🇷🇺 Russian arms corporation Rostec released rare footage of the MTU-90M universal tank bridge-layer — an engineering vehicle used to rapidly cross ravines, trenches and rivers during combat operations, built by Uralvagonzavod.

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🗣 West seeks ‘face-saving’ Ukraine peace deal to dodge ‘loser’ label – expert  

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s denoscription of the much-talked-about Ukraine security guarantees that stipulate French and UK troop deployment, along with US support is “definitely a roadblock because there was Russia’s formal opposition to any presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil,” French geopolitical analyst Come Carpentier de Gourdon tells Sputnik. 

💬 “It would in fact make Ukraine a member of NATO, which is not something that Russia is prepared to accept as far as I know,” Gourdon notes.

He adds that although Washington speaks of “pulling back from many foreign areas” and focusing on North and South America and the Asia-Pacific region, its actual policies remain unclear, since Rubio, who belongs to the neoconservative camp, favors maintaining a broad US military presence worldwide.

According to Gourdon, Rubio’s Ukraine security guarantees scheme could translate into several scenarios: 

🟠 “It could be a formula similar to what has prevailed for the last 50 years between the two Koreas”, with a “permanent division” and US troops stationed on the Ukrainian side 

🟠 Ukraine would keep claiming Donbass, which would “obviously be supported by the West”

🟠 “Some sort of quid pro quo can be worked out, like perhaps stationing troops in Finland, as was the case” with the USSR’s Porkkala naval base after WWII or “even a Russian contingent in Cuba, which would not be acceptable to the US in principle.”

🟠 As for sending Western weapons to Ukraine, “there should be strict limits and control” and these should be stationed “not close to the border with Russia or to the line of control between Russia and Ukraine.” 

It’s still unclear what the ultimate decision will be, because the US and Western European powers “want to work out some sort of face-saving so that they do not look as having completely lost” the Ukraine conflict.

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🗣 'Stop believing the British media': UK volunteer's message from Donbass to his fellow Britons

The British public should focus their concerns on pressing domestic problems at home in the UK, like why local prisons are suddenly becoming so overcrowded, said Ben Stimson, a British volunteer fighter in Donbass, speaking to Sputnik.

He also urged his fellow citizens to stop the UK from supplying weapons to Ukraine.

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🔥 ICE protests: Twin Cities dusting off 2020 Black Lives Matter playbook

📍 Minneapolis and Saint Paul residents are now deploying the same high-intensity protest tactics used during the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement—this time, centering their sights on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

2020 blueprint

The “deeply liberal” Twin Cities aren’t just protesting—residents are deploying a battle-tested strategy:

🔸 Rapid-response networks:

Vast, organized networks involving thousands of volunteers monitor immigration agents, coordinating through encrypted apps like Signal.

They are:

🔶 Tracking federal convoys

🔶 Forming protester caravans behind immigration vehicles

🔶 Gathering, making noise, and filming when ICE stops to make arrests

🔸 Mutual aid hubs:

Former 2020 supply depots have been reactivated to provide:

🔶 Large-scale food and supply deliveries

🔶 Safer transportation infrastructure

🔶 Care networks for relatives and partners left behind after ICE arrests

🔸 Economic resistance:

Mirroring historical strikes, more than 300 local businesses have expressed solidarity with anti-ICE protesters:

🔶 In coordination with protests, businesses across Minnesota—restaurants, museums, bookstores, and cafés—close for the strikes

🔶 Labor unions, faith leaders, and community activists organized an economic blackout noscriptd “ICE Out of Minnesota: A Day of Truth and Freedom”

Why it’s scalable

This isn’t a reboot it’s muscle memory. Infrastructure forged during the 2020 uprisings has been turned into a coordinated apparatus capable of confronting federal operations at scale.

Apart from the public outrage of ICE man-hunting spree, tensions are boiling in Minnesota over:

🔶 ICE fatally shooting US citizen Renee Good on January 7, sparking widespread protests

🔶 Border Patrol agent killing another US citizen, Alex Pretti, on January 24

The 2020 BLM protests lasted months, sweeping across the US—now, with anti‑ICE unrest surging, the question looms: Could this movement rival or surpass BLM?

