🇺🇸US media reported this week that the loss of America’s sole operational black powder plant in Louisiana in mid-2021 has left the defense sector lacking a component that’s critical for bullets, bombs, mortar and artillery shells and missiles.

Former US Army HQ Staff Officer and veteran national security expert David T. Pyne says the resolution is little more than chest thumping.

💬“That is a very naïve and foolish resolution because it has no basis in foreign policy reality. These House members are engaging in little more than political posturing to try to show how tough they are on Russia at a time we should be pursuing a policy of strategic partnership with Moscow rather than continuing to transform it into an adversary. As I have been saying from the beginning of the war, Ukraine has no possible chance of defeating Russia let alone retaking Russia’s new territories or Crimea.”

For more of Pyne’s analysis on the causes and consequences of the US’s arms click here

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

🔺To kick things off, we’ll be discussing Tucker Carlson breaking his silence with a new monologue after departing from Fox News, as well as Biden’s cheat sheet with vetted question
🔺Next, we’ll continue monitoring the ongoing disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, where people are still suffering from the aftermath of the February train crash
🔺Finally, we’ll touch upon rumors circulating about President Erdogan’s health

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

❗️Moscow has urged the US and South Korea to abandon any actions that may undermine strategic stability, particularly in light of the recent Washington Declaration. The agreement between the US and South Korea on joint use of nuclear arms will only serve to destabilize the situation in the region and the world, the Russian Foreign Ministry says

⚡️ Ukrainian rocket attack on shuttle bus in Donetsk kills seven

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📹🇷🇺🔧 Russian military repair units from the Western Military District carry out round-the-clock repair work on equipment used in Russia's special military operation in Ukraine

In addition to maintenance specialists, tasks are carried out with the help of soldiers and volunteers. Special attention is paid to the maintenance and repair of weapons and special military equipment for troops operating at a significant distance from temporary deployment points.

Qualified servicemen perform restoration work of any complexity with the help of modern maintenance and repair vehicles.

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#SputnikInfographic

🇷🇺 ⚛️ Russia's Rosatom carries out work on constructing nuclear power plants in many countries

Take a look at our infographic on Russian-designed NPPs in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Hungary, India, Iran, and Turkiye

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“You’re the scum of the Earth”: Video of an eyewitness of the deadly Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk

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

▪️In the Kupyansk direction, Russian forces destroyed up to 75 Ukrainian troops, two armored vehicles, a D-20 howitzer, and one ammunition depot;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to 85 servicemen and one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer;

▪️In the Donetsk direction, Russian forces destroyed more than 300 Ukrainian troops;

▪️In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Ukrainian losses amounted to 40 soldiers and a D-30 howitzer;

▪️In the Kherson direction, Russian forces neutralized up to 65 Ukrainian troops, an Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer and a D-30 howitzer;

▪️The actions of two Ukrainian sabotage groups were thwarted in the Kupyansk direction in the Kharkov region;

▪️Russian air defense systems also intercepted eight HIMARS and Uragan missiles, as well as five Ukrainian UAVs in the LPR, DPR, and Kharkov region.

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🚁 The Russian National Guard recently upped the ante on their training regime by taking to the skies for a heart-pumping skydiving session

These skilled fighters took their training to new depths by completing underwater tasks after landing in the designated drop zone. They even tackled the challenge of descending from a helicopter via rope and put their diving prowess to the test.

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Thousands of Afghans ennoscriptd to UK asylum left behind after pullout

A House of Commons Defence Select Committee report has revealed that more than 3,000 Afghan citizens who qualified for refuge in the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy are still in Afghanistan almost two years after the Western military withdrawal.

The report highlights concerns that those who collaborated with British forces during the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan may face retribution from the Taliban, which is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities. The committee chairman, Tobias Ellwood, has called for a thorough public inquiry into the chaotic and bloody pullout from Kabul and the UK's involvement in the conflict.

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'Formation of new multipolar world causing drastic, dynamic & irreversible changes opposed by collective West, Shoigu 🇷🇺 told SCO meet on Friday

Watch our video for details.

