❗️Russian troops have liberated the Topoly settlement in the Kharkov region, Russia's Defense Ministry announced.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇺🇸 This week, fully-fledged contacts between Russia and the US at embassies will take place, which should remove obstacles in the work of diplomatic missions, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Key statements from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's daily briefing:

▪️Russia sees no prerequisites for resuming dialogue with the EU;

▪️EU countries, unlike the US, are following the path of conviction in the need to continue the conflict in Ukraine;

▪️The next package of EU sanctions against Russia was quite predictable;

▪️The Kremlin will see what happens after the elections in Germany, but hopes for a more sober approach from Berlin to reality;

▪️Trump's press secretary Leavitt's words about concluding peace this week need clarification.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 180 militants in the Russian Yug Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukrainian troops lost up to 85 soldiers and in the areas of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Sever and Dnepr.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 200 militants in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 315 militants in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 145 militants in the Russian Vostok Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukrainian losses in Russia's Kursk region amounted to more than 255 soldiers, three tanks were destroyed.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚓 Two explosive devices were thrown onto the territory of the Russian Consulate General in Marseille, one of which exploded, French TV reported, citing police sources.

Sappers carried out a controlled detonation of a suspicious object found near the Russian Consulate General in Marseille.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇨🇳 Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation, according to Chinese TV.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇨🇳🤖 China's Engine AI has just unveiled the first-ever front-flipping robot

But, can it jump backwards? 🤔

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

US ‘reformulates how it deals with Russia’ - US national security advisor

“We saw that first step with President Trump talking to both Putin and Zelensky and then the further engagements in Riyadh,” Michael Waltz told Fox News. 

He also made it clear that Trump won’t heed the opinion of those who criticize POTUS stance on the speedy resolution of the Ukraine conflict.

“People are welcome to bring better ideas, but all I've heard is perpetuate more war. And that is, no one should be surprised that’s not what President Trump campaigned on or intends to do,” Waltz stressed.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russia and China are good friends who support each other and achieve common development, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

China-Russia relations have a strong internal driving force and unique strategic value, the Chinese president said.

The relations are not directed against any third party and are not subject to external influence, Xi added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇨🇳 Putin told the Chinese president about recent Russian-US contacts, according to the Kremlin.

China expressed support for the dialogue between Russia and the United States that has begun and is willing to assist in finding ways to resolve the Ukrainian conflict peacefully.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇩🇪 Friedrich Merz: Germany's future leader or BlackRock's PAWN?

The 69-year-old CDU leader, whose party recently won the parliamentary elections with 28.6%, is seen as the country’s next chancellor. But there is something about his ties to US financial giant BlackRock that probably sheds light on his true priorities.

🔎 Merz and BlackRock: A strategic alliance?

▪️A career politician and former Merkel deputy, Merz joined the CDU at 17.

▪️In 2016, BlackRock appointed him to lead its German supervisory board, valuing his deep political connections.

▪️The firm sought Merz to expand its influence in Europe, grow its business, and deflect criticism.

▪️He was highly valued at BlackRock, including by CEO Larry Fink, Handelsblatt reported.

▪️By 2020, when Merz left, BlackRock had expanded its EU footprint to hold over 15% of Germany’s top 30 firms (DAX30) together with Vanguard.

▪️BlackRock was also accused of shaping EU policies to serve its financial interests.

▪️“No company in Germany can ignore BlackRock’s opinion,” Handelsblatt noted, citing its dominance in Siemens and other major firms.

🔻Merz’s hawkish stance: serving BlackRock?

▪️A staunch NATO and EU supporter, Merz pushes for a centralized Europe under stronger German leadership, reducing national sovereignty.

▪️He advocates for dismantling national armies in favor of an EU military force.

▪️He strongly supports sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine, risking escalation with Russia.

▪️His militarist stance aligns with BlackRock’s interests, as the firm, managing $11.55T in assets, profits from global conflicts, including in Ukraine and Gaza.

▪️BlackRock holds $80.8B in arms manufacturers, raising concerns about the financial motivations behind its geopolitical influence.

▪️At the World Economic Forum (WEF), CEO Larry Fink controversially suggested depopulation benefits automation and AI expansion.

Is Merz acting in Germany’s national interests or advancing BlackRock’s financial rise?

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥🇪🇺 'Leaders ignore the people': Andrew Tate slams European democracy

"Who are these leaders? Who put them there? When’s the last time they did ANYTHING their people wanted? Ever?" the leader of the UK's BRUV Party wrote on X.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💸 Zelensky's Ukraine owes nothing to the US thanks to Biden

Volodymyr Zelensky has denied owing $100 billion to the US - let alone the $500 billion mentioned by US President Donald Trump - arguing that all US aid was provided as grants. Is that true? Let’s break it down:

🔻Lend-lease and military aid

After the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, President Joe Biden signed a lend-lease law in May 2022 to supply military aid to Ukraine and Eastern Europe, similar to during World War II. However, the program was never used and expired on September 30, 2023, as the Biden administration opted to provide weapons for free instead, as the Ukrainian media pointed out in May 2024.

🔻Aid in grants

Since February 2022, the US Congress has approved $175 billion in aid related to the Ukrainian conflict:

▪️$120 billion was given directly to Ukraine as grants, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

▪️$55 billion was allocated to US industries, the Pentagon, and global humanitarian aid organizations

🔻Aid in loans

▪️In April 2024, the US allocated $9.4 billion as a forgivable loan to Ukraine

▪️In November 2024, $4.7 billion (50%) of the loan was written off by the Biden administration, according to Bloomberg

▪️The remaining $4.7 billion was expected to be written off after January 2026, as per Fox News

🔻So, what’s the debt?

As of now, Ukraine owes approximately $4.7 billion to US taxpayers – pending further loan cancelation.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

😨 Another one bites the dust: Zelensky’s handshake curse claims Olaf Scholz

Maybe it's safer to avoid shaking hands with him?

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇩🇪 AfD success DIVIDES Germany into East and West

"Voting for the AfD is a form of political protest. A loud 'no' to the systemic political parties that have opened the door to terrorists in Germany and led the country into recession and deindustrialisation," German political analyst Dr. Gregor Spitzen told Sputnik.

▪️The Alternative for Germany (AfD) securing second place in the snap election has exposed deep national polarization, he added. The divide is also geographical, with Eastern Germany (the former GDR) showing strong support for the German Euroskeptic party.

▪️Spitzen attributes this to East Germans’ strong sense of national identity and critical thinking—qualities he believes are nearly lost in the West.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹🇸🇰 Fico: Since the start of the conflict, I was saying that Ukraine was being misused by the West.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 'Anti-Russian hysteria and hatred': Russian FM spokeswoman on recent attack on Russia's Consulate General in Marseille, France

Moscow demands that Paris take security measures not only for the Consulate General in Marseille but also for other Russian foreign institutions, Maria Zakharova stressed.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt