Poland has a beef with the European Union leadership over Ukrainian agriculture.

The country’s new agriculture minister under Prime Minister Donald Tusk has protested the bloc’s liberalized trade policy with Ukraine since 2022, claiming it’s undermined Polish farmers by flooding the country with cheap food. Nevertheless, the EU leadership has signaled that they plan to continue the policy for another year despite the consequences for Poland and other Central European countries.

Truckers staged a demonstration at the Poland-Ukraine border last year over the issue and have been joined by farmers protesting government policy recently in Germany and the Netherlands.

Ukraine has moved in the direction of closer association with the EU since 2014’s US-backed Euromaidan coup prevented the country from joining a Russia-led trade bloc.

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Biden puts not only Gonzalo Lira, but every American in danger

American citizen Gonzalo Lira's death in Ukrainian custody should become a wakeup call to all American voters prior to the 2024 elections, Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik.

"Watching Zelensky suspend elections, jail his political opponents, suppress religion and now allegedly torture and then cause an American journalist to rot and die in prison for questioning Biden/Nuland war policies, one has to know that America’s foreign policies are wholly inconsistent with our founders’ ideals and, arguably in the case of Ukraine especially, impeachable offenses," Ortel said.

Lira's case is just one example of Joe Biden's disastrous foreign policy that puts Americans in jeopardy not only in Ukraine but elsewhere in the world, Ortel warned, citing the unfolding Middle Eastern crisis.

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A state of emergency has been declared in Voronezh after the Ukrainian drone attack, city's mayor Vadim Kstenin said.

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❗️ Former US President Donald Trump has secured victory on Monday night in the Iowa caucuses with 52% of the vote, based on the 40,000 ballots counted so far.

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The Chinese foreign minister met with Arab League nations over the weekend, releasing a joint statement calling for a ceasefire and long-term resolution of the Palestine-Israel conflict.

The leaders advocated the implementation of relevant resolutions passed by the United Nations and a global peace conference to resolve the long running crisis.

The statement also criticized recent US and UK strikes on Yemen, which Chinese media characterized as an “escalation” of tensions and an attempt to distract from the fundamental nature of the conflict.

“The US, which is pouring fuel on the fire in the Israel-Palestine conflict, also wants to play the role of fireman… but in fact, the US is responsible for the conflict,” read an article in Chinese media.

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Vivek Ramaswamy bows out of 2024 race, endorses Trump

GOP long-shot presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has announced that he is bowing out of the race to the White House.

The US entrepreneur who has said that the Ukraine conflict does not advance US interests and only heightens the risks of a world war plans to throw his support behind Donald Trump.

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💥 Ukrainian armored vehicle blows up after being hit by guided missile

An enemy armored vehicle was discovered by Russian reconnaissance at a distance of 7,800 meters. A precise hit with a Kornet ATGM missile destroyed it along with its crew.

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🇰🇵🇰🇷 The North Korean Supreme People's Assembly has decided to abolish government bodies dealing with inter-Korean affairs, North Korean state-run news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.

"The reunification of Korea can never be achieved with the Republic of Korea … Recognizing the stark historical reality and branding the ROK as the state most hostile to the DPRK, the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK decided as follows … The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, the National Economic Cooperation Bureau and the Kumgangsan International Tourism Administration, tools which existed for north-south dialogue, negotiations and cooperation, are abolished," the Supreme People's Assembly said in a statement, as quoted by the news agency.

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“Ten-year-old girls and the balconies of sleeping Voronezh high-rise buildings are the goals that Ukraine sets for itself on the way to its Euro-Atlantic future. All the more just is our goal that Ukraine does not have this future,” said Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and Russia Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, commenting on the Ukrainian drone attack on Russian Voronezh.

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❗️ What is known about Iranian IRGC strikes on targets in Iraq:

▪️Local authorities reported four dead and six injured. The media writes that one of the dead is Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayi and members of his family.

▪️ Iran's IRGC claimed responsibility for ballistic attacks on Erbil, Iraq. Anti-Iranian terrorist group bases were destroyed, the statement said.

▪️The IRGC also claims that a missile strike hit the Israeli intelligence headquarters and that it was destroyed.

▪️ The US will continue to assess the situation after strikes in Erbil, calling it a “reckless and imprecise set of strikes,” the White House said.

▪️ The US is in touch with senior Iraqi officials, as well as officials in the Kurdistan region following the missile attacks, the White House said.

▪️ According to the US administration, no US facilities or citizens were harmed during the attacks on Erbil.

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Iran ‘emboldened’ to attack Erbil by US, UK strikes on Houthis

Iran was “emboldened’ to attack Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital of Erbil after the US and UK carried out strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, Michael Maloof, former senior security policy analyst at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, told Sputnik.

This “major escalation” in the region now puts the US “in the position of having to fight a five-front war: Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, and Syria,” Maloof noted.

Washington is now going to have to reap the consequences for “supporting Israel in a genocide” that continues in Gaza, the expert said. He also warned that Iran could retaliate further if there is any attack by the US directly, by closing the Strait of Hormuz.

“So this is probably going to be the next level, and then the US will further respond, most likely by hitting oil refineries, and this will create a total escalation. This is a total prenoscription for disaster, and United States needs to stop it immediately,” Michael Maloof urged.

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Iran's strike on Erbil ‘calculated demonstration of missile abilities’

Iran's attack on Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital of Erbil and Syria was a “calculated move” in response to the twin explosions in Kerman that killed more than 80 Iranians about a week ago, Mehran Kamrava, professor of Government at Georgetown University Qatar, told Sputnik.

The strike by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was the longest-range missile attack that Iran has engaged in - about 1,200 kilometers, Professor Kamrava clarified.

“It was a deliberate demonstration by Iran to make sure that its missile abilities are known and that it is known that Iran can hit its adversaries at long distances and do so with tremendous accuracy and precision,” Kamrava said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran's IRGC took responsibility for attacks on Erbil. It claimed that it targeted bases of anti-Iranian terrorist groups with several ballistic missiles “in response to the recent terrorist attacks by Iran's enemies, spy headquarters and enemy headquarters of anti-Iran terrorist groups in parts of the Middle East region.”

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🇰🇵 Kim Jong-un says North Korea is building up its forces for self-defense, not unification.

Unification with South Korea is impossible, since it strives for “collapse of our government” and “unification by absorption,” the North Korean leader said.

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❗️ IRGC strikes in Iraqi Kurdistan carried out to protect sovereignty and security, Iranian Foreign Ministry said

“These actions were taken in accordance with Iran's strong intentions, which include protecting the country's sovereignty and security and countering terrorism. This was part of the fair punishment of violators of the country's security," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.

“While the enemy miscalculated and committed a crime against the government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic, with its extensive intelligence network, through a precise and targeted operation, identified the headquarters of the criminals and used precise weapons. This was part of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s response to those who are taking actions against Iran's national security and the safety of Iranian citizens," he added.

What is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard?

🔸The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is an elite component of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was created in 1979, after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, from disparate political factions and their armed units;

🔸The supreme commander is Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The actual leader is Lieutenant General Hossein Salami;

🔸The IRGC includes ground forces, navy, air force, Quds Force, and Basij resistance forces;

🔸The IRGC is also tasked with ensuring internal security, conducting foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, as well as monitoring the strict observance of Islamic standards of life and morals by all citizens;

🔸The IRGC also controls Iran's missile program;

🔸IRGC troops are participating in ground operations in Syria and Iraq against ISIS;

🔸Iranian Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in January 2020 in a US strike at Baghdad Airport, was the commander of the Al-Quds special forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, designed to conduct special operations outside of Iran.

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WATCH LIVE: Russian FM Lavrov Holds Talks With North Korean Counterpart

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❗️ The US policy of creating threats to the security of the DPRK does not contribute to solving problems in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Russia calls for the abandonment of any steps that lead to an escalation of tensions around the Korean Peninsula, he added.