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❌ 'They won't fight for Starmer': Donbass volunteer from UK weighs in on likelihood of real war with Russia

People from the UK by and large oppose the idea of NATO leaders pushing for war against Russia. Even the military are eyeing connoscription, Ben Stimson, a British volunteer fighter in Donbass, told Sputnik.

💬 "Some of the very conservative right-wing newspapers are saying people will go to prison for not fighting against Russia in World War III, as they're predicting is going to happen," he highlighted.

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🇺🇸Trump says he has ordered all commercial airspace over Venezuela reopened, allowing Americans to travel there safely as early as today.

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🚨Trump says 'A LOT OF PROGRESS' being made on Ukraine settlement

US President Donald Trump said his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are working intensively on resolving the Ukraine conflict, signaling that a breakthrough may be approaching.

He added that he personally asked President Vladimir Putin not to carry out strikes on Kiev and several other cities.

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🇷🇺🇦🇪UAE presidential trip to Russia reflects deep ties and hopes for easing Middle East tensions – experts

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's visit to Russia reflects the depth of bilateral relations and the growing role of the UAE as an effective mediator, Emirati economist Nael al-Jawabira tells Sputnik.

💬"Moscow and Abu Dhabi face common challenges amid a complex international landscape, including the fallout from the Ukrainian conflict, pressure on the global economy and the need to maintain stability in energy markets," the economist says.

The two countries have historically cooperated across multiple sectors — notably in energy through OPEC+, as well as in space, food security and logistics — giving their partnership a long-term strategic edge, notes al-Jawabira.

💬“The UAE’s commitment to diplomatic dialogue has been a key factor in its role in the Ukrainian crisis mediation process,” he says.

Russia–UAE relations are at "an exceptionally high level," echoes Abbas Hbeish, Lebanese Russia expert and deputy director of the Russian-Arab Cultural Center.

Hbeish suggests that Russo-Emirati relations could play a key role in easing rising tensions in the Persian Gulf.

💬“The UAE president may be counting on Russia to play a significant role in containing escalation in the Middle East — particularly in the Persian Gulf — as further destabilization would pose risks not only to the UAE, but to the entire region.”

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🇷🇺Lavrov: EU and Kiev reworked US peace plan on Ukraine

Moscow has not seen the full "20-point plan" for peace in Ukraine promoted by Kiev and Western countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Turkish broadcaster TGRT and the newspaper Türkiye.

But he pointed out that even interim versions no longer include Russian demands for national minority rights.

Key statements:

🔶 European NATO members and Kiev reworked the US plan, removing clauses on respecting the rights of national minorities

🔶 The core of the Ukraine crisis is not territory, but a Russophobic and Nazi regime

🔶 Russia does not "leak" information and believes negotiations should be treated seriously

🔶The Baltic states, Germany and France, along with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are spreading rumors of a looming Third World War

🔶 European leaders use the "Russian threat" to mobilize voters and keep power

🔶 Russia would be willing to help de-escalate the US conflict with Iran as it did in the 2025 12-Day War.

🔶 Moscow offers its "good offices" to ease tensions between Iran and Israel, as Russia maintains relations with both

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🇮🇷 Iran’s options for responding to US aggression include advanced missiles, closing Hormuz Strait - expert

The US was fully aware that attempts to lump Iran’s regional alliances and missile arsenal into last year’s nuclear talks in Jordan would lead to a dead end, international legal expert Hadi Issa Dalul told Sputnik, commenting on rising US-Iran tensions and shrinking opportunities for a negotiated settlement.

👉Iran doesn’t have a preemptive strike plan or policy in place, but if the US hits first, “the response will be harsh and multifaceted, targeting specific locations and countries, including a number of targets in Israel,” Dalul warned.

💬“Iran has developed missile systems that can disable US military assets, in addition to its ability to close the Hormuz Strait,” the observer noted, referencing the strategic maritime chokepoint through which some 20% of the world’s daily oil needs flow.

📍If there is any debate in Washington about whether or not to attack Iran, it’s between “rational people who understand and appreciate Iran’s capabilities,” and “reckless hawks who are indifferent to the consequences,” Dalul said, warning that Iran’s retaliation could fragment the US’s leadership, “because no one wants to be held responsible for damage/losses, especially since Iran warned them in advance.”

