🔺Non-Aligned Movement reiterates support for Venezuela against US blockade
🔺Scott Ritter: cluster munitions will change nothing for Ukraine
🔺Latin American leaders reject presence of Ukraine’s President Zelensky at EU-CELAC meeting

The Critical Hour will cover these and more stories! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|12am CET via the website or app

📻 Also in the United States at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

🇷🇺🌍 Russia-Africa Summit 2023: everything you need to know

Dear readers, ahead of the Russia-Africa Summit 2023, Sputnik Africa has prepared a special dossier dedicated to this important diplomatic event, which in a couple of weeks will be attended by Russian leaders as well as representatives of more than 50 African countries.

🔍 Here you will find the latest updates, details on preparations, official statements, and even what is going on behind the scenes at the summit, which is to take place on July 27-28 in St. Petersburg.

✅ The dossier is available in English and French.

Stay tuned for more to come

Subscribe to @sputnik_africa

🔸 Sputnik Africa | TikTok | Odysee | Twitter 🔸

🎥 The crew of a Russian Ka-52 reconnaissance and attack helicopter detected and destroyed an armored combat vehicle with a precise hit of a guided missile in the Zaporozhye direction

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇸🇩 Sudan's airspace to remain closed to all traffic, officials say

The Khartoum International Airport announced on Monday that the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority has extended the closure of Sudanese airspace until July 31, except for humanitarian aid and evacuation flights with the permission of the authorities.

✈️ Sudanese airspace was closed to regular traffic following a military conflict between the country's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April.

Subscribe to @sputnik_africa

🔸 Sputnik Africa | TikTok | Odysee | Twitter 🔸

🇦🇺 Australia to deploy AWACS aircraft in Germany to patrol NATO's Eastern flank - Scholz

"I am particularly pleased that Australia will contribute to the protection of the airspace in the eastern territory of the Alliance members this fall by deploying an AWACS aircraft at Ramstein [Air Base] for this purpose," Scholz said at a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Albanese, in turn, said that the aircraft will participate in air patrols for six months, and that 100 military personnel will take part in the mission.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

NATO Vilnius summit to fall short of Ukraine's expectations

"US President [Joe] Biden has declared that Ukraine is not 'ripe' to join NATO," Paolo Raffone, a strategic analyst and director of the CIPI Foundation in Brussels, told Sputnik. "Some European allies, among others Germany, also doubt the readiness of Ukraine to join NATO.

At the Vilnius NATO summit, it will not be decided on the membership of Ukraine in NATO. However, some sort of 'arrangement' in the form of a NATO-Ukraine council can be agreed upon. It is very clear that the US does not want any direct military confrontation with Russia – a position reaffirmed by Biden and [CIA Director William] Burns – the issue of Ukraine NATO membership is off the table."

Instead, it is expected that the US, UK, France, and Germany will provide Kiev with some sort of security guarantees to ensure a regular delivery of Western military aid.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Osa SAM teams cover Russian troops from the air in the special military operation

One of the main tasks of the anti-aircraft gunners is to counter enemy drones.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The FBI helped the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) censor social media accounts based in the US as part of an effort to combat alleged Russian disinformation

The FBI forwarded Meta* an SBU-provided list of accounts flagged for removal, based on their alleged involvement in spreading disinformation, US media reported. However, the list included some US-based accounts, including the US State Department’s own Russian-language Instagram account.

The FBI and SBU marked authentic accounts belonging to the US government and journalists in an effort to have them censored, the report said.

* banned in Russia as an extremist organization

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇱🇦 Every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years from 1964 to 1973, American B-52s dropped an entire planeload of cluster bombs on Laos

50 years later, civilians are still falling prey to American bombs.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

All Zelensky can expect from the NATO summit on Ukraine's admission to the alliance is guarantees of further military aid at best, Russian diplomat says

Zelensky continues to bend his line that he needs Western weapons and military equipment under the pretext of a confrontation with Russia, the diplomat said, adding that is why Zelensky has long hinted that he would like an accelerated process of joining NATO. The UK and the US, however, have made it clear that the necessary criteria must be met for this.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The situation in the confrontation between Russia and NATO is degrading to the most unfavorable scenario, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said 

He added that the measures taken by the Western countries created more and more insurmountable obstacles on the way out of the most acute military and political crisis, "fraught with the most serious consequences for international security."

NATO leaders will gather in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12, 2023, to discuss a wide range of topics ranging from Sweden's accession to the alliance to military assistance to Ukraine.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡ US considers supply of cluster munitions to Ukraine as 'temporary measure': White House

NATO summit kicks off in Vilnius

Leaders of the world's largest military alliance will discuss a broad range of issues, while prioritizing the Ukrainian crisis and Sweden's entry to the US-led bloc.

Follow Sputnik's live feed to find out more!

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Ukraine's police and security forces block the buildings of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have launched a new wave of their offensive with the use of heavy equipment in the Zaporozhye region, Vladimir Rogov, head of the public movement "We are together with Russia," told Sputnik

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said that another attempt by US aircraft to violate the country's airspace could become a "critical flight" for them

On Monday, Kim Yo Jong said that a US reconnaissance plane entered the airspace above North Korea's economic zone. She added that US reconnaissance aircraft violated the country’s airspace several times from July 2-9.

"I have already notified beforehand the counteraction of our army upon authorization. In case of repeated illegal intrusion, the U.S. forces will experience a very critical flight," the politician was quoted as saying by North Korean state media.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️ NATO Secretary General says proposed to cancel membership action plan for Ukraine to join alliance, which will shorten accession process

The crisis in Ukraine has consumed most of NATO’s attention (and well over $100 billion in taxpayer money) over the past 16 months. As members gather for the bloc’s 36th summit, the issue of Ukraine’s relationship vis-a-vis the alliance is at center stage.

Sputnik outlines the issues on the table, and the decisions which may be reached

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Jens Stoltenberg said that he would appoint a special representative to combat terrorism

The fight against terrorism is carried out by NATO in different directions, so the bloc needs a single coordinator to improve the work of different divisions in the fight against terrorism, Stoltenberg added.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️ France to transfer long-range missiles to Kiev to support Ukrainian military's offensive - Macron

The immense damage wrought by the riots in France, sparked by the killing of a teenager by a police officer in late June, will cost insurance companies 650 million euros

Insurance claims related to professional property loss amount to 55% of the total sum, while claims related to the property of local authorities reach 35%, according the French federation of insurance companies France Assureurs.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt