At night, a Grad MLRS unit of the Southern Group of Russian army successfully hit an Ukrainian forces' stronghold with 122-mm rockets.

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EU mission in Red Sea will be led by Italy, France, Greece

The EU naval mission to secure navigation in the Red Sea from Yemen's Houthi movement will be led by Italy, France and Greece, Hungarian FM Peter Szijjarto said.

Earlier on Monday, Italian FM Antonio Tajani said that the European Union approved the launch of the Aspides military operation, with Italy set to take over the command of the forces.

"Today it was decided that we are launching an EU maritime mission … This will be a mission led by Greece, Italy and France, called Aspides; its budget for the first year is limited to 8 million euros [$8.6 million]," Szijjarto told Hungarian reporters.

The Houthi movement, which controls large parts of northern and western Yemen, vowed in November 2023 to attack any ships associated with Israel until it halts military actions in the Gaza Strip. This led US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to announce the creation of a multinational operation in the Red Sea.

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❗️ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived on a visit to Venezuela, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

Lavrov arrived in Venezuela after visiting Cuba, where his Latin American tour began. In the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, he is scheduled to hold talks with Foreign Minister Ivan Gil, President Nicolas Maduro and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

Ahead of the visit, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the development of strategic partnership, political dialog and joint projects in trade, investment and cultural areas are on the agenda. It is not excluded that one of the topics of the talks may be to negotiate the date of President Maduro's visit to Russia: he recently announced that he was going to come to St. Petersburg soon.

Jesus Rafael Salazar Velasquez, Venezuela's ambassador to Russia, noted that President Maduro's trip to Russia is planned for this year.

After Venezuela, Lavrov will go to Brazil for a meeting of G20 foreign ministers.

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NATO countries should stop interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and “stop its tricks,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said when asked about NATO leaders’ criticisms of China’s response to Alexey Navalny’s death.

On Friday, the Chinese government called Navalny’s death an internal Russian affair, which prompted criticism from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Asked about that on Monday, Mao responded that “First and foremost, different from NATO, China never interferes in other countries’ internal affairs,” while adding that China favors peace talks in Ukraine.

“NATO should stop its tricks of hyping up tensions and interfering in other countries’ internal affairs to expand its sphere of influence and stop smearing China and stoking antagonism and confrontation,” Mao asserted, adding “NATO should earnestly take concrete action for the peace and stability in Europe.”

Last year, China released a 12-point document noscriptd “China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” which included the end of hostilities and the resumption of peace talks.

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🎙 Check out AfroVerdict's latest episode featuring ECOWAS Commission President and Uganda's FM in conversation about SWIFT alternatives, Russia-Africa cooperation, conflicts in Africa and more.

🇷🇺🇰🇵 Kim Jong-un was presented with a Russian-made Aurus car, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik

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A number of Ukrainian servicemen are in hiding under the Avdeyevka coking plant, similarly to the situation that unfolded in Mariupol's Azovstal, an aide to the head of the DPR, Yan Gagin, told Sputnik.

"We cannot yet say how many of them there are, because this is a Soviet-style enterprise and there are quite a lot of underground communications there," he said.

He also said that the Ukrainian military, in its chaotic retreat from Avdeyevka, left behind NATO-made equipment, which is now being examined by specialists. In the city itself, a significant number of buildings have been damaged or mined by the enemy. In Gagin's estimation, "complete demining of the city, in order to start somehow restoring it, may take several months."

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▪️ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived on a visit to Venezuela

▪️ Ukraine planning to use poisonous chemicals to hinder Russia's advance, Sputnik expert explains

▪️ What present did Russian President Putin gift to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un?

▪️ Israel seemingly set Ramadan as the deadline for Hamas to return hostages

More stories to cover:

▪️ What does the report on leak of NATO sub secrets near Nord Stream mean?

▪️ EU members will be stripped of their sovereignty with eurobonds to arm Ukraine

▪️ Watch Russian Rostec testing a prototype of a vertical take-off drone

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⚡️ President Putin to deliver annual address to Federal Assembly (Russian parliament) on 29 February, Kremlin announced

Ukraine deteriorated and actually collapsed after Maidan coup – Former PM Azarov (Part 1)

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Nikolai Azarov, stated in an interview with Sputnik that, a decade after the 2014 Maidan coup, it has become evident that as far as Ukraine is concerned, the EU has failed to become a viable substitute for the Russian market.

“Over these ten years, we can say that the country has degraded and, in fact, collapsed. If we talk about the standard of living, it cannot even be compared with 2013, because food prices have skyrocketed: from five to thirty times and higher,” Azarov stressed.

▪️ Ukraine’s real gross domestic product (GDP) currently does not exceed $60 billion (as compared to $175 billion in 2013).

“The Kiev regime distorts all official data and blatantly lies. Here they show that, for example, GDP is $175 billion, nearly the same as it was in 2013. So does that mean that GDP doesn’t depend on anything? The trick here is very simple, they include all grants and substantial assistance received as part of their GDP calculation,” he explained.

Ukraine deteriorated and actually collapsed after Maidan coup – Former PM Azarov (Part 2)

▪️ The European Commission’s plans to make Ukraine’s army and its military-industrial complex part of the EU’s military capabilities are an absolutely unrealistic scenario.

“The military-industrial complex of Ukraine was once powerful... but it has now been destroyed… This is an absolutely unrealistic scenario [to make Ukraine’s military industrial complex part of the EU], and this Ursula von der Leyen would be better off minding her own business. She has strictly defined functions, as the President of the European Commission, and these functions do not include the creation of any industry in Ukraine or other similar issues,” Azarov highlighted.

▪️ Volodymyr Zelensky postponed Ukraine’s presidential elections for fear of losing his job.

“His decision [to postpone the elections] is illegal, and on May 21, 2024, he becomes a nobody. Because his term of office as president expires, the Constitution of Ukraine does not provide for any term extension. If the constitution does not provide for it, then you become a nobody. You can invoke anything: martial law, war. By the way, he did not declare war. Formally, officially, there is no war. So why was the election postponed? Only because of one thing - the fear of losing this election,” the former Ukrainian PM concluded.

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Ukraine's position is getting weaker every day, it should have concluded a peace agreement a year ago, says Elon Musk

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US House lawmakers urge support for new bill on Ukraine aid

The Senate earlier passed the $95bln foreign aid bill that includes $60bln for Ukraine aid and $14bln for Israel, but excludes US border policy reforms.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has called on other members of the lower chamber to support an alternative bill that includes US military aid for Kiev in addition to border security policy.

In a “Dear Colleague” letter obtained by The Hill, Republican Brian Fitzpatrick Jared Golden from the Democratic Party noted that Ukrainian soldiers “are running out of ammunition and withdrawing from the East, paving the way for Russia’s further advance”, which is “a direct result of Congress’ gridlock.”

The alternative version of the bill stipulates allocating $47.69bln and $10.4bln to support Ukraine and Israel, respectively. The legislation separately stipulates the suspension of entry of illegal migrants and requires immigration officers to detain and immediately expel inadmissible aliens.

The US media has meanwhile reported that the new bill “may lose some momentum” given that it was released just before the House had embarked on a nearly two-week recess. The lower chamber is going to return to session on February 28.

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⚡️ Sergey Naryshkin, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), on the death of defector Maxim Kuzminov in Spain: "This traitor became a moral corpse while planning his crime".

Kuzminov was shot dead in Spain on February 19, according to media reports.

Ukrainian mass media and Telegram channels had earlier claimed that the Russian pilot had hijacked an Mi-8 helicopter from Kursk on the orders of Ukrainian intelligence and flown it to Ukraine. Two people were on board with the hijacker, and they died. The Russian Ministry of Defense has not commented on the situation.

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🇧🇾 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that about 32 thousand NATO troops, more than a thousand armored vehicles, 235 planes and helicopters are deployed near the borders of Russia and Belarus

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❗️ Alexander Lukashenko said that 2 divisions of S-400 anti-aircraft missiles and 2 divisions of Iskander-M missile systems have been put into operation in Belarus

In Avdeyevka, preliminary information suggests the existence of secret torture and burial sites, with Kiev detaining residents for political reasons, stated Rodion Miroshnik, the LPR representative to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to Ukraine's War Crimes, in an interview with Sputnik.

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❗️ According to preliminary information, four people were wounded when Ukrainian troops shelled the Kievskyi district of Donetsk. Sputnik's correspondent reports from the scene.

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❗️ President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Polish and American intelligence are preparing a provocation against Polish civilians, which will be blamed on Russia and Belarus

🗣 'Free Julian Assange'

Protesters gather and chant slogans outside the High Court in London, where British judges are hearing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's appeal against a decision to extradite him to the US.

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❗️ Assange is not feeling well and will not attend his extradition trial, Reuters reports