❗️Key points of the Russian Defense Ministry briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Russian troops repelled three attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) in the Kupyansk direction.

▪️UAF losses amounted to 160 servicemen in the Donetsk direction.

▪️UAF losses amounted to 100 servicemen in the Krasny Liman direction.

▪️Russian air defense systems shot down the Ukrainian Su-25 and MiG-29 aircrafts.

▪️UAF losses amounted to 120 in the South Donetsk direction.

▪️Russian air defense systems intercepted four ATAMCS, three HARM, and eight HIMARS missiles, as well as three JDAM-equipped bombs.

▪️UAF losses amounted to 80 servicemen and one Leopard tank in the Zaporozhye direction.

▪️UAF losses amounted to 110 servicemen in the Kherson direction.

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🇵🇸🇮🇱 Israeli Defense Minister says new phase of military action has begun, will continue until further orders

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Why US aid to Ukraine may fade slowly and then all at once

The US will try to fund both Ukraine and Israel, but only for a short time, Professor David Woodard, Clemson University political scientist and former political consultant for Republican congressmen, told Sputnik.

💬 "The Ukraine [conflict] presents a problem the longer it continues. American history shows that protracted wars are costly for presidents and their party," Woodard explained. In addition, Republicans, who currently control the House, "have a natural conservative allegiance to Israel, it goes very deep."

Earlier, newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled that Washington's aid to Ukraine and Israel should be split, with emergency assistance to Tel Aviv likely to be passed first.

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🌐 To mark Global Media and Information Literacy Week, Sputnik Africa asked African students in Moscow about their views on Western media bias against Africa and ways to tackle the problem.

The UN annual event takes place on October 24-31 this year under the theme "Media and Information Literacy in Digital Spaces: A Collective Global Agenda," dedicated, among other things, to media trust.

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 How to go about destroying Hamas infrastructure in the underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip is the main issue that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is currently facing, Eyal Pinko, an Israeli military expert, told Sputnik.

💬“The first attacks made mainly by the [Israeli] Air Force and the artillery were to destroy Hamas infrastructure above the ground,” the lecturer in intelligence, cyber, national and maritime security said.

He added that as evidenced by developments of the past few days, the IDF was “using bombs that are penetrating the ground in order to destroy […] the tunnels.” “This is the main attacking vector for now,” the senior researcher emphasized.

👉Follow the link for more details

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 The war objectives require ground operations in Gaza, Israel's chief of general staff said, adding that the IDF has been placed on high alert along the northern Israeli border.

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🇷🇺 Russia’s state-of-the-art Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled artillery system possesses attributes capable of profoundly altering the dynamics on the battlefield.

This system boasts a high degree of automation and is often labeled as a "combat robot," said Bekhan Ozdoev, the industrial director of Rostec's Armaments, Ammunition, and Special Chemicals Cluster.

It achieves an astonishing rate of fire, surpassing 10 rounds per minute (with some reports suggesting it can reach up to 16 rounds per minute), thus establishing a new benchmark for self-propelled howitzers. Furthermore, it possesses an impressive effective range of 70-80 kilometers.

Counter-battery warfare results can be subjective and rely on good information and dependable communication, not just guns. To gauge how well the artillery is doing, one must look at the bigger picture on the front lines. Despite what the Kiev regime says, they haven't achieved the anticipated "breakthroughs."

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🇷🇺 Upgraded Lancets featuring automatic guidance systems will target costly NATO hardware

Russian military observers spotted what appears to be an automatic targeting system aboard the latest variant of Russia’s deadly Lancet loitering munitions. Russia has plenty of experience with the technology, says retired Russian Army colonel and military analyst Viktor Litovkin.

💬 “It’s important to understand that these drones are quite expensive, costing, according to some sources, a couple of million rubles [about $21,200 US, ed.]. Therefore, the drone’s target must be more expensive than that – a tank, a self-propelled artillery unit, a HIMARS launcher, etc,” Litovkin tells Sputnik.

