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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The use of frozen assets of Russia in the European Union is illegal and foolish, as Russia has more Western assets than vice versa, leader of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippot, told RIA Novosti.

"This is illegal and foolish, since Russia has more Western assets than Russian assets [located] here [in Europe], including many French assets. If they do this, I think Russia will do the same. It will be a war," Philippot said.

He noted that this could be used to provoke Russia into retaliatory measures, and then blame it.

"Obviously, this is stupidity, but this is what everyone is waiting for. The West is waiting for Russia to do the same thing in order to say: ‘Look how evil the Russians are,’ and this will be another reason to attack them and impose sanctions," the politician added.

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Pope Francis urges Zelensky to save lives, find “courage of the white flag” to end Donbass conflict

Pope Francis said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should resume negotiations with Russia, urging the leader to work with international mediators to negotiate an end to fighting in the Donbass.

“The word negotiate is a courageous word,” said the Pope in an excerpt from an interview recorded last month. “When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate.”

“I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates,” the cleric insisted.

On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia, a prospect that’s undermined by a decree issued by Zelensky in late 2022 forbidding negotiations with Russia. Zelensky instantly rejected Erdogan's idea.

The development took place after at least two attempts by Putin to negotiate an end to hostilities early in the conflict. Both rounds of negotiations were scuttled by the United States, which intervened to end separate diplomatic efforts involving then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in 2022. The US role came to light in media reports emerging shortly after.

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Boris Johnson travelled to Venezuela, threatened Nicolás Maduro to “embrace democracy” and support Ukraine

The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom made a secret trip to Venezuela in February for unofficial talks with President Nicolás Maduro, The Times reported.

According to the newspaper, the former PM spoke with the President about the Ukraine crisis and normalizing relations with Britain, which still questions the legitimacy of Maduro’s administration.

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Western media takes notice of starvation in Gaza as millions face famine

After months of criticism of its coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, The New York Times published an article on the plight of civilians suffering from famine in Gaza.

“It is all too easy to trace the skull beneath the Gazan boy’s face,” began the article.

“In one of a series of news photographs of the boy, Yazan Kafarneh, taken with his family’s permission as he struggled for his life, his long-lashed eyes stare out, unfocused… By Monday, Yazan was dead.”

Hundreds of thousands in Gaza face the same fate, but The New York Times was compelled to consider the case of 10-year-old Yazan Kafarneh only after his photo went viral online. The story demonstrates how social media has obliged Western news outlets to cover stories they normally would not as the Times treads perilously close to acknowledging that Israel is carrying out a textbook war crime.

“The use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited,” according to rule 53 of the International Committee of the Red Cross's Humanitarian Law Database.

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Is US likely to withdraw from NATO?

European countries must prepare for a scenario in which the US leaves NATO under a possible new presidency of Donald Trump, unnamed diplomats from the alliance's member states have told The Telegraph.

The diplomats were referring to Trump's warning last month that he would encourage Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to any NATO member that didn't meet the alliance's defense spending guidelines.

Sources have pointed out that:

▪️Trump's comments are "of course a concern" because "nobody knows what he's going to do next."

▪️The ex-POTUS' remarks highlighted "that we [NATO members] are so over-dependent on the US."

▪️A "discussion" on how to hedge against the risk of a US withdrawal is "necessary."

▪️NATO countries need to take more of a lead in European security because if "the US pulls out there will be a massive gap."

▪️Alliance members need to "do the planning" and rethink defense capabilities because of Trump's threats.

During his time in office, the 45th US president repeatedly complained about how little other NATO countries spend on defense compared to America, and threatened to pull his country out of the bloc.

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❗️A woman was killed, a man received extensive burns as a result of a direct hit by a Ukrainian shell on a residential building in Russia's Kursk region, its governor said.

Earlier, a missile alert was declared in the city of Kursk.

A Ukrainian drone crashed and caught fire on the territory of an oil depot in the Kursk region, firefighters and emergency services are working at the site, the governor said.

