🇮🇳 🚀 Aditya-L1 Space Station Nears its Final Stage

The spacecraft is expected to reach the strategic Lagrangian point L1 by January 7, 2024,S. Somnath, the head of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said on Saturday.

From this vantage point, Aditya-L1 is expected to conduct critical observations of the Sun.

🗯 "Aditya is on the way. I think it has reached almost its final phase," the ISRO chief told Indian media.

The ISRO team is currently making incremental preparations for the spacecraft's crucial entry into the L1 point, he added.

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Detect and destroy!

📹 Footage of the combat work of the Su-30SM and Su-24M crews of the Black Sea Fleet off the coast of Crimea.

The pilots' task is to detect and destroy unmanned boats and high-speed landing boats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Aviation from the duty forces destroy detected targets from aircraft cannons or using aircraft bombs.

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🎯 Caught and destroyed!

Footage of the combat work of the reconnaissance aircraft "Orlan-10" and 152-mm howitzers "Msta-B" of the Russian paratroopers in the Artemovsk region.

The "Orlan-10" drone revealed an ammunition depot and an observation post of the Ukrainian troops. After receiving the data from the aerial reconnaissance, the paratroopers took up a firing position and prepared the Msta-B howitzer for use. As a result of the joint work, the detected targets were destroyed.

The innoscription on the shell reads "For VDV, For Tula". VDV are Russian airborne troops, while Tula is the hometown of these Russian soldiers.

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🇬🇧 The BBC has "failed to report accurately" on the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza - "through omission and lack of critical engagement with Israel's claims," a group of eight BBC journalists from the UK claimed.

Because the BBC is essentially an "organ of the British government" and represents "Anglo-Saxon geopolitical and financial interests," the media outlet "is bound to be aligned at some level with Israeli positions," argued Come Carpentier de Gourdon, the convenor of the editorial board of World Affairs magazine.

“Therefore, I think it is inevitable that any major Western government-connected, or at least the mainstream media, to be in some way affirming that Israel, as the saying goes, has the right to defend itself and therefore has to do what it can to defeat its enemies when they attacked the state of Israel,” Gourdon remarked. “That is the situation and the position and the whole West is basically aligned on that.”

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🚀 The Russian Ministry of Defense has released footage of the launch of a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a satellite.

"At the estimated time, the satellite was placed in the target orbit and the ground equipment of the Aerospace Forces Space Forces established control over it," the ministry noted, adding that the spacecraft's on-board systems were functioning normally.

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Davyd Arakhamia, the head of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, has shed some light on the Russian-Ukrainian talks of March 2022, suggesting that it was then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who brought the negotiations to nothing.

"The unfolding 'truth-telling' by various players is actually aimed at removing Zelensky and ending the war with as little Western humiliation as possible," retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a former analyst for the US Department of Defense, told Sputnik.

Kwiatkowski's stance is shared by Dmitry Evstafiev, a political scientist and professor.

"It's easier for the West to boot Zelensky rather than persuade him to hold peace talks with Russia after the Ukrainian president legally prohibited bargaining with Moscow," he said, commenting on a report by the German newspaper Bild, which claimed that the US and Germany were considering a plan to force Zelensky to hold talks with Russia by cutting military supplies to Kiev.

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🇵🇸🇮🇱 Latest updates on the Palestine-Israel conflict:

▪️Hamas movement agreed to continue implementing the prisoner exchange deal with Israel after Egypt and Qatar conveyed Israel's assurances of commitment to all provisions of the deal;

▪️Israel released the second batch of 39 Palestinian prisoners who arrived in the West Bank in exchange for 13 Israeli citizens and 7 foreigners, including 4 Thai hostages who were released in response to efforts by the Turkish president;

▪️According to the IDF, significant progress has been made in efforts to free the second group of Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip;

▪️The second group of hostages released from Gaza arrived in Israel, the IDF reported;

▪️The Israeli authorities have received a list of hostages to be released later today.

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Crews of Su-25 fighter jets of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed camouflaged fortified field positions and armored vehicles of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Donetsk region with missile air strikes.

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📹 WATCH: The Russian Ministry of Defense showed footage of the destruction of firing points and shelters of Ukrainian troops in the Zaporozhye region

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Moscow regrets the remarks by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who lauded Ukraine's Euromaidan coup as "10 years of dignity," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

He recalled that the Euromaidan, named after a square in the Ukrainian capital where coup chieftains headquartered, resulted in the overthrow of a legitimate Ukrainian government 10 years ago by people promoting far-right ideas which gradually escalated into "explicitly Nazi" policies.

