Storm Shadow killer: What we know about Russian warships' Pantsir-M air defense shield

The naval variant of Russia’s Pantsir surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system has made its combat debut, taking on and defeating Storm Shadow cruise missiles in the Ukrainian conflict zone.
Developed in 2017, the Pantsir-M began to be fielded with the Russian Navy in 2020, with ‘Pantsir’ meaning ‘Carapace’ or ‘Shell’ and the ‘M’ in the name standing for ‘Maritime’.

The Pantsir-M operates along the same general principle as its ground-based cousins, but features its own design solutions optimized for maritime conditions and for dealing with sea-based threats. The platform is formally classified as a close-in weapon system (CIWS) designed to take on enemy missiles, drones, aircraft and other projectiles as they approach to within 20 km or less (at an altitude of up to 15 km) of a warship.

🔺The Pantsir-M is armed with eight Hermes-K SAMs attached in a 4x2 arrangement.

🔺Secondary armament consists of twin AO-18KD 30x165mm rotary cannons with a range up to 5 km and a rate of fire up to 10,000 rounds per minute.

🔺The Pantsir-M can engage up to four targets simultaneously.

🔺It is the only ship-based air defense system in the world using a combat module that combines CIWS, SAMs and a radar-optical control system – including automated target search, selection and firing capability, in a single piece of equipment.

🔺The onboard phased array radar has an estimated target detection range of up to 75 km.

🔺The system weighs about 7,100 kg (ammunition included), making it suitable to deploy on small and large vessels alike.

🔺The Russian Navy plans to equip all new warships, from missile corvettes to cruisers, with the Pantsir-M, and to upgrade existing vessels with the system over time.

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The Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked the dome of the 6th power unit of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant; there was no critical damage or casualties, the nuclear power plant’s press service said, adding that the radiation background at the plant and the territory after the attack did not change and is at a level corresponding to normal operation.

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AUKUS to forge ahead with expansion despite 'misgivings' between allies

The US is pushing for Japan to be brought into Pillar II of AUKUS, despite misgivings of some pact allies, the Financial Times reported.

Defense ministers of the US, UK and Australia are to make a statement on Monday announcing the start of talks on new members joining the trilateral security treaty.

Pillar II involves the sharing of a range of technologies, including underwater robotics, quantum electronics, cybersecurity and electronic warfare capabilities, hypersonic weapons and defense mechanisms against them.

The upcoming announcement on potential expansion is a “compromise” between the allies,” noted the outlet. Both Australia and the UK have reportedly been reluctant to invite Japan to join AUKUS, citing Pillar I as a priority. The security pact is facing “challenges” in efforts to "trilateralise" aspects of co-production, admitted US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.

The Washington-conceived, de facto anti-Chinese alliance has been repeatedly slammed by Beijing as likely to turn the Pacific into "an ocean of storms." Russia voiced concerns about the pact as fraught with destabilizing effects on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and undermining international security in general.

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Donald Trump privately stated that he could end the conflict in Ukraine by putting pressure on Kiev to leave Crimea and Donbass for Russia, the Washington Post says, citing sources. Trump also said that people in parts of Ukraine would be okay with being part of Russia, according to a person who has discussed the matter directly with Trump.

Trump's team has not yet confirmed this information.

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🤡Multicultural Biden: It appeared that the US president has a rich, diverse cultural-ethnic background of Puerto Rican, Irish-Catholic, African-American, Jewish, and many other communities.

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❗️Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant has undergone an unprecedented series of drone attacks, creating a direct threat to the safety of the station, Rosatom said.

Three Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant employees were reportedly injured.

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New Slovak president won’t allow EU bureaucrats drag his country into proxy war against Russia — expert

In Peter Pellegrini, who won the presidential election in Slovakia, the country will finally have a head of state who does not support he pro-Western position, since he was not “installed by the Americans,” political observer Peter Marcek told Sputnik.

“There will be coordination between the government of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico and President Peter Pellegrini, because they have one program, one direction," he predicted.

According to Marcek, “both Fico and Pellegrini share the idea that no Anglo-Saxons should be able to dictate to us what we should do." Washington pursued its own goals by pushing former foreign minister Ivan Korcok for the presidency, argued the expert, in an effort “to subordinate our will exclusively to their hegemony.”

After Pellegrini’s victory, “many relations, for example, with the Russian Federation, can improve. We need to develop our mutual relations,” Marcek stated, stressing that Russia “is fighting for us all, for the traditional family values… and most importantly — for peace and justice.”

Regarding the proxy war in Ukraine, Pellegrini “is in favor of ending the conflict,” and “against sending weapons” to the Kiev regime, he noted.

Looking ahead, the political analyst speculated that despite EU pressure over Ukraine, Slovakia, “will not give up the veto power [in the Brussels bloc] to anyone. This is our right, even though we are a small country. Together with Viktor Orban, 100 percent we will not cede this to anyone."

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Russian air defense systems on duty at about 18.00 local time destroyed four Ukrainian drones over the territory of the Belgorod region, the Ministry of Defense said.

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💥UAV operators of the Russian Battlegroup Yug destroyed strongholds and trenches in the Lugansk People's Republic of Russia.

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🇹🇭 The Prime Minister of Thailand is discussing with other Southeast Asian countries the possibility of creating an analog of the Schengen zone in the region.

According to Bloomberg, his colleagues from Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam showed a positive reaction to the proposal.

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🔺New Slovak president won’t allow EU bureaucrats drag his country into proxy war against Russia — expert

🔺AUKUS to forge ahead with expansion despite 'misgivings' between allies

🔺Storm Shadow killer: What we know about Russian warships' Pantsir-M air defense shield

🔺Road to freedom: 10th anniversary of proclamation of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics

🔺Biden revealed his multicultural background

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The IAEA confirms minor damage at one of the power units of Zaporozhye nuclear plant, according to a statement from the agency.

