🇱🇾 Libyan Presidential Council Chairman Mohamed al-Menfi congratulated Vladimir Putin on his re-election as President of the Russian Federation, noting special friendly nature of Russia-Libya relations.

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Russian armed forces jammed a Ukrainian airplane-type drone with radio and electronic warfare equipment over Voronezh, Governor Alexander Gusev said.

No injuries or damage were reported per preliminary information, according to the governor.

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Record-breaking NATO base to be built near Ukraine border

The closest NATO base to the Ukrainian border is already under construction in Romania

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A US Air Force MQ9 Reaper drone has lost contact with a base near Miroslawiec in northwestern Poland, the Polish Armed Forces General Command said.

"The unarmed unmanned drone MQ9 Reaper of the US Air Force in Europe, performing a planned quarterly training at Miroslawiec airfield, lost contact with the base," the report said.

It is noted that at the moment "waiting for an emergency landing is ongoing, all services have been put on standby."

According to the Polish radio station RMF FM, police are currently cordoning off the area surrounding the airfield. Traffic police are also reported to have stopped traffic on surrounding roads.

UPD: The drone made an emergency landing in northwestern Poland, military officials said.

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US Senator Lindsey Graham urged young Ukrainians to continue to risk their lives for the Kiev regime, encouraging legislators there to pass a new mobilization law which would lower the country’s draft age to 25.

“I would hope that those eligible to serve in the Ukrainian military would join. I can’t believe it’s at 27,” he told reporters on Monday. “You’re in a fight for your life, so you should be serving — not at 25 or 27.”

“We need more people in the line,” he said.

The US senator stressed that the US adheres to the notion of fighting Russia until the last Ukrainian, saying, “No matter what we do, you should be fighting.”

“No matter what we do, you’re fighting for you,” Graham insisted, expressing regret over the delay in US aid to Ukraine.

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Israeli armed forces attacked a number of military positions in Damascus, the Syrian Defense Ministry said, adding that the country's air defense systems shot down several missiles.

"Today, at about 02:10 [23:10 GMT], the Israeli enemy committed air aggression from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, striking a number of military positions in the province of Damascus. Our air defense systems responded and shot down several missiles. The aggression was limited to material damage," the ministry said.

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Western coverage of Russian elections awash in disinformation

“It's the opposite of reality,” said analyst Mark Sleboda on Sputnik’s Fault Lines program, pointing out Western media’s false suggestion that citizens in the Donbass were forced to participate in Russian elections at gunpoint. In fact, people in Russia’s new regions were being fired on by the Ukraine regime as they attempted to cast their ballot.

“All during that time period the [Ukrainian] regime was attacking, they were launching artillery strikes, cluster munitions, trying to hit polling stations, quite obviously to punish the people of the former East Ukraine for choosing wrong and for participating in an actual democratic process which they don't have in their own country,” he added. “Because, one, Zelensky has banned elections for the time being in the country. And two, he already banned all the parties of eastern Ukraine before anyway.”

Sleboda said Putin’s strong performance is a ratification of support for the special operation in the Donbass as well as a demonstration of approval of his domestic agenda, which includes support for Russian families, improving standard of living, and developing public infrastructure.

“Everything is as transparent and secure as it can possibly be,” he concluded, noting Russia’s glass ballot boxes and publicly viewable video feeds from each polling location. “But it doesn't make any difference to the West. They're going to not accept the results no matter what because, ultimately, the results aren't what they want. As Victoria Nuland clearly stated just before resigning, it's not the Russia we wanted.”

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Niger’s break with US shows African countries tired of “disrespect” from West

African analyst Koffi Kouako joined Sputnik’s Fault Lines program to discuss the Niger government’s revocation of an agreement governing the presence of US troops and officials on the country’s soil.

