🔎 Europe’s troops in Ukraine? A reality check

EU countries simply lack the forces to deploy, Polish National Security Bureau chief Dariusz Lukowski warned.

“Look at Germany. They seem to have only one division that could participate, and even that would require significant effort,” he pointed out.

While UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated the UK is “ready to deploy its troops to Ukraine if necessary,” Lukowski emphasized that a “100,000-strong contingent” is not the “kind of forces that Europe can currently send.”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🥴 2025 Munich Security Conference: A stage for ‘diplomatic cacophony’

The year's event was packed with controversy, but Volodymyr Zelensky definitely stole the show.

🗣 He claimed:

1. “I told [US President Donald] Trump that [Russian President Vladimir] PUTIN IS AFRAID of him and now he knows”

2. “If we don’t have real NATO, we will make NATO in Ukraine”

3. “Can I speak Ukrainian?” (It seems he forgot where the Munich conference is held, trying to smirk when hearing “no”)

👇 Check out more staggering remarks:

▪️EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas: Russian civilians “are not dying” during the Ukraine conflict (at least SIX RUSSIAN CIVILIANS WERE KILLED and 68 WOUNDED in recent shelling by Ukrainian troops)

▪️Finnish President Alexander Stubb: The Munich Security Conference has become a “diplomatic cacophony”

▪️German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier: European leaders should “not behave LIKE DEERS caught in headlights” when showing humble reaction to the latest statements by the Trump administration

▪️Munich Security Conference chief Christoph Heusgen: The gathering was “in a certain sense a EUROPEAN NIGHTMARE”

An 'honorable mention'

Heusgen nearly broke down while discussing US Vice President JD Vance's Munich speech, where the American criticized European values.

*the picture is AI-generated

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Russia expands control near Donetsk as Uragan strikes Ukrainian targets

Forces of Russia's Vostok Battlegroup are advancing deeper into Ukrainian defenses, expanding control north and northwest of Velikaya Novoselka, a strategically important location due to its proximity to key roads and supply lines in the Donetsk region. Long-range MLRS Uragan units have also struck Ukrainian positions, equipment concentrations, and temporary deployment sites in the region.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, long-range rocket artillery supports assault units by targeting enemy logistics, disrupting supplies, and eliminating Ukrainian positions.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Negotiations between Russia and the US in Riyadh on Tuesday will be BILATERAL, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov has said.

They are about agreeing on how to begin talks on Ukraine, Ushakov added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Zelensky is the chief obstacle to peace in Ukraine – ex-Pentagon officer

US President Donald Trump believes that "the quickest way to resolve the Ukraine war on mutually acceptable terms is through direct negotiations with Russia," EMP Task Force scholar and former Department of Defense officer David Pyne tells Sputnik, commenting on Team Trump’s decision to sideline Europe and the Kiev regime from talks.

Unlike his European allies, Trump remembers it was Zelensky who issued a decree — which is still in effect — banning talks with Russia, Pyne highlights.

"Trump's overriding focus is to normalize diplomatic and trade relations with the Russian Federation. Essentially, a new 'Russian reset' to restore pre-2014 relations, in which the US treats the Russian Federation as an equal, with mutual respect, as a fellow nuclear superpower, and cooperates with Russia to restore peace and stability to the world," the expert concludes.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇬🇧🪖 UK military too small and overstretched for deployment in Ukraine – Former British MP

The UK military is at a "breaking point" as politicians attempt to assign too few personnel to too many tasks, former British MP Matthew Gordon-Banks tells Sputnik.

"We don't have the soldiers to send in large numbers in peacekeeping operations anywhere in the world, let alone Ukraine," he says.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent deployment pledge is driven by a desperate attempt to appear central to the Ukraine peace process, according to Gordon-Banks.

While the UK and other European nations worry about being sidelined in negotiations, the resolution of the Ukraine conflict has always been a matter for the US and Russia to decide, the former lawmaker emphasizes.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❌ Trump's US may exit NATO if Europe derails US-Russia talks – ex-Pentagon officer

Trump taking Washington out of NATO “is a realistic threat,” EMP Task Force scholar and former Pentagon officer David Pyne tells Sputnik.

