🇳🇪 Niger presidential palace reportedly blockaded by soldiers

Soldiers from Niger's presidential guard have blockaded the presidential palace in the capital Niamey, and access to ministries adjacent to the palace was also shut off, the media reported, citing sources close to the country's President Mohamed Bazoum

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📹 Moscow drenched in unusual tropical thunderstorm

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☦️ Ukrainian lawmakers and officials are whipping up hate rhetoric against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry noted that such rhetoric resulted in acts of aggression and unmotivated violence against clergy and arson attacks on churches and shrines of the canonical church. The ministry added that the United States was making it clear that it approved of Kiev's actions to persecute the UOC by failing to condemn them.

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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 210 Ukrainian troops, seven armored combat vehicles, two US-made M777 artillery systems, one Polish Krab self-propelled howitzer, one D-20 and one D-30 howitzer, as well as a US-made M119 self-propelled howitzer;

▪️In the Kupyansk direction, Russian forces destroyed up to 135 Ukrainian troops, one tank, three armored combat vehicles, a US-made M-777 howitzer, one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, an American-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar station, as well as one Msta-B and one D-20 howitzer ;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, Russian forces neutralized up to 190 Ukrainian personnel, five armored combat vehicles, three Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers, an American-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar station, as well as one D-30 and one D-20 howitzer;

▪️In the Zaporozhyie direction, the actions of a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group were thwarted. Russian forces neutralized up to two tanks, one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, and a Hyacinth-B towed gun;

▪️On the morning of July 26, the enemy resumed intensive offensive operations in the Orekhov direction. Ukrainian forces conducted a massive attack with three battalions reinforced with tanks. All Ukrainian attacks were repelled. Russian forces neutralized up to 100 Ukrainian personnel, 22 tanks, 10 infantry fighting vehicles, and one armored fighting vehicle;

▪️In the Kherson direction, Russian troops neutralized up to 40 Ukrainian soldiers, one Akasyia self-propelled howitzer, and an ammunition depot;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down seven HIMARS missiles, two Storm Shadow cruise missiles, and 13 unmanned aerial vehicles in the LPR, DPR, and Zaporozhye region.

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❗️Rebels in Niger refuse to free president, military gives them ultimatum, the media report

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❗️LIVE NOW: Putin meets with delegation from Ethiopia on eve of Russia-Africa summit

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

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🇺🇸 Hunter Biden has arrived at a Delaware courthouse ahead of an expected guilty plea to multiple federal crimes

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🇷🇺 🇪🇹 Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during a meeting with a delegation from Ethiopia that will take part in the upcoming Second Russia-Africa Summit

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“Today with the modern technology, a Russian defense national command and control center in Moscow can actually get a video feed from some private on the ground in the Donbass. And then they also receive these immense datasets, immense stream of information that can be used for reconnaissance and targeting,” military analyst Andrei Martyanov told the New Rules podcast, commenting on Russian military capabilities

👉 The Ukrainian counteroffensive’s new strategy, the prospect of a NATO-Russia naval showdown, and the Russian military’s improved “network-centric warfare” capabilities: You can find the full interview on YouTube or Rumble

Plea deal hearings: what is Hunter Biden accused of?

Hunter Biden is set to plead guilty on Wednesday to two federal misdemeanors for not paying taxes on time in 2017 and 2018. He is likewise due to enter a deal with prosecutors on his felony gun charge. The hearing will begin at 10 am (ET) at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware.

Why did Hunter Biden strike a plea deal? Who's presiding? How is the GOP trying to block Hunter's plea?

Read on Sputnik's webiste

The Russia-Africa Summit starts tomorrow in St. Petersburg. Sputnik talks about the atmosphere around the event and what its main topics will be.

For close coverage of the summit, exclusive interviews with high-ranking officials and more, read @sputnik_africa

Russian military emerging bigger, stronger from Ukraine conflict

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin’s hope of seeing the Russian military emerging from the proxy war with NATO in Ukraine “weakened” has failed to materialize, with Russia ramping up munitions production and fielding new, complex weapons systems.

What’s Russia’s secret? What are Russia's 'network-centric' warfare capabilities? How long has Russia had drone and aI capabilities?

Sputnik spoke to veteran military observer and author Andrei Martyanov to find out

The meeting of the US Federal Reserve System will begin soon: experts believe that the Fed will raise the interest rate to a 22-year high.

A press conference is also expected from the head of the Fed, Jerome Powell. Powell was recently the “victim” of Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus who duped him into talking about the split in the American elites and calling participation in the Davos forum a "stigma".

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A NYC crane collapsed and caught fire. It struck the side of another skyscraper before falling onto a rush-hour Manhattan street.

Six people, including two firefighters, were injured: the blazing crane was attached to a luxury apartment building under construction, with the 16-tonnes of concrete it was carrying also smashing onto the street below.

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🇺🇳The UK has blocked the participation of a priest from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the UN Security Council debate on repression in Ukraine

"Today is a sad moment for the UN and the international community as a whole. Western delegations have effectively sided with the repressive policies of the Kiev regime against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is a clear demonstration of double standards in terms of freedom of expression, religion, and all the ideals they preach. Your decision to block the participation of an Orthodox clergyman, using the prerogatives of the Security Council Chair, is a clear indication of how London treats ideals and how easily it is willing to compromise them for narrow, petty attempts to provoke Russia," First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky stated.

📹 Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed calls Russia a "brotherly country" during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin

🗣 "I hope this would be very fruitful discussion. We are very happy, we are very glad to be here to join our fellow African leaders for the summit. Besides that, we also have deepest interest to discuss with you, as a friend, as a brotherly country, both our bilateral issues and regional issues. Thank you very much, Mr. President, " Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated.

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🇺🇸 US Federal Reserve Service increased the base interest rate by 0.25% to 5.25-5.5% annual - regulator

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NATO-trained Ukrainian soldiers being wiped out - Austrian military expert

"I recently spoke to a Ukrainian comrade: in a neighboring unit, their commander was a 47-year-old reservist. Due to inexperience, he ordered his platoon to advance directly into minefields. Only just over half of the platoon returned," Colonel Markus Reisner, a military strategist from the Ministry of Defence of Austria revealed in an interview with a German media recounted.

The Austrian officer also expressed his opinion that the first phase of the Ukrainian counter offensive has failed.

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🗣️ On the Biden administration’s dedication to occupying and attacking Syria:

“They're there to prevent the Russians from gaining more influence in Syria because of their and Russia has close ties with the Shia Assad government. So it's just an excuse for more military intervention and devastating proxy wars. And we're seeing potential of an outright world war breaking out,” Jeremy Kuzmarov, author and managing editor of CovertAction Magazine, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Kuzmarov’s analysis in our podcast Political Misfits

👉 Watch the full episode of our show on Rumble