“It's an issue of sovereignty,” said Kouakou. “What's happening is Niger is not soft-balling anymore.” Kouakou claimed a US delegation’s recent visit to Niger was likely an effort to guard relations with the North African country because of the substantial American military presence there. More than 1,000 US troops are stationed in Niger at at least two bases. One of the bases, dubbed Airbase 201, manages drone operations and was built at a cost of more than $100 million.

Airbase 201 is considered the most expensive such base in the region and the largest construction project ever undertaken by the US Air Force. The US invests $30 million annually in its maintenance and operation, using it as a hub for spying operations in the Sahel.

Kouakou blasted the US’ 2012 “unilateral” military agreement with Niger. “No Nigerien is allowed to know anything about the US activities on their own soil,” he said.

Kouakou claimed the US delegation warned Niger’s leadership against efforts to further achieve independence from the United States after the country pursued cooperation with Russia and Iran.

“They threatened Niger that if Niger is going that way, things are going to go very wrong for them in the coming months,” he claimed. “This is unbelievable.”

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France has joined Poland's calls to limit the import of agricultural products from Ukraine, which poses a threat to upcoming negotiations in the European Union to extend the bloc's free trade regime with Kiev, the Politico newspaper reported, citing three European diplomats.

The European Commission estimates Ukraine's potential losses from the loss of trade benefits at 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), the report said. One of the diplomats told the newspaper that EU countries that "are making the biggest show of their support to Ukraine are also the ones doing the most damage to the country."

Earlier in the month, members of the European Parliament did not reportedly agree on the extension of duty-free import of goods from Ukraine into the EU until June 5, 2025, and sent the document, proposed by the European Commission, for revision.

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Russia's Battlegroup Yug troops shot down a Ukrainian attack helicopter in the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) area

The air defense forces of the Battlegroup Yug destroyed a Ukrainian attack helicopter in the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) area using a Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system, the division commander of the anti-aircraft battery with the call sign "Tikhiy" (Quiet) told Sputnik.

The Buk (9K37) military anti-aircraft missile system is designed to destroy aerodynamic targets under radio jamming, flying at speeds of up to 800 meters per second at low and medium altitudes, and at ranges of up to 30,000 meters.

"They gave us an instruction from the command post to detect an enemy vehicle. The height of it was somewhere around 500-600 meters. We calmly 'took' it, escorted it about 10 kilometers, already knew it was coming at us -- and as soon as it entered the target zone, we destroyed it," said "Quiet" of the downed Ukrainian helicopter.

The commander said the target was destroyed at a distance of about 7-8 kilometers from the line of contact. The hunt for this target had been going on for quite some time, and the Ukrainian helicopter was ambushed. "According to our information, it flew on 'dodgers' (armament) so, most likely, it was an attack helicopter. We were hunting for this target for quite a long time. Surveillance and warning means were also deployed. In the end we solved the problem comprehensively and managed to hit the target," said "Quiet."

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‘Say the right thing for the cameras’: the Schumer-Biden-Netanyahu clash

On Friday, US President Joe Biden praised Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s address in which he called for new elections in Israel. Ecuadorian journalist Esteban Carrillo joined Sputnik’s Fault Lines and suggested that the White House is essentially saying to not “pay attention to what we have been doing for the past six months, pay attention to what we're saying now”.

“I'm pretty sure that this is related to the most recent opinion polls,” said Carrillo, a Beirut-based journalist and editor for The Cradle. “All of a sudden Joe Biden, the White House, is trotting out its highest, most senior Jewish official to essentially call for new elections in Israel.”

“Now, we are concerned. Now, we want to see less civilians dead,” Carrillo said of the Biden Administration. “Joe Biden said it himself in an interview, a few days ago. He said something like Rafah would be a red line and then immediately walked it back, he said there are no red lines for Israel. No matter what, we are going to continue sending weapons.”

Schumer’s recent address marks a growing concern among the Democratic party about their weakening voter support. During the Democratic presidential primary in the swing state of Michigan, 14.5% of voters voted “uncommitted” as a protest to Biden’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

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Western media makes rare acknowledgement of heavy Ukrainian losses

Business Insider offered a rare bit of candor on the Donbass proxy conflict with an article acknowledging heavy Ukrainian losses in the northeast.

