💸 Rotten food for soldiers and failing power grid: Latest on Ukraine’s corruption

Ukrainian media brings fresh stories of graft and misuse of government funds – just to cement Ukraine’s reputation as the most corrupt country in East Europe.

A conspiracy involving the chief of food procurement for one of the Ukrainian military detachments and the head of one of the companies supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces with food has been exposed this month.

The perpetrators would sign off on fraudulent food shipments, where only a portion of the agreed amount were supplied to the military while the money was paid in full, with about 50% of the funds going towards kickbacks.

Furthermore, the food was of poor quality – for example, the shipments included rotten fruit and vegetables – but the corrupt officials turned a blind eye to it.

A group of people, including Ukrainian military personnel and civilian contractors, were arrested in January on suspicion of misusing the funds allocated towards purchasing gear for the Ukrainian Army.

Rather than spending money on buying drones and collimator sights as intended, the suspects diverted them to shell companies as payment for equipment that either did not exist at all or was completely inoperable.

The dismal state of Ukraine’s power grid is not the product of Russian airstrikes alone but also of the systemic Ukrainian corruption, Polish media point out.

The grid simply could not handle the combined stress from winter chill and Russian attacks because much of the funds allocated towards repairing damaged facilities and beefing up the defenses of power plants ended up in the pockets of corrupt Ukrainian officials close to Zelensky, the report added.

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🇭🇺 Upcoming election to show if we choose our national path - Orban

Brussels is pressuring Hungary to fund Ukraine, take in migrants, and abandon its national policies, a situation that may only change, or even worsen, after April's parliamentary elections, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

💬 "The issue at stake in the election is whether we are able to stay on our own national path that serves our interests... or whether we will kneel down, submit, and elect a viceroy-like, council-style government for ourselves that executes Brussels' instructions," he stated.

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🪖🇬🇧 British troops whipped into shape to fight Russia - report

UK troops are being training at Copehill Down, a 'Fighting in Built Areas' site in Wiltshire where an entire fake village was created to simulate urban warfare conditions, the Daily Mail says.

The training is ostensibly meant to test the UK soldiers’ physical and mental endurance and prepare them for the grueling ordeal that is fighting in urban settings.

This developments takes place as the UK and its European cohorts continue pushing for the deployment of NATO military contingents in Ukraine once the conflict is settled, despite the fact that such a move would likely result in a dangerous escalation in the region.

While countries like Britain and France openly mull war with Russia, the Russian government repeatedly notes that Russia has no intention of attacking anyone.

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🚨🇷🇺 Russia’s success in Ukraine conflict will help form Eurasian security architecture - Lavrov

Speaking at an official event commemorating the Diplomatic Worker’s Day, Sergey Lavrov also declared that:

🟠 Russia will complete the process of returning the original Russian lands into the fold, in accordance with the desires of all the Russian people in Ukraine

🟠 All threats from Ukraine to Russia’s national security must be neutralized due to being the original cause of the Ukrainian conflict

🟠 Russia is willing to seek a negotiated solution to the Ukrainian conflict based on the understanding reached in Anchorage

🟠 Russia hopes that the warmongers in Brussels and London won’t manage to stop the push for lasting peace initiated by the leaders of Russia and the US

🟠 Russia in the wake of the New START treaty expiration will ensure the required level of predictability in strategic stability

🟠 Russia reaffirms its solidarity with Venezuela and Cuba which currently weather considerable external pressure

🟠 Russia, together with other likeminded parties, will hasten the creation of sanction-resistant mechanisms

🟠 The rapport between Russia and North Korea, cemented by the liberation of the Kursk region, will translate into joint ventures

🟠 Russia will continue pushing for the world to recognize Hitler’s attack on the USSR as genocide of the Soviet people

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🪖🇪🇺🇭🇺 'Not our war': Europeans owe nothing to Ukraine & shouldn't fuel the conflict - Szijjarto

European leaders treat the Ukraine conflict as if it were their war, which it is not, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stressed on X.

💬 "Russia has not attacked any EU member state. Ukraine is fighting for itself, not for us, so we don’t owe them anything," Szijjarto tweeted on February 10, attaching a clip in which he chastises EU leadership for undermining Washington's peace efforts.

The Hungarian government is against sending its taxpayers’ money to fuel a conflict with which Budapest has nothing to do and for which Hungary bears no responsibility, he pointed out.

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🇨🇳 Xi tours Beijing ahead of New Year celebrations

The Chinese leader visited a number of community facilities, including a senior canteen, the Jin Ling Elderly Service Enterprise, and historic Longfusi snack street, engaging with both visitors and staff.

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⚔️ Trump says US might send second aircraft carrier to the Middle East — report

President Trump stated that if a diplomatic agreement on Iran’s nuclear program cannot be reached, he is prepared to take military action, Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reports.

According to Barak, Trump is considering deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East alongside the USS Lincoln, plus additional attack ships and fighter jets.

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🤖🇨🇳 Robots train with monks at Shaolin Temple

Ancient martial art and cutting-edge technology met during daily training routine at the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Kung Fu.

