According to the reports, a ballistic missile allegedly fired by North Korea fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

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Russia manages to capture the most powerful version of the Leopard 2 tank

Footage from the special military operation zone has confirmed that Russian forces managed to seize a Leopard 2A6, the most capable variant of the Leopard 2 provided to Ukraine, Military Watch Magazine reports.

"Video footage released on April 21 confirmed that Russian ground units captured a Leopard 2A6 tank during fighting with Ukrainian forces… Among European tanks it [the Leopard 2A6] is only surpassed in its capabilities by a very small number of Leopard 2A7s that entered service in the late 2010s," the article said.

Earlier, Sputnik published footage showing the evacuation of the captured tank. Last Monday, Russian gunner Sergey Lazarenko revealed its destruction, noting that the vehicle was hit with the first shell.

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▪️US military base in Syria came under a drone and rocket attack for the first time in months

▪️Hezbollah downs Israeli drone over Southern Lebanon

▪️Russia managed to capture the most powerful model of the Leopard 2 tank

▪️Russia creates brand new digital security anti-drone system

▪️World military expenditure reaches all-time high of $2,443Bln in 2023

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The West is balancing on the brink of a direct military clash between nuclear powers, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

He also noted that Russia would be ready to return to the issue of ratifying the CTBT as soon as the US does.

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Maintaining a discussion around the “Zelensky formula” was necessary for the US to divert attention from the new allocation of funds in support of the terrorist activities of the Kiev regime, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

“These conversations on the part of the United States, their political scientists, on the part of those whom they recruited on the international platform in support of the so-called ‘Zelensky formula’ – all this was intended to divert attention from the next tranche to support the terrorist activities of these criminals on Bankovaya,” Zakharova told Russian media.

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Lavrov called US speculation about Russian nuclear weapons in space absurd: “such fabrications have nothing to do with reality.”

Russia stands for preserving space as an area exclusively for peaceful activities, the minister highlighted.

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The central topic of this year's SPIEF will be multipolarity and the formation of new centers of growth, Roscongress has reported.

The event expects participants from China, Iran, India, and African countries, and business dialogues will be held on the sidelines of the forum.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) is the largest annual Russian business event in the economic sphere, and is attended by dozens of politicians and entrepreneurs from around the world. The SPIEF is held in St. Petersburg. This year, the forum will take place on June 5-8.

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US and Philippines kick-off large scale exercise amid growing Asia-Pacific tensions

Balikatan, an annual joint drill between US and the Philippines, has rung the alarm from China. What’s different about it this year?

This year’s exercise will be the largest yet, with 17,000 troops from US, the Philippines, Australia, and France. The participants will simulate sinking an enemy warship and capturing islands in areas facing Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Notably, they will conduct their first ever exercise beyond Philippine territorial waters into contested waters. Additionally, the Philippine Army will train in the use of medium-range missiles, deployed for the first time to Asia Pacific by the US just last week.

China has slammed the exercise for bearing a destructive impact on regional security. It criticized the Philippines for bringing in external forces to “flex muscles and stoke tensions”, warning the latter would “turn itself into someone else’s chess piece.”

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Israeli military intelligence head resigns over responsibility for the October 7 attack

Head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate Aharon Haliva has requested to resign from his position, the Israel Defense Forces announced.

The stated reason was "his leadership responsibility as the Head of the Intelligence Directorate for the events of October 7th." Haliva will resign from his position and retire from the IDF once his successor is appointed, the statement added.

The Israeli military intelligence head made his decision at an early stage of the escalation in the Gaza Strip, but resigned only now when the active phase of hostilities has ended and most of the forces have been withdrawn from Gaza, the outlet Ynet reports.

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The Kremlin considers the decision by the US House of Representatives to seize Russian assets in favor of Kiev dangerous and views it extremely negatively, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He called the possible confiscation illegal and noted that it would be the subject of retaliatory measures and legal proceedings.

Peskov also noted that the new US aid package to Ukraine will not change the situation on the battlefield, but lead to an increase in the number of Ukrainian deaths.

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Identify and destroy: Dnepr battlegroup strike Ukrainian positions with UAVs

Russian Defense Ministry published a footage showing drones of Dnepr battlegroup operators in|on combat missions in close proximity to the frontline in the Zaporozhye area.

Drone attacks are launched at a considerable distance from the operator's location to prevent the enemy from detecting Russian positions.

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Supplies of agricultural products from Russia to China are growing against the background of the general development of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries; more than 90% of mutual settlements between Russia and China are carried out in national currencies, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

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❗️The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced the liberation of Novomikhailovka, DPR.

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Sharing is caring? Why NATO’s 'Nuclear Sharing' strategy is dangerous

Poland’s president has announced that Warsaw is ready to host nukes from fellow NATO countries under the alliance’s nuclear sharing program to “reinforce” the bloc’s eastern flank.

▫️ Nuclear “sharing” allows NATO’s non-nuclear members to take part in planning for the use of nukes in the event of war, but all nukes in the program remain under the control of the US military in peacetime.

▫️ The US first deployed nukes in Europe in the 1950s, and created the Nuclear Planning Group in late 1966 to iron out sharing arrangements between bloc members amid the incorporation of nukes into NATO’s military strategy.

▫️ American nukes are stationed in Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Turkiye. Sharing currently applies only to tactical B61 nukes, which have a blast yield of between 0.3 and 340 kilotons (for comparison, the US atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had an explosive yield of about 15 kilotons).

▫️ Critics of NATO’s nuclear sharing doctrine point to its violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which prohibits the transfer of nuclear weapons.

▫️ The destabilizing nature of NATO’s nuclear sharing provisions was shown last year, when, in response to alliance provocations, Russia and Belarus announced their own nuclear sharing arrangement. When it was announced, NATO slammed the move as “dangerous and irresponsible.” President Vladimir Putin pointed out that what Moscow and Minsk had done was no different from what NATO has been doing for decades.

▫️ What differentiates NATO and Russia’s nuclear sharing arrangements are the divergent nuclear doctrines behind them. While Russia’s strategy prohibits nuke use unless the country faces a massive WMD or conventional attack, America’s doctrine allows it to use nukes preemptively, even against non-nuclear adversaries. Hence, NATO escalates the risk of global nuclear conflict

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❗️The Russian Battlegroup Tsentr successfully repelled nine Ukrainian counterattacks, causing the enemy to lose 365 militants and one Marder infantry fighting vehicle.

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

🔺Russian troops successfully targeted a Ukrainian air defense position and a storage facility for unmanned boats.

🔺Russian air defense systems have shot down 240 Ukrainian drones.

🔺The Russian Battlegroup Zapad successfully repelled four counterattacks by Ukrainian militants from the Azov unit (which is recognized as a terrorist organization and is banned in the Russian Federation) in the Russian Donetsk People's Republic.

🔺Ukraine has lost up to 95 militants and a 155 mm FH-70 British-made howitzer as a result of the successful combat operations conducted by the Russian Battlegroup Vostok.

🔺Russian Battlegroup Dnepr launched attacks on three Ukrainian brigades, causing the enemy to suffer losses of 45 militants.

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Former US senior anti-terrorism policy adviser charged with child sex offenses in UK

Rahamim Shy, who worked under President Barack Obama, stands accused of arranging the commission of a child sex offense and two charges of possessing indecent images of children. He appeared at Luton Crown Court via video-link from Bedford prison on Friday for a brief preliminary hearing.

Shy held a senior position at the US Treasury Department from 2008 to 2014, advising officials on combating the funding of terrorism and helping coordinate strategy against al-Qaeda* and the Taliban*

*A terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries.

**An Afghan militant group under UN sanctions for terrorist activities

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🇷🇺 Russian troops conducted exercises in Kamchatka, the Russian Far East, to mask terrain and military installations by using an aerosol curtain

The radiation, chemical, and biological protection units applied approximately two thousand liters of smoke mixture over an area of more than three square kilometers using seven special TDA-3 vehicles equipped with thermal smoke generators.

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