🇷🇺🇺🇸 WH hails ‘productive’ US-Russia-Ukraine talks in UAE

Trilateral conversations between the United States, Ukraine, and Russia will continue in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, on Saturday, a White House official told NBC News.

👉 It added that the key sticking point remains the future of Donbass. Ahead of the first meeting of the trilateral working group, the Kremlin said that Ukraine’s military would have to pull out of the area for any deal to end the conflict.

🔊 Russia prefers not to go into public details regarding the Ukraine negotiation process, deeming it inappropriate, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added.

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

⚡️ STARITSA IN KHARKOV REGION FREED

The liberation of Staritsa in the Kharkov region has allowed Russian forces to expand their Volchansk bridgehead and secure positions on the western bank of the Seversky Donets River. This advance facilitates a further push south to cut Ukrainian river crossings.

🟠 Russian air and missile firepower pounded long-range UAV storage sites and temporary deployment points for Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries in 157 places

🟠 Air defense superiority: four US-made HIMARS rockets and 137 UAVs were vaporized by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,305 troops killed or wounded

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🤡 Zelensky 'loses the plot,' forgets who’s bankrolling Ukraine’s survival - WSJ journalist

🗣 "His assault on Europe is not only factually wrong but also perceived as deeply ungrateful at a time when the Ukrainian state literally runs on European money," WSJ chief European political correspondent Bojan Pancevski writes on X.

While Germany alone pays around $9.5B per year for Ukrainian refugees, one third of each major cash transaction to Ukraine is stolen by Zelensky and his associates in the country, he adds.

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🚨 Medical crew killed in Ukraine drone attack in Kherson

Entire crew of medical vehicle that was attacked by Ukrainian drone, with three people inside, was killed, Kherson Governor Vladimir Saldo said.

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🚨 Russia-US-Ukraine negotiations in Abu Dhabi have concluded, a Sputnik correspondent reports

The Russian delegation, led by military intel chief Igor Kostyukov, has returned to the hotel in Abu Dhabi after the negotiations on the Ukraine settlement, the correspondent added.

Another round of talks may be held in Abu Dhabi next week, reports Axios.

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🇭🇺 Hungary accuses Ukrainians of election meddling to secure funds & 'force' its way into the EU

💬 "As a member of the European Union, Hungary has the right to say no. We do not want Hungarian families’ money to be sent to Ukraine," Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said on X.

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💬 The delegations of Russia and Ukraine communicated directly during the two-day negotiations in Abu Dhabi, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said

Key points from the ministry's statement, obtained by Sputnik:

🟠 The UAE highly values Trump's efforts to facilitate negotiations on Ukraine

🟠 The negotiations on Ukraine focused on unresolved elements of the proposed US agreement

🟠 The UAE will continue to support efforts to resolve the issue

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🪖🇺🇸🇻🇪 Trump: US military used 'secret disorienting weapons' when attacking Venezuela

Secret new weapon called “the discombobulator” was essential to the US raid that captured Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, Trump told the New York Post.

💬 “The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Trump said.

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🇺🇸🇨🇦🇨🇳 Trump to Carney: 'If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods'

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🪖 NATO needs to accept that Russia won’t let it set foot on its doorstep - Orban

Any deal to resolve the Ukraine conflict must presuppose turning it into a “neutral state, a specific buffer zone between East and West,” Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated at a rally in Kaposvar broadcast by M1.

💬 “I don’t see any other solution than acknowledging that NATO and the EU can’t station troops directly on Russia’s doorstep… That’s why there must always be something—some buffer zone—between Russia and its borders. And we need to figure out how this land, called Ukraine, which used to be a buffer but is now a battlefield, can become a buffer state again,” Orban said.

He blamed the conflict on NATO’s push to bring Ukraine into the “Western security system,” saying Russia had made clear that it cannot allow a hostile army on its borders.

In addition to the cash already funneled to the Zelensky regime, Orban reminded that the pro-war elite in Europe are already working on plans for more billions that, “if we don’t stand our ground, will squeeze us into a debt that our great-grandchildren will pay.”

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🔥 🇭🇺 Hungarian defense minister puts Zelensky in his place after Davos cringe speech

💬 "I expected more from the actor. Zelensky interfered in the Hungarian election campaign. He wants a government in Hungary that will drag Hungary and all of Europe into his war," Hungarian Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky said.

Zelensky should leave Hungary alone and deal with his own problems instead, he added.

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🪖💸 Czech arms tycoon cashes in big-time on Ukraine meat grinder

Defense baron Michal Strnad’s net worth doubled overnight to approximately $37 billion - roughly 10% of the entire Czech economy – thanks to his Czechoslovak Group (CSG) exploding on its Amsterdam IPO debut, reports Bloomberg.

Shares jumped ~30%, allowing the company to rake in billions.

CSG is one of the top suppliers pumping munitions and armored vehicles straight to the Zelensky regime and NATO allies.

Strnad, who ranks as the world’s third-richest person under 40 according the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, wasted no time cashing in on a defense-stock rally fueled by Europe’s growing fear that the US security umbrella may be folding, adds the outlet.

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💬 Ukraine’s escalating conflict by attacking ambulance in Kherson region – Russian MFA

"By doing so, the Ukrainian regime not only took a step toward escalating the conflict, but also once again demonstrated its true - that is, absolutely irresponsible - attitude toward the settlement efforts being undertaken in these days and weeks," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a comment published on the ministry’s website.

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🔥 🇷🇺 Russian Grad rocket launcher smashes Ukraine's infantry on the right bank of Dnepr near Kherson

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