Ukraine's 'best drone operator' killed in special operation zone - reports

Oles Samchuk, the Ukrainian Armed Forces' "best drone operator" with the call sign Karkade, has been killed in the special military operation zone, according to Russian military correspondent Ruslan Tatarinov.

The correspondent did not specify where and how Samchuk, a former cameraman, died. The 22-year-old's death was confirmed by Ukraine's National Union of Cinematographers, which reported that the drone operator was allegedly killed in the Donetsk region earlier this week.

According to Ukrainian media, Samchuk served in the Azov battalion* aerial reconnaissance unit.

*The Azov battalion is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

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Commenting on Macron's proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine at the Paris Olympics, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that he "stop supplying weapons" to Kiev.

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🇹🇷🗳Russian citizens lined up near the polling station at the Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkiye, to cast their ballots in the Russian presidential election.

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📹Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected a command post of the Black Sea Fleet.

Shoigu ordered the installation of additional firepower, large-caliber machine gun rifle complexes to defeat enemy drones, and inspected the construction of a new military hospital in Sevastopol, Crimea.

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Voter turnout in Russia's presidential elections across the country is 65.05% at 12:52 Moscow time - CEC data

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🇾🇪 Yemen strengthens ties with BRICS to scrap unipolar world - Houthi official

Yemen is boosting cooperation with Russia and China to weaken Western countries and disrupt the concept of a unipolar world, Ali al-Qhoom, the senior official of Yemen's Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement, tweeted.

"There is a constant interaction and development of Yemen's relations with Russia, China and [other] BRICS members, as well as an exchange of knowledge and experience in various areas," al-Qhoom stressed.

The goal is to "drown America, the UK and the West in the mire [the crisis] around the Red Sea so that they can be bogged down, weaken and become unable to maintain the unipolarity," the official added.

"There is a change in the international climate and the balance of powers between the East and the West, especially in light of Western encroachment against Russia, who drowned the West in the Ukraine crisis and weakened its alliances with China, as well as with other countries of the East and BRICS member states," al-Qhoom said.

BRICS is an economic alliance formed in 2009 by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined soon after, and Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates joined in 2023.

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❗️ Ukrainian troops lost a total of up to 895 soldiers in the last 24 hours.

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

▪️In the South Donetsk area, Ukrainian losses amounted over 120 soldiers;

▪️In the Avdeyevka area, the Russian Army repelled nine attacks by Ukrainian troops;

▪️In the Kupyansk area, the Russian Army repelled three attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 90 soldiers;

▪️Russian forces hit the assembly and testing sites for unmanned boats, the temporary deployment point of the IRIS-T air defense system battery and the drone production workshop;

▪️ Russian air defenses shot down 168 drones, 23 MLRS missiles and an S-200 missile.

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Russian citizens are actively casting votes at the polling station in the Consulate General building in Phuket, Thailand.

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The Russian Army liberated the village of Mirnoye in the Zaporozhye area, the Ministry of Defense reported.

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