In a procedural vote, the US Senate backed a bill to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel. What it means:

▪️ The vote took place on the day of the NFL Super Bowl - the most popular sports event in the US. In light of this, some Republicans accused their colleagues of trying to distract Americans.

▪️ It is still unclear when the final vote on the draft will take place. Even if the senators support the project, the House of Representatives is ahead and the opposition is stronger there.

▪️ In this regard, the New York Times notes that the "critical obstacle" has been overcome, but recalls about Trump - congressmen allegedly incited by him may ultimately vote against.

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Hamas has blamed the United States and its President Joe Biden personally for the Israeli Air Force strikes on the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, which caused numerous casualties, according to local media.

Hamas also called on international organizations, including the UN Security Council, to take urgent measures to stop the "Israeli aggression and genocide" against the civilian population of Gaza.

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💥Russian crews of T-80 tanks smashed the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kupyansk region.

In a few minutes the fortifications were destroyed and the enemy's advanced units, having suffered losses, were forced to retreat.

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❗️Two ports and the Black Sea shipyard were hit by Russian strikes on Nikolayev on the night of February 11, Sergei Lebedev, coordinator of the underground, told Sputnik.

Another wave of strikes hit the Nikolayev oil depot and the Zorya-Mashproekt plant, which manufactures military products.

In addition, on February 10, in the Kirovograd region, a strike was held at the Alexandria railway station, where convoys of military equipment and fuel were being transported.

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A joint IDF, ISA (Intelligence Support Activity) and Israel Police operation in Rafah overnight rescued two Israeli hostages, Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, who were kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on 7 October, the IDF said.

"Both are in good medical condition and were transferred to Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital for medical examination," the IDF added.

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"The main thing for us is that they got acquainted with it," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the emotional reaction of the leaders of Germany and Britain to Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson.

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President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov urged Washington not to interfere in the internal affairs of the republic.

"I regret to note that the contents of your letter have signs of interference in the internal affairs of our state," reads the message distributed by Zhaparov's press service to Blinken.

Earlier, the US Secretary of State sent a letter to the President of Kyrgyzstan expressing concern about the draft law "On Non-Profit Organizations" being considered by the parliament of the republic.

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A secret financial organization, the International Institute of Banking Research, has been operating in Europe for more than 70 years, writes the Financial Times.

It is an exclusive secret club where bank chiefs communicate with all kinds of guests - from presidents and prime ministers to members of royal families and central bank executives.

The organization was founded in 1950 by the heads of banks in France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The FT writes that its meetings are held in luxury hotels and palaces, where a variety of sensitive topics are discussed, including global politics.

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❗️Russian forces struck troops and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 109 districts.

🇷🇺🪖 Other statements from the Russian Defense Ministry briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️In the Donetsk region, Russian troops repelled 13 attacks and total losses of the Ukrainian forces amounted to up to 240 soldiers, a tank, 2 M777 artillery systems and a D-20 howitzer. In south Donetsk. the enemy lost more than 165 soldiers.

▪️Near Krasny Liman, Russian forces improved the positions along the front edge ans repelled two attacks. Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 290 soldiers;

▪️In Kupyanks area, Russian troops repelled three attacks. Ukrainian forces lost up to 60 soldiers;

▪️Russian air defense destroyed 33 Ukrainian drones in a day.

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🤖 Russia's new unmanned cleaning robots are now used in Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin says.

These are not the first robots in use in Russia; earlier, footage of delivery robots moving in a large column, as well as the world's first regular electric river trams, appeared online.

Against the backdrop of Western sanctions, Russian developments in the field of robotics have not stopped, but are increasingly being introduced into people’s daily lives.

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TOS-1A "Solntsepyok" destroyed the fortified strongholds of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

The control and correction of the target damage was carried out by the calculations of the drones, which transmitted the results of the combat work in real time to the command post.

The crews of the "Solntsepyok" systems carry out daily firing operations to destroy fortified long-term strongpoints, positions and shelters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' armored vehicles.

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🚀 69 years ago the government of the USSR decided to build a cosmodrome on the territory of the Kazakh SSR.

Today Baikonur is the largest operating cosmodrome in the world. On April 12, 1961 the Vostok-1 rocket was launched from the cosmodrome, a spacecraft that was the first in the world to put a man (Yuri Gagarin) into low-Earth orbit.

After the collapse of the USSR in 1994, the Kazakh authorities leased the Baikonur complex to the government of the Russian Federation for a period of 20 years. In January 2004, Putin and Nazarbayev agreed to extend the lease until 2050.

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GOP leadership sabotaging Donald Trump to help Ukraine – US Senator JD Vance

Trump’s reelection chances could be in jeopardy due to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s fanatical push for $60 billion Ukraine aid package, Vance argued in a column for The American Conservative magazine.

McConnell’s decision to push a Biden-backed border deal has created an unwinnable political predicament for Republicans, according to Vance. On the one hand, the deal is unacceptable to the vast majority of Republicans due to its weak border security measures. At the same time, however, McConnell’s support of the bill means that Democrats can now force a political crisis that will be blamed on Trump and his allies in Congress.

“The Republican establishment of Washington is so obsessively committed to Ukraine that they will use every tool at their disposal to apply pressure to other Republicans to write that big Ukraine check. The problem is that every time they apply pressure, they create an opening for Democrats and the media to tank our nominee,” Vance warned.

“For months, I have been confident that Donald Trump would be reelected as president. But this is how you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Republican establishment is going to war for more Ukraine money. They don’t care if a second Trump term is collateral damage.”

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❗️The United States and Britain are persuading other G7 countries to establish the post of "special envoy" for Ukraine and appoint the current NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia says.

It is assumed that this appointee will have permanent access to Zelensky, he will also block the steps of the Ukrainian leadership that are not coordinated with the United States and Britain, the agency notes.

The very introduction of such a position is being discussed due to the fact that the West fears betrayal by the Ukrainian elites, who may try to "play ahead of the curve" by switching to the side of future winners in advance, the agency adds.

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🔥 Tornado-G MLRS crews disrupted Ukrainian Armed Forces rotation

Taking advantage of the bad weather conditions, the Ukrainian nationalists tried to rotate their personnel. Using aerial reconnaissance, Russian soldiers calculated this attempt and transmitted the coordinates of the target to the Tornado-G MLRS crew.

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Bingo! NATO defense ministers in Europe repeating the same false thesis

Yet another NATO defense minister is scaring his country's citizens about an imminent war between Europe and Russia.

"Denmark should speed up its military investments after new intelligence indicates that Russia is rearming faster than expected and that it could attack a NATO country within three to five years," Denmark's Troels Lund Poulsen said.

For the past month, top military officials of Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Belgium, North Macedonia, the UK, the Czech Republic, Germany and Estonia have all declared pretty much the same thing. Nothing like this has been said (yet?) by officials from fellow NATO members Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, Iceland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Montenegro, Turkiye, Slovakia or Slovenia.

Russia has repeatedly debunked all accusations that it's preparing for war with Europe.

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