Britain’s attempts to edge Russia out of high assay uranium market unlikely to succeed

It will take quite some time for the recent British initiative involving a soon-to-be-built high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) plant to produce the results London wants, says Alexey Anpilogov, a political scientist and expert in the field of nuclear energy.

He notes that the Cheshire plant is expected to produce its first batch of HALEU only in 2031, and by that time “a lot is going to change on the market.”

“I don’t think that Russia is going to sit idle,” he says, adding that the plants owned and operated by Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom will likely continue to further improve their HALEU production technology, ensuring the high quality and low cost of their product.

Furthermore, Anpilogov points out that the United States and Britain will likely focus on their own respective HALEU markets, which are not particularly large since both countries are “experiencing difficulties” with the development of the reactors that would use the high-assay low enriched uranium.

“Meanwhile, Russia will have some serious contracts all over the world where Rosatom is actively conducting an expansion in the nuclear sphere,” he remarks. “These are the countries of that very Global South: it’s China and India, it is other countries that are now considering nuclear power. And I don’t think that the US and Britain would have it easy there in terms of manufacturing costs and in terms of making connections in areas where Rosatom already has very serious contacts.”

Anpilogov also observes that Britain has its work cut out considering that London does not have a sufficient domestic source of uranium, not to mention that the UK has no prior experience in HALEU production and will have to start from scratch.

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Russia became Spain's second-largest gas supplier in April, exporting 5,342 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of liquefied natural gas, which corresponds to almost 20% of the total supplies to the European country last month, according to fresh statistics compiled by Spanish energy company Enagas showed.

The first place on the list of Spain's gas supplies in April was occupied by Algeria, which supplied over 46% of the total import, while the United States ranked third with 8%.

Spain has been actively promoting itself as a gas hub capable of resolving the European energy crisis caused by the reduction in Russian gas supplies. Currently, Spain is one of the EU member states with the most diversified list of natural gas suppliers. In 2023, it had as many as 17 of them.

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US offers Israel secret data to evade Israel’s operation in Rafah

The administration of US President Joe Biden is offering Israel secret intelligence that will help locate leaders of Palestinian movement Hamas and find its underground infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for Israel refusing a full-scale military operation in Rafah, The Washington Post newspaper reported, citing sources.

US officials have also offered to help provide thousands of shelters for Palestinians evacuated from Rafah, the report said.

Washington is also working with Cairo to find and close tunnels that cross the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip in the Rafah area, which Hamas used to replenish military supplies, the report added.

In the night from Monday to Tuesday, the Israeli army started a military operation in the eastern parts of Rafah and took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Israeli authorities say the operation is aimed at eliminating the remaining battalions of Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. On Friday, Israeli media reported that Israel's military cabinet had approved expanding the ground operation in Rafah.

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Russian Rostec CEO Chemezov told Sputnik that the state corporation's specialists have already inspected the captured equipment, including an Abrams tank.

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Will Xi pry Europe from the US?

“[Xi] doesn’t really want to face a united front of the United States and the European Union in the way Russia has faced on Ukraine. So he’s trying his best to [pry] the Europeans away,” Dr. George Szamuely, a senior research fellow at the Global Policy Institute told Sputnik’s Fault Lines.

The selection of the three countries Chinese President Xi Jinping picked for his European visit was intentional, partially because each of them has significant historic anniversaries with China, but more importantly, Xi likely sees a chance to make more inroads in each of them.

“[Xi] went to Serbia and Hungary, two fairly small countries that don't really carry that much weight, but will nonetheless represent a certain independent way of thinking in Europe. The kind of thinking that Xi Jinping would like to encourage,” Szamuely said.

But it is France that could be the real prize for Xi.

“Last year, when Macron visited China, on his way back, he talked a lot about Europe needing to carve out strategic autonomy, Europe needing to pursue an independent foreign policy, and, above all, he said we should not blindly follow the United States. Now, Macron didn't really pursue that,” Szamuely stated. “But probably, Xi Jinping thought, well, that's a good sign, you know, maybe there's still some hope in Europe.”

