❗️The French Foreign Ministry told Sputnik it would not comment on the detention of Pavel Durov so as not to compromise the independence of the judicial system.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Germany does not share the Czech president's view that the Nord Stream gas pipelines were a legitimate target and considers the sabotage bombing a crime, the German government said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Ukraine lost over 400 troops and 27 armored vehicles during its aggression against Russia's Kursk region in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Russian troops repelled attacks towards Kremianoye, Malaya Loknya and Nechayev. Attempts to attack in the areas of Komarovka, Spalnoye, Korenevo, Pogrebki and Olgovka were thwarted.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Russian military steamroller in action

The assault units of the Russian Vostok Battlegroup advanced towards Konstantinovka in the DPR

The task of the assault troops is to block the supply routes for the large garrison of the Ukrainian armed forces in Ugledar, which pass through the town.

Combat pairs on motorcycles break through the grey zone towards the Ukrainian positions. At the edge of the forest belt, troops dismount and rush into the trenches.

Meanwhile, an armoured group on heavy vehicles begins to move forward, firing at the enemy from tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Russian MoD statement on the ongoing operation to counter Ukraine's aggression in the Kursk region

◻️ Units of the Russian battlegroup "Sever", supported by army aviation and artillery, repelled enemy attacks near the settlements of Kremyanoye, Malaya Loknya and Nechaev. They also thwarted enemy attempts to attack the settlements of Komarovka, Spalnoye, Korenevo, Pogrebki and Olgovka.

◻️ As a result, up to 30 Ukrainian militants were killed or injured. A tank, three armoured vehicles, and one motor vehicle were destroyed.

◻️ Reconnaissance and search operations continue to identify and eliminate enemy sabotage groups that have tried to infiltrate deep into Russian territory through forests.

◻️ Air strikes, artillery fire, and troop actions defeated concentrations of Ukrainian militants and their equipment near the following settlements: Apanasovka, Borki, Vishnevka, Viktorovka, Desyatyy Octyabr, Kruglenkoye, Loknya, Mikhaylovka, Novaya Sorochina, Plekhovo, Snagost and Yuzhny.

◻️ Tactical air strikes in the Sumy region hit concentrations of Ukrainian militants and military equipment near the settlements of Belopolye, Bunyakino, Boyaro-Lezhichi, Baranovka, Druzhba, Zapselye, Katerinovka, Malushino, Pervomayskoye, Orlovka, Pustogorod, Svessa, Sumy, Khoten and Chervonoye.

◻️ During the day, the Ukrainian forces suffered losses of more than 400 militants and 27 armored vehicles, including a tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, three armored personnel carriers, 21 other armored combat vehicles, five artillery pieces, two mortars, eleven vehicles and one US-made counter-battery radar system.

◻️ In total, during the battles in the Kursk area, the enemy suffered losses of more than 6,200 troops, 73 tanks, 33 infantry fighting vehicles, 61 armored personnel carriers, 404 armored vehicles, 188 other vehicles, 42 artillery units, five anti-aircraft missile systems, 11 multiple rocket launch systems — including three HIMARS and one M270 MLRS system — nine electronic warfare units, two counter-battery radar systems, an air defense radar unit and five engineering equipment units, including two engineer barrier vehicles and one UR-77 mine clearing unit.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️The International Atomic Energy Agency mission led by Rafael Grossi will visit the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant on Tuesday, the agency's director general said in a statement.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️The Russian Ministry of Defense has given details of the massive attack on facilities in Ukraine

◻️ The targets of the strike included electrical substations in the following regions: Kiev, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnitsky, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Nikolaev, Kirovograd and Odessa.

◻️ Gas compressor stations in the Lvov, Ivano-Frankovsk and Kharkov regions, which are essential for the operation of Ukraine's gas transportation system, have also been damaged.

◻️ In addition, stores of aircraft weapons transferred by Western countries to Ukraine at airfields in the Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk regions have been attacked.

◻️ All designated targets have been hit. The resulting power cuts have disrupted railway transport of weapons and ammunition to the front line.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Graveyard for NATO armor: list of Western weapons systems destroyed during Kiev’s Kursk gambit

Along with crack troops and foreign mercs, Kiev’s surprise attack on the Kursk region has involved an array of NATO equipment. Here are some of the much-touted NATO systems destroyed:

◾️ Challenger 2: Britain’s battle-shy MBT lost its status as the only modern tank never to have been destroyed by enemy fire when London started sending them to Ukraine last year. A Russian loitering munition destroyed a Challenger 2 in the Kursk region in mid-August.

◾️ Abrams: Russia’s first Abrams kill in the Kursk region was reported last week. At least 20 of the 31 Abrams supplied to Kiev have now been lost.

◾️ HIMARS rocket artillery: At least three of these shoot-and-scoot rocket artillery systems have been destroyed in the Kursk assault.

◾️ Stryker: About a dozen of these Canadian APC-IFV hybrids have been destroyed by Russian air power, Lancet drones, and Black Sea Fleet Naval Infantry in the Kursk region, with two more captured.

