🇺🇸 The US Senate has rejected an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act  that would have required a congressional declaration of war prior to the US engaging in an Article 5 response pursuant to its NATO obligations

The amendment would clarify that it is the sense of the US Congress that the United States Article 5 obligation does not supersede constitutional requirements for Congress to formally declare war prior to US military engagement.

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty provides for a collective alliance response in the event any one member is the victim of an armed attack.

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🇨🇳 China successfully launched four Tianmu-1 meteorological satellites into Earth orbit on Thursday using a Kuaizhou-1A solid-fuel carrier rocket, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) said.

The carrier launched Tianmu-1-07, Tianmu-1-08, Tianmu-1-09 and Tianmu-1-10 satellites, the CASIC specified, adding that they would be used mainly to provide meteorological data for commercial use.

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❗️ Rheinmetall's armored vehicle plant will become a legitimate target in Ukraine if built, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warns

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🇷🇺 On July 20, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will participate in an extraordinary meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers via video link on Thursday, with the agenda including preparations for the summit in South Africa, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

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❗ 🇷🇺 🇮🇳 India is pinning great hopes on Putin personally attending the #G20 summit in New Delhi, as stated by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs

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The Russian Armed Forces continued to launch retaliatory strikes with high-precision weapons at production centers and storage sites for unmanned boats in Ukraine’s Odessa region

The fuel infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city of Nikolaev have been destroyed, the ministry added, saying that all all assigned targets were hit

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🇬🇧🇰🇵 The UK is urging North Korea to return to dialogue on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and to take credible steps towards denuclearization, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated.

It was also added that the UK considers North Korea’s ballistic missile launches on 18 July as a breach of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions and a move to destabilize the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.

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Ukraine has begun to use US-provided cluster shells - US media report

"My mates have died and are dying in Ukraine," an Australian mercenary currently serving with the Ukrainian International Legion told an Australian radio station, adding that he has seen things there that, from a military perspective, are beyond unacceptable and are hurting Ukraine.

Foreign mercenaries in Ukraine are threatened with repercussions for spreading information about some “incompetent” Ukrainian commanders, who are putting them in danger, the mercenary said.

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"Europe is likely to see a devastating migration crisis after the suspension of the grain deal," Yusuf Alabarda, a Turkish political expert, told Sputnik. He also highlighted that the biggest victim of higher grain prices and shortages in the developing countries will be the European Union.

"We know very well that Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and a couple of other African countries are mainly dependent on Ukrainian and Russian grain imports. Europe will be overwhelmed by migrants fleeing hunger," the expert stated.

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

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces stopped the activities of the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group in the Kharkov region;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed fuel infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Nikolaev;

▪️ The losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasny Lyman direction amounted to 60 troops;

▪️ A sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was destroyed near Krasny Liman;

▪️ Losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kupyansk amounted to 110 troops;

▪️ The actions of two sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were stopped in Zaporozhye Region;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces near Donetsk successfully repelled 16 Ukrainian Armed Forces attacks. More than 210 Ukrainian troops were eliminated;

▪️ Russian air defense systems intercepted 7 HIMARS shells, destroyed 32 Ukrainian UAVs;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces eliminated up to 45 Ukrainian soldiers and a D-30 howitzer in Kherson Region;

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🇫🇷 The French military has been facing under-recruitment in recent years due to unattractive service conditions and lower pay compared to private sector, local radio reported on Thursday, citing army sources.

The army will likely fail its 2023 target of recruitment, falling short of 1,500-2,000 recruits, which is a source of concern for the French military leadership in light of the Ukrainian crisis, the broadcaster said.

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📹 Russian military inflicted new retaliation strikes on Thursday night on the areas of production and storage of drone boats of Ukraine military, the Russian Defense Ministry said

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We'd like to draw your attention to a growing English-language news channel specializing in coverage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Be sure to follow/subscribe for updates!

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https://news.1rj.ru/str/ukraine_watch

🇮🇹 "No NATO, no weapons in Kiev": A rally against NATO's involvement in the Ukrainian conflict and its supply of weapons by the Vento dell'Est association has been held at a military airport in Pisa, Italy.

Protesters displayed banners saying "Sovereign Italy outside NATO," chanted anti-NATO slogans, and waved tricolor flags.

They stood against the supply of cluster bombs and depleted uranium ammunition to Kiev amid the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive and new NATO provocations.

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🇺🇳 UN Security Council to meet on Friday to discuss humanitarian implications of ending Grain Deal - UK Mission to the UN

Kiev may consider ships sailing in the Black Sea in the direction of the seaports of Russia as carrying military cargo with "corresponding risks" starting July 21, Ukrainian Defense Ministry stated.

Navigation in the areas of the northeastern part of the Black Sea and the Kerch Strait is prohibited as dangerous since Thursday, the relevant navigation information has already been made public, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry added.

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🗣️ On the interdependence between the conflict in Ukraine and the integrity of NATO:

“Remember Macron called NATO 'brain dead' a while back, I think, in 2019. So in that context, Biden wants to essentially demonstrate to the Europeans once again that they, the Europeans, they need the Americans. And so the thing is, though, the way to demonstrate this is by winning militarily on the ground in Ukraine. It looks increasingly impossible for all the high, by the way, in the mainstream Western press, which is always going on about Russia's imminent defeat. The reality on the ground, as I understand it, is the opposite,” Dr. Radhika Desai, author and professor, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Desai’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

🇺🇸 Two-thirds of Americans do not support sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, according to a poll

According to the survey, 42% of respondents oppose such a move, while only 33% support it. In addition, about half of respondents would like the United States to either maintain the same level of assistance to Kiev (29%) or increase it (23%). On the other hand, one-third of respondents said that the level of assistance to Ukraine should be reduced.

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🗣️ On Washington’s unstable Middle East policy:

“Everything that is happening right now in this region with Syria, with [the] Persian Gulf, with more and more sanctions against Iran, is also happening concurrently to the US talking to Iran. Oman has been hosting talks between Iran and the US to what the US officials have said is 'de-escalate tensions.' So on the one hand you have the State Department trying to de-escalate tensions and on the other you have the Pentagon just deploying their entire war machine to the region to confront Iran,” Esteban Carrillo, Journalist and Editor of The Cradle, told Sputnik.

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

👉 Watch the full episode of our show on Rumble

Putin today at the borders of NATO. The President of Russia arrived in the city of Murmansk, from which it is only short drive to Norway

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