Three Ukrainian drones were shot down on their way to attack mass gatherings in Mariupol on May 9, Russian Victory Day, with explosive warheads packed with shrapnel, the Russian Federal Security Service has reported.

Explosives with a combined weight of 36 kilograms were safely destroyed at a special firing range.

In just one week, according to the FSB, 312 Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Video by the Federal Security Service Directorate for the DPR

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🇷🇺 The Russian crew of a 2S19 Msta-S 152-mm self-propelled gun destroyed a fortified position of the Ukrainian forces on the right bank of the Dnepr river, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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❗️ The International Committee of the Federation Council of Russia will hold consultations on Sergey Lavrov's candidacy for the post of head of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday, the Federation Council said.

▪️ Why has Putin appointed one of Russia’s top economists as his new minister of defense?

▪️ Reshuffle in the Russian security agencies: check out the details

▪️ Ukrainian shelling of residential area in Russia's Belgorod: updates on the toll of dead and injured

▪️ Ukrainian Army General Staff admits the “tactical success” of the Russian troops in the Kharkov area

More stories:

▪️ US Secretary of State Blinken admits Israel has killed more civilians than Hamas fighters

▪️ Israeli whistleblowers reveal to media gruesome conditions Palestinian prisoners were kept in

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📹 Nine swindlers have been detained for sending the money of defrauded Muscovites to Ukrainian forces, the Russian Interior Ministry has reported.

Nine residents of different regions of Russia have been arrested for fraud and extortion against Muscovites, who they robbed of more than 50 million rubles ($546,000), part of which went to finance Ukrainian forces.

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❗️ Today, Russia's defense industry is the most powerful in the world in terms of production of major types of weapons and military equipment, said Denis Manturov, who has been nominated for the position of first deputy prime minister.

The geopolitical situation dictates the need to constantly improve the technical characteristics of weapons and equipment, he added.

What experts interviewed by Sputnik say about the reshuffle in Russia's security sector:

▪️ Andrey Belousov is a statesman and patriot with vast practical experience, known for his strategic outlook, said military analyst Igor Korotchenko.

▪️ The new defense minister will allow the integration of all the necessary tasks to implement effective ideas in order to achieve victory, Korotchenko stressed.

▪️ Belousov is the best candidate for the coordination of all branches of the state, for the establishment and development of the defense industry, for the organization of mass production of weapons, said the head of the State Duma Committee on Property Sergey Gavrilov.

▪️ Shoigu's experience, gained in the conditions of the special military operation in Ukraine, will be necessary for the work of the Security Council apparatus in the current conditions, Korotchenko noted.

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📹 Sergey Lavrov has arrived at the Federation Council of Russia, where the relevant committee will hold consultations on his reappointment as Foreign Minister, Sputnik reports.

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❗️ If the West wants to fight on the battlefield in the Ukraine conflict, Moscow is ready for it, Lavrov said during consultations in the Federation Council of Russia.

💰 The Ministry of Finance reported on Russia's budget revenues in January-April

Oil and gas revenues increased by 82.2% to 4.157 trillion rubles ($45 bln)
Non-oil and gas income increased by 36.8%, to 7.526 trillion ($82 bln)

The budget deficit amounted to 1.484 trillion ($16 bln), 0.8% of GDP.

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📹 Andrei Belousov, who is being appointed as minister of defense, has arrived at the Federation Council of Russia

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🗣 It is necessary to solve the problem of bureaucracy associated with the confirmation of benefits for servicemen, Andrei Belousov told the Federation Council of Russia.

❗️ Amid Russian offensive, Ukraine has appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new commander of the Kharkov Battlegroup, replacing Yuriy Galushkin

Russia’s S7 masters overhauling of Airbus and Boeing engines amid sanctions

Russia’s S7 Technics engineering company has embraced a complex type of major overhaul of engines installed on Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 passenger jets that are frequently used by Russian air carriers, sources told the Kommersant daily.

Western sanctions prevented the air carriers from delivering the CFM56-5B and 7B engines abroad, prompting them to purchase used equipment, according to the sources. Although some types of overhaul have traditionally been carried out in Russia, the most complex work related to the restoration of the engines’ hot sections has not been mastered before.

