🌍🇷🇺 ECOWAS ready for mutually beneficial partnership with Russia, commission chairman says

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is currently looking for a partnership that would benefit and unite the bloc, President of the ECOWAS Commission Omar Alieu Touray told Sputnik.

"I think, there are a number of areas ECOWAS has been cooperating with many partners on. And, I am sure that when we sit around the table with the Russian friends we should be able to identify areas which would benefit all of us ... We are looking for partnership that would help us develop, that would unite us," Touray said.

Subscribe to @sputnik_africa

🔸 TikTok | Sputnik Africa | Boost us on Telegram 🔸

US President Joe Biden suffers blow as member of his party urges Democrats to vote against him in an upcoming state primary election

Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib urged voters to mark “uncommitted” on their ballots in next Tuesday’s primary to register opposition to Biden’s support for Israel’s deadly campaign in the Gaza Strip, which has killed some 29,000, according to enclave's health ministry.

“It is… important to create a voting bloc – something that is a bullhorn to say ‘enough is enough,'” said Tlaib, the first Palestinian American member of US Congress. “Right now we feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government.”

Biden has strongly backed Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, even bypassing Congress to rush an “emergency” shipment of lethal aid to Israel in December. Activists warn Biden he risks losing reelection in November amidst opposition from Arab Americans in Michigan and other states.

Follow the link for analysis of the incident and the precarious state of pro-Palestine advocacy within the Democratic Party

❗️ The Russian Army Tsentr group has taken full control of the Avdeyevka Coke Plant and Russian flags have been hoisted on administrative buildings of the plant, the Russian Defense Ministry has said

📹 The engineering units of the Russian Army Tsentr group began clearing mines from roads and buildings in Avdeevka, the Russian Ministry of Defense said

Subscribe to @Sputnikint

Euromaidan triggered Ukraine's war on Donbass

The "Russian Spring" in Donbass was a grassroots movement that began when the Euromaidan protests were raging on in Kiev, Alexander Matyushin, call sign "Varyag," former commander of the "Varyag" detachment and war correspondent, told Sputnik.

"When the confrontation on the Maidan escalated, we started to join ranks with all [anti-Maidan] activists in Donetsk," Matyushin said.

After the Ukrainian opposition with the backing of neo-Nazi paramilitary groups illegitimately seized power in Kiev on February 22, 2014, Donetsk activists scheduled a rally for the next day. "It was probably the first mass rally in Donetsk since 2004 that was not organized directly by pro-government structures. A grassroots rally," the war correspondent said.

On March 1, 2014, protesters hoisted the Russian flag on the flagpole of the Donetsk Regional State Administration, while on April 7, 2014, the newly established Donetsk People's Republican declared independence. In response, Kiev launched military action against the breakaway republic, which has since lasted for almost 10 years. The Russian special military operation is aimed at bringing it to an end.

"Not having the opportunity to fight at the front now, I am trying to protect the country at least informationally," Matyushin said. "The truth about Donbass should be shown in the most comprehensive way possible and also reach Europe."

👉 Check out the full article

▪️ Watch Russian forces take full control of the Avdeyevka Coke Plant, the last fortified facility of the Ukrainian forces

▪️ The US detects first Houthi underwater drone while conducting new round of strikes

▪️ Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has proposed that countries whose defense expenses are under 2% of GDP be expelled from NATO

▪️ Michigan Democrat urges party colleagues to vote against President Biden

Also take a look at:

▪️ How Ukrainian forces are disorderly fleeing from Avdeyevka

▪️ Footage of captured Western weapons at the location of a Ukrainian military unit in Avdeyevka

▪️ The US and its Western allies trying to prevent the collapse of the Ukrainian Army at the Munich Security Conference

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️A terrorist attack against a political figure in the Zaporozhye region has been prevented, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said. The crime was prepared by Russian citizen Vitaly Dyatlenko, who was recruited by the Security Service of Ukraine.

When attempting to arrest Dyatlenko, he offered armed resistance and was neutralized, the FSB said. There were no casualties among civilians or security forces.

Volodymyr Zelensky will lose his legitimacy after May 21, when his term of office expires, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov said.

Earlier, former Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada member Alexander Dubinsky, who is in custody on suspicion of treason, said Zelensky’s powers expire on the night of May 21 and cannot be extended.

“Will Zelensky be legitimate after May 21, 2024? No. His term of office ends on this day. This is evidenced by the constitution, which does not provide for the cancellation of presidential elections as a result of the introduction of martial law. This topic should now be key for everyone who is fighting against Kiev regime," Azarov wrote on his Facebook page.

Subscribe to @Sputnikint

❗️Russia’s Federal Security Service has showed how a Ukrainian Security Service agent (later neutralized), disguised as a disabled person, planted a bomb under a car

Subscribe to @Sputnikint

NATO soldiers are involved in combat operations in Ukraine under the guise of mercenaries – Russian Defense Ministry

"NATO servicemen are involved in combat operations under the guise of mercenaries. They operate air defense complexes of operational-tactical missiles and multiple rocket launchers, and are part of assault troops," Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate, told Russian media.

According to him, NATO officers "directly" prepare military operations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In December 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that since the beginning of the special operation, Russian forces had destroyed more than 5,800 foreign mercenaries.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Euromaidan led to war in Donbass and ruined the lives of many people

"We had understood from the very beginning that everything that happened on Maidan could not lead to anything good," Maya, warrant officer and commander of the support platoon of the 1st Slavic Brigade, told Sputnik. "I think the majority [of Ukrainians] also knew and understood that the West was involved in this.

Earlier, the West supported the so-called Orange Revolution of 2004, which brought to power Viktor Yushchenko, she noted. Yushchenko provoked a "gas war" with Russia, declared Ukrainian NATO membership a priority, and granted the noscripts of Hero of Ukraine to WW2 Nazi collaborators Roman Shukhevych and Stepan Bandera.

The February 2014 coup d'etat in Kiev, the culmination of the Euromaidan unrest, was conducted by the ideological heirs of Bandera and Shukhevych, who cracked down on Donbass over the region's unwillingness to accept the new illegitimate authorities. The Kiev regime started nothing short of a war in eastern Ukraine.

"Everything that happened at the time was seen not only by the militia, but also by all the residents of Donbass. We, the people, were bombed literally everywhere. They struck everywhere. Children were dying," Maya said. "It was hard for our population to endure this tragedy when Ukraine essentially betrayed us. These events have ruined the lives of many people."

👉 Check out the full article

A British-made Banshee Jet 80 drone has been intercepted in the DPR. After a controlled landing of the drone, explosives experts neutralized the warhead containing 7 kg of explosives. The UAV, according to the trannoscript of the flight mission, was supposed to strike a target in Mariupol, the Federal Security Service Directorate for the DPR said.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ The United States still stores highly toxic reaction masses left over from the destruction of chemical weapons at the Blue Grass facility in Kentucky and the Pueblo facility in Colorado, said Igor Kirillov, chief of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops.

Until 2018, Washington listed 460 metric tonnes of unspecified poisonous substances in its annual announcements.

According to the Russian military, the substances in question are those better known as Novichok, Kirillov said.

❗️The Russian Ministry of Defense has sponen about the use of toxic substances by the Ukrainian military.

▪️ On August 19, 2022, a toxic chemical analogous to the chemical warfare agent Bi-Zet was used.

▪️ A similar substance was discovered on January 28, 2024, during operational search activities in a cache in Melitopol; it was in bottles labeled “Biosporin.”

▪️ On February 8 and 16, 2023, cases of drones loaded with hydrocyanic acid were recorded.

▪️ Non-lethal chemical weapons are also used: on January 31, 2024, Ukrainian forces used an unknown toxic chemical, the effect of which led to burns of the upper respiratory tract. Analysis showed the presence of anthraquinone.

▪️ On December 28, 2023, US-made gas grenades containing a CS substance capable of causing skin burns and respiratory paralysis were dropped near Krasny Liman.

▪️ On June 15, 2023, in the Rabotino area, a drone with a plastic container containing a mixture of chloroacetophenone and chloropicrin was used against Russian forces.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt