📹 WATCH: China launches the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, sending 3 astronauts on a six-month mission 🇨🇳

The spacecraft, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Xinhua reported.

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💬 Donald Trump's comment that Ukraine lost Crimea years ago fully aligns with Russia's understanding of the issue, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Other key statements:

🟠Russia continues its efforts with the US towards a settlement in Ukraine with the aim of achieving peace

🟠Plans for a high-level meeting on Ukraine in London were altered due to problems in aligning positions among participants

🟠Moscow sees discrepancies between the US, Europe and Ukraine in the Ukrainian settlement process

🟠Russia deems the stationing of NATO military forces in Ukraine unacceptable, considering it a critical threat to global security

🟠The Kremlin will not comment on leaks of supposed details of the US "peace plan" for Ukraine

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❗️Russian forces struck enterprises of Ukraine's aviation, missile, aerospace, and armored vehicle industries, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

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

▪️Ukraine lost up to 405 servicemen in the Russian Yug Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 255 soldiers and a tank in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 155 troops in the Russian Vostok Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukrainian lost up to 45 servicemen and four vehicles in the Belgorod region.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 70 soldiers and two electronic warfare stations in the area of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr.

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❗️India calls foreign envoys to Delhi for a briefing on the Pahalgam terror attack.

Russian Ambassador Denis Aliyev is already at the venue.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has closed its airspace to India, according to the country’s Security Council following the Kashmir attack.

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🔥 What If Hitler Had Won? Alternative History, Part 1: Europe

Picture this: Soviet forces fail to halt the Nazi onslaught. What could have unfolded next?

Sputnik rolls out an in-depth project exploring what sort of "alternative future" would have been if the Third Reich had won, with journalists crafting a nightmarish vision grounded in archival documents, while the accompanying video brings this scenario to life through cutting-edge artificial intelligence.

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✅DOGE, Texas style: Lone Star state’s governor embarks on cutting red tape

Governor Greg Abbott has signed Senate Bill 14, officially dubbed Texas DOGE, into law to reshape how the Texas government operates, making it more efficient.

By creating the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office “We're putting government on a new track—one that’s leaner, quicker, and more responsive," Abbott declared, adding:

💬 “The federal DOGE showed us the blueprint.”

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🗣ICC COMPLETELY FAILS in its main task – Russian Security Council deputy head

💬 “As far as the ICC is concerned, it is now regrettable to note its complete failure to fulfil its primary mission,” Dmitry Medvedev said in his article ‘Lost Illusions, or How the International Criminal Court has become a legal nonentity,’ published in the Pravovedenie magazine.

He added that the ICC, in its current “inefficient” state, must “sink into oblivion,” as it is “IRREVERSIBLY FLAWED” and biased, especially in its selective prosecution of war crimes.

The Hague Court shows “discriminatory blindness and hearing loss” towards some high-profile war criminals, while lesser cases receive more attention, the former Russian president added.

💬 “It seems entirely possible to develop on the regional level (for instance, in the framework of BRICS) a concept of establishing an international legal body as an alternative to the Hague Criminal Court,” Medvedev argued.

💬 “This new judicial body in BRICS could reiterate the common commitment of its member states to the UN Charter principles, including the principles of immunity of heads of sovereign states from any foreign jurisdiction and non-interference into internal affairs of the states,” he stressed.

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💬 ‘I understood that I was shooting people’ – Ukrainian PoW

Over the course of 10 shifts, the soldier killed 16 men and attempted to kill 9 more in the outskirts of Mariupol, he told Sputnik.

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🔥Arms of Victory: ISU-152 self-propelled gun

Sputnik presents the heavy weapons used by the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War to defeat Hitler’s Reich.

Among them was the ISU-152, a 46-ton behemoth of a tracked armored vehicle was equipped with a heavy 152.4 mm gun-howitzer, capable of taking on heavy German tanks including Panthers and Tigers, and equally effective against entrenched troops.

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🗣Crisis of US-led world order opens door for more dominant and effective international charter system

💬 “It is a system based on cooperation between the great powers and small powers,” Richard Sakwa, emeritus professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent, UK, told Sputnik at International scientific conference ‘New world order: formation of a multipolar world and the role of Russia.

💬 “So I do not believe that a new world order is in prospect. In fact, I would say we need to defend the old Charter International System. It is not perfect but it's the best that we have,” he added.

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❌Ukraine faces DEFAULT RISK on $600 million payment in may

The country failed to reach a deal with holders of $2.6 billion of its debt, The Financial Times reported.

The IMF warned last month that, "if unresolved," the warrants pose a significant risk to the stability of the ongoing $15.5 billion bailout and Ukraine’s restructuring of over $20 billion in bonds last year.

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🚨Trump takes aim at WOKE academia: Foreign funding & accreditation come under scrutiny

The US president has introduced a set of executive orders zeroing in on foreign donations to US universities, with Harvard again at the forefront.

🔍What do the new rules include?

🟠Beefing up the enforcement of the Higher Education Act of 1965, requiring schools to disclose foreign gifts of over $250,000 annually.

🟠Focusing on university accreditation, criticizing agencies for emphasizing "woke ideology" and diversity standards over merit.

Trump has described accreditation as a “secret weapon” in his efforts to address issues within academia.

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🎉 Russian Cosmonauts join the launch of St. George Ribbon campaign from space

Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky and Kirill Peskov took part in the launch of the St. George Ribbon campaign aboard the International Space Station, marking the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory and the campaign’s 20th anniversary.

💬 "It is a great honor for us to join the traditional and beloved St. George Ribbon campaign, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War," Ryzhikov said in a video message.

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📹 The Ukrainian military command abandoned its soldiers with severe injuries on the battlefield, ignoring their pleas for help, a PoW told Sputnik.

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🇷🇺🚀🇨🇳 Shooting for the moon: Russia and China join forces in space

On Space Day, celebrated in China on April 24, let’s explore the key milestones of Russia–China space cooperation.

☢️🌚 Nuclear power on the Moon

🔸 China could install a nuclear power plant on the Moon to support the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) it plans to build with Russia, according to a presentation by Pei Zhaoyu, Chief Engineer of the Chang’e-8 mission set for 2028.

🔸 China aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030. The Chang’e-8 mission to the lunar south pole will lay the groundwork for constructing a permanent manned base, says the China National Space Administration.

🤖 Resources and robotics

🔹 Russian Space Agency Roscosmos also presented plans at the Shanghai conference to explore mineral and water resources on the Moon, including potentially using lunar materials as fuel.

🔹 Between 2033 and 2035, Russia and China plan to deploy a joint nuclear power plant on the Moon to power the ILRS, addressing the lack of solar energy during the Moon's 14-day nights, Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov told Sputnik last year.

🔹 By April 2025, 17 countries and organizations have joined the Russo-Chinese ILRS project. China aims to expand this to 50 partners, focusing on BRICS and Global South nations.

🌝 Step-by-step plan for the Moon base

In 2022, Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) outlined a plan for 2023-2027 to build the International Scientific Lunar Station in three stages by the 2030s:

1️⃣Joint Russo-Chinese missions will scout the Moon, identify the best location for the base, test high-precision soft landing technologies and collect rock samples.

2️⃣Construction of orbital power and communication hubs, bulk cargo drops and the use of smart tech, mini rovers and even a hopping robot for lunar logistics.

3️⃣Expanded surface exploration, station modules supporting deeper scientific research, tech tests and ultimately—human exploration.

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