📹 Footage of Russian forces destroying a Ukrainian tank on the borders of the Kursk region with a Lancet kamikaze drone.

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❗️Russian Foreign Ministry strongly condemns Ukraine's terrorist attacks on Russian regions – spokeswoman

The Russian Foreign Ministry calls on international organizations to condemn Ukraine's strikes on Russian regions, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated.

Kiev regime understands perfectly well that the strikes make no sense from the military point of view, she stressed,

A tough response by the Russian Armed Forces will come soon, Zakharova said.

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Latest updates on the situation in Russia's Kursk region

▪️ A downed Ukrainian missile fell on a residential building in the city of Kursk last night, causing a fire to break out, the region's acting governor, Alexey Smirnov, said on Sunday. Fifteen people were injured in the Ukrainian attack, two of whom are in serious condition.

▪️ A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group attempted to infiltrate the Kursk region’s Belovsky district, south of the Sudzha district, on Saturday, Smirnov said. He added that defending forces “managed to stabilize the situation."

▪️ As a result of Ukraine's shelling of Russia's Kursk region, a total of 69 people were injured, including eight children, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Sunday. As many as 17 of those injured are in critical condition, he added.

▪️ Attempts by the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks using drones and Tochka-U tactical missiles against targets on Russian territory were thwarted during the past night, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Fourteen Ukrainian UAVs and four Tochka-U tactical missiles were destroyed.

▪️ Russian Su-25 attack jets and Ka-52 attack helicopters carried out strikes on enemy targets in the Kursk border area, destroying manpower and armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

▪️ Russia's commissioner for human rights, Tatyana Moskalkova appealed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with a demand to condemn the terrorism on the part of Ukraine and take measures to prevent gross mass violations of human rights.

The Kursk region, which borders Ukraine in western Russia, was attacked by about 1,000 Ukrainian troops and scores of armored vehicles on August 6. Russian troops responded by stopping the Ukrainian military from penetrating deep into Russian territory and continue to repel Ukraine's attempts of invasion.

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❗️ Russia foiled Ukraine's attempts by enemy mobile groups with armored vehicles to break through deep into Russian territory in the areas of the settlements of Tolpino, Zhuravli and Obshchaya Kolodez, the Russian Defense Ministry stated.

▪️ An attempt by the Ukrainian armed forces to break through into the Belovsky district of Kursk region was foiled.

▪️ Over the course of the day, the losses of the AFU in the Kursk direction amounted to 230 military personnel and 38 armored fighting vehicles, including seven tanks, 28 other armored vehicles, three launchers and a radar station of the Patriot SAM system.

In total, during the fighting in the Kursk direction, the enemy has lost up to 1,350 servicemen and pieces of heavy equipment, including 29 tanks, 23 armored personnel carriers, nine infantry fighting vehicles and 116 other armored vehicles.

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How big is Israel’s army?

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) called up 300,000 reservists to fight Hamas following the movement’s attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7.

Tel Aviv approved the call-up of an additional 60,000 army reservists, increasing the total number of those already mobilized to 360,000.

But what is the current strength of the Israeli army?

👉 Sputnik explains

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❗️Russian Armed Forces destroyed a Ukrainian Patriot SAM radar station, shot down four Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles, a Hammer guided aerial bomb, 15 HIMARS and Vampire rockets and 71 drones – 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 425 militants in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone. The battlegroup struck formations from five brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and repelled three attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Force;

▪️Ukraine lost up to 385 militants and two ammunition depots due to actions of the Russian Yug Battlegroup;

▪️Russian forces struck the personnel of two Ukrainian brigades in the Volchansk and Liptsev directions;

▪️Troops of the Russian Vostok Battlegroup struck the personnel and equipment of two Ukrainian brigades. Daily losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the battlegroup's combat zone amounted to up to 110 militants;

▪️Units of the Russian Dnepr Battlegroup hit formations of two Ukrainian brigades, resulting in over 70 casualties;

▪️Russian forces hit an ammunition depot of the Ukrainian Donetsk operational-tactical group.

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President Vucic comments on protests against lithium mining in Serbia

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the protests in Belgrade against lithium mining in the country took place without the use of force, unlike what happens in the West.

"I thank them [the security forces] for their patience, respect for all the rights of those who did not respect the rights of other people, unlike the way it happens in other parts of the world. The planned intervention was carried out without even a minimal use of force and I sincerely congratulate the police on this… I am happy that, despite the violence against citizens and the country as a whole, we reacted in such a restrained, peaceful and wise manner," Vucic said in his address to the people.

Serbian police lifted the blockade of two railway stations in the capital Belgrade on Sunday after protesters disrupted rail traffic during a rally against lithium mining, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.

"The Interior Ministry acted within the laws of the Republic of Serbia and its duties to ensure unrestricted railway communications," Dacic was quoted as saying by the Interior Ministry.

The minister vowed to hold those who committed criminal acts during the overnight protests accountable.

Serbs have been protesting against plans to mine and process a lithium-containing mineral in the west of the country. On July 19, Serbia signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Union on strategic partnership on raw materials, electric batteries, and e-vehicles.

Vucic said he expected at least six billion euros ($6.56 billion) in foreign direct investment from the lithium mining project, specifically from Germany. According to his calculations, if a full production cycle is created, the Serbian economy will grow by 16.4%.

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📹 Watch Russian Lancet drone hit three Ukrainian armored vehicles in the border area of the Kursk region with precise strikes

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Where does Israel get its weapons from?

The US has sent Israel more than 10,000 bombs and missiles since the start of Israel's military operation in Gaza, according to reports.

US weapons shipments included at least 14,000 Mk84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs and 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, according to news agency Reuters.

But what share of its arms does Israel get from its top ally? Who else chips in?

👉 We’ve sorted through the data

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'Developed with NATO': expert weighs in on strategy and tactics of Ukraine's incursion into Russia’s Kursk

The strategy and tactics Ukraine has displayed in the course of its cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region were developed with NATO, former US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Stephen Bryen has speculated.

The Kiev regime’s gamble is “a test case for the defense of Europe in case of a Russian attack,” claimed the expert on security strategy and technology in his Weapons and Strategy Substack.

“NATO, in its present configuration, is in a bad place when it comes to defending territory. If fighting were to break out in Poland, or Romania, or north in the Baltics, the Russians would have a significant advantage in ground forces. One way to counter that would be exactly the kind of operation Ukraine is testing right now in the Kursk region,” Bryen wrote.

Bryen noted that the Kiev regime’s operation comes as Ukraine’s ability to resist Russian forces on the front line is “at a dead end.” Amid combat losses and manpower shortages, the attack on the Kursk region can be seen as “a gamble for Ukraine to have leverage with Russia in a peace negotiation,” noted the author.

“While the operation is military, the hoped-for outcome is political. There is no doubt it is a big gamble,” he added.

Russia’s military is continuing to repel the attempted invasion of the country’s territory by Ukrainian forces launched on August 6 and slammed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a large-scale provocation.

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Which militant groups and armies have hit Israel since October 2023?

▪️ The IRGC. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is an elite component of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. For the first time in history it attacked Israeli territory with hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles on the night of April 13. The entire territory of Israel was under air raid alert. According to Iranian officials, the barrage was in response to the Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

▪️ Ansar Allah. The Yemeni movement, known as the Houthis, have attacked the southern Israeli port of Eilat several times with drones since November 2023. At the same time, Ansar Allah is blockading commercial shipping ships heading to and from Eilat through the Red Sea. This has caused significant economic damage to Israel and its allies.

▪️ Hezbollah. Based in southern Lebanon, the movement has been actively involved in hostilities against Israel since October 2023. Hezbollah has lanched rocket and artillery strikes into the northern areas of Israel. On the night of the Iranian operation, the IRGC was also supported by the movement's missile strikes on Israeli Galilee region.

▪️ Kataib Hezbollah and Hashd al-Shaabi. Both these Iraqi military groups are part of the 'Axis of Resistance'. Since October 2023, the two groups have regularly launched drones towards southern regions of Israel. They also supported Iran's attack on Israel at the weekend.

▪️ Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). On October 7, the two Palestinian militant groups attacked Israeli territories near the Gaza Strip, killing about a thousand people and taking 253 prisoners. This was the beginning of the current clashes in Gaza.

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How Mackinder's Heartland theory of geopolitics helps explain Bangladeshi PM Hasina's ouster

“The United States wants to turn Bangladesh’s Saint Martin Island into another Okinawa. Sheikh Hasina said no, so she had to be deposed with a classic color revolution [using] paid-for astroturf protests organized out of the US Embassy and the usual gang of Soros NGOs,” international affairs observer Jeff Brown told Sputnik, commenting on the bombshell letter by Hasina published Sunday revealing that the US would have allowed her to stay in power if she had surrendered sovereignty over St. Martin Island.

“With the West’s Muhammad Yunus being put in charge after the overthrow, NATO will surely get control of Saint Martin Island. This would be an important strategic coup for the West to have a permanent presence in the Bay of Bengal and by extension the Indian Ocean and the Malacca Strait,” Brown explained.

NATO control of the Bangladeshi island also means the alliance “can keep tabs on pro-China Myanmar, bring in all kinds of chaos there, stirring up the Rohingya Muslims there (which Hasina was trying to defuse),” the observer added.

“It would give leverage with India for the Quad. Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia are all right there and work well with China…NATO in Diego Garcia is quite far away in the Indian Ocean. Saint Martin is prime geopolitical real estate to help NATO encircle the World Island,” Brown added, referring to Halford John Mackinder’s influential 1904 treatise, which deems that whoever controls the “Heartland” of Eurasia effectively controls much of the world.

“NATO has lost Mackinder’s ‘World Island’ – the Asian continent – to Russia, China, the DPRK and Iran, so it can only try to destroy or control it from the periphery [using] AUKUS, the Indo-Pacific Quad, and color revolutions in the region creating chaos with their neighbors,” with Sheikh Hasina becoming the latest victim, Brown summed up.

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