◾️ Marder: At least three of these German “Schutzenpanzers” have been knocked out by Russian forces in the Kursk region.

◾️ Bradley: Eight of these American IFVs were destroyed in the course of 24 hours on August 12 during a breakthrough attempt. Five or more were knocked out in fighting elsewhere.

◾️ Kirpi: Last week, Russian FPV drone footage showed a drone’s attack on a Turkish-made Kirpi MRAP operating somewhere in the Kursk area.

◾️ Humvee: These ubiquitous US-made vehicles have been spotted in MoD and media reports on destroyed enemy equipment, with knocked-out vehicles seen in an array of modifications, from machinegun turret-equipped variants to support vehicles.

◾️ M113 APC: At least one M113 has been hit by Russia’s deadly new EW-resistant Knyaz Vandal of Novgorod wired FPV drone.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Ukraine's attack on Russia's Kursk region: hostile actions cannot go unanswered – Kremlin

◻️ Before Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Kursk region there were no negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

◻️ Such hostile actions as Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk region cannot remain unanswered and there will be a response – and not just a single act – Peskov told reporters.

◻️ Losses of Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 400 people and 27 armored vehicles, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

◻️ IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said he will visit the Kursk nuclear power plant on Tuesday. The IAEA intends to independently assess the situation at the plant, he said.

◻️ Ukrainian military leaders complain that Kiev's attack on the Kursk region has led to loss of ground on other key fronts, The Times newspaper quoted Ukrainian military officials as saying.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🎥 Chemical plant in Germany on fire following explosion

The accident happened on the grounds of a plant owned by the German chemical giant Linde, which produces hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and other special gases.

Emergency services urged residents of Leuna and Bad Dürrenberg to keep windows and doors closed.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Macron says arrest of Telegram's Durov 'in no way a political decision'

Durov's arrest is part of ongoing probe, 'up to judges to decide' — Macron

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Durov charged with refusing to cooperate on cyber and financial crimes on Telegram — reports quoting police

French police said that the Durov case is still under investigation – media

French police say Durov is still in custody. An investigation is underway – reports

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Rumble CEO says Emmanuel Macron lies about commitment to freedom of speech

"When you say you are committed to freedom of expression, you are lying. We have a letter from France that proves this, without a doubt,” Chris Pavlovski wrote on his X account in reply to the French president’s attempt to justify Durov's arrest.

“We had to shutdown Rumble in France because you have NO commitment to freedom of expression."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

European Commission refuses to comment on Telegram founder's arrest

"This is a national investigation, we do not intend to comment on it, it should be referred to the French authorities," the European Commission's press service said.

The Paris prosecutor's office promised to make a statement on Durov's case today, August 26.

Durov, founder and CEO of the leading messaging app Telegram, was arrested on arrival in Paris on 24 August. He is accused of involvement in crimes related to terrorism, fraud and drug trafficking for his alleged refusal to moderate content on the messenger.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

AOC Logic? Children in Gaza must die, so that Trans kids in Alabama may live

“When I process the suffering of Gazans, I think about the women bleeding out in ER rooms in red states...I think about trans kids…” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a US Congresswoman and prominent Democrat said.

“…The conclusion I’ve come to is having more people suffer to put on top of the already suffering that’s going on in Gaza…that’s not something that I think I’m comfortable with”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Durov has been charged with 12 crimes - the Paris prosecutor's office told Sputnik

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Telegram CEO, Pavel Durov may remain in police custody in France until August 28 - the Paris prosecutor's office told Sputnik, adding that the case against Pavel Durov in France was opened on July 8, 2024

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Top-5 possible reasons behind Telegram CEO Durov’s detention

Pavel Durov, co-founder of the Telegram encrypted messaging app, has been arrested in France. He faces multiple charges of allegedly failing to moderate the service.

Why did Durov have a target on his back? Let’s have a look at possible reasons.

Censorship and suppression of free speech

◻️ The US government wanted to get its hands on Telegram’s code to snoop on online activity and censor free speech, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson told Sputnik. That would enable the West to shut down criticism of its foreign policy, NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine and Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, Johnson said.

◻️ "This is one more step, after the long prosecutions against Julian Assange and those against Snowden, in a long list of attacks on freedom of expression in Western countries," Jacques Sapir, director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, told Sputnik.

◻️ Days after endorsing former president Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr slammed Durov’s arrest as an attack on free speech ahead of the November US presidential elections.

◻️ Kim Dotcom, German activist and businessman, warned that "the crackdown against free speech escalates."

Blackmail

◻️ “I wouldn't be surprised that they would try to get their hands on Telegram, to strike a deal with Telegram saying: well, we release you, you give us a price and maybe we can buy you," Hong Kong-based political analyst Angelo Giuliano said.

◻️ The real purpose of Durov’s arrest is to blackmail him “into opening a backdoor to Telegram in exchange for his freedom,” investigative journalist Lucy Komisar told Sputnik. It is part of an attempt “to tighten control of the platforms of the Internet that allow views that challenge the collective West,” she added.

