The next International Aviation and Space Salon (MAKS) at Russia's Zhukovsky International Airport, which was rescheduled from 2023 to a later period, is preliminary scheduled for July 23-28, 2024, several sources close to the event have told Sputnik.

MAKS-2023 was canceled in June 2023 and rescheduled to a yet unknown date.

"[The dates] discussed are July 23-28, 2024," one of the sources familiar with the matter said.

MAKS takes place in Zhukovsky, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Russia's capital, Moscow, every two years.

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“I think this follows through with what Russia's said all along,” said retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel Earl Rasmussen after news broke that a number of French mercenaries were hit by a Russian strike in Kharkov Tuesday. “If you're going to be part of the Ukrainian force, you need to be considered that you're going to be treated as a combatant, and there shouldn't be any hesitation on that.”

Rasmussen said some Ukrainian mercenaries may be former soldiers while others may be “special forces” fighters assisting Ukraine “off the books.” Additionally he believes at least several hundred and potentially several thousand NATO advisors are in the country.

The analyst notes that biased Western coverage may help convince mercenaries to join Ukraine, saying, “when you hear about the government there… where there's no elections, there's no free press, there's no opposition parties, opposition leaders… the truth gets out that may cause people to have second thoughts.”

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❗️ Explosions heard in several districts in Iran's Saravan region, Sistan and Balochistan provinces on the border with Pakistan, Deputy Governor said.

According to multiple reports, the strikes appear to be a retaliation for Iran's attacks, and are the first on the Iranian territory since the Iran-Iraq war.

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❗️ As a result of this incident, three women and four children who were not Iranian citizens were killed, Iranian State TV and Radio said, citing the Deputy Governor of Sistan and Baluchestan for Security

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