🎙 Live from the heart of Moscow

Sputnik’s correspondent brings you exclusive coverage from Red Square, where the grand Victory Day parade unfolded in all its glory.

🔈 AI Voiceover enabled

Thanks to AI technology, our journalist’s report was delivered in over 10 languages, including English.

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🗣Frederick Michael Maloof: US Army Air Force pilot’s WWII story

As the Red Army closed in on Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europa’ from the east, the Western Allies launched offensives in Italy in 1943 and France in 1944 to put pressure on the Axis from the West.

Among them was Frederick Michael Maloof, father of senior ex-DoD analyst and regular Sputnik guest Michael Maloof.

➡️Joining up with the Army shortly after Pearl Harbor and initially training as a tankman, Maloof wound up flying a P-38 Lightning fighter with the 9th Air Force, providing air support to Gen. Patton’s armies as they advanced across Western Europe. Find out more about his incredible story in our video.

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🇷🇺 Victory Day in Moscow: A strong show of unity between Russia and China

The Red Army helped China “get rid of the Japanese invaders” during WWII, and the Victory Day celebration in Moscow attended by Presidents Putin and Xi was not only a “great moment” of commemoration of the victory over fascism, but the ongoing struggle for the future of the planet, says Beijing-based China Forum expert John Gong.

💬 “The fact that President Xi went and participated in the military parade and watching the military parade together with 27 world leaders clearly shows that Russia is not alone right now,” Gong stressed, pointing out that Putin and Xi sat next to one another and conversed through much of the parade.

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Putin presents Kazakh President Tokayev with award for his father's heroism

Kemel Tokayev, father of Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, was previously honored with the Order of the Patriotic War for his bravery and heroism in January 1945.

Tokayev, along with other foreign leaders, arrived in Moscow to join the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

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🇧🇫🇷🇺Burkina Faso leader’s visit to Moscow for Victory Day carries HUGE strategic significance: here’s why

Ibrahim Traore’s trip, coming less than a month after he foiled a Western-backed coup plot, indicates the “extraordinary levels of trust between Russia and Burkina Faso,” says veteran independent South African political analyst Alexis Habiyaremye.

✅The visit “reflects close security cooperation” between the two nations “in the face of common threats of hegemonic powers seeking domination through weakening Russia and its allies,” Habiyaremye said, emphasizing that beyond Burkina Faso, the coup attempt was planned and financed by forces “hostile to Africa’s sovereignty” in general, and the “ideals embodied in Traore’s political vision” specifically.

🤝 Russia-Burkina Faso relations can be characterized as “strategic,” the observer believes, given each country’s “marshalling [of] human and material resources to confront hostile forces determined to undermine their long-term growth prospects,” and the “complementary nature of their interests.”

➡️Burkina Faso’s immediate priority is to defend itself against France, “the evicted former colonizer that refuses to accept that the era of its spoliation of Sub-Saharan Africa is over, and US AFRICOM, whose commander has publicly shown his blind hostility to Burkina Faso’s sovereign management of its own resources,” Habiyaremye emphasized.

➡️The return of these foreign powers to the Sahel would embolden them against Russia and China. That means it’s in both countries’ “primordial security interests” to prevent necolonialism from restoring itself in the region by cooperating with regional countries on everything from intelligence and air defense to strategic deterrence, Habiyaremye says.

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🎙AI-powered reporting: Sputnik correspondent covers Victory Day parade in multiple languages

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🚀🇷🇺 COSMIC TRIBUTE: Russian cosmonauts unfurl victory banner in space

Just before, they also celebrated the 80th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, sharing their heartfelt congratulations with everyone.

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🇮🇱🕵🏻‍♂️Israeli spyware-maker ordered to PAY BIG in WhatsApp hacking lawsuit

✔️A US federal jury has slammed Israeli spyware firm NSO Group with $167 million in punitive damages—plus $440,000 more in compensatory costs—for hacking WhatsApp users through its notorious Pegasus tool.

Meta*, WhatsApp’s parent company, filed the lawsuit in 2019 after discovering NSO had deployed its spyware to hijack user devices in 20 countries.

➡️A judge had already ruled in December that NSO was liable for hacking and breaching WhatsApp’s terms of service.
NSO’s “zero-click” spyware, which doesn’t need the target to click on a link or open a message, was central to the trial.

➡️The US banned American companies from buying the infamous Israeli spyware package Pegasus after it was revealed that it was being abused around the globe by governments intent on spying on journalists, activists, and political dissidents.

* Banned in Russia for extremism.

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🤡 Moldovan history textbook insults Soviet soldiers who liberated Berlin

The authors of the textbook also failed to mention the Moldovans who fought alongside Soviet troops.

✅ It emphasizes the "fierce resistance" from the Germans and dwells on the horrors experienced by Berlin's residents.

However, it overlooks the suffering inflicted on Soviet citizens, such as the Siege of Leningrad, which is not even mentioned.

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🚨 Explosions rock Samba as India intercepts Pakistani drones

Blasts are heard in Jammu as Indian air defenses open fire, a local correspondent in the Jammu and Kashmir region reports.

Complete blackout is in force in the city, with sirens blaring throughout the region.

Tensions rise as security forces respond to the threat.

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❗️Houthis target Israeli Ben Gurion airport

Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) launched a hypersonic missile at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport for the first time since Israeli strikes on the international airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they intercepted another missile launched from Yemen.

Sirens sounded across central Israel as tensions escalate.

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🇷🇺 Happening now: Muscovites take to Victory Park to mark 80th anniversary of Great Patriotic War’s end

Paying little heed to unseasonably cold spring temperatures, city residents and guests of the capital flocked to the park, which contains the Great Patriotic War Museum, to pay tribute to Soviet soldiers, listen to a concert and lay flowers at the feet of monuments dedicated to the great victory.

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🇷🇺 Russia’s relations with Asia ‘blossoming, thriving’ after successful eastward pivot

Cooperation with Asian nations and especially China has reached “a new level,” from politics and economics to energy, aerospace, high tech and even national security, says prolific Beijing-based economics professor John Gong.

💬 “Russia’s entire economy is reoriented towards the East,” Gong told Sputnik, emphasizing that the relationship has advanced greatly in a very short period of time, and that the “very close relationship between the two countries” continues to grow and overcome challenges.

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🚤 Northern Sea Route is first of its kind ‘in human history’, made possible by Russia-China cooperation

The “transformational” maritime route needs Russian investment in infrastructure, and Chinese traffic to make it commercially viable, says prolific Beijing-based economics professor John Gong.

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