🚀 Four astronauts arrive at ISS for 8–9 month mission — reports

Four astronauts from the US, France and Russia arrived at the International Space Station on February 14, restoring the orbital lab to full capacity after a January medical evacuation, Fox News reported.

The crew launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX rocket and docked with the ISS about 34 hours later.

The crew — Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrey Fedyaev — will spend the next eight to nine months conducting scientific research and technology demonstrations.

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🇷🇺🇨🇦 'People want sovereignty' — Alberta secession talk grows, Trump allies cheer

Oil-rich Alberta is preparing for a possible independence referendum later this year, with supporters crediting President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for energizing their movement, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Alberta secessionists see Trump-era politics as an opportunity to push back against Ottawa’s regulations and boost oil production. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed the mood, saying, “People want sovereignty.”

💬 “I believe that they would welcome a free and independent Alberta,” referendum organizer Mitch Sylvestre said after meetings in Washington.

📊 Support for independence remains limited — polls suggest backing hovers near 30% — but Alberta holds most of Canada’s crude reserves, raising the stakes.

❓ From 51st-state jokes to sovereignty talk — will it accelerate the split?

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💰🇺🇸 US Caribbean buildup near $3B — reports

The US military surge around Venezuela that culminated in the military aggression and abduction of President Nicolas Maduro is approaching a $3 billion price tag, Bloomberg reported.

💵 Bloomberg calculations show the deployment at its peak cost more than $20 million a day, with as much as 20% of the US Navy’s surface fleet tied up in the region. Former Pentagon comptroller Elaine McCusker estimated that Operation Southern Spear has “probably cost about $2 billion since August 2025,” excluding intelligence and targeting expenses.

The White House has said the operation did not cost taxpayers extra because the forces were already deployed. But experts cited by Bloomberg noted that combat activity, higher operational tempo and personnel benefits add to expenses, and there is “no contingency fund in the DOD budget for unexpected operations.”

🗓 Despite the USS Gerald R. Ford being reassigned to the Middle East, Bloomberg reported the Caribbean deployment has no clear end date, even as US lawmakers say they have not been provided with detailed cost estimates.

💵 Billions spent. No formal accounting.
📈 And the tab keeps rising.

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🇨🇳🌏 Cooperation is the 'only right choice' for China–US ties – FM Wang Yi

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined Beijing’s vision ahead of a planned summit between President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump.

Wang stressed that China approaches relations with the US with “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and moving cooperation,” adding that dialogue and consultation remain the right path.

💬 “Some people… are still trying everything possible to suppress and contain China… everything to attack and smear China,” he warned.

China remains confident that cooperation — not confrontation — is the “only right choice,” Wang stressed.

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🇺🇸🇳🇴 US and Norway eye critical minerals cooperation as China warns against ‘exclusive blocs’

💬 “We look forward to partnering with Norway on supply chain security, including on critical minerals,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X after his meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

The US earlier signed memoranda of understanding on critical minerals—needed for most modern technologies—with 11 countries, in an apparent attempt to curb China’s influence in the field.

The State Department also announced the launch of the so-called Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE) “to reshape the global market for critical minerals and rare earths.”

🇨🇳 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian responded by stating that Beijing “opposes any country setting up exclusive blocs to disrupt international economic and trade order.”

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🚨🇷🇺 Russian forces advancing along all fronts - Chief of Staff Gerasimov

◻️ Russia liberated 12 settlements in the first two weeks of February despite harsh winter conditions

◻️ Yug battlegroup is advancing toward Slavyansk

◻️ The heaviest fighting is taking place in Tsentr battlegroup's area, where forces are advancing in the Dobropolye direction

◻️ Ukrainian forces are focusing on forming additional UAV units

◻️ Units of Russia’s joint force grouping are using UAVs at twice the rate of the enemy

◻️ Sever battlegroup continues expanding the security zone in the border areas of the Sumy and Kharkov regions

◻️ Dnepr battlegroup continues its advance toward Zaporozhye

◻️ The settlement of Glushkovka on the eastern bank of the Oskol River has been liberated; fighting continues near Novoosinovo

◻️ Russian forces are completing the clearing of Drobyshevo and Yarovoye in the Krasny Liman direction

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🇺🇸🇪🇺US signaled to Europe in Munich that old order not worth defending

"We [the US] don’t want weak allies, don’t defend the old order," a former European official told European media.

In his opinion, if the "smallest common denominators" the US finds with Europe are a shared history dating back to the time of Columbus, narrow national security interests, and a common civilization, then this alone demonstrates how far Europe and the US are drifting apart.

Furthermore, more than a dozen European officials also expressed concern that US policy toward Europe had changed little, despite Rubio's statements.

➡️ Earlier, the FT, citing an unnamed German diplomat, reported that Europe was dissatisfied with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's speech in Munich, believing it was aimed at American audience rather than its allies.

➡️ On Saturday, Rubio, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, stated that the differences between the US and European countries stemmed from Washington's deep concern about Europe's future, while the United States was interested in a strong Europe and believed that the destinies of the two sides would always be intertwined.

➡️ Trump has repeatedly criticized Europe for its low contribution to NATO's defense capability and demanded that all members increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. Meanwhile, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth assured that the United States has no current plans to reduce its military presence in Europe.

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▫️ Russian forces advancing along all fronts - Chief of Staff Gerasimov

▫️ US Caribbean buildup near $3B

▫️ Iranian Foreign Minister mocks ‘CIRCUS’ of Munich Security Conference

▫️ Colombian military reports ‘cocaine seizure’ in Caribbean

▫️ Cooperation is the 'only right choice' for China–US ties – FM Wang Yi

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🇷🇺💥 Anti-aircraft artillery of Dnepr battlegroup turns Ukraine's drones into a pile of rubble

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🌎 If a lab-made black hole escaped control, Earth could look like this

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

⚡️ TSVETKOVOYE IN THE ZAPOROZHYE REGION FREED

By liberating the settlement of Tsvetkovoye in the Zaporozhye region, Russian forces have expanded their bridgehead west of the city of Gulyaipole, gaining control over more than eight square kilometers of territory.

🟠 Russian air and missile firepower obliterated transport infrastructure supporting the Kiev regime’s forces

🟠 Air defense superiority: 222 UAVs were shot down by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,110 troops killed or wounded

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

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🚨🇷🇺 Russia liberates 12 settlements in just two weeks of February - Chief of Staff Gerasimov

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🔊 Orban–Zelensky clash reveals deep EU and NATO divisions – analyst

The dispute between Zelensky and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban goes beyond personal tensions and reflects a clash of strategic visions, Saudi political analyst Saad al-Hamid told Sputnik.

Zelensky ties Ukraine’s future to full integration into the EU and Western institutions, while Orban takes a pragmatic approach toward Russia and opposes fast-tracking Ukraine’s EU and NATO membership.

Domestic political considerations and minority issues are also widening the gap between the two leaders.

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🚨Ukraine’s ex-energy minister detained in corruption case

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has detained the country’s former Energy Minister German Galushchenko as part of a case concerning corruption in the Ukrainian energy sector.

💬 "Today, while crossing the state border, NABU detectives detained the former energy minister within the framework of the 'Midas' case. Initial investigative actions are ongoing in accordance with legal requirements and a court order," NABU said on Telegram.

In November 2025, NABU announced it was conducting a large-scale operation in the energy sector and published photos of bags filled with foreign currency found during the operation.

NABU carried out searches at the home of Galushchenko, as well as at the state nuclear energy agency, Energoatom.

The agency also searched the residence of Zelensky's close associate, Timur Mindich, who had already fled Ukraine by that time.

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💸 Germany’s proposal to use $106B from frozen Russian assets to buy US arms for Ukraine collapses

French President Emmanuel Macron rejected the proposal at a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, German media reports.

He insisted that frozen Russian assets should primarily be used for deliveries of weapons systems manufactured in Europe, according to the report.

The European Commission earlier sought EU members’ consent to use frozen Russian sovereign assets for Ukraine aid as they discussed a sum of between $219 billion and $249 billion in the form of a loan.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the EU's idea of Russia paying reparations to Ukraine is unrealistic, and that Brussels has long been engaged in the theft of Russian assets.

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🗣 Why Zelensky's war of words with Orban won’t boost Ukraine's EU ambitions

💬 “There are actually no supporters of Ukraine’s rapid EU membership both in Hungary and other members of the bloc,” Polish political analyst Mateusz Piskorski tells Sputnik, commenting on Zelensky’s apparent tactic to pave Ukraine’s way into the EU by making insulting remarks related to Hungarian PM Viktor Orban.

In Hungary, “even Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza party, underscored that the issue of Ukraine's accession to the EU should be resolved through a referendum, of which Magyar is a supporter,” Piskorski points out.

A war of words between Zelensky and Orban means that the former is “directly involved in the election campaign in Hungary.”

Zelensky is, however, mistaken in counting on a Hungarian change of attitude toward Ukraine even if Tisza wins, the analyst says.

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