📹 Ukrainian forces fired Storm Shadow missiles at a bridge located on the administrative border between the Kherson Region and Crimea, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

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❗️Russia stands for strengthening mechanisms to prevent development of biological and toxin weapons, Putin says

Principles approved by concept on prohibition of biological and toxin weapons systematically violated recently, Vladimir Putin said. He added that some countries seek to use international problems to ensure their own biological security at expense of others.

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📹 Russia's Solntsepyok flamethrower fire at Ukrainian positions in Donetsk direction

The Solntsepyok heavy flamethrower is a Russian-made weapon designed to clear out enemy trenches and bunkers, as well as to destroy enemy manpower located in open terrain and fortifications.

The TOS-1A Solntsepyok is capable of launching thermobaric rockets, which create a highly destructive blast and fireball upon impact.

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🇺🇸 US House committee advances $886Bln defense policy bill for 2024

The US House Armed Services Committee advanced the bill late Wednesday night with a 58-1 vote, sending it to the full House for consideration in the coming weeks.

According to a press release, the bill includes provisions that counter China’s activities, boosts oversight of the Department of Defense, and makes critical investments in innovative technologies and the US defense industrial base.

Lawmakers also adopted a provision directing the Secretary of Defense to provide a report to Congress on Russia and China’s presence in Central and South America.

The committee rejected an amendment for the bill that would have increased the Pentagon's funding to arm Ukraine from $300 million to $800 million.

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🇷🇺 🇿🇲 Zambia 'Stands by Russia' in Fight to Protect Its People, Socialist Party Chairwoman Says

Russia should be able to protect its people, and Zambia "stands by Russia" on this matter, Akende M'membe Chundama, chairwoman of the Socialist Party of Zambia, told Sputnik Africa.

According to the politician, Russia and Russia’s security interests should be treated the same way as those of Western countries and the US by the rest of the world, outlining that now the West's attitude towards the issue is hypocritical.

🗣 "So the same considerations, the same way they want to be treated by the rest of the world is the same way that the West, the US and we know that NATO, at the core of this, should also treat Russia," Chundama stated. "It's very clear that their hatred for Russia is extremely clear and as the rest of the world, it has opened a lot of people's eyes to say that this is hypocrisy"

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❗️LIVE NOW: Putin meets with Russian Security Council members

Join the live stream here or follow this link to Sputnik’s website

❗️Key points made at meeting of Vladimir Putin with Russian Security Council members:

▪️Russian forces have eliminated 13,000 Ukrainian servicemen and destroyed 246 Ukrainian tanks, including 13 Western-made ones;

▪️The West is expected to supply Ukraine with 250 tanks, including about 120 Leopards and 31 Abrams in 2023;

▪️Western weapon deliveries won’t have a significant impact on Russia’s special military operation;

▪️Even if weapon deliveries to Ukraine continue, their mobilization reserve is not unlimited;

▪️Western countries are ready to fight to the last Ukrainian;

▪️The Russian Army will form a new reserve corps, they will receive over 3,700 pieces of equipment.

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📹 Russian 2S5 Giatsint-S artillery system in combat action during special op

The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video of artillerymen of the Southern Military District hitting targets in the Zaporozhye direction using 152mm Giatsint-B howitzers.

The 2S5 Giatsint-S is a self-propelled howitzer known for its firepower and long range. With a 152mm caliber, the 2S5 Giatsint-S can fire a variety of ammunition, including high-explosive, anti-tank, and cluster munitions.

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🇺🇸 CIA veteran warns US intel agencies 'will do everything' to help Dems in 2024 race

While it is not completely clear whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation knew from the outset that dug-up "information on Trump" had been paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016, there is "no excuse for their having learned that and, nevertheless, proceeded with the investigation," former CIA station chief Philip Giraldi told Sputnik.

💬 "For 2024, I expect that the agencies will do everything they can to help Biden or whoever replaces him from the Democratic Party but they will be a lot more careful about how they do it than they were in 2020," Giraldi said.

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What is 'Surovikin defensive line' which Ukrainian forces can't crack?

Ukraine’s president has acknowledged that Kiev’s counteroffensive is going “slower than desired,” claiming it’s because of his concern about “people’s lives.”

Moscow says otherwise, citing the loss of thousands of Ukrainian troops and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles for miniscule gains.

👉 What’s stopping Kiev’s offensive? Sputnik explains

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

▪️The Russian Aerospace Forces launched long-range precision strikes at Ukrainian foreign-made hardware and a weapons depot. The assigned target was destroyed.

▪️In the Zaporozhye direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to over 110 troops, two tanks, four infantry fighting vehicles, eight armored fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, and two D-20 howitzers;

▪️In the Donetsk direction, Russian forces eliminated over 185 Ukrainian servicemen, an infantry fighting vehicle, two armored fighting vehicles, as well as two ammunition depots;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, the actions of three Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups were thwarted. Ukraine lost over 135 troops, two infantry fighting vehicles, two armored fighting vehicles, three pick-up trucks, one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer, and one D-30 howitzer;

▪️In the Kupyansk direction, two sabotage and reconnaissance groups were neutralized. Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 30 troops, an armored personnel carrier, two motor vehicles, as well as an American-made M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery system;

▪️In the Kherson direction, up to 45 Ukrainian servicemen, two motor vehicles, and a D-30 howitzer were neutralized; A command and observation post was destroyed in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️Russian air defense forces intercepted five Storm Shadow cruise missiles and two HIMARS rockets, and 15 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the Kharkov, Kherson, and Zaporozhye regions, as well as in the DPR and LPR.

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📹🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin lays flowers at Tomb of Unknown Soldier on Day of Memory and Sorrow

A traditional ceremony commemorating the Day of Memory and Sorrow, which marks the start of Nazi Germany's invasion of the USSR in 1941, has been held in Alexander Garden near the Kremlin.

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