Questions abound regarding what US knows about Il-76 shootdown - analysts

💬 “Of course, it’s possible that the Americans…just gave [Patriot missiles] to Kiev, and that the Ukrainians are using them at their discretion,” Russian military journalist Alexei Borzenko told Sputnik.

“But on the other hand, of course they control their use," he said, noting that the only thing known for sure is that the plane was shot down over Russia and by an American-made missile.

Soviet and Russian Army reserve colonel Andrei Koshkin doesn’t believe the US was directly involved in the Il-76 attack, telling Sputnik that Ukraine has become a black hole when it comes to weapons and military equipment sent to the country. “But at the same time, we must understand that these missiles are controlled by a global system, and of course, they know what they are and where they are going,” he said.

More significant, in Koshkin’s view, is the fact that Russian investigators have now conclusively determined that the missiles used to attack the Il-76 were Patriots, showing that “there is no doubt that weapons and military equipment sent by the United States are used against Russia, including against civilian transport. In this case, it was a transport plane which did not pose any threat to the Ukrainian military.”

Steadfast Defender 2024: What to know About NATO’s Biggest Drills Since Cold War

🔸The Western alliance has kicked off the active phase of its Steadfast Defender military exercises.

🔸Over 90,000 troops from all 31 NATO countries plus Sweden (which is expected to join the bloc later this year) are involved, along with over 1,100 combat vehicles. 80 aircraft are involved, ranging from F-15, FA-18 and F-35 fighters to helicopters and drones, and 50 warships, from corvettes and frigates to destroyers and aircraft carriers.

🔸The drills are taking place across the Transatlantic area, from the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans to the Nordics, the Baltics, Poland, Hungary and Romania, to Germany, Greece, Slovakia and the UK. NATO says the exercises will be a “multi-domain exercise incorporating land, air, sea, cyber and space operations.”

🔸The wargames center around a “fictitious scenario” in which an unnamed “near-peer adversary” attacks a NATO member and triggers the alliance charter’s Article 5 on collective defense. But Russia has made clear that it has “no illusions” about the drills’ true purpose, and who they are being conducted against.

🔸The Steadfast Defender drills are the largest of their kind since Exercise Reforger in 1988, which involved around 125,000 NATO troops. 34 years later, the Western alliance has pushed between 1,000 and 1,500 km eastward toward the Russian border, swallowing up 15 (soon to be 16) new countries in the process, and pumping over $200 billion in military and economic support to its Ukrainian client state to fuel a proxy war designed to “weaken Russia.” The alliance’s expansion took place despite promises to Moscow not to move “one inch east” beyond a reunified Germany in 1990.

📊Check out Sputnik's infographic to know more about Steadfast Defender 2024

Gaza future hangs in balance as long Netanyahu is in power

💬 "[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's stance on both domestic and foreign affairs is driven by his political survival motivation, particularly in the face of dwindling public support for his government," Yoram Meital, professor of Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, told Sputnik.

Meital warned that the stance held by Netanyahu and his current coalition serves as "a substantial impediment to reaching a viable resolution for the conflict in Gaza and the subsequent restoration of the extensive damage inflicted."

💬"[Netanyahu's] main strategy is to extend the conflict as much as possible for his political career," echoed Dr. Hasan Selim Ozertem, Ankara-based security and political analyst, while speaking to Sputnik.

Discontent is reportedly growing within Israeli power and military circles over Benjamin Netanyahu's lack of a Gaza endgame strategy, as per The Wall Street Journal. Forty-three former top officials of Israel’s military and intelligence services have called on President Isaac Herzog to remove Netanyahu as prime minister as he "poses a clear and present danger" to Israel.

Sputnik's interlocutors stressed that the time for a settlement is long overdue, referring to the West's indecisiveness in halting the bloodshed in Gaza and suggesting that central Arab countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar could potentially play a constructive role in helping Gaza get back on track.

When it comes to who should govern Gaza, Ozertem stressed: "If you are talking about the democratic stance over here, Gazan people should decide about their future."

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