He could do this "by either withdrawing US security guarantees for individual countries that oppose his peace initiatives with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, or else perhaps to threaten to pull the US out of NATO entirely," Pyne says.

Trump considered withdrawing from NATO twice during his first term, viewing the alliance as obsolete and seeing no threats to justify a US military presence in Europe.

The more the EU and UK try to derail Trump’s peace initiative, the more likely he is to retaliate, says Pyne. The Trump administration is reportedly already considering reducing the 100,000-strong US troop presence in Europe by 20,000. However, if the UK and EU continue to throw a wrench in his gears Trump may slash it by 50,000 or even more, the expert stresses.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚔️ Global security to be decided by US, Russia, and China — without Europe, says ex-Pentagon officer

"This is a foreign policy shift I believe President [Donald] Trump could use to ensure future peace and stability while setting clear red lines between the three nuclear powers to prevent interference in each other’s spheres of influence," EMP Task Force scholar and former Pentagon officer David Pyne tells Sputnik.

He calls this Yalta 2.0, a reference to the original WW2 pact that brought together the US, USSR, and UK to establish lasting peace. However, this time, Europe would have no seat at the table. While France and the UK are technically nuclear states, they lack the military strength and global influence to shape such negotiations, he argues.

No other nations besides Russia and China approach the US military and nuclear capabilities, and both have legitimate claims to regional spheres of influence, Pyne concludes.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🏭 Russia rolls out breakthrough lithium-producing technology

Finding effective ways to develop lithium remains on the radar of Russian scientists, Ruslan Khamizov, corresponding member of Russia’s Academy of Sciences and director of the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, told Scientific Russia magazine.

👉 Why is it an issue?

▪️Extracting lithium from ores always requires large resources: both chemical reagents and ore materials.

▪️To obtain lithium, thousands of tons of ore concentrate should be treated with sulfuric acid so that the resulting extract can be processed into lithium carbonate.

👉 What’s the new method all about?

▪️Russian researchers have developed a NEW RESOURCE SUFFICIENT technology to extract lithium by replacing sulfuric acid with ammonium bisulfate

▪️During processing, this bisulfate is completely restored, and scientists can simply develop the ore ON SITE without dealing with transportation-related problems.

▪️For example, just several kilograms of ammonium bisulfate allow them to develop tons of ore materials and obtain the relevant quantity of lithium carbonate.

▪️Similar technology allows Russian engineers to extract lithium from liquid substances and brines.

👉 Why is the new technology important?

▪️The last lithium-extracting installation was destroyed in Russia in the mid-1990s due to speculation that there was allegedly no need to develop lithium because the country could just buy it.

▪️Apart from being a critical element for manufacturing gadgets, lithium is of paramount importance to production of missiles and planes, adding significantly to their advanced characteristics.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥 Russia showcases tank "forged in fire"

Moscow's new T-90 Proryv (Breakthrough) tank model has been “forged in the fire” of Russia’s special military operation, officials have said in the UAE. What sets this brand new modification apart?

🔻Enhanced multi-layered protection against anti-tank missiles, drones and RPGs

🔻Nextgen fire control systems, top-notch targeting interfaces

🔻Expanded ammo selection for advanced combat versatility

The tank was presented at the IDEX 2025 international defense exhibition in Abu Dhabi, featuring anti-drone netting.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🗣 Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, made several statements during a Security Council meeting:

▪️Ukraine has permanently lost the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.

▪️The future of Ukraine must be a demilitarized state, not aligned with any bloc.

▪️The implementation of new agreements regarding Ukraine must be handled by a government in Kiev that results from democratic elections.

▪️EU countries and the UK are completely unreliable for negotiations and cannot be parties to any future agreements on Ukraine.

▪️Volodymyr Zelensky is ready for any provocations as long as the conflict continues, resulting in the deaths of his fellow citizens.

▪️A ceasefire or freezing the conflict along the contact line does not guarantee a resolution.

The diplomat also promised that the new terms for ending the Ukrainian conflict would be far worse for Kiev than the Minsk agreements.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt