❗️Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️The Russian Army destroyed eight Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the Kupyansk direction;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Donetsk direction amounted to 190 serviceman;

▪️Russian troops eliminated up to 65 Ukrainian servicemen, two Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers, and one Grad MLRS in the Krasny Liman direction;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Kupyansk direction amounted up 100 servicemen;

▪️Russian air defense systems destroyed 11 Ukrainian drones and 8 HIMARS MLRS rockets;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions amounted to over 60 servicemen;

▪️Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot in the Kharkov region;

▪️Russia destroyed Gvozdika and D-30 122mm howitzers in the Kherson direction.

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❗️LIVE NOW: Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov talks to foreign media in Moscow
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📹 Russia’s FM Sergey Lavrov comments on the state of freedom of speech in Europe after bans on Russian media

💬 "I believe you are well aware of the principles of free journalism and you're well aware of what RT and Sputnik are doing. And if you cannot see any violations of the principle of freedom of speech in their activities, then it would be most interesting to find out such examples from you today," Lavrov said.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh criticized US mainstream media for not running a word about his investigative piece on the Biden administration's alleged sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

💬 "Neither paper has run a word at this point about the pipeline story, not even to quote the White House’s denial of my reporting. Similarly, public calls by officials in Russia and China for a full investigation of the pipeline story have been ignored by the US media," Hersh said.

Still, the pieces he wrote eventually found their way to mainstream media in the US and around the world, the journalist noted. Hersh worked as a long-time reporter for The New York Times, and The Washington Post ran a long magazine profile of him more than two decades ago.

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Nikki Haley's 2024 Bid: Could 'Mike Pompeo in a Skirt' Win Hearts and Minds of GOP Voters?

"I think she's an opportunist," Dan Eberhart, a major GOP donor and CEO of Canary, one of the largest privately-owned oilfield services companies in the United States, told Sputnik.

💬 "Trump has been president before, so if he loses in the primary, it's a big loss that will finish him. Whereas I think Haley can come in third and potentially be vice president, a Cabinet position, or be well positioned to run for statewide office in South Carolina in the future. For Trump I just think the bar is higher."

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🇺🇸 The US must offer alternative as China, Russia “seek to change the international order,” US Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Jack Reed said.

💬 "We have to recognize that America faces an existential struggle between democracy and autocracy,” Reed said during a committee hearing.

Reed also warned that the world had shifted from a bilateral rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War to "entering an era of trilateral nuclear competition" given China’s "growing nuclear arsenal." He said that strategic competition in the long term was not only a matter of military or economic power, but of "ideas."

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❗️Russia requests emergency session of UNSC for February 22 amid revelations about Nord Stream sabotage

❗️EX-un envoy Nikki Haley announces she is running for president for “strong America, proud America”

US Using Sham ‘Woke Makeover’ to ‘Sell’ Its Proxy Wars, Analyst Says

There is a massive anti-war sentiment across the US, yet the movement itself in the US has been plagued by infighting, Caleb Maupin, an American journalist, told Sputnik. Furthermore, it has essentially been hijacked by certain forces that have "stage-managed" the protest movement in Washington, DC for several decades, he added.

Since the Iraq War protests of 2003-2004, rallies have shrunk in size and, in recent time, forces dominating the anti-war protest movement in the United States are tied in with the Democratic Party and its Stop Trump agenda, the analyst emphasized.

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Mikhail Ovechkin, the father of Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin, has passed away at the age of 71, the captain of NHL club the Washington Capitals said.

"Today my father passed away. I thank everyone for the support but please be understanding and do not disturb my family in this difficult time for us! Thank you," Ovechkin said.

Earlier this week, Ovechkin traveled to Moscow due to his father's urgent hospitalization.

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Ohio Residents Bear Witness to Environmental Disaster Cover-Up

"So they're pretending like this burning off of these chemicals with some huge success," Misty Winston, a political activist, told Sputnik. "And then they're failing to tell people that we now potentially have hundreds of thousands of pounds of acid in the air."

Those who wanted their homes screened for contamination were told to pay for it themselves, Northeast Ohio resident and community activist Jack Slater added. "So people have all been completely left in the lurch here as government agencies that are supposed to be responsible for this have completely failed their duties."

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🇿🇦 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 Russian frigate “Admiral Gorshkov” is heading to Durban from Cape Town harbour to take part in Russia-South Africa-China naval exercises

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‼️ American actress and sex symbol Raquel Welch has died, her family has confirmed. She was 82.

🔺Help or just another US provocation? We’ll be talking about the US’ desire to help Ukraine retake more territory before negotiations with Russia
🔺We'll discuss Sy Hersh's Nord Stream bombshell revelation that the real target of the attack was Germany
🔺Dr. David Oualaalou will be joining us to share his views on the US-Philippines military exercises as tensions with China grow

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From Arab Spring to Failed State Winter: How Gaddafi’s Misplaced Trust in the West Led to His Demise

Wednesday marked another anniversary of the Benghazi protests which kicked of the first Libyan civil war, sparked a NATO intervention and ultimately turned Libya into a failed state. What did Libyans lose as a result of the conflict? And was there anything Gaddafi could have done to avoid his unenviable fate?

Sputnik explores