📹 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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Who are Kamala Harris' apparent puppeteers?

After Alex Soros – the son of the Democratic Party's mega-donor George Soros – endorsed Kamala Harris for the presidency on X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted: "I’d just like to thank Alexander Soros for not keeping everyone in suspense about who the next puppet would be."

So whose hands will Harris play into?

▪️Alex Soros was quick to back Harris after Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also rushed to throw their weight behind her.

▪️In February 2023, Hillary was quoted as saying in private that Harris lacked the "political instincts" to win a Democratic primary. Still, the Clinton entourage claim Hillary and Kamala have a strong bond. The New York Times reported in December 2021 that Harris regularly sought Clinton's counsel after becoming Biden's veep.

▪️However, former Democratic lawmaker Tulsi Gabbard has slammed Harris for being the "maidservant of queen of warmongers" Hillary Clinton and a "new figurehead for the deep state".

▪️Harris has already raised over $60 million, and is due to get access to Biden's $95+ million "war chest."

▪️Big donors who signaled support to Harris also include Wall Street executive Marc Lasry and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman. Hoffmann might donate over $10 million to her campaign, as per CNBC.

▪️A number liberal donors, including Stewart Bainum Jr., aren't rushing to fund Harris. Former President Barack Obama, ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have yet to endorse her. Some Democrats propose holding a mini-primary before the August 19 convention, as they doubt Harris can beat Donald Trump.

▪️Harris has repeatedly been accused of advancing her political career through nepotism. Influence Watch alleged she used close relations with Speaker of the California Assembly and San Franciso Mayor Willie Brown to rise to power since 1994 and through the early 2000s.

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What’s behind NATO’s defense transformation?

NATO “has put in place the most comprehensive defense plans since the Cold War, with currently more than 500,000 troops at high readiness,” the alliance’s spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah has told CNN.

She added that NATO had undergone the most significant transformation in collective defense in a generation since 2014. The alliance’s high readiness mode means the forces can be deployed within 30 days in case of an armed conflict.

So what is behind this push?

NATO has repeatedly cited an alleged Russian threat and Moscow’s ongoing special operation to justify the alliance’s defense transformation, which in particular envisages reintroducing compulsory military service in a number of NATO countries, such as Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Moscow-based analyst Dmitry Suslov earlier told Sputnik that NATO commits itself to be able to deploy at least 300,000 troops in Central and Eastern Europe and is building military infrastructure in Poland, Romania, and other Central and Eastern European states under the pretext of a purported Russian threat.

Sean Monaghan, a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in turn, said in an interview with CNN that NATO is struggling to meet its new goal of having 300,000 personnel ready to be activated within one month and another half a million available within six months.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Tucker Carlson that Moscow is not going to attack NATO countries because it doesn’t make any sense. Putin noted that Western politicians regularly single out an imaginary Russian threat in order to distract attention from domestic problems, but "smart people understand perfectly well that this is nothing but a fake."

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🇷🇺🇮🇷 What is known about the major Russia-Iran natural gas deal?

Iranian Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji announced that Moscow and Tehran have reached a strategic agreement on Russian gas exports to Iran.

"With this agreement, Iran's share of trade will rise, causing changes in international balances. In other words, the agreement will act as a revolution in the energy and industry scene of the region," the minister said, as quoted by Al Mayadeen.

While this venture is yet to move beyond the memorandum of understanding stage, some details of the agreement signed between the Russian energy giant Gazprom and the Iranian National Gas Company have become available to the press.

▪️Under the auspices of this deal, Iran may start receiving vast quantities of Russian natural gas, possibly up to 300 million cubic meters per day or nearly 110 billion cubic meters per year, which is approximately 45% of Iran’s current gas consumption and roughly equals the maximum output of the now-defunct Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines.

▪️The project is also going to involve the construction of a natural gas pipeline across Iran, “from north to south,” with the annual revenue of this venture being estimated at about $10-12 billion, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported, citing Owji.

▪️The project will purportedly involve building an underwater pipeline across the Caspian Sea, from Russia to Iran, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. The construction, if launched, might require coordination with border states of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

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The US president held virtual meetings with national security officials on Monday, the White House said, amid speculation about Joe Biden's "death".

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