The reporting by way of the UK’s Times of London featured testimony from a Ukrainian fighter identified as “Lemur.”

“We can barely hold the line, let alone move forward,” a Ukrainian soldier confided of efforts in the crucial Kharkov region. “We are losing so many people, there are so many bodies we can’t even bring them all back.”

Russia has made gains in the area after liberating the southern city of Avdeyevka last month. Crucial to the country’s success is its air superiority, allowing Moscow to wipe out Ukrainian fortifications with glide bombs, the Western media noted.

The newspapers, citing observers, hope for F-16 fighter jets to arrive in Ukraine to enhance air-to-air capability of the Kiev regime, but the much anticipated aircraft from Western backers aren’t expected to arrive for several more months.

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🇷🇺 March 19 is the Russian Navy’s Submariner Day

Exactly 118 years ago, on March 19, 1906, in accordance with a Decree of Russian Emperor Nicholas II, a separate class of ships - submarines - was designated. Russia was one of the first countries to use submarines in armed combat at sea.

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Western delusions shattered: Putin's firm stance on Ukraine highlights NATO's impotence

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst joined Sputnik’s Critical Hour and explained Putin’s approach to a possible battle with NATO, as French President Emmanuel Macron has toyed with the idea of putting boots on the ground—a sentiment his Western counterparts have vehemently rejected.

“This business about Macron and some of the European leaders saying, 'oh, my God, we can't let Putin win in Ukraine,' it doesn't really square with what's reality here because there is no way to prevent Russia from winning in Ukraine except by use of nuclear weapons,” said McGovern.

“The Western press has taken to accusing Putin of threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons,” McGovern added. “[But] he has not raised the issue of tactical nuclear weapons. It's the US that is raising this, which makes me suspicious,” the analyst stressed.

“In my view, the whole name of the game is to keep it going without an obvious defeat until November, so that Biden has some reasonable prospect of not having to run having lost a war,” he said.

“For Russia, Ukraine is an existential issue; for the West, it is not. And [former US President Barack] Obama added that, by giving weapons to Ukraine, that would be a bad idea because that would give them the idea that they could prevail against a much more powerful Russia,” the former CIA analyst said.

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Macron “trying to go backwards” to the days of Imperial France?

Columnist and political cartoonist Ted Rall joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program Monday to discuss the case of Emmanuel Macron, his comments about the war in the Donbass, and whether the French president’s megalomania borders on the pathological.

“Maybe he didn't read his history,” said Rall. “Maybe he's too young to remember that glorious period when France, finally in the 80s and 90s, was able to start establishing a major social safety net that created free college and socialized health care and everything else for its people. But he seems to have forgotten all that and he's trying to go backwards.”

But Rall says Macron’s militarist ambitions aren’t shared by most of the French public.

“The good news is, I don't think that the French people – whether we're talking about the populist right, Marine Le Pen's party, or you're talking about the radical left represented by Jean-Luc Melenchon, or – not much of anyone else is in the mood to follow him down this path to destruction,” said the columnist, noting that many French people have cultural and family ties to Russia.

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🔥 Russian Ka-52m crew hits Ukrainian forces' strongholds with unguided missiles in the south of the DPR

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▪️ ‘The opposite of reality’: Western coverage of Russian elections awash in disinformation – analyst

▪️ Ukraine war crimes against Russia’s Belgorod: statistics.

▪️ Bloodthirsty US Senator Graham urges young Ukrainians to continue to risk their lives for the Kiev regime

▪️ France joins Poland's calls to limit the import of agricultural products from Ukraine

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▪️ ‘Say the right thing for the cameras’: the Schumer-Biden-Netanyahu clash

▪️ Niger’s break with US shows African countries tired of ‘disrespect’ from West

▪️ What kind of multiple-launch rocket system was used at the drills supervised by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un?

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