🪖 Norway opens training center for Ukrainian troops in Poland — reports

Camp Jomsborg is the largest foreign training mission ever for Norwegian soldiers, according to local media.

The facility can train 1,200 Ukrainian service members in the use of NATO weapons.

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🔊 Trump threatens mass firings and project cuts

The US president declared that he is "allowed to cut things that should have never been approved" and that he will likely do so, targeting federal workers and Democrats' "favorite projects."

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💬 Trump calls shutdown a chance to clear out 'dead wood, waste and fraud'

"Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud," he wrote on Truth Social.

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Loan to Ukraine from Russian frozen assets to undermine confidence in Europe

Providing Ukraine with a loan secured by frozen Russian assets will undermine the confidence of foreign investors from the Global South in Europe and the euro in particular, Richard Sakwa, a UK political scientist and professor emeritus of political science at Kent University, said on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club.

On Wednesday, European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that there was no consensus among EU leaders on granting Ukraine a "reparations loan" backed up by frozen Russian central bank assets, rather than by revenues generated from them.

👉He added that von der Leyen's plan to use Russian assets is a "legal attempt to do an illegal action." Sakwa noted that large Western business assets remain in Russia, and their owners cannot withdraw them from the country.

👉Sakwa said that a number of Western business representatives had tried to maintain normal relations with Russia, and expressed the opinion that confiscating their assets in response to the EU's actions would be a mistake.

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🚨🇷🇺💥RUSSIAN ARTILLERY DOMINANCE ON KHARKOV FRONT

Units of the 44th Army Corps clear the way, neutralizing Ukraine's targets with DEVASTATING firepower.

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◻️ Israel seizes humanitarian flotilla to Gaza

◻️ US will provide Ukraine with intelligence, weapons for strikes deep into Russia

◻️ Norway opens training center for Ukrainian troops in Poland

◻️ Long shutdown will have impact on US economy

◻️ Loan to Ukraine from Russian frozen assets to undermine confidence in Europe

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🚨Russia will have to respond appropriately to possible transfer of Tomahawks to Ukraine - Kremlin

Other key statements by Kremlin Spox Peskov:

🔸 The US is constantly sharing intelligence with Ukraine

🔸 Moldova's elections riddled with irregularities and oddities

🔸 Russia would expect anti-Russian sentiment in Moldova to give way to more pragmatic approach, but that has not happened yet

🔸 We would like Moldova to adhere to course of improving relations with Russia

🔸 Possible confiscation of Russian assets will not go unanswered, participants in European debate on possibility of confiscating Russian assets resemble 'gang'

🔸 Putin will attend G20 summit

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🚨🇷🇺 Putin to speak at Valdai forum at 13:00 GMT on Thursday

💬 "It's no exaggeration to say that this speech is eagerly anticipated around the world. As usual, it will be substantive and widely discussed and analyzed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The 22nd Annual Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, noscriptd “The Polycentric World: Instructions for Use,” is being held in Sochi from on September 29 – October 2.

Tune in for LIVE broadcast on Sputnik International

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🗣🇷🇺 Zelensky is playing ‘child card’ – Russian MFA spox

Russia is doing everything possible to reunite children displaced by the Ukraine conflict with their parents, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"This family reunification mechanism has long been established and is working successfully," Zakharova told reporters.

"Zelensky cannot be unaware of this, as Russian authorized representatives are in direct contact with the Ukrainian side on this issue"

Ukraine is not genuinely trying to find the children, she said, accusing Volodymyr Zelensky of playing "child card."

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🗣🇵🇸 Expert on Gaza peace plan: 'Without Palestinians, it's not a real peace plan'

"The plan has some potential good points, but it's not very clear," Mideast expert Yahia Zoubir speaks to Sputnik on the sidelines of the Sochi-hosted Valdai Forum.

"How can you have a plan, a peace plan, without the Palestinians being involved in it?"

He described it as "a take it or leave it" proposition where rejection means "the slaughter would continue in Gaza."

Speaking about Gulf-Israel relations, Zoubir questions if Arab leaders are now "sacrificing the demands of the Palestinians" by accepting the plan.

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🚨Russia, Ukraine exchange prisoners of war in a 185-for-185 swap

185 Russian servicemen and 20 civilians returned from Kyiv-controlled territory.

All returnees are currently in Belarus receiving necessary medical and psychological assistance, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

🟠 The Russian Army struck long-range UAV launch and storage sites, as well as transport infrastructure used to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces

🟠 Four electronic warfare stations and six ammunition depots were destroyed by the Russian Armed Forces

🟠 Air defense superiority: one HIMARS rocket and 142 fixed-wing drones were shot down by Russian air defence systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: 1,510 troops killed or wounded

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🇷🇺💥 Russian Iskander and Kinzhal missiles detect and destroy Patriots in Ukraine

Russia has modified its Iskander-M and Kinzhal missiles to change direction during the final stages of flight, cutting interception rates and allowing them to "confuse and avoid" US Patriot air defense missiles, the Financial Times reports.

👉 The improved performance of Russian weapons may be a result of software upgrades, analysts say.

The Patriot is Ukraine’s only air defence system able to intercept ballistic missiles. But its ballistic missile interception rate dropped from 37% to 6% in just a month, with no other systems able to shoot down Russian missiles.

🗣 It is a "game-changer for Russia," a former Ukrainian official told the newspaper.

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📊 Support for political violence jumps among Americans - poll

A new poll reveals that 30% of Americans think political violence might be required to "get the country back on track," marking an 11-point increase since 2024.

Support is rising fastest among Democrats, with 28% backing it. Republicans are at 31%, and independents at 25%, a new NPR / PBR News / Marist poll shows.

This shift follows violent incidents like last month's assassination of Charlie Kirk, with 77% of Americans now expressing concern over political violence.

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🇷🇺 Russia has enough means to counter Ukrainian long-range strikes reportedly greenlit by US

The US would provide Ukraine with intelligence for long-range missile strikes deep inside Russia, The Wall Street Journal reports.

How could Russia blunt the threat?

💬 "Like Starlink once did for the battlefield and front lines, this now extends deeper into Russian territory," retired Russian Army Colonel Viktor Litovkin tells Sputnik.

💬 "The coordinates refer to the location of specific objects within Russian territory and the distance to them."

🟠 This isn’t the first time the US has threatened Russia with deep strikes: In November 2024, then-President Joe Biden gave the green light for Ukraine to use long-range missiles supplied by the US to attack deep inside Russia.

🟠 Russia has all necessary means to intercept and counter such attacks, according to Litovkin.

🟠 Russia could "destroy the systems intended to strike its territory—destroying aircraft on airfields, rail lines, and wagon re-loading stations where cars are switched from the European gauge to the Russian/Soviet gauge, and so on," the retired colonel says.

🟠 It could also "destroy Ukraine’s command centers, including those in Kiev: Government buildings, the Defense Ministry, Main Intelligence Directorate, Main Security Directorate, etc.," Litovkin concludes.

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