❗️Russia's President Vladimir Putin held an operational meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council and offered to discuss new technical solutions being used during the special military operation

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov took part in the meeting remotely. As the president said, the minister is currentlyat one of the control points.

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FACT CHECK: Did US know about Ukraine's plan to attack Russia's Kursk?

Against the background of the active battles in the Russian Kursk region, the question arises whether Ukraine's puppeteers, the West, knew about the planned attack. Representatives of the Pentagon, the White House and the State Department assured that the United States had no clue about Kiev's intentions to assault the Russian border areas.

But, were they telling the truth?

The adviser to the head of Zelensky's office, Mykhaylo Podolyak, refuted his bosses' narrative. In an interview with The Independent, he blurted out that Ukraine had discussed the incursion with the United States.

"There were discussions between partner forces, just not at the public level," he said in an interview, confirming the logical assumption that Ukrainian troops would not have taken a step without the consent of its patrons.

Meanwhile, White House press Secretary Karin Jean Pierre and Pentagon Spokesman Pat Ryder, attempted to assure that the United States knew nothing about the attack:

💬"No, they did not inform us in advance," Ryder claimed. 

State Department Spokesman Vedant Patel also found himself in an awkward position, because he, too, tried to disown any involvement of the US in the attack.

💬"The US has not been engaged or involved in any of the planning or preparation for that," he said at a briefing.

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❗️Seven people were injured as a result of attacks by the Ukrainian forces on the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, according to preliminary data. A fire engulfed the shopping center, damaging a hospital, Denis Pushilin, the head of the DPR, said.

He added that the area of the fire caused by the shelling exceeds 10,000 square meters, and the operational situation complicates the extinguishment.

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❗️Russian soldiers destroyed Ukrainian mobile groups that were trying to penetrate deep into Russian territory — Russian Defense Ministry

Ukrainian losses in the Russian Kursk region during the day amounted to 220 militants and 19 armored vehicles, the Ministry added.

Russian troops repelled Ukrainian attacks in the areas of Russky Porechny and Gordeyevka. In the areas of the settlements of Yunakovka and Miropolye, Russian units destroyed three launchers of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system by high-precision missile strikes.

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❗️New footage of the burning Galaktika hypermarket in Donetsk after a Ukrainian strike. The building is almost completely burned out inside and neighboring residential buildings are also damaged.

Footage by a Sputnik correspondent.

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❗️Scott Ritter: Biden admin is declaring war on journalism

Recent FBI raids against Ritter and Russian-American political scientist Dimitri Simes are meant to squash dissent on Ukraine.

The US government and media are colluding to control the narrative on Ukraine, Ritter added.

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❗️The number of victims at the Galaktika shopping center in Donestsk has increased to 11 after a Ukrainian strike, the DPR Ministry of Health tells Sputnik

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Ukraine gambles away "most well-trained soldiers" in Kursk attack - military expert

Check out for the latest developments:

🔸In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have lost up to 220 soldiers and 19 armored vehicles, including four tanks, eight armored personnel carriers, seven armored combat vehicles, three HIMARS launchers, and two field artillery pieces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

🔸Small arms manufactured by the US and Sweden were seized by Russian forces at the destruction site of a Ukrainian sabotage group near the village of Kremyanoye, a representative of the Russian security agency told Sputnik.

🔸Ukraine’s Kursk aggression was planned with the participation of the US and NATO, Russian presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview with the Izvestia daily.

🔸Ukraine had to expend some of their most well-trained soldiers and advanced technology in a failed effort to capture the Kursk nuclear power plant, former US Marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter told Sputnik, adding that the attack on the whole has been “contained” and “blunted.”

🔸Ukraine is free to use Canadian-donated tanks and armored vehicles inside Russia, according to Canada’s Department of National Defense.

🔸The US does not want to allow Ukraine to use the long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to attack the Kursk region not because of the risk of escalation, but because the number of such systems Washington can provide to Kiev is limited, CNN reported.

🔸The British Defense Ministry has confirmed Ukrainian troops using the UK-made Challenger 2 main battle tanks in the Kursk attack.

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‘This is a very dangerous time for all Americans’: Scott Ritter

“Understand that the US government doesn't trust you. Doesn't believe you're capable of thinking. The US government is actively trying to deceive you and manipulate you,” Ritter told Sputnik, commenting on the recent FBI raids against himself and Russian-American political scientist Dimitri K. Simes.

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The FBI confirmed to Sputnik the search of the house of political scientist, Dimitri Simes, saying that this measure was authorized by the court.

“The FBI conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity. We have no further comment as this is an ongoing matter,” the agency said.

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Ukraine troops in “critical situation” in Donbass as Russia “steadily” moves ahead – German general

“Every day, Russian forces in Ukraine manage to move ahead, slowly, but steadily,” says Christian Freuding, major-general of the German army and head of the special analytical task force on Ukraine in the German defense industry.

Next to the town of Chasov Yar, Russian forces recently managed to cross the Seversky Donets canal and establish positions on its western bank, General Freuding said in an interview to the German armed forces' YouTube channel.

"Donbass remains the main front of the whole military operation… Despite the fighting in Kursk region, no [Russian] troops were taken off the front there… And in the northern part of Donbass the Ukrainian forces are on the defensive, and they remain in the same critical situation as before.”

As the Russian Defense ministry reported, during this week, Russian troops managed to take under their control the villages of Lisichnoye, Timofeyevka and Veseloye, adding them to 19 towns and villages which they managed to liberate in July.

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The United States has allocated nearly $130 million to expand production of the JASSM extended-range cruise missile and LRASM anti-ship missile, the Pentagon reported.

Lockheed Martin is the contractor. The work under this contract is planned to be carried out in Orlando, Florida. The expected completion date is December 15, 2027.

The information about expanding the production of cruise and anti-ship missiles came amid reports that the United States may begin arming Ukraine with JASSM missiles capable of hitting targets in Russia.

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Gaza talks in Qatar were constructive and took place in a positive atmosphere, according to a joint statement by Egypt, Qatar and the United States

US presented Israel and Hamas with a ceasefire proposal that narrows disagreements, the statement says.

Egypt, Qatar and the US are set to hold more talks by the end of next week, according to the statement.

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Western public not buying story that Nord Stream blast was engineered by "six Ukrainian idiots" over a drink

The Wall Street Journal's latest story noscriptd "A drunken evening, a rented yacht: the real story of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage", that pins the blame for the explosion on a group of Ukrainian divers who received a nod from then Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny despite CIA warnings, has failed to convince politicians, observers and netizens.

💬French politician Florian Philippot, the head of the Patriot Party, shredded the story on X: "Now they want us to believe that everything was done by six Ukrainian idiots, who came up with the idea of doing this over a drink in a bar." Philippot added that US journalist Seymour Hersh's story of a US-NATO plot to blow the pipelines up "is infinitely more serious and credible."

💬The version of a Ukrainian trace doesn't hold water, Eugen Schmidt, a Bundestag deputy with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, told Sputnik: "Only a small number of states could carry out such sabotage. Private individuals do not have such technical capabilities."

💬Member of German Bundestag Sahra Wagenknecht tweeted that "If Ukraine was involved in the attack on Nord Stream, the [ruling] Traffic Light coalition must draw conclusions and stop arms deliveries [to Ukraine] immediately."

💬Alexander Rahr, a German political scientist and head of Eurasian Society, told the Russian press that the only merit of the WSJ story is that Germans will stop believing nonsense that Moscow destroyed its own infrastructure.

💬Norwegian Professor Glenn Diesen tweeted: "First, the US blamed Russia for attacking Nord Stream. Now the US claims they knew all along that it was Ukraine. This story is obviously fake."

Ukraine has vehemently denied any involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage with Gen. Zaluzhny denouncing the accusations as a "mere provocation."

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Hamas reportedly considers the results of the current Gaza talks in Doha to be inconsistent with the July 2 agreements, which the movement agreed to.

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