Scott Ritter: It's not about Ukraine's defense, it's about NATO attacking Russia

Western countries are permitting the use of their weapons by Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia, and this de facto means their direct engagement in the hostilities, according to former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter.

"It's not Ukrainian space reconnaissance, it's not Ukrainian communications, it's not Ukrainian technicians that are doing the targeting. It is the French, it is the Germans. It is the British. It is the Americans. And therefore, if these missiles, these weapons systems that are now being greenlit by the respective Western nations, to be used by Ukraine to attack targets inside Russia, if this happens, this is no longer about Ukraine defending itself. It's about NATO attacking Russia," Ritter told Sputnik.

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Polish state news agency RAR published and then cancelled a report on partial mobilization starting July 1.

In the original text, it said that 200,000 Poles would be called up for service, all of whom would be sent to Ukraine.

A few minutes later, the agency denied the information. The prime minister's office said it was looking into the situation. According to the media outlet, it was a hack.

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🇪🇺🇷🇺 Who will be hurt most by EU’s decision to stop imports of Russian grain?

The EU decision to slap prohibitive tariffs on grain products from Russia and Belarus will hurt the bloc’s own farmers, Russian Grain Union President Arkady Zlochevsky told Sputnik.

Brussels officials are "making the best of a bad business," he noted, as they want to be seen as trying to limit the negative impact of EU-mandated Ukrainian grain-dumping on farmers in Central and Eastern Europe.

💬 “Will the measure to stop imports of Russian grain help them? Of course not. If they choked off Ukrainian grain in the same way, perhaps it might help,” Zlochevsky said.

“All that was needed was to level out the terms for the supply of Ukrainian and all other grain to the European market,” the pundit noted. “Introducing the same duties, quotas, etc.”

💬 “So they will kill off our [Russia's] direct supplies, which never affected farmers' sales," he stressed, as Ukrainian low-cost, duty-free grain will continue to saturate the EU market, further depressing prices for local farmers.

Russia isn’t the one putting pressure on farmers in Europe, “Ukrainian supplies are,” Zlochevsky said.

He suggested that “workaround routes” would be found, but would be “more expensive,” and argued that the tariffs “will not have much effect on overall world prices.”

When the EU proposal for tariffs on Russian grain was revealed in March, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded by warning the measures will only worsen the world food situation “already brought to absurdity by the West."

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🇬🇪 Ruling party put Georgia first by rejecting joining anti-Russian sanctions

In contrast to the country's opposition, the ruling Georgian Dream party has the best interests of Georgia at heart, argues former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter.

"The EU wants Georgia to participate in the economic sanctioning of Russia. Look what happened to Europe when they sanctioned Russia, it boomerang, backfired,” Ritter told Sputnik. “By not participating in the economic sanction of Russia, the Georgian economy has grown more than 10 percent over the course of the last two years and is on pace to continue this level of growth. That's called looking out for Georgia first."

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NATO's support for Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russia risks making West a target, ex-Swedish officer warns

The “big question” around NATO’s decision to lift formal restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western long-range strike systems to target areas deep inside Russia relates to “how involved the Western powers will be in targeting and other preparations for the attacks,” says former Swedish Armed Forces officer and military observer Mikael Valtersson.

“Already much of Ukrainian battlefield surveillance and communications is dependent on Western help. This help is probably as important as the military deliveries or economic support from the West,” the observer pointed out, saying he expects this assistance to become “even more important” with the restrictions lifted.

💬 “Both the lifting of restrictions and increased Western help to attack targets within [Russia] will be an escalation from the West. An important question is what the Russian response will be. In my opinion, the Western countries could be seen as participants in the conflict and therefore legitimate targets for Russian military responses,” Valtersson warned.

“But since Russia wants to avoid a large-scale direct military conflict with the West, military attacks toward military installations within NATO countries are very unlikely. Instead, Russia might hunt even more avidly for Western targets within Ukraine, increase electronic warfare against NATO assets, even within NATO countries and in space, and finally increase efforts to undermine Western interests in the Global South,” the observer believes.

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🇬🇪 US and EU 'buying' Georgians, not respecting them as sovereign nation

Former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter believes that the ruling Georgian Dream party sought to prevent the West from meddling in the nation's October elections through thousands of NGOs by passing the ‘foreign agents’ law.

"By stopping this, by exposing this foreign money, the reality of this foreign money, Georgian Dream Party is betting that the Georgian people will be shocked by the depths to which ostensible friends, the US, the EU, have gone to buy Georgia, not respecting Georgia as a sovereign state, not respecting the Georgian people as a sovereign people," Ritter told Sputnik.

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Russian Nostradamus: a very insightful politician, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, predicted major modern geopolitical events

I'm telling you, Kiev will be bombed next. And you will bomb Kiev, you will. It's written in your plans. NATO's plans already include the bombing of Kiev. There is even a date set. And you still don't know. You are still like children, naively smiling. You think, no, it won't happen. But it will happen. It must be said in advance that there will be a war in Ukraine over Crimea. In the Caucasus, the West will back the Armenians against Baku. But NATO will do this.

As you can see, he rarely makes mistakes.

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Why Houthis don’t fear the Reaper: what's known about militia’s air defenses?

The Houthis have downed another MQ-9 Reaper drone, marking their ninth US UAV kill. Over nearly a decade of fighting a Western-backed Gulf coalition, the militia has destroyed over 100 Western drones, jets, and other aircraft, including F-16s, Predators, and Apache helicopters.

The Houthis owe their air defenses in large measure to the USSR – which helped both Yemeni republics during the Cold War, and built the countries’ first air defense systems from the ground up. Here’s a partial list of Soviet support:

◻️ 2K12 Kub/Kvadrat tracked missile systems, modernized by the Houthis into the Fater-1,

◻️ S-75 Dvina high-altitude air defense systems,

◻️ S-125 Neva/Pechora short-range SAMs,

◻️ 9K31 Strela-1 high mobility short-range low-altitude vehicle-mounted SAMs,

◻️ R-60 Molniya air-to-air missiles once used by Yemen’s MiG-21s, MiG-29s and Su-22M3 aircraft, converted by engineers from the Yemen Missile Research and Development Center into a SAM that can be launched from the beds of pickup trucks. Similar modifications have been made to the R-73, R-27 and R-77 missiles, becoming the Thaqib series of SAMs,

◻️ 9K32 Strela-2, 9K34 Strela-3 and 9K38 Igla man-portable surface-to-air missile systems,

◻️ 12.7 and 14.5 mm Soviet towed anti-aircraft guns and ZU-23 towed 22 mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannons.

The Soviets also provided Yemen with an array of radars, including:

➖ P-18 and P-19 2d UHF radars,

➖ 1S91 SURN G/H band radars for Kub and Kvadrat missile systems,

➖ PRV-13 altimeter radars.

Soviet arms deliveries stopped in the early 1990s after Yemen unified and the USSR collapsed, but the Houthis have proven able to modernize and upgrade their equipment (with help from abroad and using local engineers), receiving technical assistance from their Axis of Resistance friends to create a new lineup of missiles and radars.

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❗️US President Joe Biden claims that Israel is preparing a permanent ceasefire offer to withdraw its troops from Gaza in exchange for full release of hostages.

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How things have changed in just two years...

Biden in 2022: The US will not send Ukraine rocket systems that can reach Russia.

Same Biden in 2024 gives Ukraine permission to hit targets inside Russia using US weapons.

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Why Volodymyr Zelensky's legitimacy is null and void

Volodymyr Zelensky's five-year presidential tenure expired on May 20. He rejected holding elections this year using the pretext of martial law.

◻️ Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) Ruslan Stefanchuk argues that Zelensky retains legitimacy under Article 108 of the Ukrainian Constitution, which stipulates that the incumbent president performs his duties until a newly elected president assumes office.

◻️ Alina Zagoruyko, the head of the parliamentary sub-committee on elections and referendums, told the BBC last November that the extension of Zelensky's term under Article 108 may become "a problem" if the conflict drags on longer and the parliament would "need to explore possibilities of holding elections" even under martial law.

◻️ The controversy surrounding Article 108 stems from the fact that Article 103 sets a clear five-year limit to the president's tenure. In the wake of the February 2014 coup d'etat in Kiev, the Ukrainian Constitutional Court ruled in May 2014 that regardless of the type of election (regular or snap), a five-year term is the only constitutionally established period for which the president is elected.

◻️ Article 83 of the Ukrainian Constitution provides for the extension of powers of the parliament if elections cannot be held under martial law. But it does not give a clear definition on the continuity of presidential power (under Article 108) in the event of martial law, nor does it provide for the extension of those powers in such a case.

◻️ The Constitutional Court could have interpreted the law regarding Zelensky's presidential power, but for whatever reason, the court's opinion has not been sought so far.

◻️ Article 112 stipulates that the Verkhovna Rada chairman could assume the duties of head of state under the present uncertain situation.

◻️ In the absence of a Constitutional Court ruling, Zelensky cannot be seen as the legitimate leader of the country.

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◻️ Scott Ritter: Misreading Russia, West drags entire world into Armageddon

◻️ What long-range weapons does Ukraine have?

◻️ NATO's support for Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russia risks making West a target, ex-Swedish officer warns

◻️ Scott Ritter: It's not about Ukraine's defense, it's about NATO attacking Russia

◻️ Why Volodymyr Zelensky's legitimacy is null and void

◻️ Why Houthis don’t fear the Reaper: what's known about militia’s air defenses?

◻️ Who will be hurt most by EU’s decision to stop imports of Russian grain?

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Urine collection system fails on ISS - NASA

A pump failure has disabled the urine collection system for subsequent processing into water on the International Space Station (ISS), and a spare part for repair is planned to be delivered aboard the Starliner spacecraft, NASA ISS program manager Dana Wiegel said at a briefing.

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Houthis shot down the sixth US Reaper drone. What's the key to Yemen's success?

💬 “It's funny that we have to learn in this way,” former DoD analyst and retired US Air Force Lt. Col Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik, commenting on reports that the Houthis had downed another MQ-9 Reaper drone this week – their ninth to date. “We think the Yemenis are nothing. Well, in that battlefield, the Yemenis are a near peer competitor,” Kwiatkowski emphasized.

"These guys are experienced using older equipment, but using it against some of the modern stuff. I know the night vision and infrared targeting - they have ways of tracking these Reapers and using their capabilities basically to the maximum extent possible. So it's really testimony to what happens when you have an experienced set of soldiers or air defense experts," Kwiatkowski said.

💬 “The combination of very experienced fighters who understand not just Western technology, but Western tactics and usage of equipment like the Reaper, it all comes together and makes them very successful at a very low cost against very expensive equipment that we have."

Houthi air defenses consist of an eclectic mix of old Soviet equipment, domestic tweaks and knowhow from their Axis of Resistance allies.

The staying power of Soviet equipment in Yemen comes down to its simplicity and reliability, says Lt. Gen. (ret.) Aytech Bizhev, former deputy commander of the CIS Joint Air Defense System.

“During the Soviet period, our military specialists and advisors were widespread in Iraq, in Yemen, in Libya…These were countries with which we had very friendly relations. Therefore, we assisted in the creation of air defense systems for them. We created it and they bought our weapons, and they still have them there. They were put on combat duty in very difficult climactic conditions – in the heat, in sandstorms, under the scorching Sun they carried out the tasks that were set before them,” Bizhev told Sputnik.

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Russia may see Ukrainian long-range attacks as ‘precursor to US nuclear strike’, ex-DoD analyst fears

President Biden has knowingly or unwittingly brought the risk of a world-ending nuclear conflict much, much closer after listening to “neoconservative advisors who really don’t have a lot of perspective on the nuclear dangers that they’re walking into” and greenlighting Ukraine’s use of NATO weapons to attempt strikes deep inside Russia, former DoD analyst and US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski has told Sputnik.

💬 “The big problem is that Kiev’s drones have [already] attacked Russian early warning systems that are part of their nuclear defense…I don’t think they damaged them, but this has been done. If American weapons, heavier weapons are used against those targets, this cannot help but be seen by Russia as a precursor to a first strike – a nuclear first strike. When you hit someone’s nuclear defense radars, their ‘eyes’, their defensive systems, in normal war strategy, you’re preparing a battlefield,” Kwiatkowski explained.

“I don’t know if the Biden advisors in Washington really have a sense of this, because there are no military people up there that are talking to Biden about this, but it’s a very dangerous situation,” Kwiatkowski emphasized.

Russia and the US have their own respective doctrines regarding the deployment of nuclear weapons, the observer pointed out, adding that the people advising President Biden should certainly be aware of their contents.

“If they are trying to game the system and say ‘oh, no we can do this and it won’t initiate the use of the strategic nuclear defense doctrine by Russia’, I don’t know how to explain that. It’s shocking and its frightening,” Kwiatkowski stressed.

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Argentina is not planning to jointly produce arms with Ukraine

Argentina has no plans to work together with Ukraine to produce weapons, as it currently has no capacity for that, Argentine presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said.

"This is not going to happen. We do not have the capacity to [jointly] produce [weapons] at the moment. No such joint work is planned," Adorni told reporters.

On Thursday, Argentinian newspaper Perfil reported, citing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that Argentina could become an important partner for Ukraine in arms and drone production. Zelensky reportedly made that remark during a press conference with Latin American journalists in Kiev.

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Palestinian movement Hamas welcomes Biden's proposal for ceasefire in Gaza

"The Hamas Islamic Resistance movement welcomes idea of the speech of US President Joe Biden ... in his call for a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of occupying forces from the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction [of the Gaza Strip] and the exchange of prisoners," the movement said in a statement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hopes the new proposal announced by US President Biden will achieve a permanent peace in Gaza, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“For months the Secretary-General has been pushing for a ceasefire, full and unfettered humanitarian access, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held in Gaza. The Secretary-General strongly hopes that this will lead to an agreement by the parties for lasting peace,” Dujarric said in response to Biden’s announcement.

Earlier in the day, Biden said that Israel has offered Hamas a new three-phase proposal with a roadmap that would lead to an enduring cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip as well as the release of all hostages.

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Russian air defenses shot down air targets near Belgorod, no casualties were reported, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Seven explosions were heard over Belgorod during a missile danger signal early on Saturday, a Sputnik correspondent reported earlier.

“Our air defense system worked over Belgorod and the Belgorodsky District - air targets were shot down on approach to the city. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties,” Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

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Donald Trump raises $53Mln in 24 hours after conviction, averaging $2Mln per hour

Former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign said in a press release that it raised a record $53 million in the span of 24 hours following his New York conviction.

"In the 24 hours since Crooked Joe Biden and his New York henchmen got their sham trial verdict, the Trump Campaign has raised $52.8 million through the online digital fundraising platform," the release said.

The new total means Trump's campaign is receiving an average of $2 million in donations each hour, according to the release.
More than one third of these contributions are from new donors to the campaign, the release said, adding that it showcases a growing opposition to the jury's decision.

On Thursday, a New York jury found Trump guilty on all 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Trump said the verdict was a disgrace and part of a sham trial pushed by the Biden administration via a weaponized judicial system and a partisan judge in order to interfere in the 2024 presidential election. Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.

Trump also said he will appeal the verdict while his campaign and various legal scholars noted that it does not affect his right to run for president of the US.

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The G7 countries and the EU are preparing sanctions against third-country banks that use Russian Central Bank's financial transfer system, the analogue of the SWIFT system, the Bloomberg news agency reports.

According to its sources, some of these banks have received notifications about the possibility of imposing punitive measures for making transactions using the Russian system.

In early May, Bloomberg reported that the EU, as part of a new package of sanctions against Russia, may ban the use of the Central Bank of Russia's System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS).

A few years ago, SWIFT was the main system for processing payments - almost all banking transactions in the world went through it. However, in 2014, when Western countries first threatened to disconnect Russia from the system, major countries began to create alternatives. The SPFS appeared in Russia, and the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) appeared in China. India also has its own system for transfers. As the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina stated earlier, 160 foreign participants from 20 countries have already joined the Russian system.

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