🤔 Ukraine gets US deal, but will it really move the needle?

Kiev is set to sign a game-changing deal with the US to boost economic ties and secure future investments in mining, energy, and tech.

According to Bloomberg, the agreement, expected to be finalized soon, will create a joint fund to manage key projects, signaling deeper US support for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

This comes as US President Donald Trump pushes for a breakthrough in peace talks, with his frustrations growing over delays. The deal could help Ukraine move forward with its EU ambitions while securing military aid tied to reconstruction efforts. More details to come.

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🏆🌐💥GLOBAL DIGITAL FORUM: KEY PLATFORM FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The forum will become an effective tool for sharing experience and exchanging best practices in digital transformation, said Dmitry Grigorenko, Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Russian Government Staff.

He emphasized that digital technologies drive efficiency in public administration, healthcare, and education in Russia.

Grigorenko also noted that Russian IT solutions, social platforms, and audiovisual services are constantly evolving and in demand both within the country and abroad.

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🪖🇪🇪 Estonia to send troops to Ukraine as part of "Coalition of the Willing" - Country's PM confirms such plans

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that several members of the coalition plan to send "deterrence forces" — not peacekeepers — to be stationed at key Ukrainian locations to counter Russia.

Russia previously stated that the plans of some EU countries to send "peacekeepers" to Ukraine are a provocative move aimed at maintaining unhealthy illusions among the authorities in Kiev.

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🔥 Arms of victory: IS-2 heavy tank

Sputnik presents the weaponry used by the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War to defeat Nazi Germany.

Among them was IS-2, the breakthrough tank armed with a 122-mm gun. IS-2 was the most heavily-armored tank in service in the Allied forces.

It was used in the liberation of Budapest and Breslau and during the storming of Berlin. Modernized versions of the IS-2 tank remained in service until the 1990s.

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🪖 NATO forms ARMORED FIST under pretext of boosting European defense – Belarusian defense minister

“NATO countries are building up [their] military presence near the Belarussian border, where they hold large-scale offensive drills and deal with active reconnaissance,” Viktor Khrenin emphasized.

He slammed the alliance for escalating the Ukraine conflict, drawing Europe into it and sabotaging the peace initiatives by Russia and the US.

Russia has repeatedly warned NATO against eastward expansion, which the Kremlin says could further inflame tensions in Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there have been "five waves" of NATO’s enlargement since the US administration assured Russia in 1991 that the alliance would not expand towards the east.

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🚨Zelensky LOSING 'allies' one by one

Europe is "struggling" to send even 25k peacekeepers to Ukraine, media report. And the US is apparently done footing the bill.

Here’s what’s left for Zelensky:

🔸No 'deterrence' force

Europe can barely scrape together 25,000 troops for a Ukraine “deterrence” force to protect key cities & infrastructure due to understaffed armies, sources familiar with defense ministers discussions told the Times.

🔸UK & France: Maybe 5K to 10K

Zelensky's most muscle-flexing allies now prefer to send trainers to western Ukraine instead of deploying multinational peacekeepers. Both cite "high" security risks. The UK says the French wanted to play bold, while they wisely saw the risks all along, per The Times.

🔸Poland: Zero

Warsaw won't put any boots on the ground. Previously, PM Donald Tusk firmly ruled out sending troops to Ukraine ahead of the emergency EU summit in Paris in February.

🔸Finland: Zero

The newly-adopted NATO member insists that Finnish troops are needed at home. "We are ready to help in any way that suits us, but we will not send soldiers to Ukraine," PM Petteri Orpo told the Finnish parliament in March.

🔸Italy: Zero

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni ruled out deploying Italian troops in Ukraine in early March. She called the UK-French peacekeeping push "very difficult to implement."

🔸Germany: Zero

Germany is generally against sending troops, sources privy to discussions have told the Times. Publicly, Berlin doesn’t want to look weak: sending troops depends on “countless factors,” Defense Minister Boris Pistorius vaguely said in March.

🔸Spain: Zero

Spain has refused to deploy soldiers to Ukraine since the outset. When asked about the UK-French "peacekeeping" project, Spanish FM Jose Manuel Albares responded laconically: "There is no peace at the moment."

🔸Will the US help? Don't hold your breath

Behind closed doors, European leaders admit their plan is doomed without the US. But Washington has its hands full - with national debt soaring past $36 trillion. Team Trump warns it may quit ceasefire talks, let alone send troops.

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🔎 WH officials tried TO KEEP TRUMP AWAY FROM PUTIN during POTUS' first term – report

Half of their job between 2017 and 2021 was to stop Trump from “talking to the Russian president,” an unnamed Republican-appointed official has claimed.

The White House understood that Russia allegedly “plays the man [Trump] like a fiddle” back then, according to the official.

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📹 Vladimir Putin arrived at the Victory Museum on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, where the educational marathon "Knowledge. First" is taking place, a Sputnik correspondent reports

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📹 Supporters of the head of Gagauzia, Yevgenia Gutsul, gathered for a rally to back her in front of the district court building in Chisinau.

On Wednesday, another court session took place in Moldova's capital regarding the case of the head of Gagauzia.

The prosecution accuses Gutsul of financing the Shor party, which was declared unconstitutional in the country in 2022. Gutsul has repeatedly stated that the charges are politically motivated and has rejected all accusations.

She was detained on March 25 at Chisinau airport and arrested for 20 days. Initially, the court ruled that she should remain in custody until April 14, but on April 9, the detention was changed to house arrest for 30 days.

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🗣 Only by understanding the price at which victory in the Great Patriotic War was achieved can one correctly determine the future of Russia, President Vladimir Putin said.

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📹 Russian President Vladimir Putin called the victory in the Great Patriotic War a triumph of the Soviet people.

"Perhaps, first and foremost, of the Russian people, because, if you look at the number of losses, Russia, as part of the Soviet Union, which was then called the RSFSR, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, suffered about 70% of the total losses, 69% something, almost 70%," Putin said, speaking at the Znanie (Knowledge) educational marathon.

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