⚡️An update from Russia's MoD:

▪️On January 8, as a result of negotiations with Kiev, 50 Russian soldiers were released. They were in mortal danger in captivity;

▪️All released Russian troops are provided with the necessary medical and psychological assistance;

▪️Released Russian troops will be delivered to Moscow by military planes for treatment and rehabilitation.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️As a result of the criminal attack by the Kiev regime in the first minutes of January 2023 against the temporary deployment site of Russian military personnel near Makeyevka (Donetsk People's Republic), the command of the combined group of troops carried out a retaliatory operation.

▪️ Over the past 24 hours, Russian reconnaissance assets have uncovered and reliably confirmed through several independent channels the temporary deployment points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kramatorsk.

▪️ There were over 700 Ukrainian troops in dormitory №28 and over 600 troops in dormitory №47.

▪️ More than 600 Ukrainian soldiers have been eliminated as a result of a massive missile strike on these temporary deployment sites for Ukrainian units.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇸🇳 At least 40 people have died and scores were injured in a collision between two buses in the Kaffrine region of Senegal, local media reported.

▪️The incident took place Sunday morning on the road to Kaffrine as one of the buses from the country's capital Dakar smashed into the side of the other. According to the media, the death toll from the bus crash reached 40, while around 70 people were injured.

▪️Following the incident, the country’s President Macky Sall has announced a three-day national mourning. He also stated that the Senegalese officials are expected to hold meetings in the coming days to address road safety in the country.

Subscribe to @sputnik_africa

West to Demand Serbia Recognize Kosovo If Belgrade Slaps Sanctions on Russia, Vucic Says

The West will require the Serbian authorities to sign an agreement with the partially-recognized republic of Kosovo on its formal recognition once Belgrade agrees to impose sanctions against Russia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.

Vucic recalled that Belgrade has withstood external pressure for about 100 days, refusing to impose sanctions against Russia over the special operation in Ukraine.

Read more

📹The Russian Defense Ministry has revealed footage showing how 50 Russian servicemen return from the Urkainian captivity.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚽️Prominent French football manager and former player Zinedine Zidane has rejected an offer to become a new coach of the US national men’s team, US media reported on Sunday, citing sources.

▪️The United States Soccer Federation has contacted Zidane to offer him to manage the national team after the contract of current coach Gregg Berhalter is expired, the report said.

▪️Earlier, media reported that Zidane might become a new coach of the French national team after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, however, the French Football Federation decided to extend the contract of current coach Didier Deschamps until the 2026 World Cup.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Sputnik Editor's Espionage Charges Aim to 'Cover Up' Latvia Limiting Free Speech: Lawyer

Latvia's espionage accusation of Moscow-based Sputnik Lithuania editor Marat Kasem aims to "cover up" the country's actions to restrict freedom of speech, Anatoly Kapustin, head of the Russian branch of the International Law Association, told Sputnik on Sunday.

Read more

‘Unfit for Office’: Netizens Troll Biden Over Reports of 2024 Campaign Launch

Speaking at a post-mid-term election in November, Joe Biden made it clear that he intends to seek another presidential term, but that it was ultimately a “family decision”, due to be announced “early next year”.

Netizens have hit out at US President Joe Biden amid reports that he is "readying the details around his 2024 re­election campaign."

Read more

⚡️Ukraine's special services have prepared a large-scale anti-Russian provocation in the Kharkov region, opening graves in several cemeteries - Russia's MoD.

📹Russian Terminator BMPT in action as part of the special military operation in Ukraine (video courtesy of Russia’s MoD)

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️A group of supporters of the former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has broken a security blockade and invaded the Planalto Palace.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that illegal immigrants are being expelled from the streets of the border city of El Paso with their tent camps demolished in preparation for the arrival of US President Joe Biden.

📌Biden is expected to visit El Paso later in the day, where he will familiarize himself with the migration situation on the US southern border for the first time since the beginning of his presidency.

💬"El Paso rushes to remove illegal immigrants and migrant camps that are crowding downtown before Biden arrives. Predictable. Biden does not want America to see the chaos that he has caused on the border. This is just a photo op and a game of pretend," the governor tweeted.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹WATCH: Forty men and women took part in the "Misogi" ritual at the Teppozu Inari Shrine in Tokyo on Sunday.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Protesters took to the streets of El Paso, Texas ahead of Joe Biden’s visit to the border city. Around 300 migrants have taken refuge on sidewalks outside the Sacred Heart Church, with some afraid to seek more formal shelter amid new restrictions meant to crack down on illegal border crossings.

▪️ Joe Biden announced last week that Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans will be expelled to Mexico if they enter the US illegally – an expansion of the Title 42 pandemic-era immigration policy.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Scam Artist Admits to Stealing Over 1,000 Unpublished Manunoscripts Through Online Fraud

The stolen manunoscripts have apparently never surfaced online and no attempt to ransom them has been made, with the thief's motives thus remaining unclear at this point.

A 30-year-old Italian man has admitted his guilt in the theft of over a thousand unpublished literary manunoscripts.

Filippo Bernardini, who worked in London for prominent publishing company Simon & Schuster, scammed writers out of their works by impersonating publishers and agents, using fake email accounts whose domain names resembled those of legitimate enterprises.

Read more

📹WATCH: Russian engineers conduct mine clearance in Mariupol (video courtesy of Russia’s MoD).

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️The US-led international coalition against Daesh* denied media reports saying that air-defense systems of the Ayn al Asad air base in western Iraq, at which US troops are deployed, shot down a drone flying over it, a source in the coalition told Sputnik on Sunday.

📌Earlier in the day, the Arabic broadcaster Al-Hadath reported that forces of the international coalition shot down an unknown drone over its air base. There were no casualties or damage reported.

💬“These reports are not true, the Iraqi armed forces are conducting military exercise,” the source said.
The Ayn al Asad air base located in the Anbar province frequently comes under shelling, for which the US blames alleged pro-Iranian armed groups.

* Daesh (also known as ISIL/ISIS/IS/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries

📹 Night patrol: Russian Su-30SM and Su-35S perform combat missions under the veil of darkness (video courtesy of Russia’s MoD)

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

China Using ‘Petroyuan’ in Oil Imports May Lead to New World Energy Order

December saw Chinese President Xi Jinping meet the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council nations. Xi said at the time that Beijing has outlined five "priority" areas in its relations with the Gulf countries for the coming years, including the settlement of bilateral oil and gas transactions in the Chinese yuan.

China’s drive to use the yuan when buying oil from Gulf nations may result in the creation of a new world energy order, a UK newspaper has reported.

Read more