France will never take initiative when it comes to military hostilities in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron stated

FAB-1500: The Russian bomb wrecking havoc on Ukrainian troops

Russian troops on the frontline are describing guided bombs such as the FAB-1500 and FAB-500 as “game-changers” due to their explosive power, Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley (@TXDPR). The bombs are capable of destroying entire buildings and underground bunkers.

“This is the weapon that's scaring the Ukrainians and NATO the most,” Bentley said.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Why Czech-led ammo coalition cannot satiate Ukraine's ammo hunger

Exactly a week ago Czech President Petr Pavel triumphantly declared that Prague had secured enough funds to buy 800,000 artillery shells for the Ukrainian military.

The very next day, however, Prague said that it would deliver just 300,000 rounds of ammo. Czech PM Petr Fiala said it could take months instead of weeks to purchase and deliver the munitions. In an apparent bid to sweeten the pill, Fiala noted on March 12 that Prague had received "non-binding commitments" for a further 200,000 shells.

Ukrainian FM Dmytro Kuleba stated on March 13 that the Czech initiative is not enough to meet the needs of the Ukrainian military. He argued that at least two more similar-sized schemes would be needed in the near future.

The Czech ammo coalition has suffered the same the fate as earlier EU initiatives. The bloc failed to deliver on its promise to provide 1 million rounds to the Kiev regime by this month.

EU High Representative on Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell told the press on January 31 that the bloc would only supply half of the promised batch.

At the end of February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that the EU had delivered just 30 percent of the originally-pledged million projectiles.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Polling stations for the 2024 presidential election have opened in the easternmost part of Russia, in Kamchatka and Chukotka

The opening of the polling station in Kamchatka began with the performance of the Russian national anthem

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, commenting on the initiative to help Kiev in the form of loans, suggested that it would be "very difficult" for Ukraine to repay the money.

Earlier, Sputnik wrote that Ukraine's national debt is expected to reach 85 percent of GDP by the end of the current year, and surpass 110 percent of GDP in 2024.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Houthis will attack Israeli ships traveling across the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope, the movement's leader said.

Almost half of the foreign mercs who come to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict was killed

"To the attention of [the official representative of the UN Secretary General - ed.] Stephane Dujarric and the entire UN Secretariat [is presented] statistics on the participation of foreign mercenaries in hostilities on the side of the Kiev regime," the spokesman for the Russia's post mission to the UN, Yevgeny Uspensky, wrote in his Telegram channel.

A total of 13,387 mercenaries arrived, of whom 5,962 were killed, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. From Poland came 2,960 mercenaries (1,497 liquidated), from Georgia - 1,042 (561 liquidated), from the US - 1,113 (491 liquidated).

"The information is published by the Ministry of Defense, including in the official languages of the UN, Russian and English. It will be impossible to claim that they are unaware or that they 'didn't see it'," he pointed out.

More than 40% of Canadian mercenaries were killed (422 out of 1,005). Of the 822 UK fighters, 360 were liquidated, the report said.

From Romania arrived 784 mercenaries, (349 liquidated), from Germany - 235 (88 liquidated), the Ministry said.

Defense Ministry also pointed out that "France, which at all levels denies the presence of its mercenaries on the territory of Ukraine, has already lost 147 militants out of 356 arrived."

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Why are Western tanks getting annihilated in Ukraine?

Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley (TXDPR) explains that Abrams and Leopards tanks are ill suited for local weather conditions. Additionally, these tank models are pretty much helpless against Russian drones.

“American military hardware is not built to be effective. It's built to make a profit for the people that build it.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

There are no Ukrainian troops on the territory of the [Belgorod] region, the battle is going on outside it, Russian Governor Gladkov said after visiting Graivoron city district.

Ukrainian forces have been repeatedly rebuffed by Russian forces in recent days after attempting to break into Russia's Belgorod and Kursk regions.

US Navy pushes start of next-generation submarine construction by decade

The US Navy has again delayed the construction start of a next-generation attack submarine by nearly a decade amid budget cuts and a need to fund near-term operations, Defense News reported, citing a Navy spokesperson.

The new design of the undersea ship, which should replace the Virginia-class submarines, will begin production no earlier than in the “early 2040s,” the report said.

This delay is the second postponement over the past years. Previously, the service had already pushed the deadline from 2031 to 2035, according to the report.

The US Navy has requested $586.9 million to design and develop the next-generation successor of the Virginia-class submarines in FY2025, an increase of more than $40 million from FY2024. The Navy estimates the SSN(X)’s average unit procurement cost to be $6.7 billion to $7 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

What’s inside Canada’s ‘Orwellian’ speech law threatening jail time for thought crimes?

Bill C-63 is a controversial piece of legislation proposed by Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government threatening penalties of up to life imprisonment for speech-related crimes such as “advocating genocide” or “hate crimes,” and real life sentences for thought crimes.

The draft law, formally known as the “Online Harms Act,” proposes amending Canada’s Criminal Code to “promote the online safety of persons in Canada, reduce harms caused to persons in Canada as a result of harmful content online and ensure that the operators of social media services…are transparent and accountable with respect to their duties.”

But civil rights groups and free speech activists fear the bill’s broad definitions make it ripe for abuse by the state, and by powerful individuals and interest groups, to crack down on political opponents and speech.

Author Stephen Moore called the bill “the most shocking of all the totalitarian, illiberal, and anti-Enlightenment pieces of legislation that have been introduced in the Western world in decades,” and said it sets “a new watermark in rising totalitarianism in Western societies.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Pentagon needs to replenish its $6.5bn arms stockpile as a priority after providing assistance to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported quoting a Pentagon document sent to the US Congress as a source.

Russia-N.Korea relations reach unprecedentedly high level

The bilateral ties “have reached an unprecedentedly high level,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said at a gala reception on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the signing of the first intergovernmental agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between North Korea, and the Russian Federation.

He said deepening practical interaction was discussed in detail during the meeting of the Russian-Korean intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation held in Pyongyang in November 2023.

Rudenko said that after overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral contacts in the cultural and humanitarian spheres intensified.

“Contacts are being established in the sphere of tourism. At the beginning of this year, three Russian tourist groups already visited the DPRK,” the deputy minister said.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt