🚨RUSSIA'S MoD REPORT: MAJOR ADVANCES & HEAVY UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️ POPOV YAR (DPR) LIBERATED
⚡️ KAMENSKOYE (ZAPOROZHYE) LIBERATED
⚡️ DEGTYARNOYE (KHARKOV) LIBERATED

🪖Enemy losses exceed 1,185 troops in the special operation zone

🔸 Russian air defense downed:

▪️ 2 Neptune cruise missiles
▪️ 308 enemy drones

🔸 Precision strikes destroyed:

▪️ UAV storage & control sites
▪️ Air defense hideouts
▪️ Military airfield facilities
▪️ 133 AFU deployment points

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨Lvov mayor responsible for Soviet monument desecration will face harsh ‘judgment of history’ – Russian MP

“This Russophobic vandal belongs behind bars! Article 243.4 of Russia’s Criminal Code explicitly classifies the desecration of military memorials at historic battle sites (such as Lvov, which saw brutal fighting in 1944) as a felony punishable by up to five years. But for Sadovyi [Lvov Mayor], aggravating factors must apply: sacrilege and dehumanization," Leonid Slutsky, Russian lawmaker and head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs, said.

While Russia “would never refuse to reclaim and honor the remains of these Great Patriotic War heroes," the mere idea to use them as trade coin in negotiations “violates every principle of human morality," the politician explained.

Earlier, Lvov Mayor Andriy Sadovyi has proposed exchanging the exhumed remains of Soviet soldiers buried at the "Hill of Glory" memorial complex for Ukrainian military prisoners.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🌐 Potsdam Conference: World order the West DESTROYED

In July 1945, the leaders of the Soviet Union, the US, and the UK — Stalin, Truman, and Attlee — met in Potsdam to outline a peaceful postwar order.

Yet these goals were soon derailed as the West launched the Cold War against the USSR, dismantling the spirit of wartime cooperation.

◼️ What was specifically agreed at Potsdam:

🇩🇪 Germany:

🟠Complete demilitarization, denazification, and disarmament.

🇪🇺 Europe’s political future:

🟠Commitment to the principle that Europe would never see a war again.

🇯🇵 Japan:

🟠The country’s unconditional surrender or face “prompt and utter destruction.”

◼️ What actually happened:

🪖 Remilitarization instead of peace:

🟠West Germany joined NATO in 1955, rebuilt its armed forces (Bundeswehr), and is now rearming again — including deployment of US nuclear-capable systems (e.g., B61 bombs and Taurus cruise missiles).

🟠Potential transfer of Taurus missiles capable of penetrating deep into Russian territory raised concerns about the escalation of the conflict.

🟠Germany’s defense budget could reach 3.5% by 2029 — the largest rearmament effort in the country’s modern history.

🟠Europe as a whole is undergoing rapid remilitarization under NATO’s framework.

🇪🇺 NATO’s eastward expansion:

🟠While postwar agreements aimed at balance and mutual security, NATO expanded multiple times, moving steadily eastward — despite prior informal assurances.

🟠Today, NATO borders Russia directly, with military infrastructure approaching within hundreds of kilometers from major Russian cities.

🇯🇵 Japan: From demilitarization to rearmament:

🟠Once stripped of its military capabilities under Allied supervision, Japan is now rearming under a new security doctrine.

🟠Japan is increasing defense spending to record levels, acquiring long-range strike capabilities — in open coordination with the US Indo-Pacific strategy.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇪🇺🇦🇲 EU weaponizes Armenia against Russia, Iran and China

Armenia has been promised visa liberalization progress and up to $2.9B under the EU’s Global Gateway.

What’s this project, and what’s behind the promises?

Global Gateway

🔸 Launched in Dec 2021, it's the EU’s $347B attempt to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

🔸 Framed as a push for “sustainable” infrastructure, it’s also a geopolitical play to curb Beijing’s influence.

A game changer? Hardly

🔸 The EU touts Global Gateway, but key details — criteria, finances, timelines — remain vague. No real review of 2023’s impact has occurred yet, per the Center for Global Development.

🔸 And while Armenia's promised up to $2.9B, when (or if) that’s delivered is anyone’s guess.

Aid with strings attached

EU aid to Armenia under Global Gateway and the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) comes with conditions:

🔸 sweeping reforms

🔸 alignment with EU “standards and values.”

Brussels aims to weaken Armenia’s historic ties to Russia.

Why Armenia?

🔸 Armenia borders Turkiye, Iran, Georgia, and Azerbaijan — at a key crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

🔸 It holds gateway potential as the West looks to counter trade corridors led by Russia, China, and Iran.

Crossroads of Peace

🔸 Armenia frames it as a link in the EU’s Global Gateway and the West’s Middle Corridor — boosting its transit role.

🔸 Armenia eyes regional cooperation, while the West aims to use it to counter Russia, Iran, and China’s transport initiatives.

Zangezur Corridor

🔸 Part of the Crossroads of Peace plan, under full Armenia's control.

🔸 Azerbaijan wants to manage it, accessing Nakhchivan via Armenia’s Syunik — on its terms.

🔸 The US has offered to administer the route for 100 years "to help broker peace."

Tool against Russia and Iran

🔸 If the West controls the Zangezur Corridor, Iran could lose its link to Armenia — and a vital route to Europe.

🔸 Experts warn it may also stir unrest in Russia’s backyard, threatening stability in the North Caucasus.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚫 Economy doesn’t buy Trump’s Russia tariff threat

Donald Trump’s warnings of “severe” secondary sanctions against Russia aren’t convincing markets — or America's trading partners, reports The Economist.

🔸 In theory, Trump could slap restrictive measures on Russia to reduce its export earnings.

🔸 In practice, harsh sanctions would likely send oil prices soaring, triggering an inflation shock that would be intolerable for the POTUS.

🔸 China and India remain major buyers of Russian oil. Trump is negotiating with both and has notably stepped back from a full-blown trade war with China.

This comes after Trump pledged to impose 100% tariffs on goods from Russia and secondary sanctions against countries purchasing Russian oil if a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine is not clinched within 50 days.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚖️🇮🇱 ICC slams door on Israel’s Netanyahu arrest warrant appeal over Gaza war

Judges at the International Criminal Court have rejected Israel's request to withdraw an arrest warrant for Netanyahu’s former defense chief Yoav Gallant.

The ICC issued the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in November 2024 over war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict, charges which the two reject.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Ukrainian proposal to trade WWII corpses for living prisoners is beyond the pale — Ex-DoD analyst

The callousness of Ukraine’s offer to exchange the exhumed remains of Russian WWII soldiers for Ukrainian military prisoners is “hard to imagine,” former US Department of Defense analyst Karen Kwiatkowsky tells Sputnik.

💬 “It also suggests that there are not enough current Russian soldiers dead or captured to match those Ukrainians dead or held as POWs by Russia,” Kwiatkowski notes.

This offer, and other similar acts perpetrated by the Ukrainian side, “ensure Ukraine’s future will be even more impoverished, less free, and even more widely held in contempt by the world community.”

Kwiatkoswki also laments the West’s inability to “get its data and intelligence right regarding Ukraine,” and argued that “such willful ignorance on the US and NATO side kills more Ukrainians, and degrades Ukraine as desperate acts and offers such as this one become normalized.”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇳💥 India tests Akash Prime missile in border region

The advanced version of Akash, developed by DRDO, is designed for high-altitude operations and can target objectives up to 18km high

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇮🇳🇷🇺 BIG ONE: India to provide Russian Su-30 fighter jet maintenance services to operating countries, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) official confirmed to Sputnik.

🇲🇾Malaysia may be the 1st country to use this facility.

The talks are ongoing.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇫🇷 France withdraws from last bases in Senegal, pulling out troops after 65-year presence

The last two French military installations in Senegal were handed back to authorities on Thursday during an official ceremony signaling the end of the permanent French military presence in the country, as well as in Central and West Africa," media reports.

France had to withdraw its troops from a number of African countries amid accusations of neocolonialism and growing resistance to Western influence.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔍 Palladium: The Strategic Importance Of One Of Russia’s Rarest Exports

The idea of taking action against Russian palladium exports has recently been broached in the US Congress.

So what makes palladium so important?

Electronics And Industry

Palladium is widely used in electronics and in the automotive industry. Due to its properties, palladium is used in electroplating, as well as in the manufacturing of military and aerospace equipment.

Commodity Market

Palladium bullion is traded as a commodity and even has its own ISO currency code, just like gold, silver and platinum.

Future Tech

Its ability to absorb large amount of hydrogen make palladium a viable candidate for the development of hydrogen fuel cells, while the metal’s conductive properties may also suggest an application in quantum computing.

Rarity

Palladium is one of the rarest elements in the world. Five countries – Russia, South Africa, the US, the UK and Italy accounting for nearly three-quarters of the global exports.

Russian Supremacy

Russia currently reigns as the world’s top producer of palladium, accounting for over 40% of the global production and nearly a quarter of the metal’s total exports.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨💀Ukraine’s deadly math: No weapons can fix the manpower crisis

“Ukraine is in a death spiral. They'll never be able to come up with enough men to offset what the Russians can bring to bear,” Lt. Col. Daniel Davis said.

The math doesn’t lie:

▪️ Ukraine is using forced mobilization, scraping together 20,000–25,000 men per month.

▪️ Russia is using voluntary recruitment, pulling in 30,000–50,000 monthly—with millions more in reserve.

⚔️ No amount of Western aid can change this equation. No weapons, no money, and no rhetoric will offset Russia’s manpower advantage, David added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤵💥✉️TRUMP WAGED WAR ON WSJ TO HIDE ALLEGED EPSTEIN LETTER

The Trump administration conducted a days-long campaign to stop The Wall Street Journal from publishing a report about a risqué congratulatory letter that Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein 20 years ago, The Rolling Stone cites sources as saying.

What the sources are claiming:

💬One administration official says the White House was “on a […] warpath” to pressure The Wall Street Journal into dropping the Epstein letter story.

💬Trump’s team reportedly worked every contact and angle they could find — full-on media pressure blitz.

💬The effort was labeled a “top priority” by Trump himself.

💬The scandal dominated conversations inside the West Wing and among top aides throughout the week.

Trump has already threatened legal action against the Wall Street Journal, its parent company News Corp., and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over the newspaper’s alleged letter-related report.

The purported letter was reportedly part of a leather-bound album compiled by Epstein’s cohort Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003 and included a crude drawing of a nude woman.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥🇷🇺🇮🇷 RUSSIA & IRAN SEAL THE DEAL: Historic strategic partnership now officially in force

"It is already binding," Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali told Sputnik when asked about the date of entry into force of the agreement and whether Iran had notified Russia of the completion of internal procedures.

He recalled that the treaty was ratified by both chambers of the Russian parliament, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed it. At the same time, the document was ratified by the Iranian parliament, approved by the Guardian Council, and issued by the president as a law.

On January 17, Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, met in Moscow to sign the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty. On April 21, the Russian leader signed a law to ratify the agreement with Iran.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨US could run out of missiles IN EIGHT DAYS - Douglas Macgregor

Ex-Pentagon adviser Douglas Macgregor urged the US to “stop sending weapons abroad” as he warned of America’s exhausting stockpile of offensive and defensive missiles.

“Translation, we can fight an 8-day war, and then we would have to go nuclear,” the former Pentagon adviser argued in an X post.

He added Trump should be briefed on how low the US missile stockpile “really is.”

The remarks come just days after Trump announced new massive shipments of US weapons to Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly stressed that the long-range weapons supplied by the West are being used by Ukrainian forces to target civilians on Russian territory and disrupt peace efforts.

Allowing Ukraine to use these weapons would fundamentally change the nature of the conflict, as Russia's President Putin has previously stated. "We will make the necessary decisions based on the threats we face," he said. "The key question is whether to consider NATO countries as directly involved in the military conflict," the president added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

▫️US could run out of missiles IN EIGHT DAYS

▫️Russia & Iran seal the deal: Historic strategic partnership now officially in force

▫️Trump wages war on WSJ to hide alleged Epstein letter

▫️Ukraine’s deadly math: No weapons can fix the manpower crisis

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 BRAZIL'S RARE EARTH EXPORTS TO CHINA SURGE

Brazil's rare earth exports to China tripled in the first half of 2025, as Chinese imports reached a record high.

This surge raises fresh concerns that trade tensions are subtly re-routing the world’s critical supply chains through emerging economies, reports SMCP citing a report by the China-Brazil Business Council (CBBC).

While rare earth exports saw a huge boost, Brazil’s total exports to China dropped by 7.5% compared to last year, amounting to US$47.7 billion.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt