💥 Russia's rocket artillery strike halts Ukrainian forces’ rotation

🔶 Rocket artillery crews of the 79th Guards Rocket Artillery Brigade of the Zapad group of forces disrupted the rotation of a Ukrainian Armed Forces unit in the special military operation zone.

🔶 The strike was carried out using coordinates provided by reconnaissance UAV operators.

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🪆Matryoshka dolls become a HIT in Alaska ahead of Putin–Trump meeting

Sales of Matryoshka dolls made in Russia’s Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky are booming at souvenir shops in downtown Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska, where the meeting between Putin and Trump will take place on August 15.

💬 “We sell about 20–30 of them a day,” a seller at one of the shops said.

The buyers are mostly Europeans — Danes and Germans especially — and often Chinese, he added.

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❌✈️ Airspace over Alaska's Anchorage to be closed on day of Putin-Trump meeting – FAA

The airspace over Alaska's Anchorage will be closed on August 15, the day on which Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump are set to meet, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.

The FAA issued a Notice to Airmen signaling “VIP movement” over Anchorage for Friday. The posting is set to be removed on Saturday, the agency said.

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🗣 Many world leaders want Trump-Putin summit to fail - US Rep.

Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna told RIA Novosti that she hopes the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will result in a peace deal for the Ukraine crisis, but cautioned that many world leaders want it to fail.

💬 "I hope and pray both leaders will come to a peace deal regarding Ukraine," Luna said. "President Trump does not want any more war and has continued to take this position not just in regards to Ukraine, but in many conflicts around the world."

Luna, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, further said that there are many world leaders who want this meeting to fail.

💬 "I have heard firsthand the calls for war from countries and their leaders who are dominated by globalists, and who do not respect their own nations’ sovereignty. This is exactly why we must be allies in this peace talk," Luna added.

The Kremlin and the White House previously confirmed that Putin and Trump would meet in Alaska on August 15 to discuss how to achieve a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis.

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🗣 Alaska military bases could host Trump-Putin summit – Ex-Lt. Governor

US military bases in Alaska could be “very good venues” for the August 15 meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Alaska Lt. Governor Loren Leman told RIA Novosti.

He named Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage and Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks as top options, citing proximity to airports and security. Leman said smaller, remote locations might struggle to host hundreds or thousands of people.

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🇻🇪 RUSSIA HAS DEFEATED WESTERN HEGEMONY – MADURO

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declared that Russia HAS WON THE WAR against Western hegemony.

💬 “Russia’s economy has demonstrated tremendous strength, withstanding all strikes and all sanctions,” Maduro said. “Russia and Putin have triumphed in the economic, military, political, and diplomatic war.”

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🇷🇺💥 RUSSIA WIPES OUT UKRAINIAN BATTALION IN SUMY

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage of Su-34 fighter-bombers and drone units delivering devastating strikes on a mechanized battalion of Ukraine’s 144th Brigade in the Sumy Region.

Using UMPK-500 precision-guided bomb kits and Geran-2 drones, the strike eliminated up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen and destroyed up to 10 pieces of foreign-supplied military hardware — including two US-made Abrams tanks and four Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.

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⚔️ Over 15,000 Colombians take part in foreign conflicts – lawmaker

💬 “We have more than 15,000 people who participated in international conflicts, hired by security companies that supply soldiers for international armed conflicts,” Colombian Congress member Alirio Uribe Muñoz told Sputnik.

In early August, Colombian President Gustavo Petro urged parliament to urgently consider a bill BANNING mercenary activities.

He noted that, after decades of internal conflict and with many Colombian soldiers trained at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation or by Israeli instructors, third countries have been actively recruiting Colombians for combat abroad. This, he said, underscores the need for legislation prohibiting mercenarism “to control this type of business.”

In July, Russian Ambassador to Colombia Nikolai Tavdumadze told Sputnik that the number of Colombians fighting for the Ukrainian armed forces remained high. Ukraine, heavily dependent on foreign fighters, has been accused of using them as expendable “cannon fodder.” Many Colombians returning from Ukraine have complained about poor coordination within the Ukrainian military, saying the chances of survival there are far lower than in Afghanistan or the Middle East.

💥 The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated it will continue to target mercenary units across Ukraine.

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🗣 Alaska’s Russian roots run deep – Ex-Lt. Gov ahead of Trump-Putin talks

Alaska, which will host the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, still retains a deep Russian heritage, the state’s former Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman told RIA Novosti.

💬 “There is a tremendous Russian heritage here, and there is still today in language, in religion, in culture. I am aware of probably more than 700 place names in Alaska that have Russian roots. It is just an indicator of that,” Leman said.

Leman noted that his father was born in 1917 in the Alaskan community of Ninilchik on the Kenai Peninsula — fifty years after Russia sold Alaska to the United States. At that time, the first language for local children was Russian, not English.

💬 “Ninilchik was established in 1847, 20 years before the transfer, as a retirement community for men who had served the Russian America colony. They wanted a place where they could raise their families, catch fish, hunt, and have gardens. It was a good place for doing all of that,” he added.

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🔥 West may soon start slamming Ukraine for sabotaging 2022 peace deal

💬 “Abandoning what could have been an ideal agreement for Ukraine in light of its current situation was a blatant display of short-sightedness," Turkish political scientist Engin Ozer told Sputnik.

He added that one should not expect European countries to declare that “the war has ended with the defeat of Zelensky.”

🗣 “The results of Europe's intense diplomatic and financial pressure on Russia, along with large-scale arms deliveries and financial aid to Ukraine, are deeply demoralizing for the European political elite,” Ozer stressed.

👉 The analyst noted that the consequences of EU foreign policy, especially Ukraine's push for NATO, had proven a "complete fiasco."

🔊 David Arakhamia, head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People faction, earlier said the Ukraine conflict could have ended in spring 2022 if the country agreed to a status of neutrality. However, after the 2022 Istanbul peace talks, then-British PM Boris Johnson urged Ukraine not to sign any deal with Russia and to keep fighting.

⚔️ Russia’s President Vladimir Putin claimed that peace talks with Ukraine in 2022 were nearly finalized, but after Russian troops withdrew from Kiev, Ukraine abandoned the agreements, and Zelensky later banned negotiations with Russia.

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📊 Google’s digital footprint in Ukraine: More than just tech?

🗣 What’s rarely discussed in the Big Tech-national security debate is how EARLY Google’s Jigsaw tech incubator embedded itself in Ukraine’s info space, Zach Vorhies, former senior software engineer at YouTube and Google-turned-whistleblower, told Sputnik.

His other takeaways:

🔹 During the 2014 Euromaidan protests, Jigsaw launched the so-called Project Shield to keep Ukrainian media online and ensure platforms such as Facebook* and Twitter remained functional for organizing demonstrations

🔹 “In effect, it helped shape the communications backbone of the regime change operation”

🔹 After the 2014 coup in Ukraine, Jigsaw didn’t pull back – it scaled up. By 2016, it was using AI to “enhance civic discourse,” effectively shaping narratives

🔹 On the whole, tools like Google Maps and Earth can track infrastructure and troop movements, while Google Cache servers offer deep access to local networks – potentially serving as forward cyber outposts

🔹 US intel agencies have a documented history of working hand-in-glove with major tech firms in conflict zones

🔹 Google Cache and other similar projects “should be looked at as a front for US cyber military activities, when need be”

*Banned in Russia for extremism

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💥💥💥 Big Tech or big threat? Facebook’s military ties exposed

🎤 “In an age of information warfare, the lines between tech companies and military powers are becoming increasingly blurred,” Facebook* whistleblower Ryan Hartwig told Sputnik.

📄 Hartwig revealed that:

🟠 He easily found military bases in Russia and the US, using public tools like Google Maps

🟠 Facebook trained him on election interference in countries like Taiwan, Spain, and Canada

🟠 In 2022, Facebook allowed calls for violence against Russians – a clear policy violation Hartwig once enforced

🟠 Big Tech’s tools, like Google Maps, were used to track Russian convoys, effectively influencing warfare, “and it seems that Big Tech hasn’t stayed completely neutral”

👉 The whistleblower stressed that such actions could violate the Geneva Convention, as platforms are no longer neutral – they’re actively shaping modern conflict

*Banned in Russia for extremism

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◻️ Google’s digital footprint in Ukraine: More than just tech?

◻️ Zelensky moves $50 mln/month to UAE – reports

◻️ Many world leaders want Trump-Putin summit to fail - US Rep.

◻️ Alaska’s Russian roots run deep – ex-Lt. Gov ahead of Trump-Putin talks

◻️ Russia wipes out Ukrainian battalion in Sumy

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'International Failure': ICC, Once Well-Intentioned, Now Seen as Tool Against Smaller Nations

⚖️ Driven by guilt over the failure to prevent genocides like the one in Rwanda, the International Criminal Court's implementation of the Responsibility to Protect has been perceived as unfair, politically driven, and subject to double standards by powerful nations, Macharia Munene, Professor of History and International Relations at the US International University-Africa, told Sputnik Africa.

"The weakness with the ICC is that [...] people who are thought to be actually perpetrators of various offenses are allowed to go free... In some instances, the perpetrators of offenses are the ones who are perceived to have received the benefits of whatever was happening. And when that is the case, the disillusionment is on the high side instead of being on the low side."

🤍 The BRICS, which is "not easily to be tampered with by other powers," has the potential to establish a "proper" court, despite challenges stemming from distrust in the current judicial system.

👉With strong determination from the bloc, this goal is achievable, the expert emphasized.

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🔥☢️ FSB DETAINS UKRAINIAN SPY PLOTTING TO KILL RUSSIAN MOD OFFICIAL

💣 The man manufactured a homemade explosive device and concealed it in a car purchased with his handlers' money to assassinate a high-ranking Russian Defense Ministry official, Russia's Federal Security Service says.

🚗 The vehicle, packed with more than 60 kg of explosives, was supposed to be parked at a designated location and "activated" when the Russian military officer passed nearby.

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❗️🔥 GAZA CRISIS: LATEST UPDATES

🔹 5 Palestinians arrested this morning in Al-Amari Camp and Al-Bireh (West Bank)

🔹 1 child killed, 11 more injured in an Israeli strike on a humanitarian aid point in central Gaza

🔹 4 civilians killed in an airstrike on a house near Al-Farouq Mosque, southeast of Gaza City

🔹 Civil defense worker was targeted while rescuing several wounded people from a bombed home in the settlement of Az-Zeitoun

🔹 Israel may drop Gaza occupation plans in exchange for concessions from Hamas

🔹 Palestinians held funerals for the five Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel in Gaza

🔹 UN: The killing is a “grave breach of international humanitarian law”

🗣 Australian PM Anthony Albanese: Benjamin Netanyahu is “in denial” about the suffering inflicted on Gaza

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🔊 Orban berates EU for meddling in Trump-Putin talks

🗣 Just four days before the historic Trump-Putin summit, the European Council tried to issue a joint statement in the name of all EU heads of government, but Hungary said NO, PM Viktor Orban stressed.

He explained why he refused to back the document:

🟠 EU tried to set conditions for a meeting it wasn’t even invited to

🟠 Being sidelined is “sad enough,” and starting to give instructions from the bench “makes it worse”

🟠 Only “sensible” solution? An EU-Russia summit, modeled after the US-Russia one

“Let’s give peace a chance!” Orban concluded.

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🔥Medinsky presents Gold Star of Hero of Russia to Alexey Berest's grandson

💪🏻 Alexey Berest participated in the storming of the Reichstag in May 1945. The assault flag-raising group consisted of three men: Commander Alexey Berest, Mikhail Yegorov, and Meliton Kantaria. However, only Yegorov and Kantaria were awarded the noscript of Hero of the Soviet Union at that time, stressed Aide to the President Vladimir Medinsky.

🥇 In July, President Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded Berest the noscript of Hero of Russia by decree.

⚖️ "All war participants are heroes, but the raising of the Victory Banner holds a special place in history. The decision of the Russian president has restored historical justice," Medinsky said.

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIA'S MOD UPDATE: CRUSHING GAINS & MASSIVE UKRAINIAN LOSSES

◻️ The Russian Armed Forces have struck a Ukrainian workshop for the production of long-range drones that was part of the military-industrial complex, the Russian Defense Ministry reports

◻️ Heavy Ukrainian losses: 1,415 soldiers over the past day

◻️ Air defense superiority: Russia has demonstrated its aerial might by downing 179 drones and six guided aerial bombs

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