❗️Ukrainian losses amounted to 520 militants and a Leopard tank in Russia's Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone.

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

▪️ Russian air defenses struck down 163 Ukrainian drones;

▪️ Ukrainian losses amounted to 335 militants in the Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone;

▪️ The Dnepr Battlegroup hit three Ukrainian brigades, resulting in the loss of over 115 militants;

▪️ The Russian Vostok Battlegroup improved its tactical position, repelling one Ukrainian counterattack;

▪️ The Sever Battlegroup struck four enemy brigades, resulting in the loss of up to 270 militants.

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📹Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin arrived in Algeria on a working visit, Sputnik correspondent reports.

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What is Joe Biden's legacy?

In a statement on his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, US President Joe Biden reflected on the results of his four years in office, claiming that the US has built the “strongest economy in the world.” He also touted efforts in healthcare and gun safety, omitting some curious facts on US domestic and foreign policy.

🔺The US economic meltdown shows no signs of abating, with 36% of Americans recently surveyed by the Pew Research rating the national economy as “poor.” Add to this the fact that the state debt, which now stands at nearly $34.4 trillion, is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days.

🔺The US migration crisis persists as new data by the CBP reveals a surge in illegal border crossings, with more than 205,000 apprehensions in June alone, pushing the total for fiscal year 2024 to 2.5 million.

🔺Drug overdose remains one of the leading causes of injury or death in adults in the US and has risen over the past several years. Overdoses specifically pertain to synthetic opioids (fentanyl) and stimulants (cocaine and methamphetamine), according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Biden’s foreign policy track record:

🔻The Ukraine crisis is in full swing, as the US continues to add fuel to the fire by providing the Kiev regime with military supplies despite Russia’s repeated warnings that such an assistance would only prolong the standoff.

🔻The Gaza war is still in place despite Biden’s much-hyped plan to help clinch a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Last month, the US president said that the Gaza war must end now and Israel must not occupy the Palestinian enclave after the end of hostilities – another statement that apparently fell on the Jewish state’s deaf ears.

🔻As a cherry on the top, Biden failed to deliver on his promise to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, with the Vienna talks on the matter finally coming to a standstill.

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📹 A HIMARS MLRS launcher was destroyed by a Russian Iskander strike in Novopetrovka (Nikolayev region), the Ministry of Defense reported, publishing a video.

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Ukraine lacks short-range anti-aircraft missiles, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky announced. 

He also added that there is a "total shortage" of this type of weapon among the troops.

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🇭🇺🇸🇰 Hungary and Slovakia have initiated consultations with the European Commission, anticipating proceedings against Ukraine for stopping oil transit from Russia, the Hungarian foreign minister said.

Ukraine's decision to block transit, violates the conditions placed on Kiev's candidate status for accession to EU membership, the minister believes.

Budapest previously announced the termination of Lukoil's oil supplies through Ukraine via the Druzhba oil pipeline; supplies to Slovakia also stopped.

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Do Democrats have anyone besides Kamala?

Despite US President Joe Biden's endorsement of VP Kamala Harris as the Dem candidate, there is still a chance for the Democratic National Convention, which will take place at the end of August, to nominate someone else as its presidential candidate.

Sputnik has looked into the most perspective figures who might be able to outshine Harris.

🔸 California Governor Gavin Newsom, 56, is a self-made man with a business career and a term as mayor of San Francisco on his record. Newsom has been the most frequently mentioned alternative to Biden in 2023-2024. However, he, like Harris, comes from California, which is known as a ‘one-party state’ because of its high Democratic Party ratings. This raises doubts about Newsom's ability to attract voters in ‘rust belt’ states.

🔸 Joshua Shapiro, 51, is governor of Pennsylvania. His main advantage as a candidate is his state – Pennsylvania. It is a ‘swing state’ that is also subject to the problems of the poorer states of the American Midwest, which may appeal in his favor for voters. Shapiro’s centrist stances may also attract those who oppose polarization and radical statements. However, Shapiro's low publicity may cause others to question his electability, especially with so little time left before the election.

🔸 Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, 52, is widely recognized in the US for her strong support for abortion rights. However, she is positioning herself as a regional politician, a ‘lifelong Michigander’, and said she would not seek the nomination even if Biden dropped out of the race. Such statements could alienate voters in other states from her.

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What's behind Netanyahu's key visit to the US?

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is on an official visit to the US for the first time since 2022. Despite the current turmoil in US politics, the Israeli leader reportedly wants to meet both President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris, as well as Donald Trump.

Sputnik sheds light on the geopolitical context that makes this trip so important.

◾️Biden steps down as candidate. Whom to talk to now? The main aim of this visit tends to be the Israeli PM’s address to the US Congress, which is described as "to be extremely closely watched" by Israeli media. Despite Biden stepping aside as candidate, Netanyahu is looking forward to meeting him "to thank… for all he has done for Israel throughout his career", but the meeting is in limbo because of Biden's coronavirus infection. However, Netanyahu has already declared: "Israel will remain a key US ally regardless of who is elected president in November."

