❗️The Russian Armed Forces liberated the settlements of Spornoe and Novoaleksandrovka in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry announced.

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❗️The Yug Battlegroup eliminated up to 450 soldiers, two tanks and three armored vehicles during the day.

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

▪️Russian troops hit a railway train with weapons, military equipment and personnel of the 117th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces;

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 285 soldiers, a tank and a MLRS Grad combat vehicle during the day as a result of the actions of the Russian Sever Battlegroup;

▪️Units of the Tsentr Battlegroup hit the formations of five brigades of the Ukrainian forces and repelled five Ukrainian counterattacks. Ukrainian losses amounted to 370 soldiers;

▪️Russia's Zapad Battlegrooup defeated Ukrainian Azov* brigades and repelled two counterattacks. Ukrainian losses amounted to 515 soldiers;

▪️Units of the Vostok Battlegroup eliminated 130 Ukrainian soldiers;

▪️The Dnepr Battlegroup defeated the troops and equipment of three brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Ukrainian losses amounted to 105 soldiers;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down 72 drones, two Neptune-MD missiles, three false MALD air targets and nine HIMARS missiles during the day.

*recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia

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🗳Marine Le Pen has voted in the French snap elections to the National Assembly.

Le Pen cast her ballot in the town of Henin-Beaumont in northern France, where she was listed as a municipal councilor in 2008-2010 and from where she was elected to the French parliament for the first time in 2017.

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A brief discourse on tolerance in Britain: mock-ups of migrants were brought to the Glastonbury festival

During the performance of the punk band Idles at the British Glastonbury festival, an inflatable boat with fake refugees was shown in the crowd. The Guardian writes that this is a new work by an anonymous artist who performs under the pseudonym Banksy. The artist himself has not yet declared his authorship.

The musicians did not know about the performance in advance, the newspaper writes. They were the headliners at the festival on June 28. The main theme of this year's Glastonbury Festival was migration. The Guardian writes that Banksy's statement is related to the migration policy of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

In April, the British Parliament passed a bill on the expulsion of migrants to Rwanda. The essence of the project is to resettle all those who entered the territory of the United Kingdom illegally in Rwanda.

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Beginning of the end? US reportedly withdrawing surveillance assets from Ukraine

Now that US President Joe Biden “is done," it's "possible [NATO’s proxy] war [with Russia] in Ukraine is done too,” Jim Rickards, a former advisor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Pentagon, and the White House, has written on X.

He singled out “some intel”, which he said indicates that the US “is withdrawing surveillance assets from the battlespace.”

“That makes it impossible for the Ukrainian neo-Nazis to launch missile and drone attacks on Russia. The beginning of the end,” Rickards added.

The remarks came a few days after a “disastrous” presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, which saw POTUS’ “shaky” performance and subsequent calls for him to suspend his presidential campaign and let a fresh Democratic candidate take his place.

Biden, however, has vowed to continue campaigning, as he admitted that he “didn’t have a great night [on June 27],” but that he was “going to be fighting harder.”

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Biden is not just old, he's insane — Former member of the US House of Representatives

"Only a madman would not consider a nuclear Holocaust, a nuclear war, as an existential threat. He said, quote, the only existential threat to humanity is climate change, end of quote. The only existential threat to humanity is climate change. Only an insane person would say this," Tulsi Gabbard said in a video.

Gabbard added that Biden is not fit for the presidency as he poses a threat to "life and liberty."

"This man does not belong in the White House holding this position of power because he's a threat to the two very most important things, life and liberty. To vote for Biden is to vote for nuclear war and tyranny, the destruction of our democracy. That is a fact."

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AfD delegate bites protester in self-defense at Essen convention

At the AfD party convention in Essen, Stefan Hrdy, a 67-year-old delegate from Neuss, has bitten a protester, reportedly in self-defense.

Hrdy arrived at the event and exited his car, but was blocked by demonstrators which led to an altercation where the politician ended up on the ground.

"Someone kicked me in the face from behind, I fell, and then had three or four people on top of me. In self-defense, I bit the leg of the man who had kicked me in the face," Hrdy told Bild.

Police eventually intervened, freeing him from the situation.

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Hungarian Prime Minister announces new right-wing bloc in European Parliament

Viktor Orban has announced the formation of a new right-wing group in the European Parliament of Austria's Freedom Party led by Herbert Kickl and the Czech ANO 2011 party of former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

The announcement was made following a meeting in Vienna, where the leaders expressed their commitment to forming what they claim will be the strongest right-wing coalition in Europe.

