pakistani ambassador to Germany.

Pakistan is working on the second phase of the CPEC.

The ports of Karachi and Gwadar provide the shortest routes to the landlocked areas of South and Central Asia, and Pakistan becomes a natural link in the chain of corridors, he said.

💬 "I think Russia can count on this because if this corridor is from St Petersburg to India, Pakistan comes naturally in this strategic corridor, which is being evolved," Basit said.

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🚨The goal of Ukraine's attacks on Gazprom facilities is to halt gas supplies to European consumers - Russian MoD

Earlier in the day, the Russkaya compressor station in the Anapa district of the Krasnodar region, the starting point for gas supplies via the Turkish Stream pipeline, was attacked, Gazprom said.

What else did Gazprom say about other attacks:

🟠 Strikes were recorded on the Beregovaya and Kazachya compressor stations yesterday

🟠 In total, since February 24, Gazprom's facilities in southern Russia have been targeted 12 times

These stations are critical for ensuring the reliability of export supplies through the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream pipelines.

All the attacks were repelled, the company said.

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🚨Ukraine's drone attacks on gas stations are ‘reckless’ amid global energy crisis - Kremlin

💬 “Very alarming news”, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked to comment on the recent attempts by the Kiev regime to strike the Russkaya and Beregovaya compressor stations with drones.

🟠 These attacks are "particularly irresponsible" against the backdrop of an emerging global energy crisis, he said

🟠 The Kremlin also recalled recent statements by President Putin regarding intelligence data, which indicated that the Kiev regime was planning sabotage operations targeting the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream pipelines

🟠 Russia views these strikes as an attempt to disrupt stable gas supplies to European consumers

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🛢 🤝 Hormuz: the world's oil tap is shut but Pakistan can count on Russia – ex-envoy

🔊 The Pakistani government is taking steps to cut oil and gas use amid the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, former Pakistani High Commissioner to India and ex-Ambassador to Germany Abdul Basit told Sputnik.

The government has cut office hours five working days to four working days.

Schools and colleges have been closed for about two weeks to reduce the transport burden. Other steps include raising fuel prices, Basit explains.

💬 “If the situation worsens, if the supply of oil and gas is disrupted,” then Pakistan is in touch with Moscow, Basit said. “ If the situation worsens, we can count on Russia.”

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🚨 US is to blame for strike on school in Iran, preliminary inquiry shows

A military investigation has determined that the US is responsible for a deadly attack with Tomahawk missiles on an elementary school in Iran’s Minab on February 28, the New York Times reported, citing US officials familiar with the inquiry.

Officers at US Central Command created the target coordinates for the strike based on outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the report says.

The findings are preliminary, the officials reportedly stressed, adding that it is now important to find out why the outdated information had not been rechecked.

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💬 Scott Ritter: Europe, Africa, and Mideast within reach of Israel’s nuke-armed warplanes

“Israel could have up to 200 nuclear warheads,” Scott Ritter, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, tells Sputnik.

They could be delivered via:

👉 Sea-launched cruise missiles

👉 Jericho 3 ballistic missiles

👉 Blue Streak air-launched cruise missiles

👉 Artillery

👉 F-15E fighter jets

Israeli warplanes potentially carrying nuclear missiles could strike Central and Southern Europe, Africa, Iran, and the entire Middle East, according to Ritter.

“However, the Israelis would be hesitant to put a nuclear weapon on an air-delivered system given the possibility of the loss of that system, therefore a loss of a nuclear weapon,” he concludes.

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🇵🇰🇸🇦🇮🇷 Will Pakistan back Saudi Arabia if Iran retaliates?

💬 "Pakistan is not expected to get involved in any Saudi adventure outside its territorial boundaries. That is, Pakistan will not fight for Saudi Arabia in the territory of any other Muslim country," Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi, an independent defense analyst, told Sputnik.

He was commenting on statements from Pakistani Prime Minister's Spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi, who, as reported by Bloomberg, said that Pakistan would assist Saudi Arabia if Iran retaliates by targeting Gulf nations.

Rizvi explained that Pakistan’s military commitment to Saudi Arabia is focused on protecting its own territory and the ruling family.

His other key insights:

🟠 Pakistan can assist with air defense, anti-missile systems, and monitoring or shooting down drones. At this stage, no one expects a direct military confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia

🟠 In the past, Pakistan refused to send troops to Saudi Arabia to fight against the Houthis in Yemen. If Pakistani troops are deployed to Saudi Arabia, they will remain within the Kingdom’s territorial boundaries

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🪖🇷🇴🇺🇸 Romania approves US access to its air base

The Romanian National Defense Council has allowed the US to deploy military forces on its territory, Romania’s President Nicusor Dan has said.

The US previously sought temporary access to Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base for Middle East operations, which would involve refueling aircraft, deploying fighter jets, and stationing up to 500 personnel.

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💬 Scott Ritter: Israel attacking Iran over nukes 'clear double standard'

"[Israel's possession of nukes while Iran is being attacked over suspected ones] shows the influence that Israel has not only on the US, but the international community through Europe, the control that Israel has over the IAEA, and the fact that nobody wants to stand up to Israel and their hypocrisy," the ex-intel officer tells Sputnik.

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🟠 The goal of Ukraine's attacks on Gazprom facilities is to halt gas supplies to European consumers - Russian MoD

🟠 Ukraine’s missile attack on Bryansk would have been impossible without British specialists – Kremlin

🟠 Scott Ritter: Europe, Africa, and Mideast within reach of Israel’s nuke-armed warplanes

🟠 US is to blame for strike on school in Iran, preliminary inquiry shows

🟠 Hormuz: the world's oil tap is shut but Pakistan can count on Russia

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🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇷 US-Israel war against Iran round-up

Check out our interactive graphic to see how the two sides exchanged blows on March 10.

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