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Scientists extract oxygen from simulated lunar soil under vacuum

NASA researchers have successfully extracted oxygen from a simulated lunar regolith material in conditions similar to those found on the Moon.

The experiment, conducted in a vacuum, used a carbon-thermal reactor to extract oxygen through a carbothermal reduction process.

The reactor was tested under conditions that would be encountered on the Moon, and has shown it can hold pressure and function effectively in a vacuum. The next step is to test the prototype reactor in space.

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🗣️”Think about what money is – one of the big functions – it's a unit of account. You can't have a unit of account that's a roller coaster. It doesn't have to be way highly valued. It has to be stable”: economist and professor Mark Frost speaks about the state of the US economy

🎧Listen to more of Frost’s analysis in our podcast Fault Lines

Mark Frost, an economist and professor, has expressed skepticism about reports in The Wall Street Journal regarding the congressional debt ceiling bill.

🗣️"I can smell the BS kactually through the monitor as I read about it," Mark Frost said of Wall Street Journal reports that the congressional debt ceiling bill would cut the US Treasury deficit by almost $5 trillion over 10 years. "Are there any real journalists left?”

US Debt Ceiling Bill Won't Stop Government Deficit Soaring by Tens of Billions

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🚢 New Mozhaisk submarine launches in St. Petersburg

Just like a hundred years ago, St. Petersburg remains at the center of naval engineering. Today, a new submarine was launched at the Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard in St. Petersburg.

The diesel-electric submarine is called Mozhaisk, named after a city located near Moscow that holds the noscript of City of Military Glory.
It is the fifth submarine in the series and is intended for the Russian Pacific Fleet.

WATCH THE VIDEO!

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🇷🇺Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has warned Moscow’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization partners about US efforts to undermine steps to create a multipolar world, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

Commenting on these developments, Dr. Alexey Kupriyanov, a senior fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, told Sputnik that the strength of the SCO lies in its political elites’ “sensible and sober assessment” of military, economic and political realities and the understanding “that their main task is to preserve what they have now, and, if possible increase confidence-building measures to leave the situation in Eurasia more stable and calm for future generations than it is right now.”

To read more of the academic’s assessment of the SCO and its prospects for challenging US-led hegemony, both in Asia and globally, click here.

Brand new episode of the #AfroVerdict podcast from our friends at Sputnik Africa – enjoy!

🗣️”If we face another true crisis in this country, where we have to print some money, the pain of printing that money is going to be so bad, because we're at that point of diminishing returns with respect to printing money”: economist and professor Mark Frost speaks about the US monetary gun machine

🎧Listen to more of Frost’s analysis in our podcast Fault Lines

🦌🇺🇸 Cinema workers in Alaska were shocked when a moose wandered into the building to indulge in some treats

The animal entered the theater lobby, rummaged through the trash, ate some popcorn, and stuck its snout into a Happy Meal box before leaving. An employee immediately called the manager, who was working upstairs at the time.

The cinema workers yelled at the moose and banged on the walls until it left with the box still on its snout.

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Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector and retired US Marine Corps intelligence officer, has lambasted the "Ukraine Victory Resolution" introduced in the US Congress as a delusional step towards further escalation, which may result in a global nuclear war.

Read his analysis on Sputnik’s website to understand the prospects of the ongoing conflict

US setting up sensors across Ukraine to detect potential nuclear blasts

In a statement for the newspaper, the Nuclear Emergency Support Team said that the network of atomic sensors was being deployed "throughout the region" and would have the ability "to characterize the size, location and effects of any nuclear explosion."

The sensors will be able to detect radiation from both a dirty bomb and a nuclear weapon activated in Ukraine, the report said.

The move would allegedly deny Russia any opportunity to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine without attribution. The sensors will presumably serve as deterrence because they would make Russian decision-makers aware the United States can expose the use of a nuclear weapon as a false-flag operation.

"Scientific analyses would be rapidly provided to US government authorities and decision-making centers in Ukraine and the region to make actionable, technically informed decisions to protect public health and safety."

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