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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Germany’s blind anti-Russia policy forecasted to hammer domestic economy

The German economy will face stagnation throughout 2024, according to a bleak prediction put forward by the German Economic Institute (IW) in a report cited by Reuters.

The private industry-sponsored research institute has pointed out that Germany, once considered Europe's industrial powerhouse, will now have to resign itself to its new role as a straggler, falling behind its European peers.

In particular, the manufacturing and construction sectors remain mired in recession, according to the IW report. Yet, despite consumption picking up, “That's not enough for a real upswing,” IW economist Michael Groemling was cited as saying.

The German economy has been plagued by a slew of problems since jumping on the US-led sanctions bandwagon against Russia over the Ukraine crisis. This misguided move drove Germany's economy into a technical recession last year, marked by deindustrialization and stinging inflation rates.

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Timur Ivanov is charged with a bribe of about $11 mln, his lawyer told Sputnik. The deputy minister has been removed from office, the defense confirmed.

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Russian Armed Forces deliver massive strike on strategic targets across Ukraine

Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones targeting energy and military-industrial facilities across Ukraine in the early hours of May 8.

The strikes reportedly targeted five Ukrainian regions – Poltava, Kirovograd, Lvov, Ivano-Frankovsk, and Vinnitsa – as well as part of the Zaporozhye region currently under the Kiev regime’s control. Air defense systems were also operating in Kiev and the capital’s environs.

▪️ The Russian military carried out a series of strikes on industrial facilities in Kiev, according to coordinator of the Nikolayev underground network Sergey Lebedev. Explosions were heard near the Darnitsa car repair plant and the Antonov aircraft manufacturing plant.

▪️ Two critical energy infrastructure facilities were hit in the Lvov region: an energy generation facility in the Chervonograd district, and a large underground gas storage facility in the Stryi district.

▪️ A missile impact caused a fire at the Dobrotvor Thermal Power Plant (Lvov region).

▪️ Blasts were heard in the Ivano-Frankovsk region in the area of the Burshtyn Thermal Power Plant.

▪️ Detonations echoed around the Ladyzhin TPP (Vinnitsa region).

▪️ In the Dnepropetrovsk region, explosions were registered in the city of Kamenskoye, the site of the Srednedneprovskaya hydroelectric power station.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces attacked infrastructure facilities in Stryi (Lvov region), including a military airfield being prepared to receive Western F-16 fighters, according to Lebedev. A fire broke out after impact. A railway junction was hit, along with a factory housing Western military equipment.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly stated that it targets the Kiev regime’s energy and military-industrial facilities, as well as related infrastructure.

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Speaking of American "technological superiority"

US Boeing is back in the headlines:

The Boeing 767 plane's nose hits the runway as the FedEx flight makes an emergency landing in Istanbul without its landing gear.

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❗️EU permanent representatives have tentatively agreed on the use of proceeds from Russia's assets for military aid to Ukraine, the Belgian presidency has said.

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