🇳🇿 Shift in New Zealand's defence policy suggests further militarization of Asia-Pacific

The New Zealand government made the first two documents of the Defense Policy Review and it's first National Security Strategy public on August 4, with Prime Minister and Minister for National Security and Intelligence Chris Hipkins warning about "a range of complex and disruptive security challenges."

For his part, Defense Minister Andrew Little announced new investments "to modernize [New Zealand's] capabilities across land, sea and air, and are strengthening our relationships with friends and partners in the Pacific and beyond."

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The current situation indicates that the Ukrainian Army has “a breakthrough problem” when it comes to their counteroffensive, Barry Posen, a Ford international professor of political science, has claimed

Posen recalled that the Ukrainian government earlier stated that the counteroffensive’s goal was to retake control of all the territory in Ukraine that Kiev lost since 2014.

Posen argued that “to achieve this goal through military action, the Ukrainian military must accomplish one of the most daunting of military tasks: It must break through dense, well-prepared defensive positions” of the Russian army and “move quickly toward an important geographic objective such as the Sea of Azov.”

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The escalation of the Ukrainian conflict in February 2022 prompted a veritable exodus from Ukraine as hundreds of thousands of civilians fled their home country

Many Ukrainian refugees ended up fleeing across the border to neighboring Poland where some of them sought asylum.

So how many Ukrainians have fled to Poland in recent months and what accommodation were they able to find there?

Sputnik investigates.

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🇷🇺📹 The Armed Forces of Russia is continuing its Special Military Operation in Ukraine, demonstrating bravery and courage

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🇺🇸🇭🇺 The US’ demand to hand over the data of 900,000 Hungarian citizens living abroad is unprecedented and unrealistic, Hungarian Deputy Interior Minister said, adding that Budapest would not share the information to avoid putting its citizens in danger

The main reason why Hungary has not agreed to hand over the data is security concerns, he added.

On August 1, the US embassy in Budapest said that Washington had reduced the validity of entry permits under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) for Hungarian citizens from two years to one year and limited them to a single use, citing security concerns over Hungary's simplified naturalization program.

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📹 Sputnik correspondents visited the village of Rabotino in the Zaporozhye region, where not a single house was left undamaged due to the unsuccessful assaults of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the past two months

Footage depicts a large volume of destroyed Ukrainian equipment in the vicinity of the village.

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🇮🇳 🚀 #Chandrayaan3 Captures First Picture of the Moon

🌔 The Indian Space Research Organisation (#ISRO) unveiled the first images of the Moon captured by Chandrayaan 3, India's remarkable third unmanned Moon mission.

The Moon mission has been smooth so far and ISRO is hopeful that Vikram Lander will make a soft landing on the Moon's surface on 23 August.

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🇷🇺🇹🇷 Turkish president Erdogan intends to propose the resumption of peace talks on Ukraine in order to establish an early ceasefire during the talks with Vladimir Putin scheduled for August, a source in the administration of the Turkish leader told Sputnik

Putin and Erdogan may discuss economic relations during the talks as well as, trade in national currencies and tourism, a source familiar with the negotiations told Sputnik

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Nicolas Maduro condemned the lack of response from European leaders and a number of media to Quran-burning incidents in Sweden and Denmark

Maduro criticized media for not covering the issue, adding that he "strongly condemns" hate crimes against Muslims and the activities of "extreme right-wing and racist circles" destroying copies of the Quran in Europe.

Several Quran-burning demonstrations have taken place in Denmark and Sweden in recent months. Most Muslim countries have condemned the demonstrations, and some have summoned the Swedish and Danish ambassadors to issue letters of protest.

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📹 The Russian Army continues to complete all the targets of the special military op using (0:07) Grad multiple rocket launchers to hit Ukrainian positions

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Russia and Qatar are working on joint projects amounting to over $1.67 billion

Russia-Qatar trade reached nearly 70 million Qatari riyals ($19.23 million) in the first quarter of 2023, Russian Ambassador to Doha Dmitry Dogadkin has said in an interview with Sputnik.

Dogadkin noted that Moscow and Doha consider cooperation in transportation and logistics to be promising area of cooperation, particularly the implementation of the International North-South Transport Corridor.

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🇮🇶 Iraq has urged the United States and the United Kingdom to hand over its former officials, who are accused of having stolen $2.5 billion in public money

Interpol had issued "red notices" for the private secretary and a political adviser to former Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi, who hold US citizenship, as well as for former Finance Minister Ali Allawi, a UK national, Al Arabiya news channel reported, quoting the head of Iraq’s committee for integrity.

The scandal revolves around suspected illegitimate withdrawals of cash from the country’s Tax Commission between 2021 and 2022. Kadhimi and his former finance minister both denied being involved in the scheme.

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Russia expects the BRICS countries participating in the meeting in Jeddah on Ukraine to inform Moscow about the progress of the consultations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

Without the participation of Russia and taking into account its interests, no meetings on Ukraine have the slightest added value, Zakharova added.

In addition, she stressed that a fair settlement is possible only if Kiev stops hostilities and terrorist attacks, and the West stops pumping Ukraine with weapons.

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💬 “We have no moral standing in this crisis“

The current US policy regarding the Ukrainian crisis is insane, Diane Sayre, an independent candidate for the US Senate race from New York, told Sputnik

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📹 Russia's Grad BM-21 multiple-launch rocket systems destroy a mortar position and a stronghold of the Ukrainian troops in the zone of the special military op

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