❗️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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❗️ Three hospitalized after Ukrainian troops bombard the town of Grayvoron in the Belgorod Region, governor says

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🇩🇪♻️ German Green Party lawmaker finds out Bismarck was chancellor after 2 years in office

Emilia Fester has been serving in the Bundestag since 2021 as a member of the Greens, who are focused on climate change and social justice issues, and earned the noscript of “Baby of the House” for her status as youngest member of the parliament.

After the German parliamentary elections in 2021, Emilia said “young people bring pressure to parliament and that scares some of the older delegates because we want to shake up this dusty place.” The new wave of parliamentarians was considered the “wokest” in the history, and included “two openly trans women, an openly bisexual woman and a black woman.”

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❗️ Leader of the ATA bloc, Sinan Ogan, who bagged 5% of the vote in the first round of Turkiye's presidential election said that he would support Erdogan in the runoff

Kremlin on grain deal: position of Western countries complicates process

"This is one of the indicators that, despite all the efforts of the UN, Guterres, he is faced with, let's say, the unconstructive position of some Western [states]. It really complicates this process. It complicates, perhaps, the implementation of the Russian part of the Black Sea initiative, the Black Sea deal. But, nevertheless, contacts, as we said, continue, will continue because, yes, the deal has been extended for 2 months, but 2 months is a fairly short period, it will end fairly quickly," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

In an interview with a Russian newspaper released earlier in the day, spokesman for EU foreign affairs Peter Stano said that the bloc may restore access to the SWIFT payment system for Russian banks, including Russian Agricultural Bank, only after the conflict in Ukraine ends.

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