❗️The Ukrainian parliament has passed a law banning the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church

It will come into force in 30 days.

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❗️Russian troops liberated New-York in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed.

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🇷🇺 Russian troops liberated New-York in the DPR

What military significance does this settlement have and why does it have such an out-of-place name?

🔸 What makes New York and the nearby town of Dzerzhinsk so important is the fact that they shield the Konstantinovka-Adveyevka route used by the Kiev regime's forces to resupply their troops in the area, one of the Russian soldiers explained during an interview with Russian media.

🔸 Situated near the city of Gorlovka, New York has been turned into a veritable stronghold by the Ukrainian forces which, coupled with its strategic location, makes it a priority target for the Russian Army.

🔸 Also, New York is located on an elevation relative to Gorlovka, which allows Ukrainian forces to survey the city and coordinate artillery and HIMARS rocket strikes against it from the covered positions in Dzerzhinsk.

🔸 New York was founded by Mennonite settlers from Germany who were invited to the Russian Empire in 18th century by Empress Catherine the Great.

🔸 In 1951 the town was renamed Novgorodskoye amid worsening relations with the United States as the Cold War was in full swing (even though it wasn’t clear whether the town’s original name was a reference to the famous US city or the UK's York or any other York).

🔸 In 2021 the town was returned its original name as per the order from the powers that be (at the time) in Kiev.

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Premier of the State Council of China Li Qiang will arrive in Russia on an official visit today

Russian and Chinese journalists and officials are waiting for the Chinese prime minister at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport.

He will take part in the 29th regular meeting of the prime ministers of China and Russia, and will be received by Russian President Vladimir Putin. This will be Li Qiang's first visit to Russia as the head of the Chinese government.

In total, leaders of the State Council of the People's Republic of China have visited the Russian Federation 13 times. Both sides will focus on discussing the expansion of cooperation in the trade and economics, promoting projects in energy, agriculture and other topics.

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🎥 WATCH: Chinese State Council Premier Li Qiang arrives in Moscow to meet with President Putin and PM Mishustin

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🎥 Russian President Vladimir Putin personally checked on the apple harvest during a visit to a farm in Kabardino-Balkaria.

Earlier in June, Putin wondered whether Russia would be left without apples due to frosts, but the harvest turned out to be excellent.

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🎥 Putin kneeled for the victims of terrorism

During his visit to Beslan, Russian President Vladimir Putin laid flowers at the ‘City of Angels’ memorial in honor of the victims of the 2004 terrorist attack, and offered a prayer.

The ‘City of Angels’ memorial was built in memory of the victims of the 2004 terrorist attack at secondary school Number 1, where jihadists held more than 1,200 hostages for three days.

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Israel's litany of new conditions 'ruined' Hamas ceasefire deal – analyst

New conditions imposed by Israel wrecked a ceasefire and hostage swap deal with Hamas, Dr. Ali Mamouri, a Research Fellow at Deakin University, told Sputnik. “Israel is the main reason for the delay as it adds new conditions constantly,” Mamouri said, thereby “ruining the deal.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit Qatar this week in an effort to “get the ceasefire agreement over the finish line.”

“The only party can push the deal forward is the US by putting enough pressure on Israel to finalize the deal, but it seems the Biden administration is not willing or do not have enough power to do so,” the analyst said.

Netanyahu is worried about his political career, dodging possible prosecution over corruption allegations, the October 7 2023 security breach and fallout from the ongoing International Criminal Court genocide case against him.

“That is why he is trying to make the war longer and involve other regional parties and bring the US into the conflict as well to protect himself,” Mamouri said. “It is clear that the release of the hostages via a ceasefire does not benefit him.”

The only way to turn the current state of the negotiations around is for the international community “to put serious pressure on Israel” and “push it toward a comprehensive solution for this long-term conflict,” he stressed.

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Russia’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the US charge d'affaires and protested against the actions of US journalists who illegally entered the Kursk region

The United States’ charge d'affaires in Russia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry following the actions of US journalists who illegally entered the Kursk region, the ministry said.

