📹 Combat work performed by crews of the 152mm Akatsiya self-propelled artillery mounts

The Akatsiya is a self-propelled artillery system equipped with a 152mm howitzer and can fire a variety of munitions, including high explosive and anti-tank rounds. The system has a top speed of 60 km/h and a range of up to 420km.

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‘US pressure’ on Kiev to deliver battlefield success could ‘botch’ counteroffensive

Washington and its NATO allies have poured billions of dollars worth of military aid into bolstering the Kiev regime, so high expectations for Ukraine to show battlefield results could "torpedo" a counteroffensive, according to a US media report.

💬 "There are many in the US and NATO who are concerned this is going to be a forever war, that it will go on for years and the West will continue to pour money into it without much progress," Mark Cancian, a former US Marine Corps colonel was cited as saying.

A former Australian army general, Mick Ryan, agreed, saying that, "regardless of what happens on the ground, this has to be seen as a success to the Ukrainian people and US and European politicians."

A former commander of US Army Europe, Ben Hodges, told the outlet that "monumental pressure" from the West might "screw up" any attempt at a counteroffensive before it got off the ground.

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📹 Russian forces test-fire mini-version of MLRS Grad

A detachment from the Tsarskiye Wolves has destroyed a Ukrainian stronghold in the Zaporozhye direction using a new mini version of the Grad MLRS called Marusya, which can be carried manually or loaded on a pickup truck, the head of the Tsarskiye Wolves science and technology center, Dmitry Rogozin said.

He added that Marusya provides accurate target engagement at ranges of up to 11 kilometers and has already been tested on the frontline.

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🇪🇺 G7, EU may ban imports of Russian pipeline gas in some areas after summit in Hiroshima on 19 to 21 May

One of the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told British media that the move aims “to make sure that partners don’t change their mind in a hypothetical future”. The decision will affect countries such as Poland and Germany.

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❗️Russian writer and politician Zakhar Prilepin is planning to return to the special military operation zone once he recovers

His recovery will take at least six months, Prilepin’s spokesman said.

Prilepin sustained serious injuries on 6 May when a car was blown up on a highway in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region. His associate Alexander Shubin was killed in the blast.

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🚀 SpaceX’s rocket delivers another 56 Starlink satellites into orbit

"Deployment of 56 @ Starlink satellites [into orbit] confirmed," the SpaceX corporation tweeted.

The Falcon 9 rocket took off from the launch center on Cape Canaveral in Florida at 1:03 local time (05:03 GMT).

Shortly after the launch, the rocket's first stage landed on the floating platform.

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🇬🇧🇪🇪 UK to send over 1,500 troops to Estonia for NATO drills

The Spring Storm annual exercise will involve around 14,000 military and become the largest NATO drills this year, British media reported. This year, the UK sent more troops following its decision to increase the number of its forces under the Enhanced Forward Presence program.

The NATO unit will train various combat tactics, including trench storms, light infantry combat, coordination with armored vehicles and reconnaissance operations, according to the report.

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Zelensky reportedly wanted to strike Russian territory, blow up Druzhba pipeline

The Ukrainian president had proposed behind closed doors to strike Russian territory and bomb the pipeline used by Russia to supply oil to Hungary, US media report citing leaked classified US intelligence documents.

The documents, leaked through the Discord messaging platform, “reveal a leader with aggressive instincts that sharply contrast with his public-facing image as the calm and stoic statesman,” the report said.

According to the leaked documents, in late January Zelensky suggested that, in order to give Kiev "leverage in talks with Moscow," Ukraine should "conduct strikes in Russia" while moving Ukrainian ground troops into Russian territory to "occupy unspecified Russian border cities," US media stated.

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🇹🇷 Voters greet Erdogan as he leaves polling station in Istanbul

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

▪️In the Kupyansk direction, Russian forces destroyed up to 100 Ukrainian troops, one D-20 howitzer, and a Rapira anti-tank gun;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, Russian forces neutralized up to 60 Ukrainian personnel, one armored combat vehicle, as well as one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer;

▪️In the Soledar-Artemovsk direction, assault detachments with the support of airborne units continued to fight for the capture of the western quarters of the city of Artemovsk. The Ukrainian Army made massive attempts to break through the defense of Russian troops. All attacks by UAF units were repelled. Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 400 servicemen, 12 tanks, 18 infantry fighting vehicles, two armored fighting vehicles, as well as a D-20 howitzer;

▪️In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Russian forces destroyed over 120 Ukrainian troops a Msta-B howitzer, and one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer. A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group was destroyed;

▪️In the Kherson direction, Russian troops neutralized up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, two ammunition depots, as well as one US-made AN/TPQ-50 counter mortar radar;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian a Su-27 aircraft, six HIMARS projectiles, and 18 unmanned aerial vehicles in the LPR, DPR, and Kharkov region.

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🇰🇷🇯🇵 Samsung Electronics plans to build chip development hub in Japan

The South Korean tech giant is set to build a new semiconductor facility in the Japanese city of Yokohama, which will cost over 30 billion yen ($221 million), Japanese media report.

The city is currently home to the company's research and development hub, Samsung R&D Institute Japan, but the new facility will be built at a separate site. The company will reportedly construct a production line for prototype chips there.

The world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is also building its chip manufacturing plant in Japan, bankrolled by the Japanese government. Japanese electronics giant Sony flagged plans to build a semiconductor manufacturing facility in the country as well.

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🤖 'Stakes couldn’t be higher': Unbridled super-intelligent AI could 'wipe out' humanity

Given the huge strides made by AI systems and machine learning of late, the time has come “to take a breath” and focus on how to safeguard against the risks an ungovernable super-intelligent machine would pose, the professor of computer science at the University of California, Professor Stuart Russell, told media.

💬 “How do you maintain power over entities that are more powerful than you — forever? If you don’t have an answer, then stop doing the research. It’s as simple as that. The stakes couldn’t be higher: if we don’t control our own civilization, we have no say in whether we continue to exist,” he said.

Pointing to the amazing abilities of OpenAI's ChatGPT language model, which utilizes deep learning neural networks to generate output based on human input, and can pass exams with flying colors and write computer code, Stuart Russell said that, "We’ve made progress without expecting to.” But there is the danger that one day a system similar to ChatGPT could be incorporated into a super-intelligent digital mind that evades human control.

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🤨 Biden raises eyebrows by making 'adjustment' during university commencement ceremony

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❗️🇹🇷 Polls now closed in Turkish general elections

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🇪🇸 Protests erupted in La Bonanova, Barcelona, as the contentious housing issue has spurred squatters to fight for occupancy rights, triggering an anti-establishment movement

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