🇷🇺 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.

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🇮🇱🛰🇵🇸 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."

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🇵🇸🇮🇱 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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🇮🇱🇮🇷 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted on Saturday having no knowledge of Iran’s role in the deadly attack launched by Hamas against his country on October 7.

"I cannot say for sure whether they played any part in the planning in that concrete operation, at that specific moment," the prime minister told a press conference.

Netanyahu claimed that Iran was financing and coordinating Hamas activities. He went as far as suggest that the Gaza-based Palestinian group relied on Iran for 90% of its military spending.

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The US Special Operations Command has denied media reports that alleged US forces have been involved in Israel’s ongoing ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

"Definitely misinformation," a US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) spokesperson told Sputnik.

The spokesperson's response came in light of reports by Iranian media that some 5,000 US military personnel were taking part in the Gaza ground expansion.

It was also noted American troops had largely taken control of ongoing operations, and that Israeli officials had "lost trust in the management abilities and loyalty of a number of army personnel."

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❗️ Russian air defense system destroyed 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of Crimea - Russian Defense Ministry

🇺🇸 Just after 2:00 p.m. local time on Saturday, a civilian aircraft flew into restricted Delaware airspace in the vicinity of where US President Joe Biden is staying, the US Secret Service reported.

This incident had no impact on protective operations and is being investigated by the Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, chief of Communications, said.

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How former Israeli soldier turned anti-war after witnessing 2014 Gaza invasion

As aerial bombardments in Gaza give way to a ground invasion, activists around the world have criticized Israel’s violent response to this month’s surprise attack by Hamas. Many of those activists are Jewish. Some are even Israeli citizens.

Such is the case for Benzion Sanders, a former soldier in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Raised in a highly religious Orthodox Jewish family, Sanders was steeped in Zionist ideology, the name for the philosophical and political movement that drove Israel’s creation. He even participated in “settling” of the West Bank, the process by which Jewish families displace Palestinians in territory illegally occupied by Israel.

But serving in the IDF brought Benzion Sanders face-to-face with Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, turning him into a committed anti-war activist.

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Seven out of 10 French people fear an attack on their country similar to the one Israel suffered on October 7, a poll commissioned by Jewish lobby group CRIF has found.

The Ifop survey published on Saturday showed that 72% of those sampled feared that France could be targeted for standing by Israel in its fight against Palestinian group Hamas.

The same poll found that 37% of French respondents sympathized with Israel in the ongoing war in the Middle East, versus 20% who expressed solidarity with Palestinians and 5% with Hamas.

More than eight in 10 people polled said they were concerned that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has killed more than 1,400 Israeli civilians and over 7,300 Palestinians, could affect France.

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Actor Matthew Perry, famous for portraying Chandler Bing on the American TV series 'Friends,' reportedly died Saturday at the age of 54. Media insiders have said the cause of death was drowning.

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Matthew Perry's body was found earlier Saturday inside a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles, California. There were no traces of drugs at the scene, and the death was considered non-violent, media reported citing police sources.

The Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) humanitarian organization said the world leaders' actions are too weak and slow to stop the violence in the Gaza Strip.

"Médecins Sans Frontières calls for an immediate ceasefire to prevent more deaths in Gaza and allow desperately needed humanitarian supplies in. Since Friday 27 October, the bombing by the Israeli forces has intensified to a degree not seen until now: northern Gaza is being razed to the ground, while the whole Strip is being hit and civilians have no place to take shelter," according to the MSF statement.

"The actions of world leaders are too weak, too slow, as a non-binding UN resolution for a ceasefire has done nothing to reign in the indiscriminate violence unleashed on a helpless people."

It said the international community must take stronger action to urge Israel to stop the bloodshed.

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