❗️ WATCH LIVE: Lavrov Takes the Podium to Address World Youth Festival

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❗️ It is surprising that Germany is not concerned about conversations on an attack on the Crimean Bridge, but about their leakage, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said

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❗️ The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the destruction of another US-made Abrams tank.

Latest statements of Sergey Lavrov's speech at the World Youth Festival:

▪️ Aid to Ukraine has been $250 billion, during the same period Africa received about $60 billion for the entire continent from the West;

▪️ Lloyd Austin said something specific: if Ukraine is defeated, NATO will have to fight;

▪️ I believe that the UN concept is still viable if you honestly fulfill everything that is stated. But everything about the honesty of the West became clear already with Winston Churchill's Fulton speech;

▪️ Officials of the Ukrainian regime after the coup d'état openly said that Kharkov and Nikolaev should forget the Russian language. They say that Russians should be exterminated both legally and physically;

▪️ Multipolarity must be built on the full enforcement of international law;

▪️ The Euro-Atlantic security system has failed, and even a few years before the special military operation, the West had begun to violate the OSCE’s principles;

▪️ BRICS is a global integration process that has been developing for many years on the basis of consensus. Its main axis is the balance of interests.

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📹 The West will never dominate again, it is necessary to look for new forms of interaction, but the West is trying in every possible way to hamper the process of multipolarity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said

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Zelensky will have to pay!

The European Commission has said that Volodymyr Zelensky made a mistake by believing all the shells from the EU would be free for Kiev.

The matter relates to the delivery of the promised one million shells. European Commissioner Thierry Breton said that Brussels was going to "supply" them, not "transfer" them to Ukraine. He said that there are three supply channels, and only one of them is free of charge. Ukraine has received 300,000 shells through this channel, and by the end of March that number will increase to 550,000.

The other two channels have to be paid for, Breton emphasized, noting that the total amount is more than the promised million.

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🇷🇺 Russian forces have destroyed another US-made Abrams tank using the latest ‘Upyr’ FPV drone. What makes the Upyr (lit. ‘Vampire’) live up to its ghoulish name?

Upyr’s characteristics

▪️ Helicopter-type kamikaze drone

▪️ Velocity up to 180 kilometers per hour

▪️ Payload up to 2 kg

▪️ High maneuverability aerodynamic design

▪️ Allows first-person view (FPV)

▪️ Fitted with camera to wirelessly transmit video feed to goggles, headset, mobile device, or other display

▪️ Camera's improved light sensitivity allows operation in twilight

▪️ Fitted with thermal imaging technology

▪️ Maneuvers during precipitation, in conditions of elevation changes, wooded areas

▪️ Upgraded video transmitter and receiver help tackle electronic warfare (EW) systems aimed at jamming

▪️ Designed for high-precision attacks up to 12 km deep behind the front line

▪️ Can destroy armored vehicles in concealed positions, hit targets where artillery cannot reach them

▪️ Armed with RPG-7 rounds, such as PG-7VL and RKG-3M, as well as anti-tank hand grenades

▪️ Can be armed with high-explosive fragmentation bombs made directly in a combat zone

▪️ Flight range doubled thanks to “Udlinitel” transponder

The Upyr has been used by the Russian Armed Forces in the special op zone since May 2023. During this time, it has been used to force Ukrainian troops to pull military hardware back from the front line. Upyr drones also helped disable a Ukrainian mortar during an operation to evacuate Russian soldiers, and proved effective in destroying Ukrainian speedboats.

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📸 AI vision of destroyed US-made Abrams tank in Ukraine

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❗️Сonversation between senior German officers clearly demonstrates the involvement of the West, including Berlin, in the conflict over Ukraine - Russian Foreign Ministry

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The annual multinational Cobra Gold military exercise marks its 42nd edition in 2024. The largest international war games in the Asia-Pacific region, this year the drills kicked off on February 27 with an opening ceremony at Thailand's U-Tapao Naval Aviation Base.

In total, more than 10,000 military personnel from 30 countries are participating in the exercise, which consists of naval, air, land, and humanitarian segments, including more than 8,000 from Thailand and the United States. More than 20 countries are represented in the exercise by small contingents participating in some drills and as observers.

The People's Republic of China and India are participating only in the humanitarian segment of the exercise. The Cobra Gold war games will last until March 10, 2024.

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To Biden and the American elites: Your sanctions have failed to weaken Russia

Christopher Helali, international secretary of PCUSA, has addressed Joe Biden, saying that the sanctions against Russia have failed to weaken the nation, but are instead bolstering its resilience.

“The Russian people are strong. The Russian economy is thriving. There's food, there is energy, anything you want here. And it's absolutely amazing to see. So, to President Biden and the rest of the elites in the US: you have failed,” he told Sputnik on the sidelines of the World Youth Festival in Sirius, Russia.

He observed a thriving Russian economy with abundant resources, signaling a shift away from Western influence towards the East. Helali applauded Russia's assertion of sovereignty and independent foreign policy, viewing it as a positive departure from the established world order.

“What I have seen is a country that has stood up, they won't take orders from Washington or Brussels or anybody else, and that is willing to defend its borders, its national security. And for me as an American, this is a tremendous breath of fresh air to see [it],” Helali said.

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❗️The US Supreme Court unanimously overturns Colorado's decision to exclude Trump from the ballot.

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Is the US Flying F-35s in Ukraine-related NATO missions?

During a speech on February 28, Singaporean Minister of Defense Ng Eng Hen said that the United States was using the stealth fighter to conduct reconnaissance missions on behalf of Ukraine.

"More recently, the US used their F-35s to locate and identify surface-to-air missile sites of Russian units in Ukraine, and this information was shared with NATO countries,” he said according to Singaporean MOD website

Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley (@TXDPR) writes that this statement is noteworthy given Singapore’s close military and intelligence ties to the US.

If officially confirmed, the US conducting F-35 missions on behalf of Ukraine would be the latest sign that NATO is preparing for a major military escalation. French President Emmanuel Macron recently floated the idea of sending troops in Ukraine. Additionally, German military brass was caught discussing an attack on Crimean Bridge during a leaked phone call.

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Jack Teixeira, a defendant in the Pentagon Documents leak case, pleaded guilty and agreed to a prison term of 16 years, according to a court document.

Earlier, Teixeira was accused of leaking sensitive and classified Pentagon documents, including information about national security issues and Ukraine.

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What NATO hardware has Russia destroyed in Ukraine?

Here’s a list of some of the pricey Western defense hardware destroyed to date:

🔺NATO main battle tanks including the M1 Abrams ($10mln apiece), Challenger 2s ($5.3mln each), and Leopard 1 and 2s ($5-$6.25mln apiece).

🔺M113 APC ($100k-$200k apiece) and Bradley IFV ($3.3-$4mln each), some of them captured intact.

🔺Patriot and SAMP-T extended range air and missile defenses. US officials confirmed that Russian strikes had “damaged” a Patriot battery in May 2023, and Russia’s MoD reported on the destruction of a SAMP-T in January 2024. These systems are among the costliest items in this list, going for $1.1bln and $44mln, respectively, with the interceptor missiles alone priced at between $1mln and $6mln each.

🔺The Russian MoD has reported on the destruction of other air defenses, including a $406 million NASAMS short-to-medium-range air defense system, and the IRIS-T, a European consortium-made short-range SAM going for $152 million per battery.

🔺Russian air, missile and drone strike rampage has also included the targeting of an array of NATO radars, including the AN/TRQ-36, a US-made fire finder radar priced at $1.5mln apiece, and Ukraine’s sole Skyguard II radar, delivered by Italy in early 2023.

🔺Russian forces have destroyed hundreds of NATO-built artillery pieces, from towed M777 and FH70 howitzers to an array of self-propelled guns, from the Czech-made DANA and the Slovak-made Zuzana to the French CAESAR, the German PzH 2000, the US M109 Paladin and the Swedish Archer. These guns’ prices vary wildly, from $600k for the FH70 to $20mln for the PzH 2000.

🔺When it comes to self-propelled rocket artillery, Russian operations have included a hunt for the deadly M142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS (priced at $4.3mln to $3.6mln, respectively).

🔺Russia’s air defenses have honed their skills targeting French SCALP EG and British Storm Shadow missiles, which go for $2.5mln each, even capturing a Storm Shadow intact last July.

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The New York Times doubts that Taurus missiles, if provided by Germany to Ukraine, or F-16 fighters would be of any decisive importance to Ukrainian troops.

As an example, the publication notes that Germany’s decision to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine last year did not help the Ukrainian Armed Forces carry out a successful counter-offensive.

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