👉For more of his incisive analysis, click here

🇮🇱🛰🇵🇸 Israel's communications minister announced severance of ties with Space X due to Musk's decision to use Starlink systems in Gaza.

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🇮🇱 Netanyahu announces the start of the second phase of war aimed at destroying Hamas' infrastructure and freeing hostages.

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🇮🇱 Family members of hostages held in the Gaza Strip are demanding a meeting with representatives of the Israeli government to find out about the fate of their loved ones and Israel's plans for their release. The family members have warned that if nobody talks to them and assures them that the release of their loved ones is the authorities' top priority, they will begin protests.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has assured families of Israeli hostages that everything will be done to free them, and that this is one of the goals of the war with Hamas.

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🇺🇸 Republican Mike Pence announced his withdrawal from the US presidential race.

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🇺🇸 The Pentagon's new B61-13 tactical nuclear weapons are primarily aimed at deterring China and Russia under a bogus pretext that the two pose a unique nuclear threat to the US, Joe Siracusa, political scientist and dean of Global Futures, Curtin University, told Sputnik.

In reality, US arms makers and their lobbyists in Congress are interested in ramping up military spending: since the 1950s America has been a wartime economy, the political scientist explained.

💬"There is a kind of craziness in Washington that demands to spend more and more money," Siracusa said. "I mean, the American military establishment, as you well know, spends ten times more than anybody else who makes military hardware. And so America has these huge weapons systems, and they're always sort of inventing some new reason."

👉Follow the link to learn more

🇵🇸🇮🇱 Latest updates on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

▪️Netanyahu announces the start of the second phase of war aimed at destroying Hamas' infrastructure and freeing hostages.

▪️Israel's communications minister announced severance of ties with Space X due to Musk's decision to use Starlink systems in Gaza.

▪️The war objectives require ground operations in Gaza, Israel's chief of general staff said, adding that the IDF has been placed on high alert along the northern Israeli border.

▪️The IDF hit Hezbollah's military infrastructure in Lebanon, Israeli Army stated.

▪️Impossible to destroy Hamas without destroying Gaza with most of its civilian population, the Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said, adding that Russia maintains contact with Israel, sends signals about the necessity for peaceful solution in the region.

▪️Lavrov also said that humanitarian programs should be launched in the Gaza Strip to rescue population under blockade without water, electricity, food.

▪️Israel promised to allow trucks with food, water and medical supplies into Gaza Strip on Saturday.

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❗️ Tehran will not follow US warnings against interfering in Palestinian-Israeli conflict - Iranian president

❗️ Hamas ready for immediate prisoner exchange with Israel - head of movement's politburo in Gaza

🇷🇺 Russia launched airstrikes at underground hideouts used by Syrian militants to attack government forces in the northwestern Latakia and Idlib provinces, senior Russian military official Vadim Kulit said Saturday.

"Russia’s Aerospace Forces launched airstrikes at assets belonging to militants who fired at the positions of Syrian government forces, striking underground hideouts and command centers… near Kabani in Latakia province, and near Barisha and Erich in Idlib province," the deputy chief of the Syrian reconciliation center told a news briefing on Saturday.

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🇺🇸 Former US Vice President Mike Pence announced on Saturday that he would suspend his campaign for president, effective immediately.

"The Bible tells us that there is a time for every purpose under Heaven. Traveling across the country over the past six months, I came here to say it's become clear to me: This is not my time. So, after much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president, effective today," he said at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas.

Pence served as Donald Trump's vice president between 2017 and 2021, but had a falling out with his boss toward the end of Trump's term in office after refusing to challenge the results of the 2020 election, which Trump claimed was rigged.

Pence announced his candidacy for 2024 in June, saying in his announcement speech that his Trump should "never" be president again. Trump has repeatedly attacked Pence as a "wimp" and a liar over the latter's refusal to back him in 2021.

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