🇷🇺🇺🇸 Russian Ambassador to US warns against strikes on Crimea, raises F-16 issue

💬"I would like to warn representatives of the administration against frivolous judgments on Crimea, especially in terms of ‘blessing’ the Kiev regime for air attacks on the peninsula. I’d like to remind you that strikes on this territory are considered by us as an attack on any other subject of the Russian Federation. It is important that the United States be fully aware of the Russian response," Anatoly Antonov said.

He added that "every specialist knows that in Ukraine there is no infrastructure for the operation of the F-16, nor is there the required number of pilots and maintenance personnel. What will happen if American fighters take off from NATO airfields, controlled by foreign ‘volunteers’?"

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🇨🇳🇯🇵 China summons Japanese ambassador over statements made at G7 summit

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Sun Weidong summoned Japan’s ambassador Hideo Tarumi on Sunday, to express "solemn" protest over the communique issued by Japan and other G7 countries that "smears" and attacks Beijing, interferes in China’s internal affairs and harms China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.

On Saturday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry voiced strong protest over the statements related to Beijing made by G7 leaders at the summit in Japan. Beijing also pointed to the mismatch between the G7's statements on peace and stability and its actions, which it said were damaging regional stability and suppressing the development of other countries.

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📹 Crews manning Russia’s 2S19M2 Msta-S self-propelled artillery guns in combat action

The 2S19M2 is the third modification of the Msta, which provides a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute. The uniqueness of the Msta 2S19M2 self-propelled howitzer lies in its rate of fire, its maintainability, its ability to conduct a counter-fire strike, its ability to fire all types of ammunition: fragmentation, cluster and including high-precision rounds. The 2S19 self-propelled howitzer has been upgraded to an export-oriented variant for use in hot climates.

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🇺🇸 ‘Not something you budget for’: Quadruple murder probe bleeding Idaho city dry

Following the high-profile murder of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapina, a major US outlet reported Sunday that overtime, as well as the city’s other expenses, are "growing exponentially."

The slayings saw a 28-year-old criminology Ph.D. student named Bryan Kohberger indicted on four counts of first-degree murder, but even before a major investigation was launched into the Kohberger's crimes, Moscow had long been facing serious financial shortfalls.

💬 "We weren't prepared for this," Moscow City Council member Sandra Kelly told US media. “This is such a horrific thing - how could you plan for this? You budget for fires. You budget for floods. You prepare for natural disasters. This was not natural."

Local officials noted that, with an annual $7.2 million price tag, the police department’s budget already exceeded the $6.9 million in property taxes brought in each year. The outlay reportedly comprises just over a third of the city’s yearly expenditures.

💬 "Moscow is not awash in a funding excess," Moscow Mayor Art Bettge told US media, adding, "we run a very, very lean budget and the impact of the investigation has been felt on the budget."

Bettge said the city has faced a "difficult six months" since last November, when police discovered four students had been stabbed to death at their off-campus house. Kohberger was arrested in connection with the crime at his family’s home in Pennsylvania over a month later.

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🇸🇪 Swedish military recruiting in Arabic 'for the sake of diversity'

The Swedish Armed Forces have for several years strived to increase diversity within its organization. Now they are trying a new approach through targeted ads on the Arabic-language news site Alkompis in the hope of attracting more recruits from a non-Swedish background.

💬 "Diversity and equality is ultimately about seeing and respecting each individual, but also about creating a more inclusive culture within the defense forces. It increases the ability to adapt – which is required to stand strong in the fast-changing world we live in – and to find new solutions," the military told Swedish media.

The site Alkompis describes itself as "a Swedish media house in Arabic, as opposed to an Arabic media house in Sweden" and was founded in 2012 by Mahmoud Agha, formerly of Swedish Radio. It claims to be ad-financed but it also benefits from tax breaks.

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❗️Latest statements made by Russian Deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov:

▪️Crimea is part of Russia, and Washington’s threats are reckless, said Ryabkov, responding to Jake Sullivan’s remarks about allowing Ukrainian attacks against the peninsula;

▪️Moscow will find a way to prevent any threats of possible strikes against the peninsula from being carried out;

▪️On possible supplies of F-16s to Kiev: Russia believes it is clear that the entire range of weapons would sooner or later end up in Ukraine;

▪️Republican senators pushing to withdraw from the New START treaty is part of the US two-party tug-of-war;

▪️Any hypothetical pullout from the treaty would not affect Russia's position on the agreement;

▪️The senior diplomat lambasted the struggle over the US national debt as a 'circus,' and is ready to bet that a deal on it will be reached.