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🔸France is forming a coalition to deploy Western forces to Ukraine - report

🔸US President Biden admits there is no 'red line' regarding Israeli actions in Gaza

🔸Western media takes notice of starvation in Gaza as millions face famine

🔸Pope Francis urges Zelensky to find ‘courage of the white flag’ to end Ukraine conflict

🔸‘Illegal and foolish’: French politician Philippot on the use of Russian frozen assets in the European Union

More stories:

🔸Boris Johnson travelled to Venezuela to urge Nicolás Maduro to ‘embrace democracy’ and support Ukraine – report

🔸Hundreds rallied in Tel Aviv against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies

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

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📹💥 Russian MLRS "Grad" crews destroy Ukrainian Army’s positions in the South DPR

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Ukraine confiscates pensioner's apartment for supporting Russia

A pensioner from Vinnytsa in central Ukraine has had her apartment confiscated and been sentenced to four years in prison for separatism, Ukrainian media reported.

Alla Stadnitskaya, 80, lost her apartment and all her property following a court ruling in the first separatism case in Ukraine's history.

The woman has been living with relatives in Russia since before the start of the special military operation, so the verdict was handed down in absentia. Stadnitskaya's case was investigated by the Security Service of Ukraine.

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What happened to the crews of Ukraine's US-made Patriot systems that were destroyed by Russia?

The crews of Ukraine’s US-made Patriot air defense systems, earlier destroyed by Russian forces, were “almost certainly” killed, Forbes magazine reports.

“The Ukrainians lost—in one calamity—up to 13 percent of their Patriot launchers,” so “the air over eastern Ukraine may have gotten a lot safer for the Russians,” the news outlet adds.

Two Patriot systems were among the military hardware destroyed by a strike by Russia's Iskander surface-to-surface missile in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a security source earlier told Sputnik.

The Russian Defense Ministry’s data showed that the strike also destroyed an S-300 missile system near the town of Pokrovsk in the DPR.

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"You're a dictator, genocide Joe," a pro-Palestinian activist interrupted Biden's speech during a campaign stop in Atlanta, Georgia.

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"The United States has bloodily disgraced itself with the Ukrainian project," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting on Biden's mistake of confusing Afghanistan with Ukraine.

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❗️In the Donetsk area, Ukrainian losses amounted to 280 people, 11 armored vehicles and two warehouse.

🇷🇺🪖 Other statements from the Russian Defense Ministry briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️In South Donetsk, Ukrainian losses amounted to over 150 soldiers;

▪️In the Avdeyevka area, Russian forces occupied more advantageous positions and repeled two attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 310 soldiers and 16 armored vehicles;

▪️In the Kupyansk area, Ukrainian losses amounted to over 110 soldiers;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down three Ukrainian HIMARS missiles and destroyed 130 drones.

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France and Poland cannot speak on behalf of NATO, and the alliance's intervention in the conflict "will erase the path to diplomacy," Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said, commenting on the idea of Paris sending troops to Ukraine and statements on the subject from Warsaw.

"France and Poland cannot speak on behalf of NATO, which has not formally and voluntarily intervened in the conflict from the very beginning. Sending troops to Kiev means a step towards a unilateral escalation that will erase the path to diplomacy," he stated.

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📹🎯 "Dnepr" drone group crews brought Russian artillery to a Ukrainian radar station on the right bank of the Dnepr river.

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What it takes for Ukraine to replace the Patriot systems destroyed by Russian forces

It may take oceans of time for Ukraine to get new launchers for the US-made Patriot air defense systems to replace those destroyed near the town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Forbes magazine reports.

“Ukraine or one of its allies could get in line to buy replacement launchers to replace the two the Russians just destroyed, but that purchase could take months if not years and cost millions of dollars Kiev likely hasn’t budgeted for,” the news outlet notes.

Given that Republican Congressmen “have been blocking further US aid to Ukraine since October, every Patriot launcher the Ukrainians lose is a Patriot launcher they can’t easily replace,” Forbes points out.

A security source earlier told Sputnik that two Patriot systems were among the military hardware destroyed by a strike carried out by Russia's Iskander missile in the DPR’s Pokrovsk.

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