Russian Aerospace Forces Su-34 aircraft participating in the special military operation (video by Russian MoD)

Russian Aerospace Forces pilots perform air patrol missions and cover the actions of the Russian Armed Forces units in any weather conditions, both day and night.

Fighter-bomber flights are carried out with missile munitions of various classes.

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❗️Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️ Russia has decided to continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative*, as negotiations led to a "relative result".

▪️ After a conversation between Putin and the President of South Africa, it was decided that a number of countries would send a delegation to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.

▪️ Moscow's decision to block the accounts of the Finnish representation in Russia is a response to unfriendly actions by Helsinki.

▪️ Russia and Iran will continue mutually beneficial relations despite US pressure.

▪️ A delegation of African heads of state will arrive in Moscow to discuss а peace initiative on the Ukranian conflict.

* The deal was reached by Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye and the UN on July 22, 2022 to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships carrying food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

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Elon Musk understood that he wasn’t right in comparing George Soros to Magneto 🤷‍♂️

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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 Biden’s visit to Japan
🔺Next, we’ll continue monitoring the debt ceiling negotiations
🔺Finally, we’ll focus on the Biden administration's decision to drop the requirement mandating that think tanks disclose foreign funding

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

❗️ Latest statements by Russian FM Lavrov on the grain deal:

▪️ The 2 months for which the grain deal was extended will be decisive in terms of its future fate;

▪️ The extension of the "grain deal" is not connected with domestic political events in Turkiye.

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📊 #SputnikInfographic Most Telegram users regularly read no more than 10-15 channels, according to a study by the TGStat service: 25% of users are subscribed to 50+ channels, but approximately 74% read no more than 15 channels.

How many Telegram channels do you read regularly and how many are you subscribed to in total?

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Washington weighs possibility of sending US officials to China

The Biden administration is considering the possibility of organizing a series of visits by top US officials to China in the coming months, in an attempt to resume interaction with Beijing, an American broadcaster reported, citing US senior officials.

The list of officials who might visit China shortly includes US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Climate Envoy John Kerry, the officials told media, adding that the priority of those trips was still unknown.

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Washington “remains unconvinced” that Ukraine needs these “expensive fighter jets”

A US newspaper claimed that the Biden administration’s skepticism is “so deep” that Ukrainian pilots are “currently not even allowed to train on the F-16s that are owned by European states,” who are obliged to get the green light from the White House regarding any transfers of the US-made fighters.

“Without explicit American approvals, the training is likely to be limited to merely technical language and tactical lessons that pilots would be taught, without ever touching an F-16,” according to the insider. They argued that Kiev is asking “at least for between 24 and 36” F-16s.

A separate source told the newspaper that the Biden administration was still reluctant to deliver the fourth-generation fighter jets to Ukraine, in part because the plane’s multimillion-dollar price tag would “absorb too much of an already-dwindling pot of [US] war funding.”

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Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened to "beat up" French president Macron and called him a sycophant of the Russian president, Johnson's former spokesman said.

According to him, the ex-prime minister was dissatisfied with Macron's criticism of London's migration policy. As a result, Johnson called Macron an eccentric and "Putin's sycophant" and promised to arrange a "bacchanalia with beating frogs."

Within a few weeks, relations between the politicians returned to normal as they drank whiskey together at the G7 summit.

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📹 Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu inspects the organization of combat training of military personnel who have entered military service under contract

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

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces delivered a strike with high-precision weapons at depots containing foreign equipment and ammunition, as well as the reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, significant stocks were destroyed;

▪️ In the DPR, up to 200 Ukrainian military and mercenaries were eliminated per day;

▪️ Russian aviation destroyed a Ukrainian Su-24 aircraft in the DPR;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces eliminated up to 150 Ukrainian soldiers in the south of the DPR and in the Zaporozhye region, as well as a FH70 howitzer and a M777 artillery system;

▪️ Russian troops eliminated more than 75 soldiers and one tank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Krasny Liman;

▪️ Russian air defense systems shot down a Mi-8 helicopter of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, destroyed 4 HIMARS and Uragan projectiles;

▪️ Losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kupyansk per day amounted to 60 people;

▪️ The Russian army eliminated two sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the LPR;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces hit 68 artillery units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and destroyed an AN / TPQ-37 radar.

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As many as one million UK citizens decided to cut back or stop spending on a broadband internet connection last year due to the increased cost of living

A survey published by the Citizens Advice service on Thursday demonstrated that some groups were more affected than others. People receiving Universal Credit (a UK social security payment) were six times more likely to have stopped using a broadband internet connection in the last 12 months due to rising costs compared to those not on Universal Credit.

Some 12% of respondents said they had cut back or stopped spending on broadband and experienced at least one negative consequence as a result, such as difficulties in managing their other bills, keeping in touch with friends and family, searching for work or working from home.

At the same time, 7% of respondents said they had not stopped using their Internet service, but were behind on their Internet bills.

Citizens Advice noted that it is a red flag that a service that is becoming more and more essential for everyday life is getting inaccessible for people.

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❗️ Russian MFA: If all problematic issues on the grain deal are not resolved within two months, the agreement will be terminated after July 17

▪️ The ministry noted that the fundamental assessments of the implementation of the agreements remain the same: there is no progress on the Russia-UN memorandum, most of the grain goes to "full" European markets, and supplies of Russian agricultural products are blocked.

▪️ There is no progress on the resumption of ammonia supplies and there is no progress on reconnecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT. Without the fulfillment of these requirements, there is no question of any expansion of the Black Sea Initiative, the ministry concluded.

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