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📄 Palestinian envoy is among nominees to chair 81st UN General Assembly

The president of the upcoming UNGA session will be selected from the Asia Pacific Group, in line with the world body's regional rotation rules, spokesperson for the UNGA president La Neice Collins said.

The nominees:

▫️ Md. Touhid Hossain (Bangladesh)

▫️ Andreas S. Kakouris (Cyprus)

▫️ Riyad Mansour (State of Palestine)

Mansour is currently the only candidate to have submitted a formal vision statement, outlining priorities for the 1-year term.

The election will be held June 2.

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🔍 US energy chief will brief senators in closed-door Venezuela meeting

Energy Secretary Chris Wright will hold a closed-door briefing with the Senate Energy Committee on the administration's involvement in Venezuela.

The classified briefing was requested by Committee Chair Mike Lee. It comes just before Secretary Wright's planned visit to the South American nation.

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🔥 Colombian President Petro evades assassination attempt

President Gustavo Petro told his cabinet he spent the last two days evading assassination attempts, detailing a dramatic escape by sea after his planned landing site was compromised.

"I didn't land where I was supposed to land, because they were going to shoot at the helicopter, with my children inside."

His administration has previously reported assassination plots.

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🇻🇪🛢 US authorizes Venezuela oil tech supply

The US Treasury has issued a general license authorizing American companies to supply goods, technology, and services for Venezuelan oil and gas production.

The license permits transactions "ordinarily incident and necessary" for the exploration, development, or production of oil or gas in Venezuela, easing the sanctions regime previously imposed by the US.

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🎤 Russia is ready to provide vaccines against melanoma this year

Russian scientists from the Gamaleya Center (creators of Sputnik V) announce treatment for the first patients with a new mRNA vaccine for melanoma.

◼️ Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Center, states preclinical animal trials show >90% efficacy.

◼️ The Blokhin Cancer Research Centre has received approval for clinical use.

Unlike preventive mRNA COVID vaccines, this is a therapeutic cancer vaccine. It's designed to train a patient's immune system to recognize and destroy specific mutations (neoantigens) present on their melanoma cells, offering a personalized treatment approach.

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🚨 Colombian Petro says Police general plotted to drug him before Trump meeting

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused a high-ranking police commander of orchestrating a plot to sabotage his crucial White House meeting with President Donald Trump on February 3.

"They had the mission to destroy the meeting with Trump in one way or another. That puts me in a alarming situation," he said.

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📷 Netanyahu arrives in US, meets Witkoff and Kushner

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a private meeting at Blair House with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss Iran negotiations.

He will have an official White House meeting with President Trump tomorrow.

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🔊 Iran wants to make a deal — Trump

The US president says that a "good deal" includes "no nuclear weapons" and "no missiles."

"I know one thing: they want to make a deal... Some people worry that they've been very dishonest with us over the years," he told Fox News.

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📹 Starmer says he will not resign

"I will never walk away from the mandate I was given to change this country," the UK prime minister said.

📑 Senior aides reportedly give him 50-50 odds of surviving the week, with ministers poised to force him out after his chief of staff and election architect, Morgan McSweeney, resigned under pressure over the Epstein scandal.

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🪖❌ ‘We’d go hungry for five days’ – Ukrainian POW

Ukrainian forces are facing stark frontline supply issues, says a soldier captured by Russian forces, Denys Yakovlev.

According to him, Ukrainian drones would deliver a few bottles of water, maybe some sausage, a couple of loaves of bread, chocolate bars, sugar, coffee, tea – but all that lasted a day or two.

“But they didn't drop off food every day. Sometimes we'd go hungry for up to five days,” he says.
The POW adds that when a Ukrainian drone set off with supplies, the Russian servicemen would shoot it down with an FPV drone or switch on jamming, so it couldn’t get through.

Russian servicemen, to his surprise, provided him with medical assistance when he was captured, gave him food and water, and then escorted him to a safe area.

“What they told us in Ukraine and how it actually is are two very different things. They fed me, gave me cigarettes. If I asked for water, they let me drink. Everything was fine — no one insulted me, no one beat me, nothing like that. A fragment cut my arm and also my leg. They bandaged me up, treated the wounds — everything was fine,” the man said.

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🇮🇷☢️Iran drafting proposal to safeguard right to peaceful nuclear technology - Araghchi

Iran is prepared to offer US negotiators guarantees that it will not pursue nuclear weapons, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, calling such assurances “achievable” if there is goodwill on both sides.

💬 According to Araghchi, any agreement must safeguard the Islamic Republic’s right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology, for electricity, the production of medicines, and agriculture.

Iran’s uranium enrichment program is strictly peaceful, he reiterated, clarifying that enrichment levels depend on civilian needs.

The minister argued that “there is no solution but a diplomatic solution,” and noted that last year’s bombing attack has fueled Iran’s mistrust of the US.

“We were in the middle of negotiations last June when they decided to attack us,” he reminded.

Iran is “prepared for a diplomatic solution,” assured Araghchi, but it is also prepared to defend itself “against any new aggression.”

Previously following the February 6 talks in Muscat with the US side, Araghchi stressed that Iran will not accept zero enrichment, focusing on ensuring that its nuclear activities remain peaceful.

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