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

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

‘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.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Russian 122-mm D-30 howitzer crews from the Tula paratroopers destroyed a Ukrainian mortar group in the area of Seversky.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Why Israel's plan for post-war Gaza won't fly

Netanyahu government officials have been quietly discussing a scheme for ruling Gaza once the war is over, according to the New York Times.

Citing individuals familiar with the talks, the newspaper wrote that Israel appears to be ready to share oversight of the strip with a number of Arab countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as the US.

"I don't see the possibility for this plan to become a reality," Dr. Mehmet Rakipoglu, assistant professor at Mardin Artuklu University and researcher at the Dimensions for Strategic Studies London-based think tank, tells Sputnik. "Even if it's implemented, I don't see any concrete solution for the problem, because the problem is all about the US and Israel."

Rakipoglu argues that the proposal directly contradicts a two state solution, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1947 and then upheld by the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995. Arab states would likely oppose such a proposition.

Eyal Pinko, an Israeli military expert, is similarly skeptical about the proposal described by the NYT. Palestinians residing in Gaza are unlikely to accept the plan: almost 85% of the Gaza population supports Hamas and doesn't want the Palestinian Authority (PA) to govern the strip. Most Israeli politicians would have also preferred to stay out of Gaza.

The only way to start untying the Gordian knot is to bring Iran, Russia, Turkiye and Qatar along with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to the negotiating table in order to work out a balanced solution, believes Rakipoglu.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Dozens of New Yorkers march across the Brooklyn Bridge in memory of Soviet veterans of the Great Patriotic War and World War II.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

▪️Corruption hastened Ukraine's retreat more than ammo shortage

▪️Why Israel's plan for post-war Gaza won't fly

▪️US, France are fleeing to the last bastion of ‘Françafrique’

▪️US does not miss opportunity to blame Russia: now for Boeing troubles

▪️Last preparations for Orthodox Easter celebrations in the special op zone

▪️Russian forces destroyed a US-made Abrams tank

▪️Zelensky was put on Russia's wanted list

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Palestinian movement Hamas has agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages as part of the first stage of a ceasefire deal with Israel, the al Hadath television channel reported, citing sources.

Hamas's delegation arrived in Cairo Saturday to negotiate through Egyptian mediators a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of the captives. The group reported it was traveling to Cairo “in order to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza.”

“Hamas agrees to release 33 Israeli hostages in the ‘first stage’ [of the agreement]. This position is different from the previous one... At the beginning of the talks, Hamas claimed to have 20 hostages, and it seems to have been able to find the remaining civilians,” the source told the media outlet.

Previously, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel gave Hamas a week to accept a ceasefire proposal in the Gaza Strip, otherwise threatening to launch a military operation in Rafah.

CNN, citing sources, released details of a new proposal to Hamas, prepared by mediators from Egypt. According to the US news outlet the new proposal was drafted with Israel's input. The first phase of the agreement includes the release of 20-33 hostages over several weeks in exchange for a pause in hostilities and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. The length of the cease-fire will depend on the number of hostages that can be released.

The second phase would involve “restoring sustained calm” in the Gaza Strip. According to a diplomatic source, the wording implies “a way to agree on a permanent ceasefire without having to call it that.” During this phase Hamas's remaining hostages, including captured IDF soldiers, and the bodies of the dead will be exchanged for more Palestinian prisoners. Israel, meanwhile, has not abandoned plans to achieve all of its stated objectives of its Gaza operation, including the complete elimination of Hamas.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko lamented that the Kiev regime has lost more energy infrastructure during the latest strikes on Ukraine's energy system than it was able to restore after past strikes.

The minister noted that some facilities were completely destroyed, casting doubt on the possibility of their restoration.

“We did it, and they destroyed it ... Unfortunately, they destroyed even more than we restored,” Galushchenko told a Ukrainian TV channel, answering a question about the timeframe for restoring the damaged and destroyed facilities.

Strikes against Ukrainian critical infrastructure have been carried out by Russia since October 10, 2022, two days after the first attack on the Crimean Bridge by the Kiev regime.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Kiev regime may request the dispatch of European troops to Ukraine if its own forces are insufficient, said Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada parliament, to French media.

Previously, French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not rule out the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine if Kiev requested them.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt