Washington Officials Say Likely to Provide Ukraine With Combat Jets With Time, Reports Say

The issue of the possible fighter jet supply will be discussed at a NATO defense officials' meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.

According to sources, however, acquiring the aircraft is a longer-term objective for Ukraine, whereas a priority for Kiev is artillery supply.

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‘Damn Stupid’: US Journalist Behind Nord Stream Bombshell Takes Aim at Biden, Legacy Media

American journalist Seymour Hersh is “taking heat” over his recent explosive report documenting how the US sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines, the legendary reporter revealed in a new interview.

In a wide-ranging discussion on the War Nerd podcast, Hersh called on US President Joe Biden to come clean to the American people about the Biden administration’s role in the attack. The journalist underscored that the US public is being misinformed about the proxy war in Ukraine en masse.

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🧐 Former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, who lives in Russia, said the panic over the possible alien or extraterrestrial origin of flying objects downed above the United States and Canada is designed to distract journalists from investigating Nord Stream pipeline blasts.

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🇷🇺🇿🇦 Russian military frigate "Admiral Gorshkov" docks in Cape Town, South Africa

▪️The battleship is on its way to Durban to take part in joint naval exercises involving Russia, China and South Africa, the Russian consulate in Cape Town announced on social media.

▪️The drills, dubbed "Mosi" (which means "smoke" in the southern African Tswana language), will take place from 17 to 27 February near the shore of the KwaZulu-Natal province.

▪️The exercises will be conducted so that the three nations are able to share "operational skills and knowledge", and will involve more than 350 South African military personnel, according to a representative of the country’s armed forces, as cited by the media.

▪️"Admiral Gorshkov" is equipped with the Zircon missile system, which, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, "has no equal"

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‼️BREAKING: Income Tax officials raid BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai

This comes amid the controversy over a scandalous BBC documentary targeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots. Multiple politicians and organizations in India have called for placing a ban on airing the documentary in the country.

📹 Russian servicemen aid to Syrians affected by earthquake (video courtesy of Russian MoD)

🇷🇺🇸🇾 The Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in the Syrian Arab Republic in the city of Aleppo continue to deliver food kits and bare necessities to humanitarian aid distribution points.

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Mystery Object Downed by US Air Force Over Alaska Reportedly 'Interfered' With Aircraft Sensors

Pilots of the cutting-edge F-35 stealth jet fighter-bombers that were dispatched to investigate the "octagonal" unidentified aircraft over Lake Huron on February 12, reportedly revealed that it "interfered with the sensors of their aircraft."

The flying craft had been the fourth in a succession of puzzling high-altitude objects, each reportedly different from the others, that had floated over North America and was downed in just over week. Pilots were described as having offered different accounts of what they observed after flying in proximity to the object, according to a source briefed on the matter and cited by US media.

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Sweden's Economy Is EU's Worst Performer, Bloc's Own Forecast Proclaims

Sweden's economy is the worst performer of all the EU's 27 member states, according to the European Commission's latest forecast. Its GDP is even expected to shrink this year by 0.8 percent, making Sweden likely to become the EU's only member state with negative growth.

"Households will adjust their consumption expenditure further in response to the loss of real disposable income, the high level of uncertainty and increasing unemployment," the Commission said about Sweden, placing the once-booming economy in the bottom tier.

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Turkish Opposition Leader Says Elections Should Not Be Postponed

On Monday, former Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc suggested postponing the election because "the country must get rid of the pre-election stress" amid the quakes.

The opposition believes that any demands to postpone the election are a pretext for incumbent authorities to avoid it altogether.

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❗️ Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️ NATO is an organization hostile to Russia that confirms this every day and makes its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine more and more clear;

▪️ Russian rescuers have worked heroically in Turkey and Syria after the earthquakes;

▪️ President Putin may meet with his Belarusian counterpart Lukashenko on Friday.

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Catch our Fault Lines where we provide updates and analysis on all the most vital stories! Here's our line-up for Tuesday:

🔺 To kick things off, we’ll be discussing the terrible situation in Ohio where a train with dangerous chemicals derailed last week and now locals are suffering the consequences of that catastrophe;
🔺 We will touch upon the situation with US citizens in Russia and why the US embassy is urging them to leave the country;
🔺 And, we’ll continue monitoring the bewildering balloon wars!

More trending stories coming your way! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 7am EST|4am PST|1pm CET via the website or app!

📻 Also in the United States at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

🇬🇧 ✊ The United Kingdom lost the largest number of working days in 2022 since 1989, as workers hit the streets demanding higher wages, media reported Tuesday.

▪️ The number of working days lost to labor disputes in December amounted to 843,000, bringing the total number of strike days from June to December 2022 to 2,471,000, marking the highest number since 1989, UK broadcaster Sky News reported, citing data from the country's Office for National Statistics.

😠 The UK has seen a series of strikes by civil servants over the past months as people express their dissatisfaction with the worsening economic situation caused by rising energy prices and soaring inflation in the country. Employees of railroad companies, post offices, airports, and lawyers, among others, are taking part in the strikes.

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❗️Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️The Russian Army eliminated up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen in the Kupyansk direction;

▪️Russian troops eliminated up to 100 Ukrainian servicemen and destroyed a Grad MLRS in the Krasny Liman direction;

▪️Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian hangar with military equipment in the Avdeevka area in the DPR;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated over 60 Ukrainian servicemen during an offensive in the Donetsk direction;

▪️The losses of Ukrainian troops in the South Donetsk direction amounted to 40 servicemen;

▪️The Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft and an Mi-8 helicopter in the DPR;

▪️Russian troops destroyed a Ukrainian command post for an electronic warfare unit in the Kharkov region;

▪️Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian Msta-B howitzer in the Kherson direction.

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❗️Nikki Haley, who served as U.N. ambassador and governor of South Carolina, announces 2024 run for president