The Russian Ministry of Defense published a video showing Russian military operators of FPV drones from Battlegroup Tsentr destroying the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the DPR.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️The Russian Armed Forces liberated the village of Semyonovka in the DPR, the Russian Ministry of Defense has reported.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Swiss daily speculates Russia will liberate Donbass ‘by October,’ forcing Ukraine to negotiate

Swiss German-language daily Blick has speculated that Russia will liberate Donbass by October. There is a prevailing mood that “Ukraine will lose the war, the conflict will freeze and we will have to negotiate,” one officer hunkered down near Chasov Yar was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Despite the military aid package worth $61 billion promised by the US to Ukraine, senior officers gave pessimistic forecasts. According to them, Kiev’s looming rout by the Russian military can be explained by several factors. 

First, Ukraine’s troops face an acute shortage of manpower. The manpower strength of brigades positioned along on the nearly 1,500 kilometer-long combat line has dwindled to 30 or 40 percent in many places, according to the report.

“The current mobilization will not save us. Those enlisted and training now will not be with us until October at the earliest. By then we will have lost all of Donetsk,” acknowledged another of the neo-Nazi regime’s soldiers.

A shortage of ammunition on the front has left Ukraine’s troops with little means to counter powerful advances by the Russian military. “We can hold back the Russians... but not defeat them,” said another Ukrainian officer.

The Ukrainians complained that brigades have been sent on missions with virtually no ammunition and few men. Three brigades seemingly scared of Russia's advancing forces that refused to obey the Ukrainian command's orders were reportedly disbanded.

Near Avdeyevka, chaos and lack of equipment led troops from the 115th brigade to abandon their position, revealed the report.

On top of “Ukraine fatigue” in the West, Zelensky and his clique have a new problem – battle weariness on the Ukrainian eastern front. And the $61 billion will not be enough to eliminate it, the report concluded.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Ukraine lost up to 395 servicemen due to the successful combat operations of the Russian Battlegroup Youg.

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

▪️Russian Battlegroup Tsentr repelled 10 Ukrainian counterattacks. The enemy losses amounted to 370 militants.

▪️Russian air defences shot down 22 UAVs.

▪️Russian Battlegroup Vostok repelled two Ukrainian counterattacks in the Donetsk People's Republic. The enemy losses amounted to up to 125 militants, three pickup trucks, a US-made 155 mm M777 howitzer, and two 152 mm Msta-B howitzers.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces hit the assembly shop of Ukrainian drones, as well as the manpower and military equipment of Ukraine in 110 locations.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russian soldiers from the Battlegroup Tsentr destroyed a Ukrainian stronghold near Avdeyevka using 152-mm 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has arrived in Kiev for an unannounced visit, the alliance stated.

Alliance countries must transfer weapons to Ukraine as a priority, Stoltenberg said during the visit.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The only right is right to die for US? Ukraine regime ramps up assault on human rights

“A gross violation of human rights is taking place in Ukraine,” Vladimir Yevseyev, an analyst from the Moscow-based Institute of Commonwealth of Independent States, told Sputnik, commenting on the “derogation measures” Ukraine has presented to its European sponsors on the partial suspension of its adherence to the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“Everyone knows,” for example, “how many people are in prison on politically motivated charges,” Yevseyev recalled, noting that this is “getting harder and hider to hide,” with even the US State Department asking questions about the long list of “significant human rights issues” in Ukraine in a recent damning report.

In practice, the exhaustive suspension of civil, political, religious, property and other rights afforded under Ukraine’s draconian martial law measures means the government has virtually unlimited authority to seize property, listen in on private conversations, restrict freedom of movement (particularly for males ages 18-60), detain people indefinitely without charge, and clamp down on speech, assembly, information, and even worship.

“The situation can be radically changed only through regime change. [The Zelensky] regime is totalitarian. Violations of human rights are the norm of behavior, rather than something provocative. The West, naturally, cannot admit that the regime is totalitarian. Therefore, they are forced to turn a blind eye to the massive violations of human rights that are taking place,” Yevseyev said.

