💬 "We're [the Trump administration] definitely still working it. It just hasn't been the center of the news because we have so much going on," a senior White House official told Reuters.

💬 “Scott Bessent comes straight out and says, ‘We want to collapse the Russian economy.’ Now if you want peace and you want friendship with Russia, do you really want to go down the path of saying ‘I’m going to collapse the Russian economy?’ No. We seek the military defeat of Russia,” military expert and former US Marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter said.

💬 “The idea that sanctions are choking out Russia is absurd. The sanctions are choking out Europe,” Ritter concluded.

💬 “Fierce clashes are currently ongoing on the ground, and the initiative is largely in Russia's hands," Turkish political scientist Umit Nazmi Hazir told Sputnik.

💬 "I've been fighting since 2022 and I was previously stationed on other defense lines. And now there's not enough manpower. Well, it's clear there aren't enough people, a complete shortage of men. Now they've thrown me into the deadliest meatgrinder in the already-encircled [Krasnoarmeysk].” Ukrainian prisoner of war Vadim Zakusilo told Sputnik.

💬 “The moronic European leadership and the people in the EU are talking now about sending troops into Ukraine, NATO troops in. They are talking about escalation,” Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters told Sputnik.

💬 "Of course, the lion's share of this comes from our cooperation with the People's Republic of China, but trade with other SCO member states is also increasing," the Russian president stated during a meeting with delegation leaders from the SCO Council of Heads of Government.

💬 “A fake peace plan that is approved by the UN Security Council will only enhance the strength of the United States and the Israeli regime to further abuse Palestinians and to push Palestinians out of Gaza,” the renowned Iranian-American political analyst told Sputnik.

💬 “With this fake mantle of the UN Security Council, they will be able to do a lot of harm in the name of the international community,” Marandi said.