A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-26 cargo spacecraft, which will deliver more than 2.5 tonnes worth of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, according to a live broadcast by Russian state space corporation Roscosmos.

Nine minutes after the liftoff, the rocket will put the spacecraft into Earth orbit, and the Progress spacecraft will separate from the rocket's third stage and begin its independent flight to the ISS.

Russia's new space freighter will fly the traditional two-day route and is scheduled to dock the station on February 17 at 9:12 a.m. Moscow time (06:12 GMT). The spacecraft will spend a total of 180 days in space.

The spacecraft will deliver to the station more than 2.5 tonnes of cargo, including nearly 1.5 tonnes worth of hardware and equipment for the station's systems and scientific experiments, clothing, food, medical and sanitary supplies for the ISS crew, 580 kilograms of fuel, 420 kilograms of drinking water and 40 kilograms of nitrogen.

The space freighter also carries consumables for the new scientific experiment dubbed "Fullerene" to grow fullerite crystals in the Nauka module — the third crystalline form of carbon, which is a new class of semiconductors. Progress MS-26 will also carry equipment for the new scientific experiment Orbita-MG to create a monitoring system that will find cracks and other leaks in the station's hull.

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Economist Richard Wolff warned that Europe is “in for very rocky times” after the failure of Western sanctions to harm the Russian energy sector.

“On the one hand, it is being outcompeted by the United States, which has dominated it for the last 75 years anyway,” Wolff told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program. “But now the new player in the world economy, the People's Republic of China and its allies, known generally as the BRICS, competing and challenging Europe, from the other side of the planet, if you like, means that Europe is caught between them,” the analyst clarified.

The EU has been unable to overcome historical and cultural differences to unify and challenge either bloc, Wolff emphasized. High energy prices caused by the Western sanctions have made European goods uncompetitive and resulted in deindustrialization in Germany and elsewhere. As a result, the economist said the European Union may be in a “terminal crisis.”

Meanwhile, Wolff noted “The Russian ruble is in fine shape. The Russian economy is growing faster than last year, [faster] than the United States is and is in no way falling apart” despite Western sanctions.

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🇷🇺 Russian Vostok Group test-fires RPG-7V grenade launchers

Vostok Group instructors share their combat experience with servicemen who have arrived for the first time in the special military operation zone. The exercise takes place at a training range in the rear of the DPR.

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“Carlson is a dangerous person,”: Vladimir Putin explained why he didn't fully enjoy his interview with Tucker Carlson

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Putin reveals his 'only' regret about the special military op in Ukraine

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▪️ Israel rejects Hamas ceasefire offer, calls movement's demands 'delusional'

▪️ Surprise! US foreign policy hawk Lindsey Graham votes against compromise foreign aid package

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US Naval Hospital Okinawa, preparing for a mass casualty exercise, had to respond to a real-world incident when a light tactical vehicle carrying eight to 10 Marines overturned at the Jungle Warfare Training Center. Several Marines were injured and required treatment at the hospital.

Initially thought to be part of the exercise, the hospital clarified that it was a real emergency and not a drill.

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🇯🇵🇩🇪 Japan is facing its first recession in five years and will lose the noscript of the world's third-largest economy to Germany by the end of 2023, according to data released by the Japanese Cabinet.

The government data showed that Japan's nominal GDP, not adjusted for inflation, will be 591.48 trillion yen (about $4.21 trillion) in 2023.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that the country's nominal GDP in 2023 would be $4.46 trillion. Japan lost its status as the world's third-largest economy to Germany in 2023 as it unexpectedly slipped into recession in the last quarter of 2023 due to a sharp drop in the Japanese currency, the yen, the report read.

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❗️ Rumors about Russia's plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space are just another White House ploy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

Limiting appetites? Biden may cut F-35 purchases to meet congressional defense budget caps

US President Biden is seeking to cut the number of expensive fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets the Pentagon is to buy in the coming fiscal year by 18% to stay within the financial limits imposed by Congress on the military budget, Reuters cited unnamed sources as saying.

The US Department of Defense had included a request for 83 F-35s in the upcoming defense budget, but the number would now drop to less than 70, saving $1.6 billion, according to the sources.

Biden wants to cap the overall military budget at $895 billion, the insiders said, adding that the final agreed-upon figure will be made public on March 11 after negotiations between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the White House Office of Management and Budget.

With a price tag of about $177 million per unit (the world's most expensive weapons program), the F-35 has been plagued by a long list of technical glitches affecting both hardware and software since the fighter's maiden flight on December 15, 2006.

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'He knew what he was going for': Putin explains why he doesn't envy Tucker Carlson

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Donald Trump Jr. mocked the White House's scaremongering about Russia's nuclear weapons in space.

"Does anyone really believe that there is a serious Russian threat that magically leaks about 30 seconds after the Speaker said they’re not going to take up funding another $60 billion in Ukraine? Is anyone stupid enough to buy this at this point? Textbook deep state propaganda!" he wrote on X.

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❗️ At least two people were killed as a result of a Ukrainian missile attack in Belgorod, Sputnik's correspondent reports

⚡️ Ukraine attacked the Belgorod region using the RM-70 Vampire MLRS, the air defense shot down 14 shells, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported