Russia has already identified more than 4,000 mercenaries in the Ukrainian Army, and absentee investigations have been completed on a number of them, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told Sputnik.

"At some point, these people will have to constantly look over their shoulders. They will be under constant scrutiny," he noted.

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🎥 WATCH: ‘Winged infantry’ anti-tank crews destroyed Ukrainian soldiers during rotation in the Kherson region

A Kornet anti-tank missile system crew from a Battlegroup Dnepr Airborn Forces artillery unit launched a guided missile from the coast of the Kinburn Spit and destroyed an entire detachment of Ukrainian troops.

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Trump claims Zuckerberg plotted against him in 2020

Former US President Donald Trump has claimed that Mark Zuckerberg plotted against him during the 2020 election. The Meta* CEO would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he did it again, Trump says in his new book, cited by US media outlets.

Trump writes that Zuckerberg “would come to the Oval Office to see me. He would bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true plot against the President,” referring to the $420 million Zuckerberg invested in the election campaign in 2020.

Conservatives slammed the donation, suspecting that Zuckerberg tried to influence the vote to ensure Joe Biden's victory, calling the money "zuckerbucks."

“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump said.

*Banned in Russia for extremism

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◾️ Pavel Durov was placed under judicial supervision and is forbidden to leave France

◾️ Trump claimed Zuckerberg had plotted against him in 2020

◾️ Zelensky’s gas threats making Europeans ‘realize it’s not profitable to go to war with Russia’

◾️ Gabbard and RFK Jr joining Trump is harbinger of tectonic shift in US politics – Wall Street analyst

◾️ Why US-led ICE Pact won’t help NATO match Russia’s Arctic superpower status

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EU countries should completely lift restrictions on Kiev’s strikes on Russian territory, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said.

Earlier, against the background of the Kiev regime's attack on Russia’s Kursk region, he claimed that lifting the ban on Kiev's strikes using Western weapons on Russian territory could "contribute to peacekeeping efforts."

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Ukraine's attack on Russia's Kursk region is taking place with the comprehensive support of the West, which authorized these actions.

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Pavel Durov's arrest in France likely got green light from Biden-Harris White House

"That’s a big step. Very hard for a bystander without direct knowledge, being me, to believe that Macron could or would have done that without the encouragement or at least [the] agreement of the Biden administration," Tucker Carlson noted during his interview with Mike Benz, a former Trump State Department official.

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US uses Telegram against ‘unwanted regimes’

"There is a great point along this, which gets right to the France story and this intersection between US and French interests – US and French shared military intelligence and diplomatic and economic interests in arresting Pavel and finally getting the leverage they’ve craved for so long to be able to both control Telegram’s content moderation practice, to ban all Russian propaganda channels, which are infecting the minds of everyone from Ukraine to Belarus to, you know, to sub-Saharan Africa. But also, you know, the ability to get this back-end access, you know, to read every Russian text message effectively. There’s a great example of this in terms of blowback on Americans," Mike Benz, a former Trump State Department official, emphasized during his interview with Tucker Carlson.

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🎥 "We will save them all!"

Families of hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7 attack staged a protest near the Gaza Strip barrier.

Their aim was to show they are ready to "run and save them all" themselves if the state does not take steps to free their relatives.

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❗️Russian troops have liberated the settlements of Nikolayevka in the DPR and Stelmakhovka in the LPR, the Defense Ministry reported

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

◻️ The Russian Battlegroup Sever has started operations on the Bryansk front.

◻️ Russian forces hit a stockpile of long-range Storm Shadow missiles manufactured in the UK.

◻️ Units of the Russian Battlegroup Yug took more advantageous positions, with Ukraine losing up to 740 militants.

◻️ Russian air defense systems shot down three Hammer bombs, a HIMARS rocket, and 36 Ukrainian drones.

◻️ The Russian Battlegroup Vostok repelled three Ukrainian counterattacks, inflicting losses of up to 105 militants.

◻️ The Russian Battlegroup Zapad repelled six counterattacks, including from the Azov unit (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia), with enemy losses totaling up to 520 militants.

◻️ Ukraine lost up to 45 militants and an ammunition depot in the Dnepr Battlegroup's combat zone.

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🇷🇺 Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s June peace offer to Kiev was the universal plan for resolving the Ukrainian conflict.

She noted that discussion at the time was not about freezing, but rather about the final end of the conflict.

👉 We went into more detail about the Russian proposals for settlement put forward in June here

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Turkish parliament speaker blames US for suspension of Russia-Ukraine talks

Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 were disrupted because of the US position, Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus said, according to Turkish media.

"The US is trying to consolidate the European continent because of the hostilities in Ukraine, wants to involve Russia in serious problems and considers regional turbulence important for the balance of power," he said.

Kurtulmus said that during the talks in Istanbul, the sides were close to signing an agreement to end the conflict, but some countries did not want that.

After the start of the special military operation, Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of talks in February and March 2022. After that, the negotiation process was frozen, as the Ukrainian authorities withdrew from it.

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The judicial supervision of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France may last until the end of the investigation – which could take several years.

His lawyer David Libeskind told Sputnik that Durov can ask the judge to at any time to relax the supervision regime.

The fact that Durov was not sent to jail means that he was able to prove that he has a place of residence in France, Libeskind said.

Judicial supervision does not imply restrictions on the use of the internet and phones, so Durov can continue to work, the lawyer added.

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West doesn't care as long as they make money, as long as bombs are dropped - Aussie Cossack

"This is great for business, this war. And the West is laughing, the West is happy. The West is supplying more weapons. And that's what we can't forgive the West for. And this is what they do everywhere," independent journalist Aussie Cossack comments on how the West profits from global conflicts.

He pointed out that the West doesn't care as long as they can make money and the bombs fall.

"They turn Iraqis on Iranians, North Koreans on South Koreans, South Vietnamese on North Vietnamese," Aussie Cossack said.

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Romania is about to snatch up Moldova's only outlet to the Black Sea

Romania is in talks to purchase the port of Giurgiulesti, Moldova’s sole indirect outlet to the Black Sea. Here’s what we know about the port and the deal:

▪️ Giurgiulesti port was built in 2006 and consists of two infrastructure entities – Giurgiulesti State Port and Giurgiulesti International Free Port, which eventually fell under the ownership of Danube Logistics SRL in 2011.

▪️ In 2021, under Moldova’s President Maia Sandu, a Romanian citizen, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) reportedly bought 100% of its shares for a mere 1,000 euros.

▪️ The new deal concerns only the International Free Port, Moldovan government spokesman Daniel Voda said.

▪️ The deal originally sparked debate, as Romania said that the Moldovan side would not be a party to the talks with the EBRD. Critics among the opposition slammed the deal as a blow to Moldova’s sovereignty.

▪️ Romania would be the main beneficiary of the cargo flow through the port, seeking to boost its role in the region while capitalizing on creating a hub for Ukraine’s post-conflict reconstruction.

▪️ The port sits in close proximity to Ukraine, and is crossed by a land route from Odessa to the Romanian logistics hubs of Galati and Constanta. This route is used to supply Ukraine with fuel and export its grain. By late 2023, port cargo turnover reached 2.17 million tons.

Earlier, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said Romania intends to acquire the company RED Nord, which provides electricity and heat generation for the north of Moldova. Ilan Shor, leader of the Moldovan opposition Victory bloc, regards this as another step towards uniting the two countries.

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