Tank Major Ivan Dodosov suggested a plan to break the enemy's defense near Popasnaya in the Lugansk People's Republic. Under his command a tank crew, facing an unequal battle, destroyed seven enemy tanks and two more were taken as trophies. Dodosov returned victorious with the captured tanks to his unit. For this feat, the president of Russia awarded him the hero's gold star.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, director general of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, Dmitry Kiselev talks about the hero of the special military operation.

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Russian troops destroyed a US-made M1150 Assault Breacher engineering armored vehicle that had been "secretly" transferred to Kiev by the US in quantities of several units, Forbes columnist David Axe reported, calling the loss "particularly painful" for Ukrainian forces.

Axe was referring to a video shot by a Russian drone and posted online that shows the crew throwing their "rare" M1150, after which the armored vehicle is hit, "presumably severely damaging if not destroying it."

According to Axe, the Assault Breacher is one of the safest and most versatile defense-breaking machines in the world. "It's the first confirmed loss of a Ukrainian Assault Breacher," he said.

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Alexander Potapov is an officer of the Russian Guard's Special Forces “Vityaz”. In the summer of 2022, he saved two civilians during shelling of the city of Izyum by Ukrainian militants. Alexander died. He was posthumously awarded the noscript of Hero of Russia by presidential decree.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova talks about the hero of the special military operation.

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❗️At about 10:20 a.m. Moscow time, an attempt of the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an airplane-type drone against objects on the Russian territory was stopped, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

Air defense systems destroyed two drones over the Kursk region.

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Why did Polish farmer use pro-Putin slogan during protests?

The fact that slogans calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to "put things in order" with Kiev, Brussels and Warsaw can be heard at Polish farmers' protests reflects the "extreme fatigue" of ordinary Poles with the Ukraine aid issue, Mateusz Piskorski, a political observer and columnist for the Mysl Polska (Polish Thought) newspaper, told Sputnik.

"People are simply tired of what state media and politicians say on the matter, of all these slogans related to [Poland’s] unconditional support for Ukraine,” Piskorski said. “All those who protest are trying to stress that they are using slogans that run counter to Warsaw’s political line and that of state-run media," he added.

Polish farmers are well aware that what their country is now receiving as part of the imports from Ukraine can hardly be defined as Ukrainian products. They know that these products belong mainly to Western corporations, which control practically the entire agro-industrial sector of Ukraine, the expert concluded.

Earlier this week, tractors flying Polish flags blocked highways and major intersections at the country's border crossings with Ukraine as part of protracted protests in which farmers spilled Ukrainian grain on the road to protest unchecked Ukrainian food imports. Similar protests have taken place in Germany, Italy and France.

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According to Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, the vast majority of the new sanctions were developed against the Russian defense industry to fill gaps in previously imposed restrictions.

She added that the package would include "hundreds and hundreds" of measures.

One of them is closing beaches:

US sanctions have closed European beaches to Russians, Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said, threatening that Russia's middle class "will no longer be able to visit beaches in Europe."

The West launched a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Russia after it launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. But these measures haven't stopped Russia's economic growth. Putin has repeatedly stressed that Western sanctions against Russia have failed.

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Vladimir Putin lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Defender of the Fatherland Day

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The 13th package of EU sanctions against Russia included 194 individuals and legal entities, sanctions have now been imposed on more than 2,000 individuals, the EU Council said in a statement.

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"It's a mess, I mean all created by Joe Biden and his blundering in foreign relations"

Sen. Tommy Tuberville criticized Biden's foreign policy at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), saying that Donald Trump will end the Ukraine conflict as soon as he "gets in."

“Donald Trump will stop it when he first gets in. He knows there’s no winning for Ukraine. He can work a deal with Putin,” he said.

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Senior Lieutenant Nur-Magomed Gadzhi-Magomedov became the first participant in Russia's special operation to be posthumously awarded the noscript of Hero of Russia. He was 25 years old.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, talks about the hero of the special military operation.

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Two years of anti-Russian sanctions in numbers

The EU introduced a 13th package of sanctions that targeted Russia's military-industrial complex today after the US announced additional sanctions earlier this week.

Since 2022, Russia has withstood over 15,000 sanctions in various sectors. The vigorous restrictions cut Russian banks off from international payment systems, restrict tech imports, and have major corporations abandon the Russian market.

Check out Sputnik’s infographics to see an illustrated layout of the number and origin of sanctions Russia has withstood in the past two years.

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Biden says he will announce more than 500 new sanctions against Russia, including export restrictions on nearly 100 entities.

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🐀☠️ Russian secret rat destroyers! Heroes eating corn shells

Some of the Western military equipment delivered to Ukraine has been damaged by... rodents, Figaro reported, citing a French military officer fighting on behalf of Ukraine.

The protective shells on some of the equipment are made of corn shells that is attracting the attention of these pesky creatures, causing damage that wasn't an issue with the sturdy Soviet equipment, the soldier reportedly said.

It seems like nature has a sense of humor, throwing another kind of rats into the the mix of Ukrainian operations.

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Third Finnish mercenary eliminated in Ukraine, Ilta-Sanomille newspaper reported.

According to the report, the mercenary was taken out on Monday in the Artemovsk region.

This is the third Finn killed in the special military operation zone, the newspaper wrote. In total, several dozen Finnish citizens are on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces, but the exact number and duration of their stay in Ukraine is not specified.

The death of the first Finnish mercenary was reported in June, the second in October.

The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated that the Kiev regime uses foreign mercenaries as "cannon fodder" and that the Russian military will continue to destroy them throughout Ukraine. Those who have come to fight for money themselves have admitted in many interviews that the Ukrainian military does not coordinate its actions well and that the chances of surviving in combat are slim, since the intensity of the conflict is incomparable to their usual Afghanistan and the Middle East.

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Russia expands its list of EU representatives and officials banned from entering country in response to new EU sanctions - Russian Foreign Ministry

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Special present for the president

It’s cold in Russia and Putin doesn’t wear gloves in winter, the chairwoman of the Federation Council noticed before deciding to give the president some warm gloves.

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Footage of a damaged and abandoned American M1150 Assault Breacher vehicle north of Avdeyevka.

US-made M1150 Assault Breacher technical armored vehicles based on the Abrams tank were transferred to Ukraine in the amount of 6 units.

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