S7 Technics confirmed that its engineers have already completed 12 overhauls of CFM56-5B’s and 7B’s hot sections in the company’s workshop at Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow. A hot section refers to the portion of a gas turbine engine that operates at high temperatures. It includes the combustion, turbine, and exhaust parts.

Western countries slapped a whole array of crippling sanctions on various sectors of the Russian economy shortly after the beginning of Moscow’s special military operation. Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that the situation with the economy was stable and sustainable, and that the country had overcome all the sanctions-related problems, moving on to “the next stage of development.”

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📹 Smoke is rising over Krasnodon in the Lugansk People's Republic where the industrial zone was hit, Sputnik's correspondent reports.

The strike was allegedly carried out with US-made ATACMS missiles. At least three missiles were used, a source told Sputnik.

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❗️ The Russian Sever Battlegroup has improved its tactical position in the areas of Volchansk, Neskuchnoe, Liptsy and Veseloye in the Kharkov region, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported.

Enemy losses in this sector amounted to up to 250 people and two tanks over the day. Four Ukrainian multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) were destroyed, including a Uragan, a Czech-made Vampire and a Croatian-made RAK-SA-12.

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

▪️ Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 jet fighter overnight;

▪️ Units of Russian Vostok Battlegroup took more favorable positions and defeated a brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard;

▪️ Ukrainian forces lost up to 395 in fighting with the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup;

▪️ Russian Armed Forces struck Ukrainian forces' manpower and military equipment in 129 areas;

▪️ Russian air defense forces shot down six Tochka-U missiles, 39 shells of the Alder, Vampire and HIMARS systems, five Hammer bombs, five HARM missiles, four Storm Shadow missiles.

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❗️ Three people were killed and four injured as a result of shelling of Krasnodon in the Lugansk People's Republic, the head of the republic said

‘More lethal than ever’ – western media weeps about Ukrainian inability to intercept Russian missiles

Over the last six months, Ukrainian air defenses were able to intercept only 10 percent of Russian ballistic missiles, the WSJ reports.

Last month Ukraine managed to down only 30 percent of all missiles fired by Russia, the authors of the article say.

Firing large barrages, Russia overwhelms Ukrainian air defenses, rendering them unable to reload quickly.

The WSJ report added that even the most pessimistic Ukrainian statistics should be taken with a grain of salt, since interception data is used by Kiev regime “for propaganda purposes”.

Russia is producing up to 170 missiles per month. Ukrainian air defense systems are ineffective against ballistic missiles, a deficit that becomes even starker with hypersonic missiles.

Russia has carried out precision strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure in response to the terror bombing of the Crimean Bridge in October 2022, exclusively targeting only military and energy assets.

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Russian successes around Kharkov could push Ukraine into ceasefire, Western media reports

In the event of a potential loss of Kharkov, the Ukrainian forces, feeling "outnumbered and exhausted," may opt for truce negotiations, according to a report by the New York Times.

"Ukrainian troops are retreating, and Ukrainian commanders are blaming each other for the defeats. […] As anxiety spreads, some hard questions loom: How far will this go? Is it just a momentary setback for the underdog Ukrainians? Or a turning point?" the outlet writes.

The recent advances by the Russian Armed Forces in the area have greatly demoralized the Ukrainian soldiers, the article stresses.

Over the past week, the Russian forces have regained control of more than a dozen settlements in the Kharkov region, as stated by Russia's Defense Ministry.

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Things to go differently with Belousov as Russia's new defense minister, FT suggests

Andrei Belousov is "absolutely not corrupted. And that’s going to be very different from what we have now in the ministry of defense," an individual who is claimed to have known Russian President Vladimir Putin and the nominee for Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov for decades told the Financial Times.

"He’s a workaholic. He’s a technocrat. He’s very honest, and Putin knows him very well," the person added.

Earlier, Russian war correspondent Yuri Kotenок suggested that Belousov would audit the entire financial and economic block of the defense ministry.

"He is more than well versed in this. A professional economist of the top level," Kotenok wrote in his Telegram channel.

On May 12, Vladimir Putin put forward Andrei Belousov as his pick for Defense Minister.

The official served as the first deputy prime minister in the previous government.

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