"Then, it caused the emergence of such a regime in Kiev that turned out to be dangerous for us, which turned out to be dangerous for part of its people, I mean the Russians, and, unfortunately, continues in the tragedies that we see every day in Ukraine," Peskov said.

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🇷🇺🇹🇷 The use of the Turkish lira and the ruble in trade between Russia and Turkiye has significantly increased over the past few years, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said.

"Turkiye's exports to Russia in the Turkish lira have grown by 400% and Turkey's imports from Russia in the lira have increased by almost 150%, whereas the imports in the ruble have gone up by 260%," the minister said at a meeting of the Russia-Turkiye intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation.

Trade between Russia and Turkiye reached a record $68 billion in 2022, the minister also said, adding that it could reach some $56 billion in 2023.

During the commission's session, Bolat and Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak to discuss prospects of the bilateral economic ties.

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A joint air defense system of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has been de facto created, as Russia has bilateral agreements with each of member states, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

"In fact, it [a CSTO air defense system] has been created at the bilateral level. We have an agreement and air defense systems with each of the states. This includes Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and, naturally, Belarus," Shoigu stated.

The system is "equipped and working," and there are exercises held to maintain it in combat condition, he said, adding that the system will be created de jure if necessary.

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🇷🇺🪖 Key points of Russian MoD briefing on progress of special military op in Ukraine:

▪️ In the Kupyansk area, the Russian Army repelled four attacks by Ukrainian troops;

▪️ In the Donetsk region, Ukrainian losses amounted to 200 soldiers; Russian forces repelled three Ukrainian attacks;

▪️Near South Donetsk, the Russian Army repelled an attack by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian losses amounted to 80 soldiers;

▪️Near Krasny Liman, Russian forces repelled an attack by Ukrainian Special Forces assault groups;

▪️In the Rabotino area, the Russian Army defeated the personnel of the 33rd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces;

▪️Russian air defense systems shot down three Ukrainian planes and intercepted 17 HIMARS missiles and 53 Ukrainian drones during the day.

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How Ukraine conflict and Gaza war bring the right to power in Europe

While the Western proxy war in Ukraine led to the growing popularity of European conservative parties questioning the rationale of Kiev's militarization, the Gaza war has apparently bolstered the trend, international observers say, citing a "shocking" victory by Geert Wilders' Freedom Party in the Dutch elections.

Other European right-wing parties and movements are also doing well, seeing rising poll numbers and growing voter confidence. Given that, the forthcoming 2024 European Parliament election may possibly become an unpleasant surprise for the European liberal establishment.

👉 Check out Sputnik's article to find out more

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🇩🇪 Large-scale supplies of ammunition to Ukraine have reportedly led to an acute shortage of shells in the German armed forces (Bundeswehr). Because of this, the main units of Germany would only be able to hold out in battle for no more than two days, Johan Wadephul, vice chairman of the CDU/CSU opposition faction specializing in defense issues, told the DPA news agency.

According to him, a "reasonable" supply of ammunition to Ukraine "has now turned into a severe shortage in the Bundeswehr."

"Even when it comes to replacement procurement, the Bundeswehr is actually making a loss. As correct as the donations to Ukraine are in terms of material and ammunition. In the current security situation, it is unacceptable that there is no compensation," he added.

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The oil tanker Central Park, associated with Israel and owned by Zodiac Maritime, was seized off the coast of Yemen near the city of Aden, the Associated Press has reported, citing the private information and analytical firm Ambrey.

"A private intelligence firm says an oil tanker linked to Israel has been hijacked off the coast of Aden, Yemen, by unknown forces," the agency wrote.

According to Ambrey, cited by the agency, the US Navy appears to be involved in the situation and has "asked vessels to stay away from the area."

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Zelensky’s wife faces backlash after Kiev airstrike complaints

Olena Zelenskaya has been slammed online after she took to X (formerly Twitter) to rhetorically ask when explosions in Kiev would end.

Netizens were quick to mock Zelensky’s wife and did not hesitate to remind her about the suffering of the people of Donbass who live under constant shelling from Kiev since 2014.

Social media users also did not ignore the fact that the conflict could have been stopped much earlier and expressed their utter disbelief at Zelenskaya's ignorance regarding the current situation in the country.

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🇳🇱 A demonstration is taking place in Amsterdam against the supply of weapons to Ukraine by Western countries.

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