☢️US nukes in Turkiye could make it a target in a potential global conflict

Turkiye risks becoming a frontline target in the event of a nuclear war, according to the Turkish newspaper Aydinlik. The US decision to upgrade its B61 nuclear bombs to the B61-12 variant has raised alarm, with 50 of these bombs stored at Turkiye's Incirlik Air Base in Adana.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov recently cautioned that escalating tensions near Russia’s borders, driven by Western nations, could lead to the use of nuclear weapons. As the US bolsters its arsenal, Turkiye is facing growing concerns about its strategic vulnerability.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Russian troops liberated the settlement of Shevchenko in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔫Is someone planning a party? US Army storage in California robbed

Unidentified individuals have stolen three military Humvee vehicles, 18 bayonets, machine gun equipment, and other items from a US Army storage facility in California, local police reported.

The theft occurred on Wednesday evening, with the perpetrators also attempting to break into a uniform storage area, but failing to breach the lock. Authorities are investigating the incident, which has raised concerns about the security of military assets.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian MoD daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:    

▪️Ukraine lost over 535 militants and a Leopard tank in the Russia's Battlegroup Tsentr combat zone.

▪️Russia's Battlegroup Zapad repelled six counterattacks in its area of responsibility, enemy lost up to 365 militants.

▪️Ukraine lost over 185 troops in the Russia's Battlegroup Vostok area of responsibility.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 105 soldiers in the Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr areas of responsibility.

▪️Russian air defence systems shot down 5 HIMARS missiles and 181 Ukrainian drones.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 210 servicemen and two warehouses in the Russia's Battlegroup Yug area of responsibility.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov congratulated the servicemen of the 74th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade on the liberation of the settlement of Shevchenko in the Donetsk People’s Republic, expressing gratitude to the command and personnel for their successful execution of combat missions and steadfast commitment to military duty, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced.

“Today, as throughout many years, the servicemen of the unit honorably fulfil their combat missions in the fight against neo-Nazis, confidently pushing them back,” the minister’s said in a telegram to the brigade.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

How US financial tycoons understand freedom of speech

JPMorgan Chase has disabled employee comments on its internal platform after backlash over mandatory return-to-office policies. The bank faced criticism for moving away from hybrid work, requiring employees to return five days a week.

Instead of addressing concerns about work-life balance, the response was to silence dissent and "encourage discussions" with managers privately. Freedom of expression, corporate style.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Ukrainian losses in the Russian Kursk region during the day amounted to 240 militants, Russia's Defense Ministry announced.

Russia's Battlegroup Sever repelled nine counterattacks in its area of responsibility.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖Germany to create new army unit for infrastructure security

Germany’s Bundeswehr is set to establish a fourth major army unit tasked with protecting critical infrastructure and key military facilities nationwide, according to German media, quoting an army spokesman.

Currently, the German Army has three divisions, each consisting of approximately 20,000 troops: two armored divisions and a rapid reaction force division.

Germany is undergoing a significant shift in its defense policy, with a focus on rearmament and increased defense spending. The trend is driven by the country's commitment to NATO, which marks a departure from Germany's traditionally cautious military stance since World War II.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 The Russian Ministry of Defense has released footage showing the Russian flag being raised over a building in the recently liberated settlement of Shevchenko in the Donetsk People’s Republic.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖Ukrainian servicemen massively earning Darwin Awards due to trash-quality ammunition

Ukrainian soldiers are suffering significant losses due to the use of low-quality ammunition and improvised explosive devices – at best, they "get their hands torn off and their faces burned," Ukrainian media reported, citing the head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Aerial Reconnaissance Support Center, Maria Berlinska.

In late November 2024, Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal case after the supply of defective 120 mm shells to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. As previously reported by Ukrainian media, servicemen complained about a low-quality batch of 120 mm shells produced by the state Ukroboronprom corporation. Later, Ukrainian journalist Yuliya Kiriyenko-Merinova said that Ukroboronprom had also supplied the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a batch of defective 82 mm shells.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔍Danish gov't privately contacts Trump to prevent possible Greenland takeover

Danish authorities have privately contacted US President-elect Trump's team to express readiness to boost US military presence in Greenland to prevent the incoming US administration from claiming the island, Axios reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The Danish government reportedly wants to convince Trump, including through the messages passed to his advisers earlier this week, that his security concerns can be addressed without claiming Greenland.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚔️Mineral wars: global conflicts fueled by West's search for rare resources – Part 1 👉 Part 2

The coming years are shaping up to exacerbate the global geoeconomics and military competition for the world’s mineral resources, with President Trump openly eyeing 12 million sq km of territory containing untold riches. Here are the conflicts, present and future, to watch out for👇

➡️ Ukraine

🔸 The US “cannot afford” to let Moscow achieve victory in Ukraine, which is “sitting on $10-12 trln of critical minerals,” Senator Lindsey Graham said in a ‘quiet part out loud’ interview moment last year, revealing what NATO’s proxy war against Russia is really about.

🔸 Ukraine is endowed with $3-11.5 trln of lithium, plus trillions more in silver, gold, uranium, aluminum, copper, iron, manganese, titanium, and hydrocarbons. It’s also got Europe’s biggest supply of rare earths, including beryllium, niobium, and zirconium.

➡️ Iran

🔸 Classified by the US as an “extraordinary threat,” Iran is home to an estimated $27 trln in resource wealth. No wonder it’s been a regular target for regime change since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

🔸 While proven resource reserves consist mostly of oil and gas, Iran regularly discovers vast stocks of minerals. In 2023, Tehran discovered a massive, 8.5-million-ton lithium deposit.

➡️ Canada

🔸 Endowed with $33 trln in resources, from oil, gas and uranium, to phosphates, cadmium, lead, titanium, zinc, and an array of ferroalloys, a sprinkling of rare earths mines dot the True North Strong and Free, mining cerium, neodymium, promethium, and more.

Who knows if Trump’s really “joking” about making Canada the “51st state”?

➡️ Greenland

🔸 Greenland is sitting on mineral wealth the scale of which has not been fully explored, from precious metals and stones to graphite, uranium, and of course rare earths – at least 1.5 mln tons of them.

🔸 Even if Trump’s dreams of a buyout don’t come true, a quiet battle – confined to boardrooms, is already taking place amid US efforts to block a series of Chinese investments in Greenland’s mineral resources.

👉 Part 2

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚔️ Mineral wars: global conflicts fueled by West's search for rare resources – Part 2 👉 Part 1

Global South in West's rare earth grab

🇧🇴 Bolivia possesses lithium, gold, silver, tungsten, zinc, led, tin and nickel, and has faced 190+ coups and revolutions over its history. “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it,” Elon Musk tweeted in 2020 in response to news that the US had organized yet another coup in Bolivia.

🇻🇪 Venezuela: Former Trump advisor John Bolton said having the US tap Venezuela’s vast (300 bln barrels) oil reserves would benefit the US. Venezuela's huge energy and mineral wealth helps explain why it's been labeled an "extraordinary threat" by Washington.

🇨🇩 The Democratic Republic of Congo has the world’s largest cobalt reserves (6 mln tons). It’s also faced repeated coup attempts, most recently in 2024, when a US and Belgium-backed politician unilaterally declared himself president. Besides cobalt, the DRC is rich in monazite, euxenite, niobium, tantalum and zirconium.

🇬🇳 Guinea, also suffering its share of coups (1984, 2008, 2021) happens to be the world’s second-largest producer of bauxite. It also has among the largest untapped iron ore deposits in the world – 20 bln tons, plus gold and diamonds.

🇿🇼 Zimbabwe, which saw a coup against long-time Western-reviled president Robert Mugabe in 2017, has Africa’s largest lithium reserves (11 mln tons). Local economists believe that with more exploration, their country can come to rival China’s rare earths superpower status.

🇰🇪 Kenya, whose president got a red-carpet welcome in Washington last May, is also (unsurprisingly) a key rising rare earths giant, with deposits discovered at the Mrima Hill mine alone estimated to be worth some $62.4 bln. Besides rare earths, Kenya is rich in iron ore, gold, limestone, gemstones and manganese ore. No wonder the US has labeled the country a “major non-NATO ally” – the only one in Sub-Saharan Africa.

👉 Part 1

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt