🚨🇷🇺 Russia returns 200 soldiers from Ukrainian captivity, 200 Ukrainian PoWs were transferred in return – Defense Ministry

On March 5-6, Russia and Ukraine will also exchange 500 prisoners of war, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖🇮🇷 From attack to retaliation: Key stages of Iran war

The US & Israel launched attacks on Iran causing major damage and civilian deaths.

In response, the IRGC launched Operation True Promise 4, its largest military offensive, targeting enemy military bases in the region.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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

⚡️ YAROVAYA IN THE DONETSK REGION FREED

The liberation of the settlement of Yarovaya, a critical logistics hub in the Donetsk region, enables the Russian army's further advance towards the city of Krasny Liman.

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

🟠 The Black Sea Fleet destroyed four Ukrainian unmanned vessels 

🟠 Air defense superiority: three HIMARS rockets and 410 UAVs were shot down by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,215 troops killed or wounded

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

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Iran identifies perpetrators of Minab school massacre – report

The identities of the pilots were established, as well as the airbases, from which they flew, the Fars news agency reports, quoting its sources.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖🇮🇷🇮🇱 Iran has 'broken the myth' of Israeli military power: former Pakistani envoy

Asif Durrani, a former Pakistani ambassador to Iran and the UAE, told Sputnik that despite decades of investment in cutting-edge military technology by the United States and Israel, Iran successfully penetrated the vaunted Iron Dome defense system and struck Israeli installations.

Durrani also condemned the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei as a highly dangerous escalation. He noted that such a direct attack on a leader of a sovereign state sets a perilous precedent not seen in previous global conflicts.

💬 "Regime change should be in the hands of the Iranian people," he affirmed.

Durrani pointed out that despite 47 years of US efforts to topple the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution, such attempts have failed.

He added that there is currently no sign of a viable internal alternative to the existing government.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 US and Israeli claims of depleted Iranian arsenals are just military propaganda - expert

American officials claim Iran’s arsenal is dwindling and launchers are running low — but there’s no objective proof, veteran Russian military observer Yury Lyamin tells Sputnik.

"Such statements should be treated with great skepticism and seen as standard military propaganda," Lyamin says. "I believe Iran’s total number of launchers is generally underestimated."

Yes, the number of missile launches has dropped – but why?

👉 the decline in launches is largely due to constant air pressure, forcing Iranian forces to take maximum precautions

👉 US and Israeli strikes on tunnel entrances at missile bases require time to clear debris and carry out safety checks

"Iran’s main missile stockpiles and launcher reserves are stored deep within underground missile bases carved into mountains, making them extremely difficult to hit. Moreover, it’s unclear how they are moved inside," the pundit explains.

Lyamin draws attention to the fact that Iran keeps its missile launchers as simple and inexpensive as possible – they’re typically mounted on standard trailers and trucks.

That allows the Islamic Republic to maintain a substantial storage of those devices.

US vs. Israel: Conflicting assessments stir controversy

🟠 The Israeli side claim that "more than half" of all Iranian missile launchers have been destroyed, whereas the US insists Iran is "running out" of them

🟠 Israeli figures are also questionable, according to the expert:

👉 Israel claimed 300 launchers destroyed two days ago, but videos from the US and Israel show roughly a tenth of that

👉 While it’s true not everything is captured on video, the huge discrepancy warrants skepticism

🟠 Even within the video evidence provided by Israel and the US, there are questionable cases, according to the expert:

👉 Some strikes appear to have hit ordinary trucks mistaken for launchers

👉 One video even shows a strike on a broken truck with its hood open

👉 In another, a launcher that had already been destroyed was hit repeatedly

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Fire breaks out at Bapco energy company facility in Bahrain after Iran’s missile strike – report

The plant’s operations are continuing as normal now as the blaze has been already contained.

No injuries have been reported.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt