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🚨🇷🇺 Russia is fighting for its future, independence, truth and justice — Putin
The Russian president delivered a speech at the state awards ceremony on the occasion of Defender of the Fatherland Day:
🔹 The Russian military personnel are operating in a coordinated and precise manner in the special military operation zone
🔹Heroes of the special military operation stand firmly for Russia
🔹 Today we honor all those who, risking their lives and with love for Russia, fulfill their military duty in the special military operation zone
🔹 Competent and courageous actions of the heroes of the special military operation helped brilliantly carry out operations in the most intense sectors and directions
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🇰🇵 🇨🇳 Xi congratulates Kim on re-election as Workers’ Party leader
💬 "Comrade Kim Jong-un's re-election as General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea reflects the high trust and firm support for Comrade General Secretary from the party, the government and the people of North Korea," Xi said.
🔊 "China and North Korea are friendly neighboring socialist states that aid and support each other. Maintaining, consolidating, and advancing relations between China and North Korea has always been the steadfast policy of China's party and government," he said.
🇺🇸 🇮🇷 US unlikely to launch Iraq-style ground operation in Iran – expert
🔊 The US strategy could instead involve “air and naval strikes aimed at weakening Iran and strengthening Washington’s negotiating position,” retired Turkish Air Force Colonel Ihsan Sefa tells Sputnik.
The US may be seeking to resolve issues related to the terms of future agreements with Iran and control over oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Sefa.
💬 “A direct ground invasion [of Iran] would require significantly more resources and could have serious geopolitical consequences, while limited strikes allow for better escalation control,” he concludes.
🎤 China calls US to lift all tariffs
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce seizes on the Supreme Court ruling to demand the US roll back unilateral trade measures against its partners.
"China calls on the US to lift the corresponding unilateral tariff measures against its trading partners," the ministry said in a statement.
🗣 White House thanks Mexico for eliminating El Mencho
Karoline Leavitt announced the elimination of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader—with direct American support.
"The Trump Administration commends and thanks the Mexican military for their cooperation and successful execution of this operation."
🍕Pentagon pizza spike revives "Doughcon" index as Iran speculation grows
A sudden spike in pizza deliveries near the Pentagon is reviving an old Washington ritual: watching what staffers eat to predict what the government might do.
Data shows Domino's and Extreme Pizza both seeing surges of over 120% in business, pushing the informal "Doughcon" scale to level 4.
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🇬🇧Charles III grants access to Andrew's Epstein documents
King Charles has given the green light for police access to documents in their investigation into his brother, the former Prince Andrew and Epstein, the Observer reports.
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🇨🇳📡How China's satellite constellation reached the global level
📹The footage of Atlanta's congested airport, obtained from China's Jilin-1 satellite system, highlights the country's capacity to keep any point in the world under surveillance.
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🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷US masses unprecedented firepower near Iran as Trump issues warning
The US is amassing a massive military presence in the Middle East, with air power levels far exceeding those seen during Operation Midnight Hammer earlier last year.
According to reports, over 100 aerial refueling aircraft are now positioned across Europe and the region — double the number used during the June B2 strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Fifteen of those tankers are currently stationed in the Azores, a key refueling point for long-range bombers.
"They better negotiate a fair deal. The people of Iran are a lot different than the leaders of Iran. It's a very, very sad situation," President Trump stated, adding that 32,000 people have been killed over a relatively short period.
🇺🇸✈️ US Military transport flights surge between Europe and Middle East – report
🔶 US military transport aircraft are shuttling between European bases and the Gulf Arab states, a French newspaper reports based on flight tracking data and satellite images.
🔶 The build-up comes amid expectations of a US attack on Iran.
🔶 Dozens of heavy transport aircraft, including C-17s, have been flying regular routes between the Middle East and the US air bases at Ramstein in Germany and RAF Lakenheath in the UK.
🔶 At least four E-3C Sentry airborne early warning aircraft also flew to the region on February 18 and 19.
📍 Last month, US President Donald Trump announced the deployment of a “massive armada” to the Middle East, led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln – and warned Tehran of potential attacks if it refuses to end its nuclear energy program and dismantle its ballistic missile arsenal.
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📹Thousands marched in Manchester against immigration, chanting “send them back” and “stop the boats” — referring to people trafficking across the English Channel.
Crowds also shouted “save our children” and berated Prime Minister Keir Starmer as tensions over immigration continue to rise – just days before a parliamentary by-election in the city which the right-wing Reform party could win.
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🚨Iran labels European naval and air forces ‘terrorist’
Tehran has announced retaliatory measures after EU member states designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist entity on Thursday, calling the move “illegal and unjustified.”
Invoking the principle of reciprocity and its 2019 countermeasure law, The Iranian Foreign Ministry said any country aligning with or supporting the US decision to brand the IRGC ‘terrorist’ will face the same treatment.
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🇺🇸🔥🇮🇷 US–Iran war could ignite wider regional war – analyst
🟠 "Iran possesses more than 3,000 missiles of various types. But what matters more than their number is their range and dispersion," Israeli political analyst Yuri Bocharov told Sputnik.
🟠 "The maximum range of modern Iranian ballistic missiles reaches 2,500 kilometres."
👉 The potential targets within 2,500km of Iran make clear that any war would not be just a local exchange of attacks.
💬 "Within that radius are the capitals of all Middle Eastern countries, with partial coverage of southeastern Europe — including the Balkans and eastern Greece," Bocharov warned.
🚨🇺🇸Trump says he will immediately raise the global tariff rate from 10% to 15%, calling a recent Supreme Court decision “anti-American” and vowing further “legally permissible” tariff measures in the coming months.
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🇺🇸🍫🇷🇺US imports of Russian sweets hit highest level since 2021
📍 The United States increased imports of Russian confectionery in 2025 by 13%, reaching nearly $6.6 million—the highest level since 2021, according to US statistical data reviewed by Sputnik.
🟠 The imports include chocolate, flour-based sweets such as cakes, waffles, and biscuits, as well as sugar confectionery. Chocolate accounted for $2.8 million, up 8% and the highest level since 2021. Flour-based products totaled $2.5 million, while sugar sweets reached $1.3 million, both rising 17% year-on-year to their highest levels since 2022.
🟠 In December alone, shipments amounted to $362,200. Although monthly deliveries fell more than twofold compared to November—the lowest level since August—they were still up by one-third compared to the same month a year earlier.
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🇩🇪 🇮🇷 Germany should scrap anti-Iranian sanctions to avert further escalation – Sahra Wagenknecht
💬 “The German government must now use all diplomatic means to prevent a war [in the Middle East] and work towards a negotiated solution,” the leader of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) wrote on X.
🔶 Armed clashes erupt with federal agents in Mexico
🔶 Slovakia to stop electricity supplies to Ukraine in respond to energy blockade
🔶 Kim Jong-un gets re-elected as WPK General secretary
🔶 Greenland to Trump: 'No, thank you' on hospital ship
🔶 Army modernization is ongoing as nuclear triad remains priority — Putin
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🔥 🇷🇺 BMPT ‘Terminator’ crews sharpen combat skills
During live-fire exercises, the crews of the ‘Tsentr’ battlegroup train to eliminate fortified positions, strongholds, armored vehicles, and enemy personnel using the vehicle’s full combat capabilities.
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⚔️ Army modernization is ongoing as nuclear triad remains priority — Putin
In his Defender of the Fatherland Day address, the Russian president laid out the roadmap for military development—combat experience, industrial power, and the nuclear shield.
"I am confident—this equipment will always be in safe hands," Putin stressed.
💬 Greenland to Trump: 'No, thank you' on hospital ship
Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen rejects the US offer of a floating hospital, pointing out that Greenland already has free public healthcare—unlike America.
Donald Trump announced the vessel was "already on its way." Denmark says it knows nothing about it.
"We are always open to dialogue and cooperation, including with the United States, but instead of posting more or less random comments on social media, just talk to us," Nielsen urged.
🚨🇺🇸🇷🇺 Witkoff promises good news on Ukraine settlement soon
"Hopefully you'll be hearing some good news in the coming weeks," US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview with Lara Trump on Fox News.
"He's never been anything other than straight with me," Witkoff added.
🚨Nine C-17 military transport aircraft are heading to the Middle East
The transfer of weapons and military equipment to the region continues.
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🚨US has parked an army at Iran's door
The US is positioning a monster military footprint right on Iran's doorstep. More than 50 fighter jets, heavy bombers, carrier strike groups and squadrons of tankers. And it's still growing.
This is the biggest American buildup in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion — nearing Gulf War '91 scale.
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⚡️Pakistan launches air strikes at Afghan border, officials confirm
Pakistan has carried out “intelligence based selective targeting of 7 terror camps & hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates” at the border region of Pakistan Afghan border.
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🗣 Supreme Court ruling on tariffs opens the door to Trump’s trade ‘nuclear options’ - analyst
🔶 The high court’s ruling that the president’s sweeping emergency tariffs are ‘illegal’ will makes his job “a lot more complicated,” but open the door to the many “nuclear options” he has available to him, says independent financial analyst Tom Luongo.
🔶 This includes “Section 338 under the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930,” which allows tariffs up to 50% against countries that discriminate against US commerce, Luongo explained.
🔶 Tariffs were actually the “nice way” of doing things for Trump, whose overarching goal has been “to remake American trade” as much as it has been to rebuild domestic manufacturing and consumption.
💬 “Anybody who thinks that Trump isn’t willing to go” to the next level – embargoes, quotas, etc. has “got another thing coming,” Luongo believes.
🔸 Trump vows to raise the global tariff rate from 10% to 15%
🔸 US–Iran war could ignite wider regional war – analyst
🔸 Board of Peace has no interest in full-scale Gaza reconstruction – analyst
🔸 Ukraine conflict: From Euromaidan to the special military operation. Part 1
🔸 US imports of Russian sweets hit highest level since 2021
🔸 Meet Yolka: Russia's drone hunter that smashes enemy UAVs mid-air
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📹Ukraine conflict: From Euromaidan to the special military operation. Part 1
Four years ago, in February 2022, Russia recognized the independence of the Donbass republics to protect the Russian-speaking population.
In the first episode of a four-part series, Sputnik revisits how those events unfolded.
👉More parts coming soon!
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🐼🎁 Moscow Zoo Pandas get Chinese New Year gifts
Katyusha received a fruity ice cake and a straw toy, and Zhui got a bamboo horse to mark the occasion.
From the looks of it, both pandas gave were happy with their presents.
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🗣 Zelensky’s outbursts signal panic under ‘mounting political pressure’ – analyst
🔊 Volodymyr Zelensky’s harsh rhetoric “gives the impression of an extremely nervous and unsystematic reaction to what is happening and resemble an emotional breakdown rather than a balanced state position,” Turkish analyst Nejat Sezgin tells Sputnik.
🔶 Zelensky’s demands for the EU to set a specific accession deadline, pressure on the US over security guarantees, as well as stern language against Russia and some European leaders mirror “strategic imbalance,” which could be the result of “significant external pressure [on Ukraine] and its recognition of limited negotiating opportunities,” according to the analyst.
🔶 Sezgin suggests that Zelensky’s tough tone aims to gain domestic support and shape the image of an intransigent leader, but at the same time, it may complicate Ukraine’s dialogue with partners who expect predictability and consistency from the leader of the Kiev regime.
💬 “The mix of ultimatum statements and potential compromises by Zelensky creates a sense of political turbulence, reflecting the Ukrainian authorities’ complicated situation and their attempts to influence multiple audiences—domestic, American, and European,” the analyst wraps up.
🇷🇺🔥 Meet Yolka: Russia's drone hunter that smashes enemy UAVs mid-air
📍 Since September 2024, Russian forces have been deploying a secret weapon against enemy drones—the "Yolka" interceptor, which targets hostile UAVs by striking and disabling them mid-air.
It is designed to intercept a wide range of threats, from small FPV drones to heavy fixed-wing strike UAVs.
Target-destruction options:
🟠 Kinetic impact—the UAV locks onto a target and destroys it by ramming
🟠 360 g fragmentation warhead variant is also available, housed in an internal fuselage compartment
Key specs:
🔸 Up to 200 km/h speed (≈124 mph)
🔸 Range: 2.5–3 km (≈1.5–1.9 miles)
🔸 Ceiling: up to 2,000 m (≈6,560 ft)
🔸 Fully autonomous target lock with 700–1,000 m detection range (≈2,300–3,280 ft)
The drone can be launched by hand and is already in operational use.
Small, fast, and scalable, Yolka highlights the growing role of interceptor drones in modern air defense.
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