As for the State Department report, Yevseyev believes it may indicate an “internal political struggle” within the Washington establishment ahead of the upcoming elections, or a general “internal political interdepartmental struggle” as the extent of Kiev’s violations becomes increasingly difficult to conceal.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned on Monday that US economic growth is “unlikely to last.”

“Our World Economic Outlook shows the global economy converging back to a rather weak trend rate of growth. Yes, the US economy still looks like it’s firing on all cylinders, but that is unlikely to last,” Georgieva said in a keynote address at the annual EU budget conference.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Burial Sites of Tortured Civilians Discovered in Avdeyevka — Russian Investigative Committee

The buried bodies of civilians showing signs of torture were discovered in Avdeyevka, DPR. Investigators have begun working on this case, the Investigative Committee of Russia reported.

“The Investigative Committee of Russia will work on the latest crimes of the Ukrainian military against civilians of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as well as the Donetsk People’s Republic. It is reported that burials of civilians with traces of torture were discovered in Avdeyevka (DPR)", the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Russian investigators will establish all the circumstances of the incident and persons involved in the crimes. Avdeyevka, a northern suburb of Donetsk turned by the Ukrainian army into a heavily-fortified area, was liberated by the Russian army on February 17.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Ex-Pentagon advisor says Russia’s Mideast clout 'very strong,' while US looks 'ridiculous'

Russia’s position in the Middle East is strong, while the United States looks “ridiculous,” is the frank assessment given by retired US Army Col. Douglas Macgregor in a new post on X.

Casting a critical eye on the US strategy in the Middle East, the former Pentagon advisor wrote:

“Strategically, Putin holds all the cards in the Middle East. He is widely respected in the region and has practiced restraint. If you look at this like a branding exercise, our branding is seriously damaged in the Middle East. We look ridiculous and Russia looks strong.”

As the Mideast simmers, the Biden administration has been using a facade of diplomacy – which failed spectacularly – to push its own regional interests. The US-led efforts to smear and isolate Moscow with respect to the region have similarly been fruitless, as Russian President Vladimir Putin's highly successful Middle East tour in December 2023 proved.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Happy end: A man from Odessa managed to escape from the military recruiters who were hunting Ukrainians to send them into the meat grinder.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russian troops eliminated at least 10 Ukrainian militants using mortars in the Zaporozhye region.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The US found five Israeli units responsible for gross violations of human rights, state department said.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Zelensky’s ‘delusional’ 10-year funding plan may be domino that topples US-led economic order

Neither Kiev, nor Washington have the long-term financial wherewithal to continue the proxy war with Russia for another decade, renowned economist and author Dr. Rodney Shakespeare told Sputnik, commenting on President Zelensky’s plans to secure long-term US funding for Ukraine into the mid-2030s.

In Ukraine’s case, “the loss of productive assets in east Ukraine, the rapidly weakening military situation, and the dislocations produced by the war mean that the Ukrainian economy is a basket case (which will get worse, if that is possible),” Shakespeare said.

As far as the US is concerned, the Washington establishment may be able to ignore rising poverty and debt levels, crumbling infrastructure and other domestic problems to send more money to Ukraine in the short term, but in combination with other factors, the funding could become the straw that breaks the back of the US Empire over the long run, the academic believes.

“The long term consequences could be dire because the funding will be taking place in circumstances in which other big negative factors will be operating e.g., a weakening of the US dollar; a global shift from unilateral to multilateral power; a possible global financial collapse (starting with banks in the USA); and the great technological shift by which actual production is increasingly being done by the capital instruments rather than by human labor,” Dr. Shakespeare explained.

It’s unfortunate that the Biden administration and the entire US political class seems to have “deluded” themselves into thinking that the US economy is prosperous and doing well enough to continue pursuing imperious ambitions abroad, the economist added, warning that American society “is showing signs of a coming profound disintegration,” and US foreign policy only expected to hasten the process.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Sanctions against Russia are not working, Harriet Baldwin, Chair of the UK House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, has admitted.

“There’s a general consensus that sanctions are not working in terms of their stated intent — causing real trouble for the Russian economy . . . The IMF are forecasting it’s going to be one of the strongest economies this year," Baldwin said in an interview with the FT.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt