The Russian army has successfully repelled a massive attack by Ukrainian forces on Sevastopol in Crimea, destroying dozens of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and more than five drone ships, Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said.

No injuries were reported per preliminary information, according to the governor. Razvozhayev reported that emergency services are beginning to restore the city's power supply.

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Russian forces have successfully repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on civilian facilities in Russia’s city of Novorossiysk, with Russian air defenses destroying more than ten drones, Krasnodar Territory Governor Veniamin Kondratyev reported.

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Russia's first Soyuz-5 rocket to be sent to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Q3 2025 - Progress CEO

The first Soyuz-5 rocket of Russia will be sent to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the third quarter of 2025, Dmitry Baranov, the CEO of the Samara-based Progress Rocket and Space Center, has said in an interview with Sputnik.

"We plan to install the rocket at the cosmodrome in the third quarter of this year. The first launch of the carrier rocket is planned for late 2025. We hope all ground infrastructure will be ready by that moment," Baranov said.

He added that manufacturing of the rocket's components for the first launch is underway. The first stage engine and part of the on-board equipment have already been delivered to the enterprise. In addition, the Soyuz-5 tanks and compartments are being manufactured. Most of the elements for assembly and welding of the tanks are already finished, Baranov said.

A new technology of friction stir welding is used in the production of the rocket's tanks, he said, adding that facilities designed specifically for this process allow to produce, among other things, specific types of welds, such as annular and curvilinear welds.
Soyuz-5 is a new medium-class rocket being developed in Russia. It will be able to launch up to 17 tonnes worth of payload into a low circular orbit. The rockets will be launched from the Baikonur site, which had been previously used for Zenit rocket launches. Russia is building the rocket, and Kazakhstan is modernizing the launch complex as part of a joint project.

Three test launches are expected to take place until 2027. Thereafter, it is planned to carry out at least three launches per year between 2028 and 2039.

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Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian city of Tuapse. As a result of a drone crash there was a fire on the premises of an oil refinery, said local authorities in the Krasnodar region.

The fire at the Tuapse oil refinery was localized and no casualties were reported, the authorities added later.

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Shooting of Slovak Prime Minister reveals ‘hateful’ rhetoric against Ukraine heretics

Mindia Gavasheli, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik’s US bureau, joined the Fault Lines program to offer insight on the attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is a critic of the Western-backed Ukraine proxy war on Russia.

“The biggest issue here in Slovakia is how the government is going to handle its relations with the media,” said Gavasheli, offering background on the political controversy that has engulfed the country in recent weeks. “Slovak [public] radio and television, as Fico claims, is filled with loyalists to the previous government… The ruling coalition was preparing to introduce a law to reshape how the state-owned media works, and that caused a lot of outcry here.”

Fico's political allies Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic condemned the attack, Gavasheli noted, and have vowed to visit Slovakia soon in an act of solidarity.

The assassination attempt comes as protests rock the Georgian capital of Tbilisi over a planned foreign agents registration law mirroring legislation in the US and other countries. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, like Fico, is often labeled in Western-aligned media as “pro-Russian.” Kobakhidze has charted a similar course to Fico on the Ukraine proxy conflict, promising his government’s commitment to humanitarian support for Ukrainians but rejecting calls to provide arms to the country.

As in Slovakia, Kobakhidze’s independence on the issue has led to controversy, with the Georgian Prime Minister recently criticizing the tenor of coverage from US-backed media outlets. Kobakhidze has accused the US and its allies of color revolution tactics, attempting to overthrow the leader in retribution for his claimed “pro-Russian” stance.

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❗️Russian air defenses shot down more than 100 drones overnight

Russian air defenses overnight destroyed and intercepted 51 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, 44 over the Krasnodar region, six over the Belgorod region, and one over the Kursk region, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. Naval aviation and patrol boats of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed six Ukrainian unmanned boats in the Black Sea.

“This isn't going to last much longer”: Russia’s plan to disintegrate Ukraine’s army – Scott Ritter

Former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program to weigh in on Antony Blinken’s impromptu concert in Kiev as the Russian army goes on the offensive in the northern Kharkov region.

“I'll just say he has to work on his, c, d, f, b minor transitions,” said Ritter of the secretary of state’s guitarwork. “If we look at the depth of what he was saying… I think he said we got another $2 billion we're going to give [Ukraine].”

“He's talking about long-term joint defense industry efforts, meaning that America's got to work with Ukraine so that sometime in the future, Ukraine will be able to produce its own defense needs…. And he's talking about the potential of having a weapons factory built in Ukraine two years down the road. I mean, Tony Blinken's just off in Never Neverland,” he said, predicting the “imminent collapse of the Ukrainian ability to sustain combat cohesion on the battlefield.”

Moscow has been engaged in a “war of attrition” against Kiev, Ritter noted, with the ultimate stated aim of demilitarizing Ukraine and ending the threat it poses as a proxy for NATO.

“They're not just wearing down the Ukrainians, but they're putting the Ukrainians into a classic horn of a dilemma, meaning they don't have enough forces to defend the area they were already defending. And now a new frontier opened up, and they have to decide what forces they're going to strip from where to send north, weakening the line that they're stripping [and] giving the Russians more opportunities.”

The result, Ritter said, is the gradual thinning out of Ukraine’s armed forces until its military is split and collapses.

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❗️LIVE: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in China's Harbin on the second day of his state visit to China

Sputnik comes to you live as President Vladimir Putin arrives in Harbin, the capital of China’s northernmost province of Heilongjiang.

The Russian leader is expected to take part in the opening ceremonies of the eighth Russian-Chinese EXPO and the fourth Sino-Russian Forum on Interregional Cooperation.

Watch the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website

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📹 Vladimir Putin laid flowers in Harbin at the monument to Soviet soldiers who died in the battles for the liberation of China

The Red Army participated in the liberation of northeastern China from the Japanese invaders in August-September 1945. Some 12,000 Soviet soldiers died in those battles.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Putin has arrived at the opening ceremony of the Russian-Chinese EXPO and the Forum of Interregional Cooperation

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❗️ The partnership between Russia and China reliably ensures energy security and raises the level of prosperity of their peoples, Putin said.

Russia supports China's intention to localize production in Russia and is ready to provide investors with benefits, he added.

❗️ Russia is capable of supplying China's economy with clean, affordable energy, Putin said

❗️ Putin invited Russia’s Chinese partners to the Eastern Economic Forum's (EEF), which is one of the biggest business forums in Russia, where he offered to discuss cooperation with Russia in detail.

The EEF was established in 2015 by Vladimir Putin and is a major platform for signing agreements between businesses both large and small for the joint development of projects.

📹 Russia is ready to provide investors from China with economic incentives and access to the technological base, Putin said.

“Russia not only welcomes the intention of Chinese business to localize production on our territory, we are ready to provide investors from China with economic incentives, assistance, and support, as well as access to Russia's unique technological base and our highly qualified personnel,” he said.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Harbin epitomizes the close ties between Russia and China, Putin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the Chinese city of Harbin as a major scientific and educational center that epitomizes the close ties between Russia and China.

“This is my first time here and, indeed, the city is impressive,” he said.

"By the way, we drove through the city center, its historical part preserves, and you can feel it well, preserves the Russian trace as well. After all, our specialists from Russia, engineers, and scientists once made a remarkable contribution to the economic development of the city, the creation of its industrial base, the construction of large plants and factories, infrastructure facilities," Putin added.

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❗️ Putin's statements during his speech at the EXPO in Harbin:

▪️ The partnership between Russia and China reliably ensures energy security and raises the level of prosperity of their peoples;

▪️ The partnership between Russia and China reliably ensures energy security and raises the level of prosperity of their peoples;

▪️ Russia is capable of supplying China's economy with clean, affordable energy;

▪️ Russia supports China's intention to localize production in Russia, is ready to provide investors with benefits, and the Kaluga region is determined to develop cooperation in the automotive sector.

▪️ Cooperation between the Russian Far East and northeastern China has great potential.

▪️ The reduction of cargo and transportation inspection time at the border will continue.

He invited Russia’s Chinese partners to the Eastern Economic Forum's (EEF), which is one of the biggest business forums in Russia, where he offered to discuss cooperation with Russia in detail.

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▪️ Russia is ready to support China's investors. Check out other Putin’s statements in Harbin

▪️ Russian air defenses shot down more than 100 drones overnight

▪️ Shooting of Slovak Prime Minister reveals ‘hateful’ rhetoric against Ukraine heretics

▪️ Why does New Caledonia matter to France?

▪️ US House of Representatives passed a bill to compel the provision of certain arms to Israel

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Russia will no longer invite the US to May 9 Victory Day parades

US political elites deny the truth about World War II and gloss over the USSR's role in the victory over Germany, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

“In their pursuit of more and more new narratives just to vilify Russia, the Americans deny the key role of the Soviet Union in the victory over Nazi Germany. They are unable to change their approach, and that is why we will not invite them. If something changes in terms of the emergence of more common sense in the approach of official Washington, then of course,” the deputy minister said.

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❗️ The US with its Cold War mentality is responsible for bringing about and worsening the Ukrainian crisis, China's Foreign Ministry says.

Сhina advises the US not to blame Beijing for the Ukrainian crisis, the Ministry added.

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🇿🇦 South Africa’s head of state will not attend the conference on Ukraine in Switzerland because of his participation in post-election events, the president's office told Sputnik.

The Swiss authorities said they had sent invitations to the conference to countries of the “Global South,” expressing hope that these invitations would be accepted.