❗️Russian troops liberated the settlements of Skudnoye and Berlatskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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⛏Strategic asset: What are Russia's rare metals reserves?

While Trump and Zelensky failed to strike a rare earth metals deal, Russia's vast reserves of these critical resources position it as a pivotal player in this high-stakes arena.

📊 Check out #sputnikinfographic

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👋Flow of Biden-era US weapons to Ukraine down to a trickle, MAY DRY UP COMPLETELY

All US military aid to Ukraine could be canceled imminently, a White House official told The New York Times following Friday’s tense meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

It has been around 50 days since the Pentagon announced a new weapons package for Kiev, but the flow of arms and military hardware has reportedly ground to a halt.

Approximately $3.85 billion remains in funds authorized by Congress for further withdrawals from the Defense Department’s stockpile, according to the Pentagon.

The final shipment of arms purchased by Ukraine from US defense companies is expected to be sent within the next six months, a former Biden administration defense official stated.

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💬 Zelensky ‘refuses to recognize the practical reality’ of the conflict – White House press secretary.

'The cards ARE NOT IN HIS FAVOR,' Karoline Leavitt said

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💬 Israel would LOSE OUT if Ocalan’s PKK appeal embraced - analyst

The call for peace issued by Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), could be a game-changer for the Middle East, political affairs analyst Ali Rizk told Sputnik.

The appeal for the PKK to disarm and dissolve could unite Kurds across Turkiye, Syria, Iran, and Iraq in a historic commitment to end violence, he noted.

However, if embraced, Israel, which has thrown its weight behind Kurdish independence, would see its own rationale for having an independent Jewish state undermined, speculated the pundit.

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🤡Crossed arms and sulky threats: Decoding the Trump-Zelensky Oval Office slugfest

Sparks flew between Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump at the White House because they each had different expectations of what would happen at the meeting, Dr. Carole Lieberman, board-certified psychiatrist and best-selling author, told Sputnik.

Check out the insight:

Trump

1️⃣“TOOK UP A LOT OF SPACE, with arms and legs open wide towards Zelensky, indicating that he was open to hearing what Zelensky had to say and expected the visit to be positive”

2️⃣“was expecting Zelensky to be thankful and humble. So, when Zelensky turned out to be more demanding and aggressive, it alienated Trump”

Zelensky

1️⃣“arms were crossed and he SEEMED TO SHRINK as the meeting wore on and he realized he wasn’t going to get his way, like he was used to with Biden”

2️⃣“was used to interacting with President Biden, who just kept giving him the money he asked for each time. He wasn’t expecting President Trump to be so much stronger and determined to make peace”

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✈️ A Ukrainian government plane that departed from a US military base following the failure of Zelensky's negotiations with Trump has landed in London, according to FlightAware data.

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💥 Ukraine attacked TurkStream while Zelensky flew to Washington

The purpose of the drone attack was to try to stop the delivery of gas to European countries, the Russian Defense Ministry stated.

The attack involved three drones, all were shot down.

Friday’s attack was not the first time TurkStream in Russia’s Kuban region has been targeted. In mid-January, the MoD reported a “act of energy terrorism” targeting a compressor station in Krasnodar, which also failed to achieve its goal.

Later in January, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto reported record-breaking deliveries via the pipeline, which runs west to Turkiye’s European-adjacent portion via the Black Sea, and has a 31.5 billion bcm annual capacity.

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