International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Raphael Grossi told Sputnik that he discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin the condition of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant located on the left bank of the Dnepr River but did not make any “warnings” about the danger of its rapid restart.

“No, I would never warn the president of the Russian Federation about anything. We discussed the state of the plant and various prospects under different scenarios. But there were no warnings or advice from my side in this sense. He has his vision as a head of state, and I, as an IAEA technical specialist, have my own - on different scenarios in reality.... No more, no less,” Grossi clarified in an interview with Sputnik.

The New York Times ran an article on Wednesday recalling Grossi's visit to Russia in early March, during which the IAEA director general had talks with Putin. According to the publication, Grossi's goal during the meeting was, among other things, to “warn” the Russian leader about the dangers of restarting the nuclear plant too quickly.

The director general added that the sides discussed in general terms “what are the different possibilities of whether the nuclear plant can continue to operate in the same way as in the past or not.”

“But no specific scenario was considered,” he noted.

Grossi added that he expects to continue discussing the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant with Putin, as he considers this dialog “indispensable”.

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White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said that US President Joe Biden does not have June's conference on Ukraine in Switzerland on his schedule.

"I don’t have anything on his schedule to speak to in that regard," Kirby said during a press briefing, when asked whether Biden plans to attend the event.

In April, spokesman of the Russian embassy in Bern Vladimir Khokhlov told Sputnik that Switzerland did not invite Russia to the Ukraine summit, and Moscow is not planning to participate in any case.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during a meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in January, emphasized that Moscow takes into account Bern's departure from neutrality principles and its support for Kiev while shaping bilateral relations.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated in February that Switzerland's potential as an "honest broker" in conflict resolution has been exhausted for Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly signaled readiness for negotiations, yet Kiev has legislatively imposed a ban on them. The West calls on Russia for talks, to which Moscow shows willingness, but Western countries overlook Kiev's consistent refusal for dialog.

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Russian air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Russia cooperate on a “professional” level when it comes to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, including the issues of monthly rotation of the IAEA experts, the agency’s director general, Rafael Grossi, told Sputnik.

“I have said before and I would repeat to you that the cooperation is a professional cooperation, it is very professional at different levels. I am in constant contact with the [Russian] Foreign Ministry, with of course Rosatom and CEO of Rosatom Mr [Alexey] Likhachev, with the Russian nuclear regulator, so we are keeping in contact and exchanging constantly on technical aspects related to the plant,” Grossi said when asked to describe the IAEA’s cooperation with Russia on the Zaporozhye nuclear plant issues, including the logistically complex operation of the monthly rotation of experts.

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The first crewed Boeing Starliner flight to the International Space Station has been delayed for another four days, NASA revealed.

The repeatedly delayed first crewed launch of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed for at least another four days from Tuesday, May 21 to Saturday, May 25, NASA announced in an official blog.

"The teams now are targeting a launch no earlier than 3:09 p.m. EDT [Eastern Daylight Time] Saturday, May 25, for the flight test carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station," the blog said.

The additional time will allow engineering teams to further assess a small helium leak in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft’s service module traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster, the blog explained.

"NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) teams will take additional time to work through spacecraft closeout processes and flight rationale before proceeding with the launch of the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test," the blog said.

Even if the repeatedly delayed and heavily over-budget Starliner succeeds in its first crewed mission with astronauts Wilmore and Williams, industry analysts said this week it looks unlikely to significantly threaten SpaceX and its Dragon spacecraft in dominating the US side of supplying the space station.

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The British Telegraph slammed US troops lagging behind in engineering at NATO exercises

The British newspaper The Telegraph noted the US military's significant deficiencies in engineering capabilities during a NATO exercise in Poland, reporting that it took the American troops an entire hour to assemble a simple Vietnam War-era crossing.

The forces of NATO countries were traversing a 156-meter-long section crossing the Drava River in western Poland as part of the exercise, the article said. The British used the army's M3 amphibious unit, a 24.5-ton truck that folds out into a floating platform. According to the paper, they crossed the river in 18 minutes, leaving the Americans far behind.

