🇩🇪 Germany set against Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership

Berlin plans to urge other NATO members during the Vilnius summit on July 11-12 that they should focus on security assurances to Kiev, and not NATO membership, in order not to risk a war with Russia, UK media reported, citing an alliance source.

The US, the UK and the EU are currently working on "Bucharest-plus" - a series of bilateral security offerings to Kiev - instead of offering Ukraine NATO membership. Individual offers of security guarantees to Kiev would then be combined into an umbrella deal, a "Memorandum of Understanding," endorsed by NATO and the EU, the report said, adding that, according to sources, it would be the "next best offer" to Kiev.

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Russian aviation strikes Ukrainian positions in Krasny Liman direction

Ukrainian troops suffered significant losses in manpower and equipment as a result of Russian artillery strikes, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson told Sputnik.

Meanwhile, in the Svatove direction, Russian troops repelled an attack of Ukraine’s 66th Mechanized Brigade, with a tank, an armored combat vehicle and two enemy pickup trucks destroyed.

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🇨🇳🇺🇸 ‘Sign of American weakness’: Treasury chief Yellen ripped for ‘embarrassing’ protocol error during China visit

The way the top economic official overly enthusiastically bowed to Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng was ripped into by US media, who cited numerous experts saying it was an “embarrassing” protocol error.

“Never, ever, ever, an American official does not bow,” Bradley Blakeman, who served as a senior staffer in George W. Bush’s White House, said, as cited by a US media outlet. “It looks like she’s been summoned to the principal’s office, and that’s exactly the optics the Chinese love.”

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russia’s upper house speaker Matvienko to visit China

Valentina Matvienko will participate in a meeting of the inter-parliamentary commission on cooperation between Russia’s Federal Assembly and the National People's Congress of China.

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Ukraine admits it attacked Crimean bridge to 'break' Russia's logistics

Ukrainian deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar has admitted that the authorities in Kiev had carried out an attack on the Crimean Bridge in autumn of 2022, killing three people, causing part of the road section to collapse into the sea.

Up until now, Kiev refused to take responsibility for the attack on the 19-km long bridge - the longest in Europe and connecting the Crimean peninsula and mainland Russia's Krasnodar region, yet its officials had gloated over the attack in Twitter posts.

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🇵🇱 Poland delivers about dozen MI-24 helicopters to Ukraine

The Ukraine's fleet still remains "small" compared with the capacity of the Russian air systems, a report by US media said.

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🇺🇸 87-year-old man killed, 3 others injured after string of shootings in New York

The police have detained a 25-year-old man, who staged a string of shootings in Brooklyn and Queens, and whose motives are still unknown and presumably "random," Joseph Kenny, the assistant chief in the NYPD's Detective Bureau, told a news conference. “As he is driving on his scooter, he is randomly shooting people," Kenny added.

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🇫🇷 French confidence in police grew despite fatal police shooting, poll shows

A new OpinionWay poll conducted for a French newspaper reveals that 73% of respondents trust the French police, with 46% having said that they have a lot of confidence in law enforcement. The poll also showed that 59% of the French believe that the authorities should use a tough approach when dealing with problems in the suburbs.

Only 36% of the survey’s respondents consider immigration to be one of the main problems in France. Over 60% said they believed that purchasing power was a major issue, while 49% said security was one of the key problems.

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📹 Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter pounds Ukrainian personnel carrier in South Donetsk area

Footage from Russia’s Ministry of Defense contains a recording from the Ka-52’s sighting system, the target acquisition, the launch of a guided missile and a Ukrainian armored vehicle getting obliterated.

"Direct hit!" - a Ka-52 crew member radioed in after striking the target.

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📹 Russian forces decimate column of Ukrainian armored vehicles amid Kiev’s unsuccessful counteroffensive attempts

Minefields and Russian artillery made short work of at least 10 pieces of Ukrainian military equipment, including Western-supplied ones.

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🇷🇺 Russia's air defense systems on Sunday shot down a cruise missile in an area next to the Crimean city of Kerch, Sergey Aksyonov, the head of the Republic of Crimea, said

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🇮🇷🇩🇿 Top Iranian, Algerian diplomats discuss visa abolition, African Union, Israel

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Saturday that he had discussed with his Algerian counterpart, Ahmed Attaf, a wide range of issues, including the abolition of the visa regime between the two countries, the African Union and Israel's intention to join the organization.

💬“We have agreed to take the first step towards abolishing visas for politicians of both countries, and then towards abolishing ordinary, tourist visas," Amirabdollahian is quoted as saying.

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🏝 Biden hits the beach after sending cluster munitions for civilians to die in Ukraine

America's oldest sitting President, who is running for reelection in 2024, has spent 353 days — 39.2% of his presidency — on vacation.

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

▪️In the Donetsk direction, Russian forces destroyed over 180 Ukrainian troops, four infantry fighting vehicles, a Czech-made RM70 Vampire multiple rocket launcher system, one Msta-B howitzer, an American-made M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery system, as well as several ammunition depots;

▪️In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, the actions of a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group were thwarted. Russian troops neutralized up to 210 Ukrainian soldiers, four tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, two armored fighting vehicles, one Grad MLRS, one US-made M777 artillery system, an American-made M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery system, one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, one Msta-B and two D-20 howitzers, as well as an American-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar station, and an ammunition depot;

▪️In the Kupyansk direction, Russian forces destroyed up to 20 Ukrainian troops, one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, as well as an ammunition depot;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, the actions of two Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups were thwarted. Russian forces neutralized up to 80 Ukrainian personnel, two armored combat vehicles, one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, as well as one D-20 and two D-30 howitzers;

▪️In the Kherson direction, Russian troops neutralized up to 60 Ukrainian soldiers, one tank, one US-made M777 artillery system, one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, as well as an ammunition depot;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down one Su-27 aircraft, six HIMARS rockets, as well as nine unmanned aerial vehicles in the DPR and LPR.

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🇷🇺 The air defense system swung into action in the town of Donetsk in Russia's Rostov Region on Sunday, but only minor damages to roofs were reported, Mayor Roman Kuraev said.

The mayor added he was inspecting the streets where the fragments had fallen and noted that all damage would be repaired.

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🗣️ On the court's decision to prohibit the Biden administration from contacting social media platforms:

“It [social media] is going to be politicized, it's going to become a partisan issue. And that's really unfortunate, because this isn't about COVID. It's not about left or right. This is about the government interfering with speech,” Misty Winston, political activist, organizer, and host of The Misty Winston Show, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Winston’s analysis in our podcast Fault Lines

🦟 ‘NATO repellent’: Anti-mosquito aerosol made in Donbass with unusual design appears in Russian shops

The label of the bottle features a bogatyr – a stock hero character from East Slavic legends – fighting a horde of mosquitos adorned with NATO badges. The product calls on lovers of the outdoors to protect Russian blood – literally and figuratively.

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There is no unity in NATO regarding Ukraine's admission to the alliance, Biden says

Biden believes that China aims to displace the US from its pedestal as the leading economic and military power. In an interview with US media, the president stated that he is certain that the chairman of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, "wants to have the largest economy in the world and the greatest military capabilities," but that he is not seeking war with the US or territorial expansion. He added that he believes in the possibility of establishing working contacts with China that would be beneficial for both countries in the future.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, discussed the regional agenda, focusing on recent events concerning Ukraine, including the situation with the return of the "leaders of Azov*" from Istanbul, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

During the conversation with the Turkish foreign minister, Lavrov noted the destructiveness of the course of continuing to supply military equipment to Kiev. The conversation took place at the initiative of the Turkish side.

*Azov Battalion is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

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