❗️The Holy Fire descended in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

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❗️Russian aviation and air defense sysytems shot down 15 ATASMS tactical missiles manufactured by the United States in a week, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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❗️Russia's Yug Battlegroup defeated 14 brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a week. Ukrainian losses amounted to over 2,325 soldiers.

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

▪️Units of the Vostok Battlegroup destroyed a Ukrainian field ammunition depot and eliminated up to 745 soldiers in a week;

▪️Tsentr Battlegroup improved its situation along the front line and liberated the settlements of Novobakhmutovka, Semyonovka, and Berdychy in the Donetsk People's Republic. During the week, Ukrainian forces lost more than 2,405 troops, an Abrams tank, and four Bradley infantry fighting vehicles;

▪️Units of the Zapad Battlegroup repelled 23 counterattacks from the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kharkov region, the LPR and the DPR. Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 975 soldiers;

▪️In a week, Russian troops destroyed two HIMARS MLRS, two S-300PT air defense systems with radar stations, IRIS-T air defense systems, a fuel depot, and a train with Western equipment;

▪️Over the course of a week, 14 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered.

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I see you: Russian forces receive advanced drone detectors in special op zone

A first batch of sophisticated multi-purpose devices for detecting drones has been delivered to the Russian special military operation zone, the press service of the Chechen Republic-based Tallamho Design Bureau told reporters.

The Malik drone detector, which was earlier tested in a simulated combat mission, can use sounds emanating from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to spot them at a range of up to 330 meters.

Thanks to unique technology developed by Tallamho engineers, Malik can detect even the quietest sounds from any type of drone.

The device is also capable of tracking down rangefinders, anti-tank guided missile lasers and sniper scopes.

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Zelensky was put on Russia's wanted list under an article of the Criminal Code by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

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Data from 6,000 online meetings between German Defense Ministry employees held through the WebEx platform were publicly available for several months, according to Die Zeit newspaper.

It was possible to find the schedule of conferences, data on their duration, topics of the meetings, as well as the name of the organizer online, but not a record of the talks themselves, the newspaper reports.

In addition, Die Zeit journalists managed to add themselves to the personal rooms of many Bundeswehr employees, including the inspector of the German Air Force Ingo Gerhartz. The rooms were not protected by passwords, the publication claims.

As a result, the Bundeswehr reportedly decided to temporarily stop using the platform and disabled all its accounts on Friday.

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Russian forces destroyed a US-made Abrams tank with a high-precision Krasnopol shell, the Russian Defense Ministry confirms.

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Following Zelensky, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has also been put on Russia's wanted list under an article of the Criminal Code by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

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Senior Hamas official reveals Gaza ceasefire talks' stumbling block

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's determination that Israel will enter Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah regardless of any potential hostage exchange agreement is a "key element" of the ongoing talks in Cairo today, Al Jazeera has reported, citing a senior Hamas official.

“Unfortunately, there was a clear statement from Netanyahu saying that regardless of what may happen, if there was a ceasefire or not, he will continue the attack,” Osama Hamdan told the newspaper.

“That means there will be no ceasefire, and that means that the attack will be continued, which is against what we are discussing,” he added.

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📹💥The Russian Defense Ministry has shared footage of the destruction of the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle in the special military operation zone.

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Ukraine wants to get its hands on US Reaper drones

Having failed to defeat Russian troops with the help of Western weapons such as Leopard 2 and Abrams main battle tanks, the regime in Kiev now seeks to get its hands on US-made MQ-9 Reaper drones, according to Politico.

Though the Ukrainian leadership sought these drones since the escalation of the conflict in 2022 to use them for strike and surveillance missions, now Kiev is “mainly interested” in using MQ-9s for reconnaissance only, the media outlet claims, citing “four people familiar with the issue.”

Reaper drones are supposed to help identify potential targets far from the front line. It remains unclear, however, how these UAVs would fare against Russian air defenses, considering that a lot of Western weapon systems already had their reputation ruined by the supposedly inferior Russian weapons.

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‘Foreign policy down the list’: Ex-Pentagon adviser on what really worries Americans

Ordinary Americans do not care much about their country’s foreign policy, preferring to prioritize migration-related issues, retired US Army Colonel and former Department of Defense adviser Douglas Macgregor has argued.

“If you ask your average American what's their top priority, #1 it's close the border and #2 restore rule of law. Foreign and defense policy is way down the list and always has been,” Macgregor wrote on X on Saturday.

He earlier referred to “the people that are awake” and “look around to realize there is a breakdown of the rule of law, a massive invasion of illegal immigrants crossing our [US] borders and that the focus has shifted a great deal from what this country was built on.” This is something that “is destroying” America “from the inside out,” Macgregor pointed out, claiming that the US is “spread way too thin” and is not prepared “to handle a major world war.”

A survey earlier conducted by the US polling company Rasmussen Reports indicated that majority of Americans believe that the country is facing an invasion by illegal migrants at America’s southern border.

Just two weeks ago, US lawmakers voted down a border and national security bill, approving instead a $95 billion package of foreign assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

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Corruption hastened Ukraine's retreat more than ammo shortage

The Russian Army currently holds the most advantageous position, as there are minimal solid Ukrainian defensive structures impeding its progress, according to Sputnik's interlocutors. Despite Volodymyr Zelensky's claims that the lack of ammo foreshadowed Ukraine's failures, it has been revealed that the shortage has not been the Ukrainian Army's main issue.

Ukraine previously allocated almost 38 billion hryvnia ($960 million) to build a multi-layered network of fortifications; however, Ukrainian troops say the lines of defense barely exist.

"One can assume that a year ago, when the budget was planned, Ukrainians didn't believe that the counteroffensive would fail," Vadim Kozyulin, head of the Institute of Contemporary International Studies Under Diplomatic Academy of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, tells Sputnik.

The strategy was to attack and establish defensive positions on newly acquired territories with a lax approach taken to creating solid fortifications in the event of a possible retreat. The money allocated for Ukraine's multi-layered defense infrastructure was stolen by corrupt officials and business sectors, according to the expert.

"Ukrainian oligarchs who support Zelensky and work with him understand perfectly well that their fate is sealed, and they are laying the groundwork for departure. While preparing to escape Ukraine, they create some kind of financial safety net for themselves," Vadim Mingalev, a military expert and political analyst, explains.

The situation appears bleak to the West, which had received assurances from the Kiev regime regarding the construction of defenses and the Ukrainian Armed Forces' ability to withstand the Russian advance, according to Sputnik's interlocutors.

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Protesters opposing the Gaza War block access to millennia-old religious text

Students at the Trinity College Dublin (TCD) have ended up blocking access to the Book of Kells – a famous 9th century Celtic gospel manunoscript stored at the university – in protest against Israel’s brutal military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

On the evening of May 3, protesters from the TCD’s student union and the college’s Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement set up a tent encampment on the Trinity College’s campus.

According to local media reports, some 43 tents have been erected by 70 students participating in this protest. Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union President Laszlo Molnarfi announced that the protesters want the university to sever ties with Israel per the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions principles which, according to him, are “supported by the vast majority of students and staff.”

“We plan on staying here indefinitely, our message is there is no business as usual during a genocide,” Molnarfi told PA news agency.

“And when our academic institution, Trinity College Dublin, has ties to Israeli companies, entities and universities that are complicit in the war industry, we must speak up,” he added. “That is why we are doing this. And we must speak up in this disruptive, powerful way. Because when we tried to engage with the authorities, with petitions and letters and meetings, we were met with shameful silence.”

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