The participation of a US PMC on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the attack proves the involvement of the United States as a direct participant in the conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry added.

Recently, the US Forward Observation Group PMC posted photos of mercenaries involved in the attack on the Kursk region on social media.

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🍷 Drunk with power? Harris drinks deep of the Democratic spirit.

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Azerbaijan officially applies to join BRICS - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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Russia halts Ukrainian advance, uncovers NATO fingerprints all over operation in the Kursk area: latest updates

Russia’s Defense Ministry says it has paralyzed personnel and equipment of enemy forces equivalent to four brigades in the occupied areas of the Kursk region.

“Air and artillery strikes and troops hit concentrations of manpower and equipment from the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ 22nd and 115th Mechanized, and 80th and 82nd Air Assault Brigades in the areas of the settlements of Apanasovka, Borki, Viktorovka, Kositsa, Lyubimovka, Plekhovo, Tolsty Lug and to the west of Bogdanovka,” the ministry stated.

🔸 Ukraine lost up to 350 troops and 25 pieces of military equipment in the Kursk region over the past 24 hours, including four tanks, an IFV, two APCs, and 18 armored combat vehicles, bringing the total since the incursion began to 4,130 troops, 58 tanks and more than 500 other vehicles, the Ministry's figures show.

🔸 Akhmat special forces commander Apti Alaudinov said Ukraine’s advance has been halted in all directions, and that Russian forces have begun liberating captured settlements.

Russian forces have discovered a “huge number of foreign mercenaries” in the ranks of Ukrainian forces, and that some appear to be NATO servicemen, the commander said, adding he had also received evidence of civilians “shot point-blank” in occupied territories.

🔸 Russian media discovered that US private military company Forward Observation Group had published a photo on social media of three of its mercs taking part in the attack on Kursk. The photo shows men standing in military gear and blue armbands posing in front of a Humvee.

🔸 Vitaly, a captured driver from Ukraine’s 92nd Assault Brigade, told Russian interrogators that Kiev is facing “very heavy losses” in the Kursk region, as he “took them there so many times, [but] no one came back.”

🔸 Brigadier General Erich Vad, a former military advisor to ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told German media that the Kursk attack was supposed to distract Russia and save Ukraine from defeat in Donbass, but failed. He accused the media of exaggerating Ukraine’s successes, saying they were local and strategically insignificant.

🔸 Austrian Armed Forces officer Markus Reisner told local media that the Kursk offensive was an “extremely risky game” for Ukraine, and that with its “meager resources to start with, it must now cope with three fronts.”

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Ukraine’s cozying up to Kosovo no brainer since both are NATO dependencies

The Zelensky regime’s gradual diplomatic warming toward the Serbian breakaway region of Kosovo makes perfect sense, since both are clients of Western powers hostile to both Serbia and Russia, Global Policy Institute senior research fellow George Szamuely has told Sputnik.

"[Ukraine regards] Serbia as much too friendly toward Russia. Serbia has pursued an independent foreign policy. At least as far as sanctions against Russia are concerned, it hasn't joined in the sanctions. And it maintains quite friendly relations,” Dr. Szamuely explained.

“Kosovo is, of course, proposed for a member of NATO. It's obviously very friendly with major powers and is essentially an American client state. And it's not even a real state because it has no membership of the United Nations. But nonetheless, a client of the United States is therefore a client of NATO," he said.

"Therefore, Ukraine wants to align themselves with that policy, since Ukraine is a wholly dependent subsidiary of NATO,” Szamuely pointed out.

The Zelensky regime has taken a series of diplomatic steps toward Kosovo’s recognition in recent months, with Kiev and Pristina engaging in troop training and high level diplomatic meetings. In May, it supported a Western-backed UN GA resolution classifying the 1995 Srebrenica violence as ‘genocide’. Serbian officials slammed the resolution, and Russia called it a “political declaration” and an attempt to reignite conflict in the Balkans.

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