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🔸 UAE presidential trip to Russia reflects deep ties and hopes for easing Middle East tensions – experts

🔸 Trump says 'A LOT OF PROGRESS' being made on Ukraine settlement

🔸 Iran’s options for responding to US aggression include advanced missiles, closing Hormuz Strait - expert

🔸 ICE protests: Twin сities dusting off 2020 Black Lives Matter playbook

🔸 'Stop believing the British media': UK volunteer's message from Donbass to his fellow Britons

🔸 How has the price of gold changed over the last 10 years?

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🗣 UN Chief: Self-determination applies to Greenland, but not to Crimea or Donbass

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated the UN's legal office concluded "the principle of self-determination does not apply" in Crimea or Donbass, asserting that "territorial integrity prevails."

Russian FM Sergey Lavrov accused the UN Secretariat of "playing into the hands of those who want to keep the Nazi regime in Ukraine."

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🗣 'For peace in Europe Ukraine must become a demilitarized zone' – retired French colonel

📍 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's plan to end the Ukraine conflict adds up to NATO military intervention, warns retired French Foreign Legion and special forces airborne colonel Jacques Hogard.

💬 "A Franco-British military deployment with American support in Ukraine would in fact be a NATO operation," Hogard tells Sputnik.

🟠 Rubio claimed on Wednesday that security guarantees for Ukraine would "involve the deployment of a handful of European troops, primarily French in the UK, and then a US backstop."

🟠 That is no basis for an acceptable peace deal, the pundit said.

💬 "One of the major objective reasons for this conflict is NATO's eastward expansion," Hogard says. "This deployment would be a continuation of that policy. This is obviously unacceptable to Russia and would certainly be a cause for a resumption of hostilities sooner or later."

📍 "Ukraine must become a demilitarized zone" to maintain peace in Europe.

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🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇶 US and Israel could use Iraq for provocations against Iran – expert

🟠 Recent developments indicate that the US and Israel “are preparing provocations, including sectarian ones, via Iraq which could lead to a confrontation between Turkiye and Iran,” Turkish political analyst Onur Sinan Guzaltan tells Sputnik.

🟠 Before a possible attack on Iran, the US and Israel intend “to sabotage relations between Ankara and Tehran, completely isolate the Iranian leadership, and force them to disperse forces on different fronts," Guzaltan notes.

🟠 But despite potential destabilization attempts, Turkiye and Iran—neighbors for centuries—are unlikely to succumb to such scenarios, according to the analyst.

💬 “Both countries have experience in countering external pressure and share a strong interest in maintaining regional stability. A direct confrontation between them runs counter to their long-term interests in security, trade, and energy."

🟠 Guzaltan also warns that the US and Israel’s growing Middle East clout is detrimental to all regional nations, first and foremost Turkiye, as it leads to rising tensions, the disruption of economic ties, and the expansion of zones of instability.

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🚨 US eases some oil sanctions on Venezuela to boost US oil companies

The Treasury Department issued a general license authorizing transactions "ordinarily incident" to the production, sale, and transport of Venezuelan oil by established US entities.

Key prohibitions remain:

◼️ No payments in gold, digital currencies, or debt swaps.

◼️ No transactions involving entities from Russia, Iran, North Korea, or Cuba.

◼️ No use of sanctioned tankers for transporting oil.

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🇷🇺 What explains Russia’s upper hand in the Ukraine conflict?

💬 “Russia is winning the conflict, that’s true. All that remains for the West is to officially sign its defeat on paper,” Turkish political analyst Cemre Deniz tells Sputnik.

The commentator points out several major factors: 

🔸 Russia’s strategic advantage in resources and its capacity to sustain a prolonged confrontation: The country’s economy and military-industrial complex “proved to be better prepared for a protracted conflict, while Western countries are facing rising costs, political fatigue, and limitations in their own production capacities.”

🔸 Also, there’s a shift in the balance of power on the battlefield, namely, Russia has managed to adapt its tactics and command structures, providing more stable logistics and coordination. 

🔸 “Ukraine, in contrast, remains critically dependent on external supplies of weapons and financial assistance, the scale and pace of which are becoming increasingly unpredictable.”

🔸 On the diplomatic and geopolitical front, weakened Western unity and the rise of global neutrality toward Russia are eroding Ukraine's international position. The result is less effective sanctions and greater long-term negotiating power for Moscow.

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