❗️ More of the Russian MoD’s latest statements:

▪️ Russian servicemen in the special military operation zone face almost the entire NATO military-industrial potential;

▪️ Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu notes the need for a humane attitude towards captured Ukrainian servicemen;

▪️Ukrainian soldiers remaining in Avdeyevka are surrendering; some 200 Ukrainian soldiers have already been captured;

▪️ Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has set the task of further strengthening Battlegroup Tsentr with electronic warfare equipment;

▪️ Regular drone units have been created in Russian Armed Forces detachments;

▪️ During the last two weeks of February, Russian attack drones near Avdeyevka destroyed over 700 Ukrainian targets;

▪️ During the liberation of Avdeyevka, Orlan-30 reconnaissance drones performed well;

▪️ Despite Ukraine's complaints about having an ammunition shortage, the intensity of enemy artillery fire has not decreased;

▪️ Russian troops are continuing offensive operations;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces will receive drones controlled using artificial intelligence technologies.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

▪️ Ukrainian forces driven more than 10 km back during Russian liberation of Avdeyevka

▪️ Isolation due to Ukraine, Gaza Conflicts signals ‘end of US hegemony'

▪️ All about the money? Where US' stance on Ukrainian conflict is rooted

▪️ US officials admit use of force against Houthis not working

▪️ UK's failed Trident missile test emblems nation's 'decline and demise'

More stories

▪️US shoots an unknown flying balloon over its territory. Again.

▪️ Thinking of moving to Russia? Check out our guide

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has inspected the Battlegroup Tsentr in the special military operation zone, the Defense Ministry said

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

US entrepreneur Elon Musk said outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte does not have the legal authority to sign a security treaty with Ukraine for ten years.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO made the statement in response to a post by political commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek on social network X regarding the Netherlands’ ten-year military assistance agreement with Ukraine. Vlaardingerbroek said “the opinion of the Dutch People” had not been asked.

"Doesn’t seem like he [Rutte] has the legal authority to do this," Musk wrote in response.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday that the Netherlands would sign a security agreement with Ukraine for the next 10 years. It said the deal means the Netherlands will help Ukraine defend itself and achieve further integration into the EU and NATO.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), has appealed to the OSCE against the training of sabotage groups in Moldova, but there has been no appropriate response so far, PMR head Vadim Krasnoselsky told Sputnik.

The Transnistrian Ministry of State Security reported earlier that foreign specialists were training combat groups in Moldova, including Ukrainians, to carry out terrorist acts and sabotage of military facilities in the PMR.

Transnistria’s Ministry of State Security reported the prevention of a terrorist attack on March 9 last year in Tiraspol allegedly planned against PMR officials at the behest of the Ukrainian Security Service. In May 2022, a series of terrorist attacks took place in Transnistria, including attacks on the buildings of the Ministry of State Security, a military unit, a radio and television center, and a military recruitment office.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has commented on accusations coming from Washington about Russia's plans to allegedly deploy nuclear weapons in space and the possibility of further dialogue with the US:

▪️ Russia is not going to withdraw from the Outer Space Treaty;

▪️ Contact between Russia and the US on the matter of nuclear weapons in space has turned out to be completely unproductive;

▪️ The US attributes non-existent intentions in space to Russia, while it wants to achieve superiority there in the sphere of armaments, which is "their usual trick";

▪️ US accuses Russia of planning to deploy nuclear weapons in space, but has provided no evidence;

▪️ Moscow is waiting for a change in Washington's policy to resume dialogue on strategic stability, after which it will be ready to assess the expediency of discussing such issues.

Ryabkov also commented on reports about a conversation between Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on space: “We do not accept leaks from the US about what they agreed to keep confidential.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu was presented with samples of foreign military hardware captured by our troops during the special military operation.

Deputy commander of the Central MD’s Lieutenant General Yevgeny Tsindyakin drew attention to the shortcomings of Western weapons using the example of the US-made M113 armored personnel carrier.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Growing rift over further arming Ukraine 'jeopardizes EU unity' - report

Wealthier Western European countries like Germany, Spain, Italy, Spain, and others are being pressured by East European ones to dip deeper into their own depleted stocks of arms to prop up Ukraine, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources.

