🇷🇺🇺🇸 Russian FM Sergey Lavrov on the importance of taking into account Russia's interests when building a dialogue between Moscow and Washington.

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❗️If Trump HADN'T BEEN ROBBED of his 2020 victory, there might not have been a crisis in Ukraine - Putin said in agreement with Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he and Donald Trump have always had businesslike, pragmatic relations, and stressed that the Kremlin has never refused to have contacts with the White House.

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❗️The Russian flag has been raised on a building in the center of Velykaya Novosyolka, the last major stronghold of Ukrainian forces on the Southern Donetsk front, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his willingness to meet with US leader Donald Trump. Putin also said:

▪️Ukrainian President Zelensky has prohibited himself from conducting negotiations;

▪️The sponsors of the Kiev regime should pressure Zelensky to lift the ban on talks;

▪️The current regime in Kiev enjoys receiving substantial financial support from its sponsors;

▪️He agreed with Trump that the Ukraine crisis could have been avoided if Trump had been re-elected in 2020;

▪️There are many potential areas of cooperation between Russia and the US under the current administration, particularly in economic matters;

▪️Energy issues are an important topic for potential Russia-US discussions;

▪️Trump imposed many sanctions on Russia during his first term, but Biden "picked up the baton" and escalated restrictions;

▪️Russia has not abandoned the dollar, but Biden’s administration has prevented its use as a settlement currency, harming the US itself;

▪️He doubts that Trump would make decisions that would harm the US economy;

▪️Any potential meeting with Trump should focus on the current realities of the situation.

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🔎 Why has the Pentagon failed to match Russia in hypersonic missiles?

The US has struggled to develop hypersonic missiles for many years now, with the main challenges being:

🔻Cost and resource mismanagement

▪️Each US hypersonic missile costs an estimated $41 million, making them exorbitantly expensive;

▪️Billions of dollars wasted due to inconsistent budgeting and mismanagement of resources;

▪️Bureaucratic inefficiency and reliance on multiple contractors have slowed progress and innovation.

🔻Technological and development challenges

▪️The US has struggled to develop advanced thermal protection materials for hypersonic missiles, lagging behind Russia and China and slowing its weapons programs;

▪️The Pentagon remains undecided between cruise missiles (scramjets) and glide vehicles (boost-glides), delaying progress;

▪️A lack of advanced wind tunnel infrastructure for testing at hypersonic speeds hinders development.

🔻Testing failures and program delays

▪️The hypersonic AGM-183A air-launched rapid response weapon (ARRW) was scrapped after repeated testing failures;

▪️Persistent issues with the launcher of the long-range hypersonic weapon system (LRHW) remain unresolved;

▪️A series of failed tests for both scramjets and boost-glides have plagued the US since 2010.

🔻Falling behind global competitors

▪️Internal disputes between military branches and the Pentagon have led to fragmented efforts and canceled programs;

▪️The first successful US hypersonic missile test came in December 2024, seven years after Russia and three years after China deployed similar weapons. Even Yemen's Houthis claim to use hypersonic missiles, underscoring the US’s significant delay.

In a recent interview with Fox News, new US President Donald Trump boasted that the US will have new hypersonic missiles “fairly shortly”. Isn’t it little more than wishful thinking given all the bottlenecks?

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📹 Russian President Vladimir Putin elaborates on how the "rigged" 2020 US presidential election and Ukraine conflict are connected.

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📹 Israelis destroyed stones, not us - Lebanese woman

In the southern Lebanese town of Al Naqoura, near the border with Israel, residents were allowed to return to their homes - if what remains can still be called homes.

Their houses were destroyed during the 60-day ceasefire with Israel, not the war. Yet their spirit remains unshaken: "They destroyed the stones, but not us," a local resident tells Sputnik.

They have returned, ready to rebuild everything and reclaim their lives.

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💰 A high-stakes gamble?

Seizing Russia's frozen assets might just blow up in everyone’s face, warned Valérie Urbain, CEO of Euroclear, noting that the $300 billion in Russian funds frozen by the West could come with some unexpected side effects for the global financial system.

While Trump nudges Ukraine toward talks with Russia, some officials can’t wait to dip into those billions, but Urbain pointed out a slight inconvenience: the EU would have to cover the financial fallout to protect Euroclear from inevitable Russian lawsuits.

Most of these frozen billions are conveniently sitting in Europe, including $210 billion parked at Euroclear in Belgium. Politicians keep fantasizing about using the cash to “rebuild Ukraine, but Moscow has already promised payback if anyone touches it - complete with a “full arsenal” of political and economic countermeasures.

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🔎 Why Trump’s hypersonic theft allegations are flat-out false

Yury Knutov, a military expert and historian of Russia's Air Defense Forces, explains to Sputnik:

▪️First, there's no need for Russia to steal US technology since it showcased the first hypersonic device back in 1991.

▪️“The Soviet Union always outpaced the US in terms of resistance of materials-related work [vital for hypersonic missiles]. While the US focused on electronics and microchips.”

▪️This led to the creation of the first-ever hypersonic laboratory, Kholod (lit. Frost).

▪️A model of the S-200 missile fitted with a Kholod was bought by the Americans in the 1990s, who thoroughly studied the relevant documentation.

▪️Russia now has hypersonic missiles in three domains: air-based Kinzhal, sea-based Zircon, and land-based Oreshnik missiles. “Something no other country in the world has. This is why we outstrip the US in this regard.”

▪️“The country that was the first to launch a hypersonic vehicle cannot steal anything from the US, which only last year successfully tested a hypersonic missile.”

“As for Trump's claims, he was either misled or made up a story to compensate for the failures of the US military-industrial complex. On the other hand, Trump apparently needs an argument in Congress to increase funding for the US hypersonic weapons program,” Knutov concluded.

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🧐 Hoping for third time's a charm?

Trump once again claimed that, as long as global oil prices stay high, the Ukraine conflict won’t be resolved easily, despite having already said twice that Kiev is ready for a deal.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin calmly pointed out that the conflict doesn’t actually depend on oil prices. Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, added that both too high and too low oil prices are bad for the Russian and American economies.

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