◾️ NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called to lift restrictions on Ukrainian military strikes using Western weapons against targets on the Russian territory

◾️ Russian Foreign Ministry called the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland another “hoax” invented by the Biden State Department.

◾️ While Germany ‘has no plans’ to recognize Palestine, check out Sputnik's infographic to see which countries have already

More stories:

◾️ Shock: EU official appears to issue mafia-like threat to Georgian prime minister

◾️ Will Western leaders start World War III to distract from their political failure?

◾️ Liberal fascism: analyst says European legacy is ‘one of a criminal gangster cartel’

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UN vote on Srebrenica an ‘offense that will be remembered’ – Balkan affairs analyst

Millions of Serbs like veteran Balkan affairs expert Stevan Gajic were left reeling when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the events of 1995 in Srebrenica. They feel deeply offended by Germany, which co-sponsored the controversial motion, the political analyst told Sputnik.

Memories of atrocities committed by German forces in World War II, and later killings carried out by the Bosnian Muslims are indelibly seared into their memories.

“I can't speak calmly about this resolution,” Gajic said. He recalled the painful events from the Second World War, saying:

“Multiple members of my family were murdered by German occupiers during World War II. My grandfather was a war prisoner in a German prison camp in Norway. And, I think that millions of Serbs who also have similar family stories are deeply offended by Germany.”

Germany, the analyst noted, waged three wars against the Serbs in the 20th century, occupying Serbian lands in WWI and WWII, and “committed genocide both times.”

The pundit recalled that then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and his Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer supported the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia.

German Kosovo Force (KFOR) troops advancing into the country after NATO’s bombing and aggression against the Serbs “murdered two Serbian civilians in cold blood while they were in their car,” the analyst said.

Gajic’s family also suffered at the hands of the Bosnian Muslim forces from Srebrenica.

“They brutally murdered my uncle, Ljubisa Gajic, on June 27, 1992, at the village where generations of my ancestors with my family name came from, were born and lived... This village, Magdovici, does not exist on the map anymore,” he said.

The vote on the Srebrenica resolution at the UN General Assembly “comes as offense, one that will be remembered,” Stevan Gajic stressed.

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🇷🇺 Russian forces shoot down Ukrainian Baba Yaga drone

Russian paratroopers from Battlegroup Dnepr have shot down a Ukrainian Army heavy hexacopter bomber known as Baba Yaga in an air battle in the skies over the Kherson region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has commented on NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's call to lift restrictions on strikes by Ukraine on Russian territory.

“It is useful to know this for everyone who is invited to the so-called ‘peace conference’ in Switzerland,” she wrote on her Telegram channel.

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❗️ Units of Russia’s Battlegroup Tsentr have liberated the settlement of Arkhangelskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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

◾️ Units of Russia’s Battlegroup Sever struck the manpower and equipment of two Ukrainian brigades.

◾️ Units of Russia’s Battlegroup Vostok took more favorable positions and repulsed an enemy attack. Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 220 military personnel and a Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzer was destroyed;

◾️ The Russian Armed Forces struck a temporary deployment point of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine;

◾️ Units of Russia’s Battlegroup Zapad took more favorable positions and hit units of a Ukrainian brigade. The enemy lost up to 210 military personnel;

◾️ Russia’s Battlegroup Yug improved its position along the front line and hit the manpower and equipment of two Ukrainian brigades. The enemy's losses exceeded 475 military personnel;

◾️ Air defenses shot down 25 UAVs, one Hammer guided bomb, and three HARM anti-radar missiles;

◾️ Units Russia’s Battlegroup Tsentr repelled three counterattacks by Ukrainian forces. The enemy lost up to 410 military personnel.

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Hungary resists EU pressure to fund Ukraine with profits from frozen Russian assets

Hungary is yet again refusing to kowtow to EU diktat on funding weapons for Kiev. In this case, it is reportedly holding up legislation to fast-track handing Ukraine profits from illegally frozen Russian assets.

Budapest is objecting to forgoing a requirement for unanimous backing from all 27 member states for each cash disbursement to Kiev, FT reported, citing sources.