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📹 Russia’s 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled artillery guns crush Ukrainian troops in direction of Artemovsk

The artillery crews of the Russia’s Eastern Military District provide fire support to infantry units, which hold the defense on the flanks of the Artemovsk direction, helping repel Ukrainian attempts to counterattack.

After the air reconnaissance unit ferrets out clusters of troops and enemy equipment, their coordinates are transferred to the artillery crew of the 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled artillery installation. The combat vehicle then moves into position and opens fire on the identified targets.

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IAEA head says situation with nuclear safety at ZNPP extremely unstable

💬 "Ukraine’s ZNPP this morning lost all external electricity for 7th time during conflict, forcing it to rely on emergency diesel generators for power; nuclear safety situation at the plant extremely vulnerable. We must agree to protect plant now; this situation cannot continue," Director General Rafael Grossi tweeted.

Earlier in the day, the power plant said that it had switched to operation on diesel generators due to the shutdown of the last high-voltage line. The cause of the shutdown of the high-voltage line is under investigation. The radiation levels remain within the normal range.

Russia has considered the Zaporozhye Region to be part of its territory since September 30, 2022, when Vladimir Putin and the head of the region signed an agreement on its accession to the country, following a referendum in which an overwhelming majority of the local population supported becoming part of Russia.

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Manila's iconic central Post Office gutted by fire, interior lost forever

🇵🇭 Manila's iconic Central Post Office, built in 1926 and restored after WWII, has been gutted by fire. Postmaster General Luis Carlos confirmed that "from the basement to the ground floor all the way up to the fifth floor" had been destroyed.

🏛 There is no word yet on the cause of the fire, which began last night. While the shell of the building remains, its iconic interior has been lost.

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📹 A captured Azov* militant in Mariupol shows Russian security forces where his squad opened fire on a civilian car, killing a family - a woman, a man, and a 10-year-old girl

* terrorist organization banned in Russia

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❗️ Protests erupt in 🇵🇬Papua New Guinea after defence pact signed with US 🇺🇸

The pact in question, the details of which are still unknown, was reportedly signed by US State Secretary Antony Blinken & Papua New Guinea PM James Marabe on the margins of the FIPIC Summit.

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📹 Refugee from Artemovsk reveals how Ukrainian forces abduct children

The Ukrainian authorities and members of the military in Artemovsk were seizing children from residents and, under threats of being stripped of their parental rights, parents were forced to leave for areas under Kiev's control, according to an evacuee from Artemovsk who spoke to a Sputnik correspondent.

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🇷🇺🇻🇳 Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, shake hands during a meeting in Hanoi.

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⚡️Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group entered Grayvoronsky district in Russia’s Belgorod region, elimination process is underway, governor says

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🇪🇺 EU Commission fines Meta* a record €1.2 billion for breaching data privacy rules

According to a ruling by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, the tech giant has been fined a record 1.2 billion euros and ordered to stop transferring data collected from Facebook users in Europe to the US, as that apparently violates EU data protection rules.

The penalty is touted as the largest under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation law. The ruling will be applied only to Facebook, sparing other Meta services from the fine. The company said it would appeal the decision, and has at least five months to comply with the ruling.

*Meta is banned in Russia over extremist activities

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❗️The aim of such sabotage acts is to divert focus from the loss of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and minimize its negative political fallout, the Kremlin says

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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 50 Ukrainian troops, one ammunition depot, and one D-30 howitzer. Three Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups were destroyed;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, Russian forces neutralized up to 55 Ukrainian personnel, two armored combat vehicles, as well as one Msta-B and one D-20 howitzer;

▪️In the Donetsk direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 270 servicemen, four armored combat vehicles, as well as one D-20 and two D-30 howitzers;

▪️In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Russian forces destroyed over 150 Ukrainian troops, two D-30 howitzers, as well as one ammunition depot;

▪️In the Kherson direction, Russian troops neutralized up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, a Hyacinth-B towed gun, one Msta-B howitzer, as well as one ammunition depot;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down one Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter, five HIMARS missiles, and 17 unmanned aerial vehicles in the LPR, DPR, and Kharkov region.

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