Immediately after Ukrainian forces retreated from their positions, Ukrainian artillery has launched attacks on civilians in the settlements they left behind in the Kharkov region, a storm trooper of the Russian Sever Battlegroup with the call sign “Vin” told Sputnik.

“There are no military facilities [in the village of Pylnaya in the Kharkov region], the enemy is trying to find us by shelling, launching strikes and aiming for roads, houses and streets, shelling the entire settlement. [They] launch cluster munitions [and] Grads [multiple rocket launchers] fire," the Russian fighter added.

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🤡 US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel considers statements by Israeli officials calling for the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people to be "problematic."

“It’s rhetoric, it’s a distraction. And sometimes the language and the verbiage and the word choice that is used is incredibly problematic,” the official demurred.

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Putin visits Beijing as Biden ‘bogged down’ in efforts to undermine Russia, China

Newly-reelected Russian leader Vladimir Putin is set to visit Beijing this week, the first diplomatic trip of his new term as president. The partnership reflects a growing global trend, according to reporter Anna Ge, as US attempts to confront its adversaries militarily and economically have been undermined by the realities of a newly-multipolar world.

“Washington has been trying to sell the false narrative that China is assisting Moscow… to force a connection between China and Russia, with the aim to tarnish, isolate and suppress both countries,” said the journalist on Sputnik’s Fault Lines program. “The reality is China has constantly sought peaceful negotiations acceptable to both sides in the Ukraine crisis.”

While the Biden administration has sought to discourage cooperation with Moscow and Beijing, Ge noted countries that have ignored the advice have reaped economic rewards.

“China has been advocating the concept of win-win cooperation,” she said. “Notable projects such as the Hungary-Serbia Railway and the Smederevo steel mill in Serbia have been launched through partnerships with China… In 2023… China's direct investment in Hungary reached €7.6 billion, accounting for nearly 60% of the total foreign direct investment in the country and creating more than 10,000 jobs in Hungary.”

Hungary and Serbia are among the European nations with the closest relationships with China, but Ge noted that Western allies like France and Germany are seeking to pursue cooperation in various fields, as well. Meanwhile Western European countries have been unable to cut economic ties with Moscow completely, reportedly purchasing over €1 billion worth of Russian oil through third countries such as India.

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Drunken Ukrainian troops killed and maimed each other in the village of Semyonovka, local resident Sergei told Sputnik.

According to his account, Ukrainian soldiers were driving military equipment in a clearly inebriated state. The drunken men operated transport vehicles without lights and careened off a bridge while charging tanks towards each other, the villager explained.

Sergei estimates that about 200 Ukrainian soldiers stationed in the village have died over the last year.

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Russian air defenses destroyed several air targets approaching Belgorod, but two civilians have been injured, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Seven households, two cars and power supply lines have been damaged in the village of Dubovoye as a result of the shelling by the Kiev regime. A household has also been damaged in the village of Golovino, the governor added.

All emergency services are working on the sites, and information on the consequences is being clarified, Gladkov said.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held an emergency meeting with the heads of intelligence and the ministry of justice after his ally, Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli, had warned of a possible coup d'état being prepared by law enforcement agencies, the Turkiye newspaper reported.

The dismissal of several police officers in Ankara's security directorate accused of links to criminal organization Ayhan Bora Kaplan has caused widespread concern. Their homes had been searched to seize digital materials. Bahceli has said the situation could be a conspiracy against the government, and the suspension of several police officers alone cannot be avoided. The official, while addressing a party meeting in parliament, has warned of a possible repeat of the 2016 coup attempt in Turkiye.

"President Erdogan held the emergency overnight meeting with Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc and National Intelligence Organization Director Ibrahim Kalin at the president's residence following a warning from Bahceli," the report said.

The Turkish president is expected to speak on the topic at an expanded meeting of the ruling party in the parliament on Wednesday.

The Turkish government has accused Members of the organization of US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen (FETO) of being responsible for a coup attempt in 2016. Over 80,000 people have been arrested in Turkiye and some 150,000 civil servants and military personnel have been dismissed or suspended from their jobs over suspected links to FETO. Gulen, who has lived in self-exile in the US since 1999, rejected the accusations and condemned the coup attempt.

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Two explosions occurred at a fuel depot in the Rostov region as a result of a Ukrainian attack by two drones. There was no fuel fire and no casualties, Governor Vasily Golubev said.

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Biden sending $1 billion arms package to Israel in latest flip-flop – report

US President Joe Biden is preparing to send $1.25 billion worth of weapons and ammunition to Israel despite putting a separate arms transfer on hold just days ago, The Washington Post reported.

The news emerged late in the day based on reports from three congressional aides speaking anonymously. The package will reportedly include $700 million worth of tank ammunition, $500 million for tactical vehicles and $60 million for mortar rounds. It is currently unconfirmed when exactly the weapons package will be sent.

The news comes just one week after the Biden administration announced a hold on the provision of 2,000 pound bombs to Israel, citing concerns over the potential for mass civilian casualties as Israel attacks Rafah. The crowded southern Gazan city is currently home to over 1.5 million Palestinians, many of them refugees from other parts of the territory.

Biden has previously suggested an Israeli incursion into the city would constitute a “red line,” before immediately walking the comment back during a heavily criticized interview on MSNBC.

The US president was pilloried by pro-Israel lawmakers after announcing the hold on heavy weaponry last week as White House spokespeople quickly clarified the administration would continue to provide Israel with various other forms of lethal aid.

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❗️Russian air defense systems destroyed 10 US-made ATACMS missiles over Crimea overnight, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

Conflict at home and abroad as clock ticks down on US empire

A provocative new essay by author Patrick Lawrence suggests the collapse of US empire is on the horizon, with the repression of pro-Palestine campus protests serving as the most recent evidence of a global power in recession.

“The special gravity of this… cannot be overstated. Destroy colleges and universities as sanctuaries of uncircumscribed, purposefully exploratory thought and speech – academic freedom in the common parlance – and you are a good way along to destroying the nation’s intellectual dynamism, and so the nation’s future,” writes Lawrence.

Author and international security analyst David Oualaalou joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program to discuss the piece, reflecting on the turmoil increasingly experienced by the United States both at home and abroad.

"How can the government just send in this riot police like we are in a war zone here. Or sending snipers on the roof of the colleges? That, to me, was like degrading. And we have the audacity to say we are a democratic nation? Really? How so?" Oualaalou wondered.

“The administration is sending our tax dollars to Ukraine – that is getting wasted and there is nothing in it for us American citizens,” said Oualaalou.

Internationally the US appears to be losing its clout in global institutions, with host Garland Nixon pointing to a letter drafted by 12 US senators threatening the International Criminal Court against taking action against Israel. Whereas previously the country enjoyed a level of influence and respect that allowed it to mold global opinion, “it appears that the US [now] sees the UN only as a political tool,” remarked Garland.

"Well, that's just the double standard but also it shows even a much bigger problem, and that is the end of American dominance and influence on the global stage is coming to an end. It is a reality we cannot shy away from facing," Oualaalou emphasized.

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❗️ Overnight, Russian air defenses destroyed two HARM missiles, two Hammer bombs, two Olkha MLRS rockets, and nine drones over the Belgorod region, five drones were also destroyed over the Kursk region and three drones were intercepted over the Bryansk region, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported

US is 'hurting itself': Washington threatens sanctions against India in response to Iran deal

During a US State Department briefing on Monday, US spokesperson Vedant Patel cautioned India of a retaliatory punishment from Washington with sanctions should they choose to do business with Tehran. The announcement came hours after Iran and India signed a 10-year contact to develop and operate the Chabahar port.

“In the long term, the US is hurting itself more than anyone else, because once the US dollar becomes less important, that means that there will be an excess of dollars and that inflation of US dollars that we see in the US - the constant printing of money - is going to be increasingly felt at home in the US,” Dr. Mohammad Marandi, a professor of English literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran, told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour.

The sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran will stay in effect and be upheld with no exemption for New Delhi, the US spokesperson said. India has not responded to the US threats, but Tehran has said that Washington is “addicted” to imposing sanctions.

“By effectively attacking India in this manner [the US] is creating a great wider gap between itself and that country at a time when we are approaching the next Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and also the next BRICS summit. And, Russia, in particular, and China and Iran also, are very keen on using the coming months to coordinate with one another to create those institutions,” Marandi emphasized.

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