There are deepening fractures across the continent over continuing to aid the regime in Kiev, with Eastern European supporters of NATO’s proxy war against Russia reportedly warning that once Moscow prevails in the Ukraine conflict, the entire “European integration project could be jeopardized.”

As Ukraine continues to fail on the battlefield, with the loss of its stronghold of Avdeyevka being particularly painful, Kiev’s troops are also running critically low on stocks of artillery shells.

However, many Western European states, such as France, have been underscoring the urgency of boosting their own defense capabilities. In a sign of growing resentment, one European official allegedly warned that their country would not purchase military hardware from France in the event that foot-dragging on aiding Ukraine results in a Russian victory. Support for Ukraine is “looking fragmented,” the outlet summed up.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Italian PM Meloni has joined the choir of those looking for a Russian trace everywhere

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni believes that Hamas’ attack on Israel would not have happened if Russia had not launched its special military operation in Ukraine a year and a half earlier.

"If Russia had not invaded Ukraine, Hamas in all probability would not have launched such an attack on Israel. It was inevitable that such a serious violation of an international system based on law, and by a permanent member of the UN Security Council, would have cascading consequences for other regions and actors in the world, from the Middle East to the Balkans, all the way to Africa. This is the game we are playing and we must recognize this. If international legitimacy is not restored in Ukraine, outbreaks of conflict will multiply," Meloni told il Giornale.

Earlier, US presidential candidate Nikki Haley linked Putin's birthday and the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video of assault teams from Russia’s 1st Army Corps that shows a former Ukrainian command post at the Avdeyevka Coke Plant equipped with a Starlink system

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇫🇷 The opening of the Salon de l'Agriculture in Paris has been delayed due to protests against French President Emmanuel Macron's arrival.

Farmers started a fight with a special police squad sent to suppress the protests.

According to local media, this is the first time in the event’s history that the French president has been prevented from visiting the exhibition.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ The Russian Army shot down two Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 aircraft in the DPR;

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

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces repelled three attacks near Kupyansk, with Ukrainian forces losing up to 55 troops and three units of equipment;

▪️ Ukrainian forces lost up to 425 servicemen near Avdeyevka;

▪️ Russian troops repulsed a counterattack in the DPR, with Ukrainian forces losing more than 395 soldiers;

▪️ Ukrainian forces lost up to 125 military personnel in the southern DPR, as well as seven pieces of equipment, including an American M777 howitzer;

▪️ The Russian Army struck Ukrainian manpower and equipment in 117 districts;

▪️ Russian air defense systems intercepted a JDAM guided bomb and destroyed 92 drones.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch said that cases of fraud, product substitution, and theft were detected during arms purchases for Ukraine.

In total, prosecutors are investigating more than 50 criminal cases related to supplies to Ukraine; no charges have been filed yet.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

US ‘expended decades’ worth of weapons supplies’ on Ukraine - senator

The US’ own national security needs have been undermined by its determination to prop up the Kiev regime, warned Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) in an interview at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

“We have expended decades’ worth of supplies of American weapons” on the Ukraine conflict, Vance said.

He deplored the destruction of the American manufacturing base over the years, which has resulted in the fact that, “We don’t make enough of that stuff on our own.” “Yet at the same time they want us to send all of our critical weapons overseas,” the politician pointed out.

According to Vance, “the elites of America have fundamentally failed their own people” in several ways in their reaction to the Ukraine conflict, and called out the Democrats for being “obsessed with Russia,” which has clouded their judgment.

“It is absurd for the US to devote so many resources, so much attention, and so much time to a border conflict six thousand miles away while out own US southern border is wide open,” the Republican insisted, adding: “We now no longer have the weapons in store to actually prosecute our own national security. Let’s focus on our own problems.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has commented on the new sanctions timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the start of the special military operation.

"But what I want to draw attention to today is that these bans are no longer directed against the authorities or business in the country, as our adversary likes to say. They have been adopted against the entire population of Russia. For example, the ban on the Mir payment system and restrictions on the activities of companies involved in building housing in the country. The reason is clear – the worse it is for the citizens of Russia, the better it is for the Western world. ’Let them all suffer there.’ We should just remember this and take revenge on them wherever we can. They are our enemies," he said.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Big help to Ukraine from Germany: the German Foreign Ministry renamed Kiev to "Kyjiw"

Subscribe to @SputnikInt