◻️ Social media influencer Mario Nawfal alleged that "the US wanted to control Telegram better."

Competition with WhatsApp

“There is WhatsApp and there is Telegram. Lately, Telegram has been beating WhatsApp. So, this is a normal reaction from [WhatsApp’s] American owners to stamp out a competitor using political motivation, only via France,” Valentin Makarov, president of the Russoft association, told Sputnik.

Means to Distract Attention

◻️ Durov has been arrested because the West is losing control over its ability “to justify war in a faraway land,” black conservative media presenter Candace Owens tweeted.

◻️ Durov is facing up to 20 years in jail “for refusing to censor content on behalf of the globalist oligarchy and their war machine," Italian film producer Robin Monotti posted on on X.

Russophobia

"He is Russian, all our common enemies are unpredictable and dangerous of a different blood,” Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said. “Definitely not Musk or Zuckerberg (who, by the way, is actively cooperating with the FBI). Durov must finally understand that the Fatherland, like the times, is not chosen…"

"Once, I asked Durov why he did not want to cooperate with law enforcement agencies on serious crimes. 'This is my principled position,' he said. 'Then there will be serious problems in any country,' I told him," Medvedev added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🧪Silent warfare: what we know about Ukraine’s NATO-backed chemical weapons strategy

The US is the “main supplier” of toxic substances synthesized by Ukraine for use against Russia, the Russian permanent mission to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has revealed.

“In March 2023, we warned about the US supply to Ukraine of chemical substances with a temporary incapacitating effect, including BZ, CS, CR, [and] Teren-6 hand grenades with chemical irritant properties,” the mission told Russian media on Monday. Contrary to statements by Washington about its destruction of chemical weapons stocks, the US maintains the capacity to synthesize large volumes of toxic substances, the mission warned.

◻️ Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense (RCBD) Troops have exposed Ukraine’s use of chemical weapons since 2022. In July, RCBD Troops chief Igor Kirillov revealed that Russia had recorded over 400 cases the use of non-lethal toxic chemicals by Ukraine to date.

◻️ In 2023, Russia’s OPCW mission pointed to “undeniable evidence” of NATO’s involvement in the supply of toxic chemicals to Kiev, plus details on their delivery.

◻️ Between February 2022 and July 2023 alone, Russia’s mission to the OPCW sent the body nearly two dozen notes on Ukraine’s suspected use of toxic substances, but these concerns were ignored.

◾️ USE ON THE BATTLEFIELD, USE AGAINST OFFICIALS

◻️ In February 2024, the RCBD Troops revealed that Kherson administrator Vladimir Saldo had been poisoned with ricin in August 2022 by Ukrainian intelligence. Separately, Lugansk People’s Republic chief Leonid Pasechnik suffered a poisoning attack using phenolic compounds in December 2023.

◻️ According to Kirillov, Ukraine’s strategy in the Donbass and Kharkov includes plans to blow up containers filled with hydrocyanic acid and ammonia to try to blunt a Russian advance, with chemical agents reportedly delivered to Kramatorsk and Kupyansk and planned for deployment along highways.

◻️ Last month, Kirillov revealed a plot by the US, Germany, Ukraine and friendly elements within the OPCW’s secretariat to ‘investigate’ the alleged use of chemical weapons by Russia in Ukraine based on fabricated evidence, with several hundred thousand dollars allocated for this purpose by Washington.

◻️ In late 2023, late Sputnik Donbass correspondent Russell Bentley warned that Kiev was “preparing and implementing dangerous chemical provocations” against Russian forces.

◾️ TOXIC RECORD

◻️ The Russian military reported earlier this month that Ukraine used chemical artillery shells against Russian power company workers in Belovo, Kursk region. The Akhmat Special Forces separately reported that 155 mm NATO shells, suspected to contain toxic hexachloroethane, had been used against them.

◻️ In July, a Russian intelligence officer told Sputnik about the use of toxic substances, possibly the suffocating agent phosgene, against Russian forces in Kherson.

◻️ Also in July, the RCBD Troops reported details on a chemical lab in liberated Avdeevka in Donetsk capable of producing up to 3 kg of toxic chemical substances per day.

◻️ In June, Russian forces reported an attack on positions in the Belgorod region using a drone carrying toxic hydrocyanic acid.

◻️ In May, Kirillov reported that Ukraine had used chemical agents including the irritant chloropicrin mixed with tear gas agent chloracetophenone in liberated settlements in Donetsk, including Gorlovka and Artyomovsk (Bakhmut).

◻️ In March, a Russian commander told Sputnik that a Ukrainian drone had deployed white phosphorous in a rural area near the city of Energodar, home of the Zaporozhye nuclear plant. A month later, Russian forces reported the use of white phosphorous near the village of Kleshcheyevka in Donetsk.

◻️ In January, Ukrainian troops reportedly deployed an unidentified chemical agent containing anthrachinone – which can cause respiratory tract burns among victims – against Russian positions.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt