Congratulations to Vladimir Putin on assuming the office of Russian president have come from Venezuela, North Korea, and Thailand.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro noted Putin’s work for the development and wellbeing of the country, Kim Jong Un wished him great success in his “responsible work for Russia and its people,” and Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) noted that the new presidential term is “a confirmation of the people's great trust and their unbreakable confidence in your leadership.”

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▪️ Russian forces carried out multiple strikes all over Ukraine

▪️ Russians united in support for Putin's military, economic, diplomatic achievements

▪️ US temporarily paused bomb deliveries to Israel over Rafah offensive

▪️ Watch the police arresting pro-Palestine protesters during a demonstration in NYC

▪️ Germany has closed investigation of the German Air Force inspector over an intercepted conversation between Bundeswehr officers discussing a strike on the Crimean Bridge

More stories:

▪️ 'Israel doesn't want ceasefire': truce talks take back seat as Rafah attack surges

▪️ European leaders ignore public opinion, domestic concerns to stoke cold war

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🛰 Russia has started developing a nuclear power plant for a joint lunar station with China, Yuri Borisov, head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency, told Sputnik.

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Lithuania is ready to send soldiers to Ukraine as part of a training mission, the Financial Times has quoted Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte as saying.

The Lithuanian prime minister told the newspaper that she already had the parliament's permission to send troops for training purposes.

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US-led Astral Knight 2024 air and missile drills saber-rattle near Russia’s border

The US-led multinational integrated air and missile defense exercise Astral Knight 2024 kicked off near the border with Russia’s Kaliningrad region, Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh stated at a briefing on May 7.

With scheduled live-fly operations across the territories of Poland and the Baltic countries, the two-week drills are set to involve around 5,000 personnel from six participating nations – the US, UK, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Denmark and Greece will observe the exercise.

Over 50 aircraft will be involved in the exercise that is “part of the Defense Department's large scale global exercise 2024 program," according to the Pentagon press secretary.

The Astral Knight 2024 saber-rattling comes in lockstep with the torrent of bellicose statements from Western officials about deploying troops to Ukraine.

Russia announced tactical nuclear missile drills on Monday. The training exercises will be held in response to "provocative threats by Western nations against Russia," Moscow underscored.

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❗️ LIVE: Foreign Minister Lavrov Lays Floral Tributes at WWII Memorial Plaques

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Two energy stations have sustained damage after blasts rocked western Ukraine’s Lvov Region, with one of the facilities catching fire, the head of the regional administration said on Wednesday.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko earlier reported that power generation and transmission stations were damaged amid explosions in five regions of the country, including the Lvov region. Later, the Ukrainian national energy company, Ukrenergo, said that equipment at one of its facilities in central Ukraine had sustained damage.

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🇬🇪 Georgian State Security Service: volunteers in Ukraine trying to stage provocations at rallies against foreign agents law

Some Georgians currently fighting in Ukraine may return to Georgia to take part in provocations against the law on foreign agents, the country's State Security Service said on social media.

"Georgian citizens abroad are involved in these criminal plans, in particular a certain part of Georgians fighting in Ukraine, who declare their readiness to come to Georgia and raise violence against the police," the statement read.

According to the intelligence agency’s information, these actors intend to blockade government buildings, attack special forces with Molotov cocktails, stones, batons, as well as block transport hubs, central avenues, and railways.

Cryptocurrency is being used to finance these plans, the special service noted.

"Rally organizers want the protests lead to human casualties" to increase radicalism, the authorities stressed.

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🇷🇺 Watch Russia's unique I-16 combat fighter taking to the skies

Russia's only remaining authentic Soviet-era I-16 combat fighter, a warplane which played a key role in the battles of the Great Patriotic War was restored to celebrate the 79th anniversary of the USSR’s Victory in WW2. The relic aircraft took to the skies and will take part in the Victory Day parade on May 9 in Novosibirsk.

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How will NATO fight Russia when the bloc's soldiers don’t even know how to jump with a parachute?

During a NATO exercise in Sweden, 11 alliance servicemen were injured during parachute jumps in Sweden’s province of Smaland, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported, referring to a statement by a liaison of the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters.

Those injured are citizens of the United States, Hungary, and Italy.

A total of 600 to 800 soldiers participated in parachute training as part of the Swift Response drills, according to the report.

Sweden officially became a NATO member in March 2024.

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🗣 French troops will become targets for Russian armed forces if they appear in the conflict zone, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned.

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📹 Ukraine's security service executes mobilized soldiers

The commander of the Yug battalion, Major Mussa Iblayev, informed Sputnik that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had fired upon mobilized Ukrainian soldiers near Orekhov on the Zaporozhye front line.

He shared footage showing two Russian drones attacking a hideout belonging to Ukrainian forces. Following the attack, the video shows Ukrainian soldiers who appear to be wounded and suffering concussions inside the dugout.

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A 300-meter-long St. George ribbon was unfurled at the Saur Mogila memorial near Donetsk

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The Kiev regime is quite unpredictable, and interference in the Ukrainian conflict on the ground by the military of NATO countries poses a huge danger, Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

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❗️ Units of Russia’s Battlegroup Zapad have liberated the village of Kislovka in the Kharkov region and Novokalinovo in the DPR, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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❗️ The Russian military has struck facilities in Ukraine with precision weapons, including Kinzhal missiles, the Defense Ministry said.

The targets were energy facilities and military-industrial complex enterprises – all designated facilities were hit, the ministry said. Ukraine's ability to produce military equipment has been significantly reduced, the MoD added.

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'We also slaugthered innocent people in massive numbers': former US general offers bizarre defense of Israel's war on Gaza civilians

"Before we all get self-righteous about what Israel's doing, and I feel horrible for the innocent people in Gaza that are dying. But we shouldn't forget that we, the United States, killed a lot of innocent people in Mosul, Iraq. [...] We slaughtered people in massive numbers – innocent people who had nothing to do with their government," Mark Milley, US retired general who served as the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during the AI Expo for National Competitiveness (SCSPAIExpo2024) held in Washington, DC, on May 7-8.

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Russia is unable to investigate the death of Agence France-Presse journalist Arman Soldin, as he covered the Ukrainian side and Russia does not have information about his work activities, said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for the President of the Russian Federation.

Agence France-Presse has reported the death of their journalist, Arman Soldin, in the Artemovsk area on May 9, 2023. The agency, referring to its employees, said that the journalist died due to shelling on the outskirts of Chasov Yar city. As noted, the deceased held the position of video coordinator for the agency in Ukraine.

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❗️Britain announced the expulsion of the Russian military attaché.

Also, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the removal of diplomatic status from some real estate properties owned by Russia.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik that Moscow will give an adequate response.

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