What is the most intriguing about the second round of parliamentary elections in France?

🔸 577 parliamentarians are being elected. At the end of the first round, the right-wingers from the National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen and Jordaan Bardella won with 33.15%. The left-wing New Popular Front came in second with 27.99%, while Emmanuel Macron's Ensemble coalition scored only 20.04%.

🔸 Immediately after the conclusion of the first round a week ago, Macron called to unite against the right, the left supported the idea.

🔸 Third-placed candidates began withdrawing en masse in the hope of a protest vote by their supporters against the National Rally; 224 candidates did so.

🔸 As a result, candidates from only two coalitions were left in 406 constituencies, with candidates from the three preserving in only 89 constituencies, and in the rest the deputies were elected based on the results of the first round (those who immediately gained more than 50%).

🔸 Despite all this, experts do not doubt that Marine Le Pen's party will win, the main intrigue is whether she will have an absolute majority (i.e. 289 seats minimum).

🔸 Polls show that the right-wing party will not have an absolute majority and that it will receive between 200 and 230 seats.

🔸 If the National Rally is a little short of 289 seats, there is an option to find the missing votes among the Republicans (they received about 10% after the first round).

🔸 In case Le Pen's party comes to power, the 28-year-old Jordaan Bardella will become the new prime minister, in which case Macron's power to make major decisions will be severely limited. This includes sending troops to Ukraine, opposed by the right-wingers.

🔸 In case no one has a majority, Macron will be able to keep the current government in place and dissolve parliament again a year later. The French president does not intend to leave office and promises to finish the term (expires in 2027).

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US media pretending not to know about the abuse the Donbass population suffers is ‘ridiculous’ - Russian MFA Spokeswoman

It is ridiculous to see American journalists, newspapers, TV and online platforms pretending not to know about the abuses the Donbass population is being subjected to by the Kiev regime, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on the NYT report about the brutal killing of a Russian prisoner of war in need of medical assistance.

She also noted that all the Kiev regime's atrocities have long been known. "These are open facts that American journalists do not say a word about," she told Russian media.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly submitted reports on human rights violations, the same documents were distributed at the UN Security Council, but the American media did everything to ignore this information.

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📹 Russian military specialists have examined the cumulative warhead of the Storm Shadow missile

The analysis will assist them in implementing countermeasures to protect against such weapons, a military expert told Sputnik.

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⚡️ ‘Ridiculous’: Moscow slams US reaction to the report about foreign mercs killing Russian PoWs in Ukraine

⚡️ Russian military specialists get access to the shaped charge part of the European Storm Shadow missile: check out the details

⚡️ Ukraine is ready to pass its proposals for a conflict settlement to Russia through other countries, says adviser to Zelensky

⚡️ What is the most intriguing about the second round of parliamentary elections in France?

⚡️ UK PM Keir Starmer commits to maintaining Western hegemony with British nuclear arsenal

⚡️ Why are US foreign policy advisors calling for resumption of nuclear testing?

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❗️The Russian armed forces have carried out strikes in the area of the railway station in the city of Lozovaya, Kharkov region, where a train carrying military equipment was located, Sergei Lebedev, coordinator of the Nikolayev underground, told Sputnik

Also, Russian forces conducted strikes on a factory in the Kharkov region during the night, destroying a location where Ukrainian armed forces were stationed.

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NATO officials doubt Biden could survive 'four years more'

The bloc's officials believe that Donald Trump’s return to office could damage NATO and cripple the war effort in Ukraine, Politico reported, citing people connected to the alliance.

"We all want Biden to have a second term to avoid dealing with Trump again, but this isn’t really reassuring," an official was quoted as saying.

They are also expressing concerns about Biden’s age and health.

"We’re not sure that, even if he wins, he can survive four years more."

Biden appeared confused and incoherent throughout his first debate with his opponent Donald Trump on June 27, reinforcing rather than refuting ongoing concerns about his cognitive abilities at age 81. His poor performance has led some Democratic politicians, donors, and other supporters to call for his removal as candidate.

The US presidential election is slated for November. The main contenders expected on the ballot are Biden and Trump, who have both won enough delegates' votes to be their respective Democratic and Republican parties' presumptive nominees. Trump and Biden are set to debate again on September 10.

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French elections "do not resemble democracy very much" — Russian FM Lavrov

The second round of the polls is designed to manipulate voters' will, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated.

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Turnout in the French parliamentary elections as of 10:00 GMT (13:00 Moscow time), amounted to a record 26.63%, exceeding the first round, the Interior Ministry said.

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❗️️Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup liberated the settlement of Chigari in the Donetsk People's Republic — Russian Defense Ministry

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The town of Gorlovka in the Donetsk People's Republic came under one of the most massive attacks from the Ukrainian Armed Forces overnight.

At least ten apartment buildings and private residences were shelled, some of them receiving direct hits, according to Sputnik's correspondent.

A civilian died as a result of the shelling, the mayor of Gorlovka, Ivan Prikhodko, has confirmed.

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▪️ Ukrainian losses in the zone of the Sever Battlegroup amounted to up to 175 military personnel and Kozak and Humvee armored vehicles, while five Ukraine’s attacks were repelled in a day – Russian Defense Ministry

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

▪️ Ukraine lost up to 340 soldiers in the zone of responsibility of the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup which defeated five Ukrainian brigades and repelled six counterattacks during the day;

▪️ The Zapad Battlegroup defeated four brigades, as well as one brigade of the neo-Nazi Azov* Batallion. The enemy's losses over the day amounted to up to 450 military personnel due to the Russian Battlegroup’s actions;

▪️ Units of the Vostok grouping defeated soldiers and equipment of three Ukrainian brigades;

▪️ Ukraine lost up to 145 soldiers and nine field ammunition depots in the area of responsibility of the Yug Battlegroup;

▪️ The Dnepr grouping hit the formations of three Ukrainian brigades in a day and destroyed over 100 Ukrainian military personnel;

▪️ Russian air defenses shot down three Hammer bombs, two HIMARS MLRS shells and 31 Ukrainian drone in 24 hours.

*banned in Russia for terrorism

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Republika Srpska may declare independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina - republic's President Dodik

"If the world community tries to impose a property law, Republika Srpska will not hesitate to declare independence," President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik said.

For decades, the West has made no secret of its intentions to abolish Republika Srpska, completely diminish its importance, and thus create a centralized and unitary Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dodik stated.

On March 2, 2023, the Constitutional Court in Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital, Sarajevo, blocked the implementation of the Law on Immovable Property of Republika Srpska; thus, the property managed by the republic can be transferred to the central authorities.

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Ukrainian missiles would not have flown - including to Sevastopol - without the direct involvement of the United States in guidance, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov has said.

"You will learn about the Russian response in the foreseeable future," the Russian foreign minister stated.

Russia bases its policy on Kiev's concrete actions rather than its volatile rhetoric, Lavrov said, commenting on recent remarks of the adviser to the head of Zelensky's office on the formats of the conflict settlement.

"He could just as well say something directly opposite tomorrow. We will count on concrete deeds, we will value and evaluate only concrete deeds. And what they say on a daily basis... It is better not to base our policy on this, and determine our actions based on the tasks that have been set within the framework of the special military operation," said the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Earlier, the adviser to the head of Zelensky's office Mykhaylo Podolyak claimed that Ukraine was ready to give Russia its conflict settlement proposals through other countries.

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