The IAEA's director-general claimed drone attacks on nuclear power stations are a clear violation of safety principles, calling for a cessation of "reckless attacks".

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Israel-Hamas war marks six month anniversary: has Tel Aviv achieved its aims?

“Six months after Israel launched its attack under the banner of self-defense and the stated objective of destroying Hamas, Israel is no closer to achieving its military goals,” Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh, a Middle Eastern politics expert at Deakin University in Australia, told Sputnik, commenting on the six month anniversary of the Israel-Gaza crisis.

“Hamas continues to engage Israeli forces in skirmishes. Israeli hostages are still in Hamas captivity and the civilian toll is mounting by the minute. Israel refuses to accept a political solution to end the war because the right-wing government of Prime Minister Netanyahu has made a virtue out of this conflict,” he said.

Commenting on Sunday’s partial withdrawal from southern Gaza, Akbarzadeh said that it’s “hard to read too much into the IDF relocation of troops in the absence of any signal from the Israeli government regarding a ceasefire or a break in fighting.”

The IDF says 604 Israeli troops have been killed in fighting to date (Hamas estimates Israeli losses at over 1,600 troops killed). The IDF says 32,000 “terrorist targets” were struck over the course of the campaign and that over 13,000 Palestinian fighters were killed in Gaza.

Regarding civilian death toll - Gaza Health authorities estimate that over 33,175 residents of the Strip have been killed, with close to 75,900 people wounded and 8,000+ going missing. On the Israeli side, 822 civilians were killed, mostly in the early stages of the conflict following Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack.

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💥 Direct hit: Russian tank operators wipe out stronghold of Ukrainian forces

The T-80BVM tanks of the Vostok Battlegroup eliminated a Ukrainian forces' stronghold that was preventing the assault units from advancing in the south of to Donetsk People's Republic.

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❗️ Progress has been made in Cairo truce talks over Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip, with consensus between the parties on main areas, Egyptian TV reported.

Egypt, Qatar, Israel, the US, and the Palestinian group Hamas are taking part in the talks.

Russia repels 9 Ukrainian attacks toward Donetsk in past 24 hours

Russian armed forces repelled nine Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk direction over the past 24 hours, allowing them to take up more advantageous positions in the area, the Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday.

"[Russian troops] repelled nine counterattacks by groups of the 10th mountain assault, 92nd airborne assault, 33rd and 67th mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian army in the areas of the towns of Berestove, Bohdanivka and Novomykhailivka of the Donetsk People's Republic," the ministry said.

Russian armed forces also repelled Ukrainian troops in the directions of Kupyansk, Avdeyevka, and Kherson.

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Iranian consulate in Damascus resumes work after Israeli attack - reports

Iran's consulate in Damascus has resumed its work in a new building after a hiatus caused by Israel's deadly missile strike, Iranian media reported Sunday.

On Monday, Israel carried out an airstrike on the consular annex of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, destroying the building. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said seven of its members had been killed in the attack, including two commanders. On Tuesday the Syrian Health Ministry said the attack had also killed four Syrians and injured 13 more.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it "reserves the right" to respond to the Israeli attack and "punish the aggressor." Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also vowed that Israel would pay a "heavy price" for the strike.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Beijing, Sputnik's correspondent reports. The minister will stay in the Chinese capital until April 9 and will meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

The ministers are expected to discuss bilateral cooperation, interaction and work in the UN, BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and G20, as well as regional issues including the Ukraine crisis and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

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British and French Foreign Ministers David Cameron and Stephane Sejourne warned that Ukraine's defeat in the conflict with Russia could be seen as a defeat for the West.

"If Ukraine loses, we all lose," they said.

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Former Pentagon adviser Macgregor urges US to stop 'marching' into foreign countries

Former Pentagon Adviser Col. Douglas Macgregor said Sunday the United States should stop "marching" into foreign nations to expand their political influence.

"We need to stop marching into other peoples [sic] countries and trying to force people to become like us," Macgregor said on the X social media platform.

Earlier this week US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed the US-led NATO alliance is a defensive organization that has "no designs" to seize the territory of any other country in the world. NATO has carried out bombings and interventions in countries including Libya, Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan over its 75-year history.

The alliance also partnered with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to sponsor Operation Gladio, a covert program that backed far-right paramilitaries throughout Europe.

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Ukrainian connoscription officers assault, attempt to press gang 14-year-old

The story of a 14-year-old boy who was kidnapped at gunpoint by a group of connoscription officers is going viral in Ukraine. The shocking incident took place last week in the Odessa oblast according to the website Bessarabia Info, which cited local department of social protection head Oksana Terzi.

The young teenager was reportedly walking alone in the village of Priozernoye to meet his girlfriend when a white minivan pulled up beside him. Four men wearing military uniforms and balaclavas emerged; one pressed a rifle against the boy’s temple while forcing him into the car.

“The kid plays sports so the self-defense instinct kicked in,” explained Terzi. “He began to struggle and the attackers restrained him, hitting him in the back with an assault rifle. They beat him and tied his hands with a plastic tie.”

The men drove for some time before asking the age of the teenager. They initially didn’t believe him when he claimed he was only 14.

The episode brought light to the violent tactics increasingly used by Ukrainian connoscription officers as the country’s desperate military continues to press ganging draftees. Raids have been carried out in gyms, restaurants, shopping malls and on city streets to combat draft dodging, which is reportedly widespread. Neighboring Russia is meanwhile reporting a surge of volunteers at military recruitment centers.

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