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

◻️ Russian Armed Forces hit equipment and manpower of the Azov* special forces brigade

◻️ Russian forces struck arms factories and energy infrastructure facilities used in the interests of the Ukrainian army

◻️ Russian troops struck a Ukrainian supply depot and a drone storage site

◻️ Air defense superiority: 7 HIMARS multiple launch rockets and 326 drones shot down

◻️ Ukrainian losses: around 1,300 troops killed or wounded

*The Azov Brigade is designated as terrorist and banned in Russia

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

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💵 Supreme Court’s tariff ruling could cost US hundreds of billions of dollars in duty refunds - expert

The top court’s ruling that tariffs are ‘illegal’ “means that US importers will be refunded significant amounts of money,” up to “a few hundred billion” dollars, independent economist Alasdair Macleod told Sputnik.

💬 “Certainly import businesses in the United States will be repaid. I would guess that they will have claims against them from exporters from other countries because they will have charged those tariffs, if you like, on imports as well.”

For the White House, the timing -coming ahead of the 2026 midterms, could not have been worse. “This is not good for President Trump,” Macleod said.

Same goes for the US trade deficit, which Trump was trying to get a handle on, but “which now is being increased quite significantly by the loss of those tariff revenues,” the economist stressed.

💬 “It’s not a good look as far as foreigners exporting to America are concerned,” either. “It just creates huge uncertainty, extra uncertainty over the whole position,” Macleod summed up.

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🚨British trace found in General Alexeyev shooting — FSB

The assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, Deputy Head of the Russian General Staff, was made by Ukrainian spies with Western help, said Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Drector Alexander Bortnikov.

🗣"We understand that the perpetrators are the Ukrainian special services, and behind them stand third countries," Bortnikov said.

💬"Ukrainian special services are operating under the guidance or supervision of Western intelligence agencies. We see the British trace primarily here," he added.

His key statements:

🔶One suspect fled to Ukraine and most culprits and ringleaders have been identified

🔶The FSB investigation continues and further details will be made public if available

🔶Russia will never forget or forgive the assassination attempt on the general

🔶Alexeyev was shot three times in the back at a block of flats in Moscow on the morning of February 6. He fought back against his attacker despite serious injuries, and was later hospitalized.

🔶A criminal case has been launched into attempted murder and illegal firearms trafficking.

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🗣🇺🇸🇮🇷 Slow pace of Iran–US talks doesn’t exclude military scenario – expert

💬 “The region today is on the verge of an explosion rather than tensions. Every round of negotiations that yields no result and every deadline that passes without breakthrough brings the moment of confrontation closer,” Lebanese security expert Malik Ayoub tells Sputnik.

🟠 The US has not yet decided on a strike against Iran, but is already considering applying pressure because Donald Trump understands that military force is not only a means of waging war, but also a tool for negotiations, according to the expert.

🟠 He insists that the indirect US–Iran talks, mediated by regional and international parties, have not yet reached a complete impasse, but neither have they yielded a breakthrough as “each side is trying to convince the other that they are willing to go further than the other side expects.”

🟠 The expert says that what's happening today isn't immediate preparation for war, but a struggle for the terms of its prevention, with both sides "moving along the edge of the abyss, but not leaping into the unknown."

💬 “The US is using its military might to impose a new negotiating formula, while Iran is using its ability to survive and deter to force Washington to accept certain limits. Between these approaches, the region is turning into a waiting arena, where uncertainty becomes an independent strategic tool," Ayoub concludes.

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🇺🇸💥🇮🇷US attack against Iran could draw America into ‘protracted conflict’ – report

💬 “Experts caution that an attack on Iran [by the US] would be significantly more complex than an operation in Venezuela,” The New York Times reports.

📍 While Venezuela’s skies were relatively unprotected ahead of the US attack last month, Iran possesses “one of the biggest and most varied missile stockpiles in the Middle East,” the newspaper cited analysts as saying.

💬 “There is no low-cost, easy, clean military option available in the case of Iran,” and “there is a real risk that there will be American lives lost” if the US carries out an attack against the Islamic Republic, one of the experts warned.

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🗣 Zelensky's anti-Russian rant may have been orchestrated by Europe – expert

💬 “They order Volodymyr Zelensky [to speak], he speaks. They instruct him to act,” he sticks to the instructions, Tunisian expert Badra Kaaloul tells Sputnik, commenting on Zelensky recently using bad language to call for expelling Russians from Western countries.

Kaaloul says that she doesn’t rule out that “perhaps” it was the Europeans who instructed Zelensky to make the obscene remarks in order to confiscate frozen Russian assets.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier stated that one should ignore Zelensky’s outrageous remarks and instead follow the example of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who refrains from using harsh language against other world leaders.

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📹 Ukraine conflict: From Euromaidan to the special military operation. Part 2

The second episode of Sputnik's four-part series revisits how the conflict in Donbass escalated and Minsk agreements failed.

(01:05) The Battle for Donetsk Airport
(03:11) Mass shelling of Gorlovka
(04:35) The ‘Alley of Angels’
(04:55) The Minsk Agreements
(07:25) Minsk 2

👉Part 1

More parts coming soon!

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🗣🇩🇪 AfD ‘has always advocated for Russia–Ukraine peace talks’ – party’s co-chair

💬 “Why did Western states, especially the UK, prevent the Istanbul moratorium [agreement] in 2022?” Alice Weidel asked.

The co-chair of the Alternative for Germany party suggested that if signed, the Istanbul deal “would have been a better peace treaty for Zelensky” than the one that is being discussed today.

Weidel added that she also would like to know why the German government is not involved in the process of clinching a Ukraine peace deal.

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🇮🇷🇺🇸Iran ready for nuclear talks with US in Geneva on Thursday

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said he is ready to meet US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Geneva on February 26 for another round of discussions on his country’s nuclear energy program.

💬"If they want to find a resolution for Iran's peaceful nuclear program, the only way is diplomacy. So there is no need for any military buildup and military buildup cannot help it and cannot pressurize us," Araghchi said in an interview on CBS News' "Face the ⁠Nation".

👉Earlier in the day, Axios reported citing a senior US official that the US is ready to resume nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva on February 27 – as long as it sees a detailed proposal from Iran within 48 hours.

✅Washington is open to discussing an interim agreement before a full nuclear deal can be reached.

❗️But US President Donald Trump has threatened to unleash a “massive armada” against Iran if it it does not meet his demands – while Iran still insists on its right to enrich uranium, even if that leads to war.

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🇺🇸💰 USAID bankrolled 'independent' Euromaidan media watchdog with over $1 million

📍 Kiev-based media watchdog Telekritika presented itself as an independent observer during the 2013 Euromaidan unrest, but records show it received over $1 million in grants from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the years leading up to the protests, according to Sputnik’s analysis of public USAID funding records and press freedom reports.

👉 These funds allowed Telekritika to play a key role in documenting state security abuses and shaping the narrative around the Maidan Square protests.

🔶 While Telekritika positioned itself as a domestic watchdog, USAID’s U-Media program financially supported the organization, with more than $1 million in sub-grants in the 24 months immediately preceding the peak of the 2013 protests.

🔶 The 2012–2013 U-Media report names Telekritika as one of four "institutional partners" handpicked by US officials for "direct assistance"—a status that turned it from a grant recipient into a permanent, subsidized fixture in Kiev's civil society framework. Its rise wasn't organic; it was engineered.

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🇺🇸 Takedown of Trump tariffs could be blow to US budget – experts

💬 “This is positive for the world economy, but negative for the US budget deficit,” Russian expert Olga Belenkaya tells Sputnik, commenting on the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling to strike down Donald Trump’s global import tariffs as unlawful.

🟠 She explains that one of the goals of the tariffs was to offset losses from Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill," which stipulated extending a number of tax breaks and increasing military spending.

🟠 The Supreme Court’s decision will make the US search for new sources to cover these costs, which could result in a situation where the country’s budget deficit “will probably be higher."

🟠 On the other hand, US consumers could benefit from the removal of imports tariffs, Alexey Govyrin, member of the Russian parliament’s Committee for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, says in an interview with Sputnik.

💬 "If the tariffs are not quickly replaced by new ones, it will mean less price pressure and potentially fewer reasons for the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high. However, if uncertainty persists due to the search for alternative instruments, the regulator may remain cautious," Govyrin sums up.

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🚨Omani FM confirms US–Iran talks in Geneva on Thursday

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi has confirmed that US–Iran negotiations are scheduled to take place in Geneva on Thursday, February 26, marking the next round of diplomatic talks between the two sides.

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🔸 Iran ready for nuclear talks with US in Geneva on Thursday

🔸 Slow pace of Iran–US talks doesn’t exclude military scenario – expert

🔸 Supreme Court’s tariff ruling could cost US hundreds of billions of dollars in duty refunds - expert

🔸 Afghanistan vows measured response to Pakistan's airstrikes

🔸 Ukraine conflict: From Euromaidan to the special military operation. Part 2

🔸 British trace found in General Alexeyev shooting — FSB

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🗣 US-Iran talks yield positive signals, but we're ready for anything — Iranian president

President Masoud Pezeshkian confirms practical proposals exchanged and encouraging signs—but warning Tehran is preparing for all outcomes.

"We continue to closely monitor US actions and have made all necessary preparations for any potential scenario," he wrote on X.

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🇪🇺🇺🇸EU trade head proposes freezing US deal over tariff chaos

European Parliament trade committee chairman Bernd Lange says he will propose suspending approval of the EU-US Turnberry Agreement at an emergency meeting on Monday – until Washington clarifies its trade policy.

🔹That followed the US Supreme Court's decision on Friday to strike down US President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose selective tariffs on other nations.

🔹Trump responded with a 10% tariff on all nations – later saying it could rise to 15%.

🔹The EU is demanding clarity on commitments. The lopsided Turnberry deal imposes a 15% tariff on EU exports to the US, but 0% on US exports to the EU.

🔹French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said his government was looking into whether the treaty “is still valid,” but the European commission insisted "A deal is a deal."

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📹 Slovakia will stop electricity supplies to Ukraine in respond to energy blockade

PM Robert Fico announces retaliation against Kiev's "unfriendly" energy demands, which included cutting emergency electricity supplies in response to Ukraine's blocking of Russian oil transit.

"We support cross-border cooperation, send humanitarian aid, electricity, and gas. And as a 'reward' for this, President Zelensky stopped gas transit and caused direct damage amounting to €500 million per year," Fico argued.

The prime minister said he will visit SEPS, the state grid operator, to request that they stop the flow of electricity.

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