"The US soldiers a few hundred meters upstream were still languishing behind linking the pontoons of their bridge, of which the sections were last used in combat in Vietnam, eventually opening after more than an hour," the report taunted.

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The United States has conducted another “subcritical experiment”* as part of nuclear warhead monitoring, the US National Nuclear Security Administration said.

The office claimed that the 34th experiment of its kind does not violate the moratorium on nuclear testing or the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty because there is no “self-sustaining supercritical chain reaction” involved.

“We plan to increase the frequency of these subcritical experiments to collect important data on materials used in nuclear weapons without the technical need to return to underground nuclear test explosions,” the release said.

It is specified that the experiment took place on the evening of May 14 at the nuclear test site in Los Alamos, Nevada. The data obtained will be used, in particular, to improve the simulation model, which is used to verify the safety, reliability and efficiency of the US nuclear arsenal, the statement said.

The United States is the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons during a conflict and continues to employ depleted uranium, a by-product of nuclear power generation, in a military capacity. The practice is highly controversial as experts point to continuing high rates of cancer and birth defects in places where depleted uranium is used, such as Iraq and the Balkans.

*Subcritical detonation involves detonating explosives around radioactive material without reaching critical mass and initiating a chain reaction.

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🇨🇭🇿🇦 "Just a vacation in Switzerland": Expert on why South Africa not attending Ukraine conference

South Africa's decision not to participate in the peace conference on Ukraine in Switzerland is due to the fact that one of the most important parties - Russia - will not be present, making the event meaningless, Prof. Zwelethu Jolobe, Head of Political Studies Department and Associate Professor of Political Science at Cape Town University, told Sputnik Africa.

"There is no real appetite in South Africa about promoting a peace conference that really will have no weight and will have no authority and will have no important legal standing if one of the important actors in the conflict is not present and is prohibited from being present," he said.

Another reason for Pretoria's refusal to participate in the conference is that South Africa views the conflict through a different lens than NATO, he said.

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Russia's trade with the OIC members is up 30% in 2023 - Deputy PM

Russia's trade turnover with the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2023 increased by 30 percent, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said after a plenary meeting of the International Economic Forum "Russia – Islamic World: KazanForum 2024."

“Thanks to this event, we have become even closer with our colleagues - Muslim countries... Our trade turnover is increasing. I can say that over the past year our trade turnover with the countries of [the Organization of] Islamic Cooperation increased by 30 percent,” Khusnullin told reporters.

He said there have been more tourist exchanges, and the volumes of exports and imports of products between Russia and OIC members have increased.

Speaking about the forum, Khusnullin said that this year, more than 20,000 people are taking part in the event, which is more than last year. A total of 85 countries and 84 Russian regions are represented.

“Even our new regions today arrived with their own significant programs, with the search for investors. We have concluded more than 120 agreements, and these are very specific agreements,” he said.

The International Economic Forum of Russia and the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation "Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum" is being held in Kazan on May 14-19. KazanForum is a platform for strengthening trade, economic, scientific, technical, social and cultural ties between Russia and OIC countries. The forum received federal status by a presidential decree in 2023.

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One person was killed and eight others injured in Israeli shelling of the West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said an Israeli fighter jet carried out an airstrike in the area of Jenin.

“As a result of the shelling of Jenin by the occupants, one person was killed, five received fragmentation wounds... were taken to the government hospital in Jenin, and three wounded... were taken to the Ibn Sina hospital,” the Palestinian ministry said on Telegram.

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Zelensky calls advance of Russian Armed Forces in Kharkov region "the first step"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the advance of Russian troops in the Kharkov Region as “only the first step” in a new offensive in an interview with Agence France-Presse, admitting that the Kiev regime lacks air defense systems and needs more military personnel.

Zelensky acknowledged Ukraine currently has only 25% of the air defenses it needs, pleading for 120 to 130 military aircraft to counter Russia's air superiority.

"I believe that today we have about twenty-five percent of what we need to defend Ukraine," Zelensky lamented. "I'm talking about air defense."

"As for the aircraft, I say this openly, so that Russia does not have air superiority, our fleet should have 120 to 130 modern aircraft," he fantasized.

The agency noted Zelensky made a rare admission by saying the Ukrainian army needs more soldiers to rotate and boost morale. “A large number of brigades are empty,” he acknowledged.

