⚡️An air alert has been announced in Kiev, Odessa, Nikolayev, Poltava, Rovno, Sumy and Cherkasy regions

⚡️An air alert has been declared on the entire territory of Ukraine

📹 Russia’s MoD has published footage showing Buk air defense missile system crews detecting and destroying an air target that was approaching a large settlement following a ballistic trajectory.

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📹 Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, in a conversation with Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, admitted that Kiev is behind the attacks on the territory of Crimea and the Belgorod region.

▪️ The pranksters called Kuleba on behalf of former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.

💬 "Crimea is not the nearest operational target. But if you ask me who is blowing up something in Crimea or Belgorod, then in private communication I will tell you that, yes, it's us," Kuleba said.

▪️ The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also admitted that Kiev was preparing a counteroffensive in the south "in close cooperation with partners, firstly the United States and Great Britain."

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⚡️Explosions heard in four Ukrainian regions, local media reports

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

▪️Russian Forces eliminated more than 50 Ukrainian servicemen, three tanks, four infantry combat vehicles and seven motor vehicles in the Kharkov region

▪️Russian Forces eliminated two Ukrainian tanks, five infantry combat vehicles, two pickups and about 60 Ukrainian servicemen near Krasny Liman;

▪️Russian Forces destroyed 21 Ukrainian armored combat vehicles and 12 special motor vehicles, as well as more than 110 Ukrainian servicemen in the Kherson region;

▪️Russian Forces destroyed five Ukrainian missile, artillery armament and munitions depots in the DPR, Zaporozhye and Nikolayev region;

▪️Russian Air Forces destroyed a Ukrainian MIG-29 aircraft in the Dnepropetrovsk region;

▪️Russian Forces destroyed a Ukrainian Su-27 airplane in the Poltava region;

▪️Russian air defense systems destroyed 12 Ukrainian UAVs, as well as intercepted 16 HIMARS and Olkha rockets and 10 HARM missiles.

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📹 🇷🇺 🇹🇷 WATCH Turkey's Erdogan tells President Putin that Ankara can help transport Russian grain and fertilizer to less developed countries.

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📹 Russia's MoD for the first time has published a video showing the use of the modernized Lancet loitering ammunition on Ukrainian militants.

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❗️NATO Chief promises ‘severe consequences’ if Russia uses nukes against Ukraine

▪️ Previously, NATO officials said that the alliance or allies will almost certainly respond in the case of a Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine. NATO head Jens Stoltenberg did not clarify what this “response” might look like, and if it would include force.

💬 "There will be severe consequences if Russia uses any kind of nuclear weapon against Ukraine. This is something Russia knows and something NATO and NATO allies have communicated in different ways to Russia," NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said.

▪️ He added that there's no exact answer on how the organization will respond, but that such a move would fundamentally change the conflict.

▪️The EU and NATO have been ramping up their rhetoric about the threat of a Russian nuclear attack in recent months. This is seen in Moscow as part of the anti-Russian policy and nuclear blackmail against the country.

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😒 "The second part of the grain deal, concerning the removal of restrictions on Russian fertilizers and food, is not being implemented at all", Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said, adding that 300,000 tons of fertilizers are located in various European ports with no one to distribute them.

▪️ Expressing his discontent with the issue, Ushakov has confirmed Russia’s readiness to distribute these fertilizers to poorer countries.

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💬 "There is a nepotism problem in power and if we're going to investigate Donald Trump's family while he's President and people are going to call for that, then I think it's reasonable to see how in our culture people would want Joe Biden's family to face the same scrutiny", Kevin Gosztola, journalist, writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, comments on possible criminal charges against Hunter Biden

🎧 Listen to more of Kevin’s analysis in our podcast NATO’s Aid to Kiev, Ethiopian Peace Stalls, Danchenko Trial Bombshell

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❗Attack on NATO allies would trigger Article 5, but Ukraine is not a member of the alliance, the alliance chief says

💬 ‘NATO is not party to the conflict, but we will continue to support Ukraine no matter how long it takes,’ according to Jens Stoltenberg

❗️ A Florida jury on Thursday recommended a life sentence for Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 people and injured 17 others in a mass shooting at his former high school in Parkland, Florida in 2018.

▪️ While the jurors found that there were several aggravating factors proven beyond a reasonable doubt for all 17 counts of murder, they found that these factors did not ultimately outweigh the mitigating circumstances, thus leading them to recommend a sentence of life in prison without parole rather than the death penalty for each count.

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⚡️ US Defense Secretary Austin says NATO will not be dragged into Ukraine conflict

⚡️ Air raid alerts again declared in Odessa, Nikolaev regions, as well as the Kiev region

⚡️ US Defense Secretary Austin urges NATO countries to spend more than 2% of GDP on defense in view of the Ukraine conflict

🥴 A Bulgarian politician removed the flag of Ukraine from an administration building and lost his job.

💬 “I don’t oppose the Ukrainian flag, I don’t oppose Ukraine, but I think it’s wrong for the flag of a foreign state to be on the balcony of the mayor of the city,” the deputy head of the capital’s municipality wrote on social media.

🤷 His colleagues did not appreciate his act and demanded an immediate resignation.

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👌 Merkel does not regret her decision as chancellor to buy gas from Russia.

▪️ Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her decision during her tenure to buy significant amounts of natural gas from Russia.

💬 “Based on the conditions of the time, it was very rational and obvious to get pipeline gas, including from Russia, which was cheaper than LNG from other parts of the world,” Merkel said.

▪️ The ex-chancellor added that she does not regret her decision to buy gas from Moscow, stressing that "even during the Cold War, Russia was a reliable energy supplier."

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❗️ North Korea has reportedly launched another ballistic missile in the direction of the Sea of Japan

🥺 The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has raised an alarm about the “devastating” decline of the global wildlife population over the past 50 years, with several species facing risk of extinction.

😟 In the Living Planet Report launched on Thursday by the WWF and Zoological Society of London (ZSL), experts highlighted that wildlife populations fell on average by 69 percent between 1970 and 2018.

▪️ Latin America and the Caribbean have seen the highest loss of diversity at 94 percent, followed by Africa at 66 percent, Asia-Pacific at 55 percent, North America at 20 percent and Europe and Central Asia at 18 percent.

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🇺🇳 The adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution not recognizing the accession of new territories to Russia demonstrated that the West is solving its geopolitical tasks, with this confrontational initiative aimed at prolonging the conflict, the Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday.

💬 "The adoption of the resolution reaffirmed that the West is trying, first of all, to solve its own geopolitical tasks as opposed to Russia, to maintain an elusive monopoly in world affairs, and to split a number of member states of the General Assembly. It is also obvious that this confrontational initiative is not aimed at finding ways for a peaceful settlement, but at prolonging the conflict in Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement.

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