📹 Russian crews of the Tornado-G MLRS destroyed Ukrainian objects and positions in the Kupyansk area.

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🇷🇺 Russia hosts thousands of foreign guests at the World Youth Festival

One of the most significant events of this week was the world's biggest youth gathering — the #WYF2024

The festival was held on March 1-7 in the Russia's federal territory Sirius on the Black Sea coast. More than 300,000 people across all continents and 190 countries have shown their interest in participating. Unfortunately, Russia has "not been able to accept everyone," as the country's president, Vladimir Putin, said.

Join our AI-powered host Joy in her report on this week's main topic to learn more details!

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The leader of France's right-wing party The Patriots, Florian Philippot, accused President Emmanuel Macron and his NATO allies of doing everything to keep the conflict in Ukraine going after the French leader appeared to have acknowledged that Moscow was open to a ceasefire.

On the other side of the spectrum, French Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel cited Macron as saying during Thursday's talks with the opposition that Russia had requested a ceasefire, but the West could not agree to it over concerns that the battlefield situation would be frozen, allowing Russia to rearm.

"This is a real bomb, it proves that Macron and his cabal in NATO are doing everything to protract the conflict in Ukraine. Back in April 2022, they banned Ukraine from negotiating. Let's stop them for the sake of peace!" Philippot wrote on X.

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🇺🇬 Uganda's "son" of Putin tells Sputnik Africa what he wants to learn from Russian leader

At the closing ceremony of the World Youth Festival in Russia, a particularly memorable participant from Uganda asked the Russian president to accept him as his son, to which Vladimir Putin replied with paternal concern: "What can I say, son?"

Sputnik Africa contacted the participant and asked him to explain why he'd chosen Putin as a mentor.

"First of all, I want to say that I told Putin to be my mentor because I believe in him. I feel he's a visionary leader. I feel he's a leader that many people can look up to, especially the young people, those who are still growing. And that's one reason why I thought he should mentor me to be a greater leader, to be a leader for the future," he pointed out.

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"I didn’t think there would be such a stir, everyone was scared by one photo" - the head of Moldova's autonomous Gagauzia region about the reaction of the Moldovan authorities to her meeting Vladimir Putin.

“We have been going to this meeting for a very long time. Until the last minute we were worried that it would not happen (...) Vladimir Vladimirovich heard about the problems of Gagauzia and promised support. Our goal is for our people to be heard,” said Evgenia Gutsul at a meeting with members of the Executive Committee of Gagauzia.

According to her, she discussed the problem of Gagauzia and its people with Putin, as well as talking about the problem of gas supplies.

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▪️A ballet dancer with a machine gun

▪️Which topics did the Russian and United States' leaders touch upon most during their recent speeches?

▪️Piranha - the drone that kills Western tanks in an instant!

▪️Scott Ritter on Biden’s State of the Union address: ‘America's running away from Ukraine’

▪️Why are EU and NATO hesitant to give posts to Eastern Europeans?

▪️Russian forces may soon strike a crucial blow to Ukrainian defenses near Donetsk

▪️Each fourth US citizen wants their state to secede, Alaska first to leave

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US bears responsibility for torpedoing ceasefire efforts in Gaza Strip and ‘will provoke conflicts in the region’

Washington’s actions related to the Israeli invasion of Gaza, such as supplying weapons to Israel and vetoing UNSC resolutions calling for a ceasefire, reveal that the US is “not the peacemaker in the region,” says Mehmet Rakipoglu, a researcher on international affairs at the UK-based Dimensions for Strategic Studies think tank.

“If US is supplying arms to Israel, it doesn't help to push for the UN to support an immediate ceasefire. So there is a contradiction between policy and rhetoric,” Rakipoglu notes.

He also argues that the United States “will provoke conflicts in the region,” and that radical policymakers in the US may even be trying to “provoke Iran and Israel.”

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The United States is in the process of preparing to deploy forces for the Gaza pier mission to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave, Defense Department spokesperson Pat Ryder said.

"We are in the process of identifying, sourcing, and, in some cases, preparing forces to deploy [to Gaza]," Ryder said during a press briefing.

The Pentagon anticipates it will require more than 1,000 US military personnel to build a temporary port in Gaza.

The effort is expected to take several weeks, likely up to 60 days, Ryder said.

The Gaza pier mission is said to involve presence of US military personnel being on military vessels offshore, and not on the shore in Gaza, the Defense Department claimed.

Meanwhile, the US has reportedly made more than 100 "quiet" weapons sales to Israel, including thousands of bombs, since October 7. Despite half-baked calls from the administration for Israel to spare civilian lives, the US has continued to restock their supply of weapons, helping to create one of the most intense bombing campaigns in military history.

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A full-size van with 34 men of connoscription age who hoped to avoid mobilization was stopped near the Romanian border in Ukraine, the Ukrainian newspaper “Strana” reported on its Telegram channel, citing a local source.

According to media reports, the draft dodgers paid 10,000 euros each for a chance to cross into the neighboring country illegally to avoid fighting for the Kiev regime.

Ukrainian telegram channels later posted a video of the brutal detention where the men are forced to lie down on top of each other after being pulled out of the car and beaten.

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The Canadian Government has decided to lift its temporary pause in funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Canada’s foreign ministry said.

“Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development, announced that Canada will be lifting its temporary pause on funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),” Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said.

Canada believes UNRWA plays a vital role in the provision of humanitarian assistance to the over two million inhabitants of Gaza and more than four million in the region, GAC added.

Previously, alongside the United States, Australia, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, Japan, Austria, Romania, and the United Kingdom, Canada had suspended its donations to UNRWA following Israel's accusations that some of the agency's staff participated in the Hamas attacks on the Jewish state on October 7.

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Hungary has received 75.2 million euros ($82 million) in EU budget funding that was blocked under rule-of-law disciplinary proceedings, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said.

"This time, 75.2 million euros (29.8 billion HUF) in funding has been received for green and digital transformation investment," Varga said on social media.

The newest handout brings the total amount of unlocked EU budget funds transferred to Hungary since the end of December to 550 billion forints ($1.5 billion), the minister estimated.

The European Union withheld some 7.5 billion euro worth of payments to Hungary from the shared budget in 2022 over alleged rule-of-law shortcomings, but Budapest's block on EU funding of Ukrainian war efforts made Brussels unlock some of the funds to Hungary in December.

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President Joe Biden used his State of the Union speech to blame the Republicans if Russia wins the war in Ukraine by claiming Kiev could have won or survived if the latest $61 billion arms package had not been blocked in Congress, former State Department official and consultant on US-Russia relations James Carden said.

"The way I heard the speech was Biden setting the ground to blame the Republicans for losing the war should they block further tranches of funding," Carden told Sputnik.

Biden's comments reflected his always primary concern with domestic politics and his obsession with getting reelected to a second term in November even though he is already 81 years old, Carden emphasized.

"I think he's a true believer and actually believes that his status as Warlord-in-Chief helps him politically," Carden explained.

The $61 billion package is being blocked by Republicans in the House of Representatives until Biden changes his policies on illegal immigration and agrees to crack down on it. But because the president is determined not to change course on that, he will not get more aid approved for Kiev, his opponents have clarified.

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US’ V-22 Osprey aircraft returns to the skies while the cause of deadly crash is still unknown

A temporary flight ban on the controversial V-22 Osprey aircraft has been lifted by the US military, but investigators are still working to nail down the cause of last year’s deadly crashes.

“We have high confidence that we understand what component failed and how it failed,” said Col. Brian Taylor of the US Marine Corps, one of three US service branches that operates the complex tilt rotorcraft. “I think what we are still working on is the why, and so that is still in the hands of the investigation.”

US officials hope revamped training and maintenance protocols can prevent a similar incident in the future, but clarified the plane will see no hardware changes before being returned to service. More than 50 US troops have been killed in accidents involving the V-22 Osprey since its initial deployment in 2007, including eight in the November crash off the coast of Japan that led to the most recent grounding.

Another deadly Osprey crash, also in the Pacific region, took place last year in Australia.

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Russian air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Kursk region, Governor Roman Starovoit said.

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held a meeting with former US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. According to Bertalan Havasi, the spokesman for the head of government, they spoke for an hour.

Trump and Orban were accompanied by their closest staff members, the spokesman said. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, among others, also accompanied the Prime Minister to Florida.

"After the meeting, the program continued with a joint dinner and concert," Havasi was quoted as saying by the MTI news agency.

The spokesman did not disclose which topics Orban and Trump discussed, but before the trip to the US Hungarian officials said they would discuss the situation in Ukraine and the relations between the US and Hungary.

The Hungarian government has made no secret of its desire for Trump to win the November election and return to the White House. It associates with the former US president hopes for the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict and the improvement of bilateral relations.

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Donald and Melania Trump together greeted Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban at a Mar-A-Lago dinner reception.

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Russian air defenses repelled a massive drone attack over the city of Taganrog in the Rostov Region. Consequences on the ground are being clarified, Governor Vasily Golubev wrote on his Telegram channel.

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💐 A true gentleman, the Hungarian Prime Minister presented a bouquet of flowers to Melania Trump.

Trump expressed great appreciation to the Hungarian Prime Minister. “There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orban. He’s fantastic…He’s a non-controversial figure because he says, ‘This is the way it’s going to be,’ and that’s the end of it. Right? He’s the boss. No, he’s a great leader,” Trump said.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's idea to hold a peace summit with Russia's participation.

"We don't see Russian representatives at such a summit," Zelensky said at a joint conference with the Turkish leader in Istanbul, reiterating his old thesis that a peace plan should be prepared by other countries without Moscow's participation - an idea already repeatedly rejected by Russia.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara is ready to host a peace summit on Ukraine with Russia's participation. He recalled that the Black Sea Initiative prevented a global food crisis.

Moscow has repeatedly indicated that it is ready for talks, but Kiev has introduced a legislative ban on them. The West ignores Ukraine's constant refusals to engage in dialogue.

According to the Kremlin, the conflict in Ukraine can move to a peaceful course if the de facto situation and new realities are taken into account, and all of Moscow's demands are well known.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that if Ukraine wants a negotiation process, performative gestures are not the way. It is necessary to cancel the decree prohibiting negotiations with Russia. According to the president, Russia has never been against the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine by peaceful means, but insists on the observance of Russian security guarantees.

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