🇫🇷 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.

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❗️ 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.

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❗️ 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.

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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.”

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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.

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

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What is known about Moldova's self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria?

Facts and Figures

▪️ Transnistria, with its capital of Tiraspol, occupies a narrow strip of land lodged between the Dniester river and the Ukrainian border.

▪️ Overall area of Transnistria is 4,163 sq km, with a population of around 465,000.

▪️ The breakaway republic has a predominantly Russian-speaking population. Other languages used in the region are Romanian and Ukrainian.

▪️ It has its own constitution, parliament, flag and anthem, and currency, the Transnistrian ruble (rubla).

History

▪️ Predominantly Russian-speaking Transnistria, 60 percent of whose ethnic population are Russians and Ukrainians, had been seeking to secede from Moldova since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

▪️ A 1989 law that made Moldovan an official language added to the tension.

▪️ The region seceded from the Soviet Republic of Moldova in 1990.

▪️ The secession led to an armed conflict, with the territory's paramilitary forces taking over Moldovan public institutions in the area in 1991.

▪️ After Moldova failed to resolve the conflict by force, a ceasefire was signed in July 1992 and a demilitarized security zone was established.

▪️ The settlement was enforced by Russian troops stationed in the territory.

▪️ In 1992, Transnistria became a territory de facto beyond the control of the Moldovan capital Kishinev.

▪️ The conflict has remained unresolved. Peace in the area is maintained by a joint peacekeeping force comprising Russian, Transnistrian and Moldovan servicemen.

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What is Russia’s Orlan-30 surveillance drone?

The Orlan-30 (lit. ‘Eagle-30’) recon drone “proved itself very well” in helping Russian forces in the operation to liberate the Donbass city of Avdeyevka, the MoD said.

Here’s what we know about the UAV:

▪️ The Orlan-30 is an aerial reconnaissance, search, and artillery target designation drone equipped with laser target designator and signal repeater capability.

▪️ Produced since 2020, the UAV is a successor to the Orlan-10, a Russian reconnaissance drone design introduced in 2011. Both the Orlan-10 and the Orlan-30 are designed and manufactured by the Special Technology Center – a St. Petersburg-based defense concern.

▪️ The Orlan-30 has double the range of the Orlan-10 (600 km vs 300 km), a 10-18 hour flight time vs 5 hours, and a 6 km vs a 4.5 km flight ceiling). The Orlan-30 can carry up to 6-8 kg worth of onboard photo/video, thermal imager and other equipment, compared to 5 kg for the Orlan-10.

▪️ Both drones are designed to be closely integrated with the 2C19 Msta-SM, a Soviet-designed 152.4 mm self-propelled howitzer, and to adjust the fire of the system’s deadly Krasnopol laser-guided shells.

▪️ Orlan drones are launched from a catapult. Onboard guidance includes GLONASS and GPS-assisted navigation.

▪️ The Orlan-30 has a maximum takeoff weight of 40 kg, a flight speed of between 90 and 150 km per hour, and a cruising speed of about 100 km per hour.

▪️ The drone is can operate at temperatures between -30 and +40 degrees Celsius.

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▪️The Russian Ministry of Defense has released a video showing an abandoned Ukrainian command post at the Avdeyevka Coke Plant equipped with a Starlink system. Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was presented with samples of foreign military hardware captured during the battles.

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

▪️What is known about Moldova's self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria?

▪️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.

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

▪️What is Russia’s Orlan-30 surveillance drone?

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