❗️ Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has opened criminal cases on illegal border crossing against correspondents from Australia’s ABC broadcaster Fletcher Young and Catherine Diss, as well as Romanian journalist Mirceu Parbu.

All three entered the Kursk region, which is under attack by Ukraine. A total of 12 foreign journalists have been prosecuted for similar crimes since August 17.

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Trump agrees to face-to-face meeting with Zelensky at Trump Tower

Donald Trump has agreed to meet with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. "As you know, President Zelensky has asked to meet with me and I will be meeting with him tomorrow around 9:45 in Trump Tower," Trump told reporters in New York on September 26. “We'll see what happens, but I believe I can work that out," Trump added.

Ahead of the announcement, the Republican presidential candidate posted a letter on his Truth Social account purportedly from Zelensky in which he asked for a face-to-face meeting.

Zelensky, who arrived in the US to present his "victory plan" to President Joe Biden, has not done himself any favors with earlier statements regarding Trump and his running mate. The leader of the Western-sponsored Kiev regime told The New Yorker that his "feeling" is that Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the [Ukraine] war, even if he might think he knows how," and that vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance is "too radical."

At a campaign event in North Carolina, Trump lambasted Zelensky for "making little nasty aspersions" toward him.

The presidential hopeful, critical of the US aid funneled to Ukraine, has also called Zelensky a “salesman” who “refuses to make a deal."

While haggling over more Western aid, Zelensky ruffled GOP feathers even more by dropping in at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Pennsylvania, a key swing state, accompanied “exclusively by Democrats.”

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⚡️ Russian hacker group doxxes Ukraine militants who attacked Russia’s Kursk region

⚡️ ‘No more arms to Ukraine if it blew up the Nord Stream pipelines’, German politician says

⚡️ ‘Asked to meet with me’: Trump confirms he’ll meet Zelensky in Trump Tower

⚡️ What are white phosphorus munitions the US is reluctant to supply to Ukraine?

⚡️ IDF says it intercepted a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen

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'Nord Stream must be repaired, opened and secured!' - AfD leader Tino Chruppalla

"Two years ago today, opponents of German energy sovereignty blew up Nord Stream. The lifeline of German industry was severed. Our parliamentary group is demanding clarification and punishment of all those responsible. Nord Stream must be repaired, opened and secured!" - AfD leader said on his X account.

Earlier, leader of another German opposition party Reason and Justice (BSW), Sarah Wagenknecht, called for raising the question of reparations if the investigation confirms that Ukraine was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

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Is Elon the № 1 fan of Soviet achievements?

Elon Musk once again tweeted about the achievements of Soviet science. This time he recalled the "Kardashev Scale", noting that eventually humanity will switch entirely to solar energy consumption.

The scale was invented in 1964 by Nikolai Kardashev, a Soviet radio astronomer who later became an academic of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Kardashev scale is a method of measuring the technological development of civilization, proposed by Kardashev in his work "Transmission of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations".

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How has the West reacted to changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine?

Many myopic Western leaders appear oblivious to the dangers of escalating NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Their reactions to President Vladimir Putin’s announcement on a review of the foundational principles guiding the country’s nuclear deterrence policy amid the new global threats clearly indicate this.

⚡️ US Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed Russia’s nuclear doctrine update warning to the West as “irresponsible,” and accused Putin of “rattling the nuclear saber" in an interview on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

⚡️ European Commission spokesperson for foreign policy Peter Stano parroted the same word, "irresponsible," claiming that the Russian leader was “playing [a] gamble with his nuclear arsenal." He went on to indicate that the EU’s stance would remain unchanged.

⚡️ More misguided reaction was offered by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who described Putin's warning as “not even worth commenting on.” He brushed aside the announced changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, saying that “Tomorrow there will be something new.” At a press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart Laurynas Kasciunas, he added that NATO will be “sticking to our own course.”

⚡️ Another individual with blinkers on is NATO's outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington, he accused Russia of “intimidating” the alliance in an effort to make it drop support for Ukraine.

⚡️ Whoever uses nuclear weapons first will be “cursed,” said Polish President Andrzej Duda. "The world will never forgive them for that,” he told TVN24.

⚡️ Italian Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Northern League (Lega Nord) party Matteo Salvini, when asked about Russia's updated nuclear doctrine, said he does not want even to think about using nuclear weapons.

It should be noted that the flurry of condemnatory statements against the Russian leader come from countries that are themselves escalating the Ukrainian conflict. Britain has given the thumbs up to Kiev’s strikes deep into Russia using its Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Biden has also not yet given a negative response to Zelensky's request for greenlighting strikes with long-range weapons.

As President Putin outlined plans to update Russia's nuclear doctrine, he underscored that the core principle of using nuclear weapons remains the same: they are a last resort to protect the country’s sovereignty. However, the changing geopolitical landscape and emerging military threats have required adjustments, Putin said.

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❗️Russian troops liberate the village of Marinovka in the Donetsk People's Republic – Russian Defense Ministry

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❗️Ukraine lost up to 16,000 militants over the week.

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

◻️ The Russian forces carried out 33 successful group strikes with precision weapons, including Kinzhal missiles, targeting Ukrainian enterprises of the military-industrial complex.

◻️ 66 Ukrainian militants surrendered on the frontlines.

◻️ Russia’s Battlegroup Zapad formations have strengthened their positions along the front line. Ukrainian forces lost up to 2,980 militants.

◻️ Ukrainian forces lost more then 3,270 servicemen and two Leopard tanks in Battlegroup Sever's area of responsibility.

◻️ The Black Sea Fleet aviation destroyed six Ukrainian unmanned boats.

◻️ Ukrainian losses reached a total of 960 servicemen in Battlegroup Vostok's area of responsibility.

◻️ In the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), two settlements - Grigorovka and Ostroe - were liberated.

◻️ The Russian Tsentr Battlegroup repelled 67 Ukrainian counterattacks, inflicting losses of up to 3,880 militants.

◻️ Ukrainian losses reached a total of 5,140 servicemen in Battlegroup Yug's area of responsibility.

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What are US intelligence’s concerns as Ukraine awaits Biden’s approval to strike deep into Russia?

Russia is likely to retaliate with greater force, potentially including lethal attacks, if the United States and its coalition partners authorize Ukraine to use US, British, and French-supplied long-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia, The New York Times reported, citing US officials.
 
This intelligence assessment, previously unreported, also downplays the impact the long-range missiles would have on the overall conflict. Ukraine currently possesses only a limited number of such weapons, and it remains uncertain whether the country’s Western allies will provide more, the article added. 

Earlier, RFK Jr. and Donald Trump Jr., in an op-ed for The Hill, warned US authorities against escalating the Ukraine conflict by allowing Kiev to strike deep inside Russian territory using long-range weapons. 

"At a time when American leaders should be focused on finding a diplomatic off-ramp to a war that should never have been allowed to take place, the Biden-Harris administration is instead pursuing a policy that Russia says it will interpret as an act of war,” they wrote.

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More than 25 people have been killed, with many others injured, following the resumption of Israeli airstrikes since midnight Friday, according to Lebanon’s Minister of Health.

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