The group signed a "patriotic manifesto for the future of Europe," stating that "the EU has turned against Europeans and now represents interests that contradict the will of nations, regions, and small communities."

"We take upon ourselves the responsibility to create a group that will be the strongest right-wing coalition in Europe. The strongest right-wing forces from Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic are sitting before you," Orban said.

Orban expressed confidence that this new political alliance will soon become the largest right-wing faction in the European Parliament.

"We are creating a political formation that, in my conviction, will very soon become the largest European faction. This will happen within a few days," Orban said at the press conference in Vienna, emphasizing the urgency and potential impact of this new coalition on European politics.

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📹A Russian strike drone from the Dnepr Battlegroup broke through the right bank of the Kherson region and destroyed a large control center for Ukrainian drones, thereby temporarily paralyzing the control of its UAVs, the Russian Defense Ministry informed.

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❗️Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup has taken control of a large Ukrainian stronghold on the eastern outskirts of the Kirovo settlement using an underground tunnel with a length of more than 3 km, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

It is clarified that they entered the rear of a well-fortified strongpoint with long-term firing points and underground shelters through a tunnel along the Seversky Donets canal. Using the surprise factor, the Russian military completely captured the stronghold, forcing the Ukrainians to surrender or abandon their positions and retreat.

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Why US ships more tanks to Poland's huge military stockpile

Its generous shipments of military hardware to Ukraine aside, the United States also keeps funneling arms and armored vehicles to Eastern Europe as peace seems to be the last thing on the mind of the Pentagon strategists.

Fourteen M1 Abrams main battle tanks and an M88 armored recovery vehicle have been delivered to the Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 site in Powidz, Poland, Stars and Stripes reports, citing an emailed statement by US Army spokesman Terry Welch.

The facility is expected to become fully operational next year and is going to host up to 85 tanks, 190 armored combat vehicles and 35 artillery pieces, according to the newspaper.

Col. Ernest Lane II, commander of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade that maintains the site, reportedly said that Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 “has a huge impact on NATO.”

“The strategic location allows us to have multiple avenues of approach and routes of departure and embarkation,” he declared.

Army Prepositioned Stocks-2, one of the several such sites maintained by the United States in different parts of the globe, essentially allow US commanders in the region to quickly requisition military hardware without the need to ship it all the way from the US.

Earlier this month, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that NATO wants to establish three large military bases in Poland, Slovakia and Romania to funnel weapons to Ukraine.

Orban’s warning comes amid the ongoing NATO-led militarization of Europe conducted under the pretext of preparing to fend off the imaginary “Russian threat.”

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Cogne, a commune with a population of 1,300 in Italy's Aosta Valley region, was isolated due to the flooding of several streams and mudslides.

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Has Israeli military grown weary of Netanyahu?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's row with Team Biden over delayed weapons supplies and his threats to expand the fighting with Hezbollah across the Lebanese border seek to distract the public from Tel Aviv's military failures in the Gaza Strip, according to the Conversation's contributor Professor Scott Lucas of University College Dublin.

According to Lucas, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) warned Netanyahu on June 19 that it's impossible to "eliminate" Hamas, something the premier is striving to do, while rejecting repeated ceasefire proposals from regional and global players.

Prior to that, former IDF commander and Israeli politician Benny Gantz left Netanyahu's war cabinet after the Israeli prime minister rejected his "strategic demands" which prioritized a return of hostages and installing a new political leadership in Gaza, rather than seeking a complete "destruction" of Hamas.

After Netanyahu snubbed his proposals, the former military chief accused the prime minister of placing his personal and political interests ahead of the security and existential needs of Israel.

As of yet, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has not signaled his concerns, but judging from the recent development it seems that the Israeli top brass has grown weary of Netanyahu and his perpetual war in Gaza, according to the professor.

The Israeli PM is on the horns of a dilemma: once he agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas, he may find himself in political and legal jeopardy, as well as facing snap elections and bribery charges, the professor concluded.

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📹🏍The Russian Defense Ministry showed the work of motorcycle troops involved in the liberation of Staromayorskoe in the Donetsk People's Republic.

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❗️US military bases in Europe have been put on high alert due to the threat of a terrorist attack, probably the highest "in at least 10 years," CNN reports

"The bases, including the US Army garrison in Stuttgart, Germany, where the US European Command is headquartered, raised their alert level to Force Protection Condition 'Charlie'," the news agency explained.

According to the US Army, such a status “applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely.”

CNN quoted one US official who said that they haven’t seen this threat level “in at least 10 years,” adding that it usually means the military has received an “active-reliable threat.”

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