◾️Growing escalation with Yemeni Houthis. With Israeli Air Forces raid on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah in response to the Houthis' drone attack on Israel, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a spokesman for the Houthis, promised "a painful reply" to Israel. The Israeli military attacked right before Netanyahu’s departure and the promised answer has not come yet.

◾️Nearly fruitless ceasefire negotiations for Gaza. The protests demanding a ceasefire and the release of hostages continue in Israel. White House National Security Council Adviser Jake Sullivan's reports that Biden and Netanyahu would discuss ways to reach such a deal during their meeting to get it "done in the coming weeks" are stirring up both concern and expectations for the outcome of the meeting.

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Pepe Escobar: China designs a road map all the way to economic superpower status

The Chinese leadership has put forward a comprehensive plan aimed at sustaining the country’s economic growth and national security for the next five years.

“China is a remarkable example of a country, whose government drafts five-year plans covering development of rural land, tax reform, environmental protection, national security, the fight against corruption, and cultural development,” geoeconomic and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar tells Sputnik.

Hong Kong, one of China’s economic locomotives, is set to play a particular role in the effort. Reinvented for 21st century Eurasia integration, the city has all it takes to profit as a key node of the Greater Bay Area, the southern hub propelling China to economic superpower status, Escobar points out.

“The Western mantra that China’s economy is struggling to stabilize may be debatable,” the geopolitical analyst says. “5th columnists and outright Sinophobes across the West have gone bonkers on the current slowdown of the Chinese economy – complete with slumps in the financial and property fronts – running in parallel to all hybrid war strands of Chinese containment emanating from Washington,” he notes.

“Fact: China’s GDP grew roughly 5% in the first semester; and the final plenum communique, released at the end of the four-day meeting, stressed that this should remain the ‘unwavering’ target for the second semester,” he stresses.

Escobar stipulates that in China, economic and national security issues are inextricably linked. “On each and every front, what trumps everything is national security,” he concludes.

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Scott Ritter: Biden’s reelection withdraw shows who is actually running America

The fact that Joe Biden was clearly unfit to run in the US presidential election but continues to “function” as the POTUS begets the question: “Who's running America? Because it's not Joe Biden. We don't know who. It's an unelected group of handlers who are drawn from what I guess we can call the establishment. Some people might refer to it as the deep state. And these are the people who are calling the shots,” former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and ex-weapons inspector Scott Ritter tells Sputnik.

He describes the 2024 presidential election in the US as a “contest between established elites that are found in the Democratic Party and this surge of populism in the form of Donald Trump who is taking control of the Republican Party.”

Yet while Americans are normally allowed to “have a say in the outcome” of this process, the Democratic Party and the “elites known and unknown” now opted to meddle in this process and “will be selecting who their candidate will be for the presidency in the 2024 elections,” which is “not the way it's supposed to be,” Ritter notes.

“America is in a crisis, a crisis of democracy, a crisis of identity. And it doesn't look like we have a solution because for the most part, the American people have been confused and misled and manipulated by the mainstream media into somehow thinking that this is normal,” Ritter laments.

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Remain in people's memory: Four good deeds Biden has done

Helping children, taking care of a stray dog - what else do you think is in Biden's Nice List?

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Five jaw-droppers from ex-Blackwater head Erik Prince

Erik Prince, the founder and former CEO of the Blackwater PMC, is known for not mincing his words when discussing hot global topics such as the Gaza war, weapon deliveries to Ukraine, and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

▪️During a speech at the Washington-based educational NGO Heritage Foundation on Monday, Prince said that the Pentagon had blocked him from giving Israel technology to flood Hamas' tunnels in Gaza with seawater.

▪️In an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson in May the ex-Blackwater CEO said: “Most of that money goes to five major US defense contractors to replace - at five times the cost - what the weapons cost sent to Ukrainians… It’s a massive grift paid by a Pentagon that doesn't know how to buy stuff cost-effectively.”

▪️”We need to bring this war [in Ukraine] to a close because all Ukraine is doing now is destroying itself demographically. They're chewing up the next generation of manpower that they can't really replace right now,” Prince said in a podcast with Patrick Bet-David. “The Western defense base is pathetic” against the “Russian bear,” he added.

▪️“[By pulling troops out of Afghanistan] We have shattered the confidence of our… allies, whether you’re a CIA agent… or whether you’re a country that America wants you to compete with … it will definitely figure into people’s thinking how quickly America abandoned its friends in Afghanistan and left in such a horribly chaotic and clumsy manner,” Prince told Fox News.

▪️Prince hinted that the time is right for the US to start colonizing Africa in an Off Leash podcast. “If so many of these countries… are incapable of governing themselves, it’s time for us to just put the imperial hat back on... You can say that about pretty much all of Africa, they’re incapable of governing themselves,” he said.

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