💥🇷🇺 Russian army makes gains in Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions

Units of the Vostok Battlegroup continue their offensive, hoisting Russian flags in three settlements: Yegorovka, Privolnoye and Novonikolayevka.

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🇷🇺🛢 Sanctions can’t push Russian oil off the global market – Orbán

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he does not believe sanctions can remove Russian oil from world trade.

💬 “I do not believe that the products of any major raw-material producer can be excluded from the global market. You can set rules against them; sanctions are in effect now, but their nature is such that all of them are circumvented,” Orbán told M1 broadcaster.

He added that the EU’s adoption of a 19th sanctions package shows “the previous ones were not successful.”

💬 “There are things that can be achieved by political methods, even against business logic, and there are those that are impossible,” he said.

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⚾️🇺🇸🇯🇵 Prime Minister Takaichi and President Trump watch baseball together

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters that her public meeting with US President Donald Trump began later than planned because they were watching the MLB World Series together.

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🇯🇵💵🇺🇸 Trump thanks Takaichi for purchase of US military equipment

💬 "I know that you are increasing your military capacity very substantially, and we've received your orders for a very large amount of new military equipment... We appreciate that order, and we very much appreciate the trade," US President Donald Trump told Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during their meeting.

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🇺🇸🇯🇵 US and Japan sign critical minerals framework and alliance implementation agreements

President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi signed two documents:

📄 Implementation of the Agreement Toward a New Golden Age for the Japan–US Alliance

📄 United States–Japan Framework for Securing the Supply of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths through Mining and Processing

The second agreement focuses on cooperation to secure supplies of critical minerals and rare earths, including mining and processing, while the broader implementation document outlines steps to advance the Japan–US alliance.

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🏌️‍♀️⛳️ Prime Minister Takaichi presents gifts to President Trump

During their meeting in Tokyo, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi presented President Donald Trump with a golf bag signed by professional golfer Hideki Matsuyama and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s putter.

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🏅 Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi plans to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize — reports

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to recommend U.S. President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Takaichi met President Trump in Tokyo earlier in the day, where the two leaders discussed economic and security issues.

💬 “In such a short period of time, the world started to enjoy more peace,” Takaichi said through an interpreter. “I myself was so impressed and inspired by you, Mr. President.”

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🇭🇺 Hungary’s Orban eyes ‘Peace Bloc’ to challenge EU hawks' stance on Ukraine

Hungary is rallying pro-peace allies to form a new alliance inside the EU, according to US media.

👉 Hungarian PM Viktor Orban wants to team up with Andrej Babis, whose opposition ANO party won the recent Czech elections, and Slovak PM Robert Fico.

The idea is that they could align positions before key EU summits to weaken the centrist coalition behind EC chief Ursula von der Leyen. As Viktor Orban’s political director, Balazs Orban, hinted — once mainstream parties turn on her, the EU’s political balance could flip overnight.

✅ The move could throw a wrench into EU efforts to keep funding and arming Ukraine.

“I think it will come — and be more and more visible,” Balazs Orban was cited as saying.

Fico and Babis have already echoed Orban’s stance — no more weapons for Ukraine, more talks with Russia, and less of the EU-led sanctions theater.

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🚨🇯🇵 Shooter of ex-Japanese PM Abe pleads guilty

The 45-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, who shot and killed Shinzo Abe in 2022, has pled guilty at the first court hearing of the trial.

"Everything is true. There is no doubt that I did it," the man was quoted as saying by the Kyodo news agency.

👉 Shinzo Abe was fatally shot during a speech at an election rally in Nara Prefecture on July 8, 2022. Yamagami claimed that Abe's alleged connection with the Unification Church was the motive behind his actions.

📍 In May, the widow of the late ex-Japanese PM, Akie Abe, visited Russia and met with President Putin at the Kremlin, where the latter presented her with flowers. The pair shared an emotional moment as the president praised her late husband's legacy.

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🗣👉Stoltenberg reveals NATO shot down Zelensky’s pleas for no-fly zone in 2022

The only way to impose a no-fly zone would have been to send NATO fighter jets into Ukrainian airspace — and enforce it by shooting down Russian planes, former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recounted in an interview with Denmark’s TV2.

🟠 However, that would make NATO a full-fledged party to the conflict, and trigger a full-fledged war in Europe, Stoltenberg underscored at the time.

Even so, throughout his NATO stint, Stoltenberg remained true to his hawkish stance, egging allies on to let Ukraine use long-range Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia, and claiming that Russia’s victory in the Ukraine conflict would be “not only a big defeat for Ukrainians, but it will be a defeat and dangerous for all of us."

🔊 The statement could be considered recognition of the fact that NATO is fighting in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time.

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🚨🇮🇳🇷🇺 India and Russia to produce SJ-100 civil aircraft

HAL and Public Joint Stock Company United Aircraft Corporation (PJSC-UAC) signed an MoU for production of civil commuter aircraft in Moscow, Russia.

Under this agreement, HAL secures the rights to manufacture the SJ-100 aircraft for the domestic Indian market.

🔸 The SJ-100 is a twin-engine, narrow-body aircraft

🔸 It is a proven model, with over 200 aircraft currently in service

🔸 These aircraft are operated by more than 16 commercial airlines globally

Strategic importance for India

👉 The SJ-100 is expected to be a "game changer" for enhancing short-haul connectivity within India

👉 It will specifically support the goals of the government's UDAN (Regional Connectivity) Scheme

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📉 Stoltenberg recalls day NATO almost fell

Former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg lays bare his jitters at the 2018 NATO Summit, when he feared the 70-year-old alliance could crumble entirely on his watch.

🟠 The source of the alarm was US President Donald Trump’s threat to pull the United States out of NATO if European countries didn’t sharply increase their defense contributions.

“We were all genuinely worried… we feared he might actually leave the meeting.”

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⚡️United Aircraft Corporation's press service confirms to Sputnik India it signed MoU with HAL for production of SJ-100 civil aircraft

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