❗️ "The age of Francafrique is over," French President Emmanuel Macron claims

The remarks come as the French president is on a visit to Gabon, where he is expected to take part in the One Forest Summit.

🗣 "This age of Francafrique is over and I sometimes have the feeling that mentalities are not evolving at the same pace as us when I read, I hear, I see that France is still attributed intentions that it doesn't have, it doesn't have anymore," Macron told the French community on Thursday.

The visit to Gabon is part of Macron's Africa tour, during which he is also set to visit Angola, Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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Scott Ritter: Terror attack in Bryansk designed to provoke Russia as Zelensky hits brick wall on battlefield

💬 “You do not target women, children, you do not target a civilian, a village, unless your goal is to anger Russia and provoke Russia into perhaps overreacting,” Scott Ritter, a military analyst and former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, told Sputnik.

▪️There were no military objectives, and the attack was a provocation designed to anger Russia by intent, which can be used by the Zelensky government as justification for requesting even more military assistance, Ritter said.

💬 “I think you're going to see more and more acts of desperation like this in an effort to push Russia into overreacting so that Zelensky could use a Russian overreaction as justification for demanding even more assistance from the West,” the military analyst added.

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

▪️The Russian Army eliminated up to 50 Ukrainian soldiers and two vehicles near Kupyansk. In addition, Russian artillery destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot in the Kharkov region;

▪️Russian troops eliminated over 160 Ukrainian servicemen, seven armored fighting vehicles, and a Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer in the Krasny Liman direction;

▪️In the Donetsk People's Republic, during an offensive by Russian troops, air strikes and artillery fire destroyed up to 270 Ukrainian personnel, six infantry fighting vehicles, three armored fighting vehicles, nine motor vehicles, a Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, a Msta-B howitzer, and a D-30 howitzer. In addition, Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian hangar with military equipment and a communications unit in the Avdeevka area in the DPR;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated over 80 Ukrainian servicemen, a tank, two armored vehicles, two pickup trucks, a Msta-B howitzer, and a D-30 howitzer during an offensive in the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions;

▪️The Russian Armed Forces destroyed up to 80 Ukrainian servicemen, 30 vehicles, a Msta-B howitzer, and an ammunition depot in the Kherson direction;

▪️In the area of Kramatorsk in the DPR, a Ukrainian self-propelled Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile launcher was destroyed. In addition, a radar for an S-300 surface-to-air missile system was destroyed in the Dnepropetrovsk region;

▪️The Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-24 airplane and Mi-8 helicopter in the Donetsk direction;

▪️Russian troops shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 jet and a HIMARS MLRS missile in the Kherson region;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated a HIMARS MLRS and 14 AFU UAVs in the Kharkov region, DPR and Kherson region.

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🎥 Combat actions of CMD artillery crew within special military operation (the video courtesy of Russian MoD)

The reconnaissance UAVs receive the information about the target, then the crew strikes the enemy-fortified areas with 203mm high-precision artillery ordnance.

After completing the missions, the crew alters its position to avoid possible return fire.

The self-propelled artillery systems suppress positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with 203mm projectiles both day and night.

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❗️The number of civilians killed in a Ukrainian terror attack in Russia’s Bryansk region has increased to two

📍 Sputnik’s infographic showing a map of Russia’s Bryansk region, where today, March 2, a Ukrainian sabotage group infiltrated the border region, killing one person and injuring a 10-year-old child

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Russia's External Debt in 2022 Sees 3-Year Record Drop, Debt-to-GDP Ratio Lowest in G20

Despite the West's attempt to weaken Russia's economy and finances by imposing sweeping sanctions over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine, these self-mutilating restrictions have not succeeded in causing any significant harm to the country.
Russia’s foreign debt decreased for the first time in three years in 2022, reaching 4.039 trillion rubles ($53.3 billion), the country’s Accounts Chamber has revealed.

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❗️The operation on the 10-year-old child who was injured in the Ukrainian terrorist attack in the Bryansk region was a success, Governor Alexander Bogomaz has said.

Doctors extracted a bullet fired from a NATO firearm. The boy is now under the constant supervision of medical staff.

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Netizens were left unimpressed by the lack of empathy shown by the US president as he chuckled after weighing in on the fentanyl overdose deaths of two children.

The footage triggered strong disapproval on social media, with many deploring it as "inappropriate and vile."

💬 “I don’t always laugh about people dying from fentanyl overdose, but when I do, I do it in front of the entire country,” wrote one user, with others joining the Twitter crowd, which was left unimpressed by the gaffe. “Biden is a disgrace and owes that Mom an apology,” another user said in disdain.

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📍Today marks the anniversary of one of the largest bombing crusades since World War II, Operation Rolling Thunder in Vietnam.

The first air raid on the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) as part of the operation took place on March 2, 1965. During the operation, the USAF carried out massive bombings against North Vietnam: they targeted railroads, highways, and civilian industrial objects. The offensive included the destruction of crops, as American forces dropped chemical substances on them.

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International affairs and security analyst Mark Sleboda joined us to discuss the recent drone incursion into Russia and what was behind it

🎧Listen to more of Sleboda’s analysis in our podcast Political Misfits: Insulin Prices Lowered, Chicago Votes, US-China Chip War, Bakhmut

❗️At least two injured after fire erupts in skyscraper under construction in Hong Kong

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Bill Gates Says US Won't Be Able to Limit China's Microchip Industry

Regarding a possible military conflict between China and the US within the next decade, Gates argues that restricting Chinese chip sales and manufacturing would only warn Beijing about the intention for military escalation and thus further damage bilateral relations and provide China with advance warning of a future threat. The billionaire personally does not believe in a military conflict between the two countries.

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❗️Grain deal doesn't work, West sabotages Russian part of 'package' - Russian Foreign Ministry

‼️US to announce next round of Ukraine aid on Friday, White House's John Kirby has announced

Bipartisan US Senate Group Says It's Able to End Force Authorizations Behind 1991, 2003 Iraq Wars

“Every year we keep this authorization to use military force on the books is another chance for a future president to abuse or misuse it. War powers belong squarely in the hands of Congress, and that implies that we have a responsibility to prevent future presidents from hijacking this AUMF to bumble us into a new war,” US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.

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🔺Behind the scenes: Blinken's Central Asia trip was meant to open a 'Second Front' against Russia
🔺Burkina Faso says 'Au revoir!' to former colonial master
🔺Russia will not allow Nord Stream probe to be swept under the rug, Lavrov tells Sputnik

The Critical Hour will cover these and more stories! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|12am CET via the website or app

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

📹 The Russian Army uses the Volga armored train for mine clearance and rebuilding railways in the special military operation zone.

The train is equipped heavy machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, and ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns. It can also carry a BMP-2 or a T-62 tank.

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🇦🇿 🇫🇷 Azerbaijan's Aliyev calls on France to apologize for "bloody colonial crimes"

Azerbaijan, as chair of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), calls on France to apologize and acknowledge responsibility for the "bloody colonial crimes" and "acts of genocide" it committed in Africa, Southeast Asia, and other places, President Ilham Aliyev said on Thursday during a speech at the NAM Contact Group summit in Baku on post-COVID recovery.

🗣 "NAM always strongly supported the unquestionable sovereignty of the Union of Comoros over the island of Mayotte, which continues to be under the colonial rule of France," Aliyev said. "We call on the French Government to respect the rights of the New Caledonian people and other peoples in French overseas communities and territories."

The Azerbaijani leader also argued that French-administered territories outside of continental Europe are "nasty remains of the French colonial empire."

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'Cynical' Bryansk Terror Attack Designed to Taunt Russia Into Offensive

If Russia responded quickly and forcefully, this would "effectively nullify Lavrov’s work and, in general, break off any contact with our delegation. But it did not work out that way; we have yet to respond. It’s clear that we aren’t going to go on any offensive. But this is something that’s clear to us, here. In Kiev and Washington it’s probably not clear. They were counting on it," hoping “that we would deploy the tanks and advance. This is the situation,” international affairs expert Andrey Suzdaltsev said.

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G20 Roundup: New Payment Systems, Supply Chains Will Weaken West’s Grip on Global South

The G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in Delhi wrapped up on Thursday, with officials from the world's top 20 economies failing to agree on a final communique. What were the key takeaways from the two-day event?

Sputnik spoke to three Indian international affairs experts to find out