"We need to staff the reserves. This is a serious number of brigades, existing brigades which, a large number of them, are empty," Zelensky lamented.

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Was Robert Fico the West’s next “color revolution” target? What we know so far (Part 1)

As Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico recovers from an assassination attempt Wednesday, light is being shed on the highly contentious political and media environment the politician’s allies say contributed to the attempted assassination.

Others are questioning the influence of foreign NGOs and Western government-backed organizations, which frequently play a role in instigating political unrest and even regime change across the world. Fico has earned scorn for his steadfast refusal to contribute military aid to the regime in Ukraine, insisting he does not believe it is in Slovakia’s interest.

Mainstream European media has heavily stigmatized the prime minister as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin for his opposition to arming Ukraine, with a columnist for The Guardian writing that he “showers praise on Moscow.” No examples were cited of the prime minister doing so. Instead, the author employed guilt by association, insisting Fico “models himself on Viktor Orbán, the ‘alt-right’ leader in neighboring Hungary” (Fico is, in fact, a left-wing politician).

The Guardian once again turned to the subject of Slovakia just over a month before the recent assassination attempt on Fico, with a hit piece blaming him for being "out of sync with the liberal west.” As proof of the claim, the testimony of a communications advisor for the opposition party is cited. The article came shortly after Fico ally Peter Pellegrini won the country’s presidency, once again on a platform of neutrality regarding the Ukraine conflict. The Guardian again warned of the country’s “Russian tilt.”

Slovak opposition protests taking place early this year received heavy coverage in the European press, leading some to wonder whether Western leaders would begin openly encouraging unrest as they have done in Georgia. Had the seeds of a regime change operation been planted?

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Was Robert Fico the West’s next “color revolution” target? What we know so far (Part 2)

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has become one of the United State’s most important regime change tools. Along with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) – a government agency described by one of its founders as dedicated to continuing the work of the CIA – USAID forms an important part of US efforts to interfere in foreign countries’ political systems.

Controversial USAID Administrator Samantha Power visited Slovakia in 2022 to meet with members of the then-ruling opposition party. Claims that “the Kremlin weaponizes disinformation” played a central role in Power’s trip as the Biden administration uses the talking point as a pretense to regulate and censor social media. Power met with the organization GLOBSEC during her time in Slovakia, a US government-backed organization dedicated to furthering US and NATO interests in the country.

In 2021, GLOBSEC hosted Belarusian "opposition members" in Slovakia for a meeting dedicated to discussing “systemic reforms.” It was hoped that “Belarusian professionals” could “become familiar with the Slovak experience of market economy transformation” as the US-sponsored Belarusian opposition hoped to overthrow the legitimate president in Minsk.

Such “systemic reforms” have remained a key motivation for the efforts of billionaire donors like George Soros, who stand to benefit from the loosening of economic regulation across Europe. Soros funds a number of organizations that operate in Slovakia, including the Slovak branches of the Open Society Foundation and the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX).

IREX has funded a number of fellowships for liberal activists in the country, including at least one who went on to work for Aktuality. sk – one of the media outlets Fico blamed for stoking political hatred in Slovakia that he warned could lead to a political assassination just one month before Wednesday’s shooting.

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US flip-flops on sending NATO military trainers to Ukraine, raising prospect of dangerous escalation

The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown claimed it is only a matter of time before the United States sends military trainers to Ukraine, according to reporting in The New York Times.

"We'll get there eventually, over time," Brown told reporters per the US newspaper.

The claim contradicts previous statements by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that NATO allies would not send military to Ukraine, as well as a draft document set to be approved at the NATO summit in July. Brown's statement also contradicts assurances by the Biden administration, which insisted as recently as this week that there were no plans to send trainers to Ukraine.

The sending of trainers or advisors would be interpreted as a commitment of US military personnel to the conflict with Russia. The possibility of servicemembers being harmed raises the prospect of even greater direct US participation in the war, possibly even triggering NATO's Article 5 and compelling a broader commitment of the alliance to the conflict.

US involvement in the Vietnam War began with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower's commitment of military advisors to the country in 1956.

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