🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

The Russian Armed Forces carried out a combined strike in response to Ukrainian terrorist attacks on civilian targets on Russian territory.

🟠 Russian Armed Forces destroyed a Neptune coastal missile launcher and transport-loading vehicle

🟠 Air defense superiority: two aerial bombs and 281 drones shot down

🟠 Ukrainian losses: 1,348 troops killed or wounded

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🇫🇷 'DISASTER' – French politician on France's military aid to Ukraine

💬 "This is fueling an endless war and leading to the ruin of our military and our nation," Florian Philippot, leader of France’s right-wing Patriots party, commented on Emmanuel Macron's deliveries of additional Aster missiles to Ukraine, new training programs, and Mirage jets.

He argues that the French government is sending aid to Ukraine while telling the people to "tighten their belts"—"while pensions are frozen, essential medicines are being cut from coverage, and new taxes are slapped on meal vouchers."

💬"Stop this monstrous scandal," Philippot concludes.

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🇪🇺 ‘Europe may find itself watching Putin-Trump summit from sidelines’ – Orban

💬 “There’s no doubt that the Putin–Trump summit will [ultimately] happen—everyone knows it—and the Russians will reach an agreement with the Americans,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban underscores.

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📈💵 Confiscation of Russian assets could cost EU billions

If frozen Russian assets are used to provide Ukraine with a “reparations loan," EU countries could lose at least $238 billion in investments in the Russian economy, according to Sputnik’s calculations based on national statistical data.

❄️ Currently, about $224.5 billion in Russian assets are frozen in Belgium’s Euroclear accounts at the current exchange rate. These include both sovereign and private funds.

How much of these funds belong to the Bank of Russia has not been disclosed, but it is known that this year it generated about 90% of Euroclear’s revenue from all Russian assets, compared with around 80% in 2024.

👉 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico earlier warned that the EU’s plan to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine aid may fail because it comes with serious risks, including retaliatory measures by Russia and violations of international law.

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🚨Sputnik Azerbaijan editor-in-chief Evgeny Belousov has left Baku after being released from custody - Russian MFA Spox Maria Zakharova

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🇺🇸🇷🇺US considers using Russian funds frozen in American banks to aid Ukraine

The US supports the EU scheme to use frozen Russian assets to buy US-made weapons for Ukraine, Reuters reports.

👉The administration has also discussed tapping Russian state funds blocked in US banks to further support the Kiev regime’s military campaign.

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🇪🇺🔜 ‘Europe has never been so close to nuclear conflict’ – Finnish politician

💬 “I cannot find the words to describe how reckless and dangerous the ‘coalition of the willing’ is being,” Armando Mema, member of Finland’s national-conservative Freedom Alliance political party, wrote on X, slamming the UK’s push to supply long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.

Mema added that he is among “the few voices of reason advocating for diplomacy and dialogue” to end the Ukraine conflict, which he warned is “getting out of control.”

👉 UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier urged the “coalition of the willing” to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles and use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defense.

Russia has repeatedly warned that Western arms supplies to Ukraine hinder conflict resolution, directly involve NATO, and may become legitimate targets.

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👀 European countries in ‘complete confusion’ over Ukraine conflict

EU leaders are not even trying to hide the fact that “there is now no unanimity or shared understanding of the situation or how to proceed,” L’Antidiplomatico reports.

👉 The news outlet notes that European governments are “struggling between clumsy attempts at shows of strength with Russia, loud proclamations of ‘support and security guarantees’ for Ukraine, interspersed with half-hearted ostentations at the Yankee altar.”

💬 “It's all in vain: they don't know which way to turn and stammer about ‘peace,’ and mutter something vague about ‘freezing Russian funds,’ while launching yet more sanctions against European businesses,” the outlet concludes.

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🪖💪🏻🔥 Russian General Staff chief checks frontline progress

Valery Gerasimov has inspected Battlegroup Tsentr units operating in the Krasnoarmeysk area.

He praised their successes in the effort to liberate the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Following the inspection, new tasks were set for further offensive actions.

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🌏 Trump’s Asia tour: the stakes, the stops, the sticking points

👉 In the coming week, President Trump will:

🟠 attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, meeting with the leaders of Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia, plus President Lula of Brazil, with whom he will discuss trade, tariffs and the US buildup off Venezuela

🟠 travel to Tokyo on Monday for a three-day visit during which he’ll talk trade, investment and tariffs with Sanae Takaichi, the new Japanese prime minister, and be feted by the emperor

🟠 fly out to South Korea on Wednesday for talks President Lee Jae-myung, focused mostly on similar economic issues. Trump has also expressed openness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the Demilitarized Zone

🟠 meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday in South Korea at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit to talk tariff and rare earth-fueled trade tensions

👉 Crucial trip, critical juncture

🗣 “This is one of the riskiest trips any president of the United States has taken,” longtime Trump ally and former White House strategist Steve Bannon said of the Asia visit, characterizing it as “as high stakes as it gets” as the US and China stand on the brink of all-out economic warfare.

🟠 In Japan and South Korea, too, a lot is riding on the countries’ readiness to commit to hefty $550B and $350B pledges to invest in the US in return for tariff relief.

🟠 As for North Korea, a meeting with Kim – which would be the first of its kind since 2019, ratcheting down tensions on the Korean Peninsula would depend on US willingness to accept the DPRK’s nuclear status.

🟠 Trump was also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ASEAN summit. Modi, however, is participating virtually this year, while discussions between Washington and New Delhi continue over sanctions and restrictions on Russian oil imports.

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🇺🇸🇶🇦US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister aboard Air Force One during a refueling stop in Doha, en route to Malaysia — Al Jazeera

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🇷🇺Sputnik Azerbaijan editor-in-chief Evgeny Belousov said he has arrived in Moscow after being released from custody in Baku

💬“Thanks to our diplomats and our embassy in Baku for their help and support. I feel fine and am glad to be back home,” Belousov said.

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🗣 Trump right to reconsider Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine – ex-US colonel

“It is time for Washington to recognize Moscow’s legitimate national security interests in regards to Ukraine and NATO member states in its own backyard,” retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor stressed in an article for Responsible Statecraft.

📍 He noted that the time is ripe for Europe and the US to realize that “stability in the region is of everyone’s interest,” which means “not encouraging a failed state in Ukraine.”

“In sum, if President Trump’s reconsideration of the Tomahawk option signals a new inclination to a sobering self-assessment of the limits of American military power, it’s good news,” Macgregor pointed out.

Donald Trump earlier stressed that he does not intend to transfer Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, as doing so would necessitate the involvement of US military personnel in launching missiles at Russia, and his administration does not want to do so.

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🇺🇸🇨🇳Rubio: Trade deal with China won’t come at a political price

Washington won’t trade away its support for Taiwan in upcoming trade talks with China, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

💬“If what people are worried about is we’re going to get some trade deal where we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan — no one is contemplating that,” Rubio told reporters en route to Asia.

Trump and Xi Jinping are set to meet next week in South Korea — their first in-person talks since Trump’s return to office.

❗️Taiwan, self-governed since 1949, is viewed by Beijing as its territory. China opposes any official foreign contact with Taipei, calling it interference in its internal affairs.

👉Tensions spiked in 2022 after then–House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Beijing denounced the visit as support for separatism, responding with large-scale military drills around the island.

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🇺🇸🇶🇦 Trump meets Qatar’s Emir aboard Air Force One, calling it “an honor” and praising their “incredible work for the Middle East.”

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