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

▪️ An L-119 howitzer made in Great Britain was destroyed;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces attacked a large ammunition depot in the city of Nikolaev with precision-guided weapons;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces hit an observation post of the special operations forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of Veliky Island in the Kherson region;

▪️ The Russian Army destroyed up to 150 military units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the south of the DPR and in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️ The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 360 military and foreign mercenaries in the DPR in a day;

▪️ The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed the ammunition depot of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Avdeevka area;

▪️ Over the past 24 hours, Russian air defense systems intercepted nine HIMARS MLRS shells and destroyed 19 UAVs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces hit the command post of the tactical group "Grom" of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kherson region;

▪️ Losses of the Ukrainian Army in the LPR per day amounted to 115 people;

▪️ Russian troops hit the command post of the units of the 44th Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️ The Russian Army repulsed two attacks of the assault groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the LPR, destroyed more than 30 enemies;

▪️ Russian troops destroyed more than 70 Ukrainian military personnel, a tank and two armored personnel carriers near the Krasny Liman in a day;

▪️ The activities of six Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups were stopped in the LPR.

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⚡️🇵🇰 Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan leaves frightening message on Twitter, saying police have surrounded his house

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🎙 Today’s episode of the #AfroVerdict podcast features Nigerian entrepreneur, activist and youth leader, David Okpatuma, who explains the necessity of cultivating the Russia-Africa partnership, shares his experience of living in Russia, and urges African youth to visit the country to see it for themselves.

So tune in and enjoy the podcast!

⚡️ Grain Deal extended for two months, Erdogan said

Russia has not yet confirmed this statement.

US senator fears artificial intelligence could make him 'endorse Putin'

The rise of advanced AI is becoming a major concern for the Washington political elite, potentially overshadowing concerns about 'Russian meddling'.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, concerns were raised about the potential misuse of AI technology, with fears that AI software could manipulate politicians' statements. Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal expressed his worry after an AI chatbot mimicked his voice and delivered a self-composed speech, raising concerns about impersonation and misquotation.

"What if I had asked it, and what if it had provided, an endorsement of Ukraine surrendering or Vladimir Putin's leadership?" Blumenthal asked.

This led to discussions about the need for a regulatory agency to oversee AI technology, with Committee Chairman Dick Durbin suggesting its jurisdiction should cover both domestic and foreign AI activities. CEO Sam Altman of OpenAI, the developer of the chatbot, expressed support for establishing such an agency, drawing parallels to the International Atomic Energy Agency's role in regulating nuclear weapons.

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❗️ Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that the Grain Deal has been extended for two months

🇺🇸 US spending on servicing its national debt has already exceeded defense spending, the director of Grit Capital financial media said.

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📃 How to make the enemy surrender with a piece of paper?

In order to have a demoralizing effect on the enemy, the Russian military "bombarded" Ukrainian soldiers with leaflets, some with the image of Zelensky and even in the form of hryvnias (Ukrainian currency) with special innoscriptions on them.

They are being delivered via projectiles for the Grad MLRS. After a shell burst, leaflets are scattered over an area of more than a square kilometer. For the Ukrainian military, the leaflet serves as a "pass" for a safe surrender.

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🗣️”When the United States can't get its way, the ultimate is the sledgehammer. You bomb it back to the Stone Age”: American film maker based in Crimea Regis Tremblay on US threats to blow up Taiwan’s TSMC

🎧Listen to more of Tremblay’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

Leave 'La-la-land': Musk slams big tech's 'laptop class' over remote work

Elon Musk criticized the "laptop class" of tech professionals for their preference for remote work while expecting service workers to be physically present. He referred to them as living in a fantasy world and hypocritical for not acknowledging the disparity. Musk invoked the fake Marie Antoinette quote, comparing it to their behavior.

The tech tycoon pointed to the last Queen of France Marie Antoinette, who advised peasants to "eat cake" upon learning that they were starving and had no bread. The quote, though known to be a hoax, became the symbol of hypocrisy.

