❗️The US announced on Wednesday it wll transfer $3.5 billion to a Swiss fund created to stabilize Afghanistan's economy. The new fund will be shielded from the Taliban* government, the US Treasury noted.

*under UN sanctions for terrorist activities

Kremlin presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking about Kiev's document about security guarantees: The reasons for the special military operation are becoming more relevant

"No one has concealed the fact that they had this document in mind before Ukraine's accession to NATO, and that means that the reference point for NATO membership remains. Thus, the main threat to our country remains and even becomes more relevant, which is one of the main reasons to conduct a special military operation," Peskov said.

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❗️Russia’s MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation:

▪️Russian Forces have destroyed eight Ukrainian tanks, 13 infantry combat vehicles, and 11 other armored vehicles, as well as eliminating more than 150 Ukrainian servicemen at the Nikolayev-Krivoy Rog front;

▪️Russian aviation has performed high-precision attacks at the Ukrainian brigades' temporary deployment points in the DPR. As a result, up to 250 Ukrainian servicemen and more than 20 units of military equipment have been eliminated

▪️Russian Air Forces have performed high-precision strikes on the positions of the Ukrainian 65th Mechanized and 68th Chaser Infantry brigades in the Zaporozhye region, eliminating up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen as well as five units of military equipment;

▪️Russian Forces have launched massive fire attacks against the Ukrainian manpower and military equipment of the 14th and 93rd mechanized brigades of the Ukraine’s Army in the Kharkov region. As a result, up to 150 Ukrainian servicemen and more than 10 units of military equipment have been eliminated

▪️Russian Forces destroyed four Ukrainian missile, artillery armament and munitions depots in the Kharkov region, as well as a Ukrainian combat vehicle for Uragan MLRS in the DPR;

▪️Russian Forces have destroyed one US-made counter-battery interception radar and one radar for illumination and guidance of the Ukrainian S-300 air defense missile system in the Nikolayev region;

▪️Russian Air Forces have destroyed a Ukrainian MI-8 helicopter with a sabotage and reconnaissance group on board in the Kherson region;

▪️Russian air defense have destroyed four Ukrainian UAVs in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as well as intercepted one Tochka- U ballistic missile in the Kherson region;

▪️Russian Forces have also intercepted 33 shells of MLRS in the Kherson region and in the DPR

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🇪🇺🇭🇺 The EU plans to cut funding for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s administration, because of concerns about "widespread corruption" in Hungary, Bloomberg reports, citing senior EU officials

The flight containing the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II became the most tracked in history, according to FlightRadar24

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⚡️Armenian MoD accuses Azerbaijani military of shelling Russian FSB transport. Azerbaijan denies all accusations.

Former US President Donald Trump fears assassination by Iran as revenge for Soleimani death, reveals book 'The divider'

In 2020, Donald Trump allegedly told friends that he was afraid Iran would try to assassinate him in revenge for the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani who was killed by a US drone strike. At the time, Trump said: “I thought about it for a second and I said, ‘You know what, they shot down an unmanned drone … and here we are sitting with 150 dead people that would have taken place probably within a half an hour after I said go ahead.’ And I didn’t like it … I didn’t think it was proportionate.”

The startling revelation appears in a new book 'The Divider: Trump in the White House 2017-2021', which will be published in the US next week.

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💰 End of dollar hegemony?

🪙 Russia has been seeking to eradicate the dollar and euro from its foreign trade relations ever since the 2014 wave of sanctions over Crimea’s reunification. As efforts have been renewed recently, check out the list of nations that are ready to dethrone the dollar (or are already in the process of doing so) together with Russia.

❗️Spoiler: the list is not complete

🇮🇳 India: Moscow & Delhi are working to reinstate the rupee-ruble payment mechanism that was in place during the Cold War before the collapse of the Soviet Union

🇨🇳 China: a mechanism is already in place, & the share of national currencies in Russia-China payments keeps growing

🇮🇷 Iran: Tehran and Moscow have already switched to the use of national currencies in some mutually agreed upon types of settlements

🇹🇷 Turkey: Presidents Putin & Erdogan agreed to switch bilateral trade to national currencies, starting off with settling gas deliveries in the Russian ruble, during their latest meeting in Sochi

🇻🇪Venezuela: the country is working with Russia to make automatic payments in their national currencies as the two seek to move away from the dollar

🇮🇩 Indonesia: discussions on trade payments in national currencies are ongoing

👉 💳 What's more, the use of Russia’s Mir card payment system is allowed in Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia.

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📹Here is a look at the current economic situation in Pakistan.

Local news media report that “Pakistan is on the verge of economic collapse, despite international support from Saudi Arabia and the IMF and Saudi Arabia”

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