✈️💥 The crews of Su-25 attack aircrafts carried out strikes on the Ukrainian units in the DPR

Unguided aircraft missiles were used to destroy enemy strongholds and troops. After the strike, the pilots performed an anti-missile maneuver, released heat traps and returned to the departure airfield.

According to the report of the advanced aviation gunner, all targets were successfully hit.

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Military presence for money? US gains access to three Pacific nations in exchange for $7.1 billion funding – report

The US Congress has approved legislation to provide $7.1 billion worth of economic support for three tiny island nations - Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated Republic of Micronesia - in exchange for the exclusive presence of the American military there, the Financial Times has reported.

The funding was reportedly approved as part of a $460 billion spending package passed by the Senate to avoid a government shutdown.

The three nations span about 4,000 km (2,485 miles) across the Pacific, allowing the US to expand its regional clout and establish base missiles and early warning radars there, in addition to a test site for intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Сhina has repeatedly expressed concern over what Beijing slams as the US “meddling” in the Asia Pacific region and “strengthening the Asia-Pacific deployments.”

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Two American Patriot air defense systems were among the targets destroyed by the Russian Iskander strike in the Donbass area, a source in the security forces told Sputnik.

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Why Poland is seeking to strip Ukraine of EU trade benefits

"The fact that Poland has changed its attitude to [Ukraine's] agricultural benefits at a state level is an indicator of the effectiveness of the farmer protests," Peter Kolchin, a political analyst, told Sputnik.

Polish farmers have been protesting against the import of products from Ukraine since late January. They are also demanding that the EU's climate policies be reverted. Thousands of Polish farmers have been seen blockading the border with Ukraine, throwing away Ukrainian grain and even carrying slogans urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to "put things in order" in Brussels and Warsaw.

In response, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has proposed stripping Ukraine of EU trade benefits and modulating Brussels' climate policies.

The chances of Brussels okaying Warsaw's ideas are very low, according to Josep-Maria Arauzo-Carod, professor of economics at the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) in Spain. Kolchin argued that Brussels may only lend a sympathetic ear to Tusk's ideas given that farmer protests have engulfed the whole EU.

The experts agreed that Warsaw's protectionist measures could create a precedent for the rest of the EU. If Ukraine's trade benefits are canceled, that could deal a heavy blow to the Kiev regime.

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🇨🇮 🛢 Major oil field discovered in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea offshore Cote d'Ivoire

The field's reserves are estimated at 1.5-2 billion barrels of oil and up to 2.4 trillion cubic feet (about 67 billion cubic meters) of natural gas, according to the Ecofin business news agency.

The oil was discovered in a 7 km deep well. The exploration was carried out by the Italian energy company Eni together with the Ivorian company Petroci.

In 2021, these companies discovered the first major oil and gas field, Baleine, off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire. Its first phase came on stream last year and is now producing 22,000 barrels of oil per day.

Baleine's reserves are estimated at 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet (about 93 billion cubic meters) of gas. It required an investment of $10 billion.

Experts estimate that by 2027, Ivory Coast will be one of the top ten oil producers in Africa.

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What does the US have to do to end the Ukraine conflict? Stop supporting Kiev

At least that's what former adviser to the head of the Pentagon, Colonel Douglas McGregor, wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

McGregor said that to stop the fighting, the United States must stop supplying Ukraine with any aid. Also, according to him, Washington must inform Moscow of its desire to resolve the conflict as quickly as possible and notify its allies about this. He argued that negotiations between Moscow and Kiev will bring an end to the conflict.

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▪️British foreign secretary ready to persuade Germany to supply Ukraine with Taurus missiles

▪️France holds large-scale drills amid backlash from Macron’s hint at Western troops in Ukraine

▪️Why Poland is seeking to strip Ukraine of EU trade benefits

▪️Two decades of diplomacy: Sergey Lavrov's gentlemanly approach to global affairs

▪️75 years of NATO expansion in one pic

▪️‘Cut a deal’: US billionaire investor urges America to seek detente with Russia to avert WWIII

▪️Military presence for money? US gains access to three Pacific nations in exchange for $7.1 billion funding

▪️Exactly 90 years ago, the first man in space Yuri Gagarin was born

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🥴 Missouri state legislature has passed a law banning transvestites from performing in front of children.

But one person did not agree, coming to the House of Representatives and challenging the decision as homophobic.

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Russian air defenses at about 22:00 Moscow time (19:00 GMT) destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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Plans to hand over Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev entail a serious risk of NATO-Russia escalation

If German Taurus missiles were to be provided to Kiev without first introducing “some type of technical limitation” that would likely result in these weapons being used to “hit inside of Russia,” thus paving the way for the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict, says Earl Rasmussen, an international consultant and retired US Army lieutenant colonel.

Commenting on UK Foreign Minister David Cameron’s assurances that supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine will not cause an escalation, Rasmussen wonders aloud what Cameron’s definition of escalation might be.

“Maybe in his view escalation is tactical nuclear missiles. Who knows? But I would hope that that's not his definition,” he says.

“If the British become more directly involved, you really run the risk of expanding the war effort. If they're using their own launch vehicles, if they're firing from NATO ground, that then opens up NATO countries to be targets, which is definitely an escalation,” Rasmussen warns.

“A lot of our Western leaders seem to be somewhat delusional. So they have, some type of a fantasy picture in their mind,” he adds.

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France is forming a coalition of nations that are willing to consider the possibility of deploying Western forces to Ukraine, Politico reports.

On Friday, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné travelled to Lithuania to hold a meeting with his Baltic and Ukrainian counterparts to promote the idea that foreign forces might assist Ukraine in tasks such as de-mining.

Séjourné repeatedly mentioned mine clearance operations as a potential area of assistance, stating it "might mean having some personnel, [but] not to fight."

"It is not for Russia to tell us how we should help Ukraine in the coming months or years," Séjourné said at a meeting chaired by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and attended by his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.

The newspaper recalled French President Emmanuel Macron's remarks about the possibility of sending servicemen from Western countries to Ukraine. Subsequently most EU members, including Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland, clarified they had no such plans. However, as Politico writes, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania appeared "much more open to the idea."

Commenting on Macron’s statements, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that NATO troops’ potential boots on the ground in Ukraine will lead to an inevitable conflict between Russia and the alliance.

Russia has repeatedly warned NATO countries that arms supplies to Ukraine would be considered legitimate targets. Moscow has accused NATO countries of "playing with fire" by arming Ukraine, emphasizing that such actions hinder the possibility of Russia-Ukraine negotiations.

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US President Joe Biden said he acknowledges no “red lines” regarding Israeli actions in Gaza as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enforces mass starvation on the enclave's 2.2 million residents.

“I’m never gonna leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical, so there is no red line,” he said in an interview with liberal news outlet MSNBC.

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US President Joe Biden has admitted that American invasions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine (!) were mistakes.

“But we shouldn't have gone into Ukraine. I mean, we shouldn't have gone into the whole thing in Iraq and Afghanistan,” muttered Biden in an interview with liberal news outlet MSNBC.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with his actions regarding Gaza, is harming Israel more than helping it, turning the whole world against the Jewish state, US President Joe Biden said.

"He [Netanyahu] has the right to defend Israel, the right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken," Biden said in an interview to the MSNBC broadcaster, adding that in his opinion, Netanyahu "is hurting Israel more than helping Israel by making the rest of the world" to go against what Israel stands for, which is a "big mistake."

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