📹 Former Pentagon senior security policy analyst Michael Maloof told Sputnik that the intercepted conversation between German officers has become a warning to other countries.

"I think that the revelation was important to get out because it does put these countries on notice that if they want to continue this war and use Ukraine as a proxy, it's only going to affect their economies, their industries, their people. And it could have dire geopolitical consequences," he said.

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Denying reality: Scholz claims Russia and Ukraine never had peace deal draft

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has denied that Moscow and Kiev agreed on a draft peace treaty in Turkiye in 2022, according to Sächsische Zeitung.

"It is said that a peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine was supposedly ready, but was allegedly prevented by either [former British Prime Minister] Boris Johnson or [US President] Joe Biden. Complete nonsense," he said.

The German chancellor's statement sounds somewhat delusional, however, given that Johnson's sabotage of the accord was not announced in Moscow, but in Kiev and Washington.

The list of those who have confirmed the story includes members of the Ukrainian delegation Alexander Chaly and Davyd Arakhamia (head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's party faction in parliament), former presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovich, and even US politician Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

It looks like “Russian propaganda” is everywhere these days – and its true name is "reality."

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📹 IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi arrived for a meeting with Putin, Sputnik correspondent reports

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Clashes erupt between protesting farmers and police in Warsaw, Poland. There are reports that several protesters were able to enter the Seimas building.

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❗️The price of gold updated its historical record, rising above $2153 per troy ounce.

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🇵🇱 Several police officers were injured in Warsaw during clashes with protesting farmers, Polish police said.

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EU Trots Out $1.6 Bln Scheme to Prop Up Continent’s Defense Industry

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, has laid out a plan to the tune of roughly €1.5 billion (US $1.6 billion) to boost defense production on the continent.

Money for the struggling defense-industrial sector would come out of the pockets of member states, with a shift away from procurement outside the European Union deemed unsustainable.

The proposed European Defence Industry Program (EDIP) would necessitate member states to allocate a minimum of 50 percent of their defense procurement budgets within the EU by 2030, increasing to 60 percent by 2035.

By 2030, countries would need to jointly procure at least 40 percent of defense equipment.

Scraping together the funds needed to continue aiding Ukraine without bulldozing the continental bloc's own defense capabilities has become an increasing challenge for the EU.

As Brussels outlined the details of the strategy, it trumpeted the need to "stimulate cooperation between the EU and Ukrainian defense industries," in spite of the fact that propping up the neo-Nazi regime was what contributed to the bloc's current predicament

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📹 Former Pentagon senior security policy analyst Michael Maloof has said that Germany refused to supply Taurus missiles in Ukraine because of the need for a military presence.

"The Taurus, as I understand it, requires the presence of the military personnel from that country in order to operate it. It's a very sophisticated system. That's why the German chancellor said that he would rule out the export of such missiles, because it required the German military to operate it," he said.

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🇦🇹 Austrian Chancellor Nehammer admitted that the gas pipeline through Ukraine, through which the republic receives Russian gas, could be damaged at any time.

At any time, the pipeline can be damaged, through a terrorist attack or deliberate shooting, and thereby destabilize the situation with energy supplies.

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⚡️At 11:40 Moscow time, the Russian army launched a high-precision missile strike on a hangar in the industrial port area of Odessa, where preparations were being made for the combat use of unmanned boats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

The target was hit.

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What’s known about Russia’s new Groza.04.K man-portable anti-FPV drone system

The Groza.04.K (lit. ‘Thunderstorm.04.K’) is designed to fight enemy FPV drones – a new class of UAVs used for kamikaze attacks, bombing runs, electronic and optoelectronic reconnaissance, and to serve as decoys to friendly radar and missile systems during enemy attacks.

The complex was created by the Novgorod-based Kvant Research and Production Enterprise - a pioneer of consumer televisions using analog signals, which are used by FPV drones

▪️ Mass production of the Groza.04.K is said to have begun, with Russian defense giant Rostec confirming that “the first batch has already been sent to the troops.”

▪️ The Groza.04.K kit was created in record time: the task to design a portable anti-FPV system was set in August 2023, and the system, which features “unique design solutions,” was built and delivered to the Defense Ministry for trials by the fall.

▪️ Rostec has not provided much information about the defense complex’s capabilities, but has published images of its carrying container, with the toolbox-sized black plastic box a sign that the system is portable enough to be toted around in a vehicle or on foot by a single trooper.

Kvant is a leading Russian developer and manufacturer of ground-based electronic reconnaissance and electronic suppression systems, including the 1L269 mobile jamming module (aka the Krasukha-2, lit. ‘Beauty-2’) and the 1L267 Moskva-1 mobile radio-electronic warfare system.

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📹Participants in the closing ceremony of the World Youth Festival sing the Russian anthem.

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