“For the time being they are blocking everything connected to the military support to Ukraine,” one insider was cited as saying.

Hungary has staunchly refused to be pressured into funding the ongoing NATO proxy conflict in Ukraine, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban reiterating this stance on Friday.

“We do not approve of this, nor do we want to participate in financial or arms support [for Ukraine,] even within the framework of NATO,” Orban said.

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🥴 How much cringe can one UK PM dish out? Sunak knows

The snap general election announced by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak can only highlight the hard times the country is passing through right now.

But how did Sunak himself weather the crisis? Let's recall the current UK PM’s most cringe-worthy moments.

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❗️ Vladimir Putin has arrived in the Moscow region town of Korolev, where he will hold a meeting with the heads of defense industry enterprises.

The president will tour a number of production facilities of the defense industry, including an assembly shop and a ground test center. He will also be presented with air-to-surface products, planning munitions, long-range air-to-air missiles, and other types of weapons.

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🇨🇳🇧🇷 China and Brazil offer their own peace plan as Western 'Ukraine summit' fumbles

The upcoming gathering dubbed a Ukraine “peace summit” in Switzerland is being undercut on all sides.

Brazil and China have announced a rival initiative to Volodymyr Zelensky’s conference, which is aimed at pushing through his unworkable “peace formula.”

The joint document signed by Celso Amorim, special adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, supported an international peace conference “held at a proper time that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation of all parties as well as fair discussion of all peace plans,” they said in a statement.

The statement underscored that:

◻️ Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis.

◻️ An international peace conference should be held involving both Russia and Ukraine.

◻️ Attacks on civilians and civilian facilities must be avoided.

◻️ Targeting nuclear power plants and other peaceful nuclear facilities must be opposed.

◻️ All possible efforts must be made to prevent nuclear proliferation and avoid nuclear crisis.

◻️ The world should not be divided “into isolated political or economic groups.”

The initiative from Brazil and China came after their presidents refused to attend the Ukraine “peace summit” set for June 15 to 16. The event in Lucerne is plagued by major no-shows: Joe Biden’s attention has been diverted to more pressing issues, such as rubbing elbows with Hollywood celebs at a fundraiser. South Africa has also refused to attend the event. Moscow has dismissed the conference, to which it was not invited, as “meaningless.

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🇷🇺 At a meeting with defense industry leaders, Putin emphasized the importance of staying one step ahead and outpacing the enemy at all times, as this guarantees victory.

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🇷🇺🛰 Better than Starlink? Meet Russia’s ambitious Sphere satellite Internet program

Russian Communications Minister Maksut Shadayev confirmed to lawmakers that work on a Russian analogue of the Starlink satellite Internet system will be a priority for the government over the coming six years.

◻️ Sphere (orig. 'Sfera') will beam high-speed Internet down to Earth and provide satellite digital TV, support for Internet of Things (IoT), Earth imaging services and surveillance capabilities.

◻️ Between 380 and 640 satellites will be placed into orbit by 2030, and more after that.

◻️ The Sphere project incorporates GLONASS satellite navigation and new global and regional satellite constellations and sub-constellations including Yamal, Express and Express RV, Gryphon, Smotr, Skif, Marathon-IoT, and Berkut series.

◻️ All satellites attached to the Sphere program are non-hermetic, and have 60-70 percent unified components, which means faster mass production and dramatically reduced costs.

What are the outcomes of the first satellite launch?

🔹 The first new satellite under the Sphere program was launched in October 2022 aboard a Soyuz-21b rocket, carrying a Skif-D satellite into orbit.

🔹 The Skif-D completed extensive flight and communications testing in November 2023, beaming down Internet at speeds up to 6.5 megabits/s.

🔹 Production series Skifs are expected to arrive in 2026. They are going to provide up to 150 gigabits/s speed, offering stable Internet access to regions of Russia’s North Sea Rout.

When complete, Sphere will contribute greatly to the Russia’s technological, economic and security sovereignty in the face of Western sanctions.

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