He concluded by suggesting that programmers should abandon their moral high ground and embrace returning to the office as productivity declined and investor demands increased.

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🗣️”It's illegal in Kiev to tape or report on Russian strikes. You can be arrested, disappear or whatever. So you hear very little about it. They never admit it": International relations and security analyst Mark Sleboda on the Ukraine media coverage of events

🎧Listen to more of Sleboda’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

📹 Russian loitering ammunition destroyed the Ukrainian self-propelled artillery system 2S1 Gvozdika (video courtesy of Russian MoD)

The UAV found a combat vehicle, after which it was destroyed by a high-precision munition.

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📹 Ukraine’s President Zelensky tries to prove to the Western audience that he knows “what is happening in Crimea”. But it seems that it’s not quite that way: anyway, facts speak louder than words.

Footage taken from crimea.ria.ru

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❗️ The Kinzhal hypersonic missile destroyed a radiolocation system and five launchers of the American Patriot complex in Kiev on May 16, the Russian Defense Ministry has said

Nutcracker: What we know about Russia's Kinzhal hitting the US Patriot system in Kiev

The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that a US-made MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, positioned in Kiev, Ukraine, was hit by the Russian Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missile.

This strike was part of Russia's ongoing military operation in Ukraine. The Russian supersonic interceptor MiG-31K, equipped with a Kinzhal missile, struck the Patriot system with speed, giving the Patriot crew no time to change position or reload the SAM’s launchers. In an attempt to intercept the Kinzhal, the Patriot system fired all 32 of its missile interceptors, a costly action that ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Contrary to Ukraine's claims of shooting down six Russian Kinzhal missiles, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu stated this was not true. The US is currently assessing the impact of the Kinzhal strike on the Patriot system, which is believed to have been damaged but not destroyed. The Ukrainian Army has two Patriot SAMs, one delivered by the US and the other jointly by Germany and the Netherlands, as part of Western countries' military assistance following the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. Despite the hit, it is thought that the system may not have to be removed from Ukraine and discussions about repair are ongoing.

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🇳🇬🇷🇺 Russia Shall Become Nigeria's 'First Line' of Friendship, Youth Leader Says

▪️Youth activist and chair of the Board for the Development and Cooperation for Africa Initiative, David Okpatuma, participated in numerous conferences and forums held in Russia. He told Sputnik his views on Russian-Nigerian, as well as Russian-African, relations.

▪️According to the youth leader, Russia can contribute to Nigeria's economic growth by encouraging, supporting and collaborating.

💬 "If you want to be sustainable, if you want to develop yourself, if you want to grow in strength, whatever you want to do, the idea is for you to find someone that has done or has been successful in that which you want to do, and go to them, ask questions, seek help, seek collaboration and support if need be," Okpatuma explained. "They [Russians] will become our first line of contact or friendships"

👉 READ THE FULL STORY

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Hungary agrees with France that Europe needs strategic autonomy to make decisions, in line with its own interests

Hungarian President Katalin Novak wrote on Twitter that he and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron agreed that Europe needs strategic autonomy to be able to make decisions based on its own interests. The presidents had a discussion on the sidelines of the 4th Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik.

In April, Emmanuel Macron stated that Europe must lower its dependency on the US and build up its "strategic autonomy". He added that Europe should avoid being "caught up in crises that are not ours," implying China-US tensions over Taiwan.

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🗣️“Whatever the Democrat propaganda narrative is, even they as well as everybody else knew the deal, that it was a complete hoax. It was nonsense that was fabricated by the Clinton campaign, that they were up to their neck in it. The FBI participated in it. The FBI went and lied to the FISA court and basically fudged the entire process as they gave Hillary Clinton a free pass”: Infantry veteran, counselor-at-law and constitutionalist Tyler Nixon on the Durham Report's revelations on the FBI's handling of RussiaGate

🎧Listen to more of Nixon’s analysis in our podcast The Final Countdown