“As long as there's this tension and Europe doesn't really know which way it wants to go, does it really want to pursue prosperity and good relations with China? Or, does it want to keep in with the United States?” Szamuely asked.

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Israel creates new hospital in central part of Gaza Strip

Israel has established a new field hospital near the village of Deir al-Balah in the central part of the Gaza Strip to provide humanitarian assistance to residents of the enclave, including those forced to leave the city of Rafah, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

"Today (Saturday), the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced the establishment of a new field hospital run by the International Medical Corps in the Gaza Strip in coordination with the IDF and COGAT. The field hospital was established in the area of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip and began operating in recent days," the IDF said on Telegram.

The IDF added that this was the eighth field hospital opened by Israel in the Gaza Strip since October 7. About 150 medical workers from around the world are expected to work in the new hospital, the statement read.

"As part of the humanitarian measures to facilitate the temporary evacuation of civilians from the eastern Rafah area, some of the existing field hospitals were transferred to the expanded Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi in coordination with the international community, where there is an increased supply of tents, food, water, and medicine," the statement said.

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More than 300 apartments in 85 apartment buildings, as well as 14 commercial buildings, were damaged in the massive Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Two people among those injured are in extremely serious condition as a result of the shelling, he added.

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Russian air defense systems destroyed two Tochka-U tactical missiles over the Russian Belgorod region, three Ukrainian drones over the territory of the Bryansk region, two drones over the Lipetsk region overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

One drone was intercepted over the territory of the Volgograd region, it added.

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Ukraine’s anti-aircraft defense from NATO territory? German MPs give the green light

Several German Bundestag members have approved the idea of Western “cross-border” anti-aircraft units shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

“This would relieve the burden on Ukrainian air defenses and allow them to protect the front line,” Roderich Kiesewetter of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) argued.

He referred to the US, the UK and France helping Israel repulse Iran’s massive missile attack in April, which Kiesewetter claimed shows that “the involved states do not necessarily have to become ‘warring parties’ to a conflict.”

“The airspace over the Ukrainian border regions” could in principle “be protected by air defense systems stationed on NATO territory,” Marcus Faber from the Free Democratic Party said, admitting, though, that “[air defense] batteries and rockets are already in short supply.”

The remarks come after Nico Lange, senior researcher at the Munich Security Conference, stated in an interview with the Tagesschau TV news show that NATO allies should use “the numerous Patriot anti-aircraft systems to down “all Russian missiles and drones” over Ukraine from the territory of Poland.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that Europeans are deliberately stirring up tensions around the situation in Ukraine because they realize the fact that Kiev faces a complete collapse.

“The moment is very important and, of course, this is very provocative on their [Europeans’] part,” Peskov added.

Western countries have ramped up military and financial aid to the Kiev regime since the start of the Russian special military operation, with Moscow condemning that ongoing assistance as a NATO proxy war with Russia.

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Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said at a plenary session that it would take more than six hours to approve the candidacies of the deputy prime ministers

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First Western F-16 fighter jets may arrive in Ukraine within a few weeks, UK newspaper The Standard writes, quoting a senior military source.

The fighters should be delivered to Ukraine by June or July, the report said on Saturday, adding that the source did not specify from which countries the jets would arrive.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier said that Russia would start hunting down Ukrainian F-16s as soon as they arrive. He estimated that Russian air defense systems will need only about “20 days of work” to destroy the first batch of these jets supplied to Kiev regime. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that F-16 would change nothing for Kiev.

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❗️Belgorod was subjected to massive shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As a result of a direct shell hit on an apartment building, the entire stairwell collapsed, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

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Footage from the scene of the collapse of the stairwell of an apartment building in Russia's Belgorod

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❗️At least seven people were injured as a result of the collapse of part of an apartment building in Belgorod, a Sputnik correspondent reports

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