📹 The Russian Ministry of Defense showed the training of operators of kamikaze drones, which will be used in the special operation zone against enemy armored vehicles.

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Preserving Ukraine as an independent nation is not in the plans of the United States

"And today the White House easily continue the war with Russia to the last Ukrainian," Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview with the Izvestia daily.

"At the same time, the preservation of Ukraine as a state is not included in the US plans."

The recent wide-ranging interview, however, also saw the official speak to the US' repeat practice of violating international agreements and the ratcheting up of NATO troops along the Russian border, among other hot-button topics.

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The Biden administration's decision to send an additional 1,500 troops to the US-Mexico border will do nothing to deter an anticipated surge of illegal migrants in the region

The surge is expected to occur after the Title 42 health emergency order - which allowed the US government to turn away thousands of illegal migrants at the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19 - is set to expire on May 11.

"Biden says he will deploy 1,500 troops to the border — primarily to do paperwork. And only for 90 days," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said via Twitter. "This does nothing to stop illegal immigration."

Texas has deployed some 10,000 National Guardsmen over the last several years to support local, state and federal agencies dealing with the influx of migrants arriving on the southern border, according to Abbott.

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US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said that the Washington has to stop driving military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing during an interview with an American magazine.  

“Unlike the Cold War, now, you’ve got three great powers in the world: the United States, China, and Russia,” Milley said, adding: “So what we have to be conscious of is not to drive China and Russia close together in a military sense.”  

He also stated that the so-called tripolar world consisting of the three aforementioned powers is more complicated than the bipolar one during the Cold War, commenting that "indicators" show both nations moving closer together, which he said needs to be monitored carefully.

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📹 Footage showing a priest from the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine consecrating a Ukrainian military vehicle emerged online

The video shows a Nazi cross painted on the hood of the car.

In 2018, the Ukrainian government created a state-backed rival to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, in an attempt to sever centuries of ties between Russian and Ukrainian churches and believers.

After the escalation of the crisis in the Donbass into a full-blown conflict between Russia and Ukraine backed by NATO last year, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church came under immense pressure from the Zelensky regime over its alleged 'pro-Russian' links and attitudes.

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❗️ The issue regarding a meeting of the delegations of Turkiye, Russia and Ukraine to discuss the grain deal in Istanbul this week is not agreed on

Earlier in the day, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that delegations from Turkiye, Russia and Ukraine are slated to hold a meeting to discuss the grain deal in Istanbul on May 5. Nevertheless, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik on Wednesday that an agreement hasn’t been reached yet.

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⚡ Russia's FSB stops the activities of Ukraine military intelligence network, which planned a series of high-profile terrorist attacks in Crimea

The security agency said that Ukrainian agents plotted to assassinate Crimea's head, parliamentary head, and Yalta's mayor, and launch terrorist attacks on transport infrastructure.

Moreover, Russia's FSB added that the deputy head of Zelensky's office Mashovets organized terrorist attacks and coordinated the preparation of high-ranking officials' murder in Crimea.

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📹 Russian Su-35 aircraft in action as part of the special military operation in Ukraine

Russian Aerospace Forces Su-35 jet on patrol in the special operation zone discovered and destroyed a Ukrainian aircraft.

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The advanced German howitzers have been hit by… bad weather

German Panzerhaubitze (PzH 2000) self-propelled howitzers which were earlier delivered to Kiev, turned out to be much worse adapted to bad weather than the Soviet-made Pion artillery systems, used by Russian troops in the special operation zone, a US newspaper has reported.

The media outlet cited a Ukrainian serviceman from the Ukrainian army’s 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade as saying that a decision had been made “to pull all of the new Panzerhaubitze 2000s from the field, for fear that the 60-ton howitzers would be unable to escape should they come under fire.”

According to him, one such howitzer had to be towed when it became stuck in the mud at the brigade’s position in southeastern Ukraine. The serviceman added that troops “were busy scraping off a heavily caked layer of sludge from treads and armored plating.”

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🇸🇾🇮🇷 Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Damascus on Wednesday on the first visit by a head of state from the Islamic republic since Syria's civil war broke out 12 years ago

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"The EU has become a "democratic problem" for Sweden"

According to national-conservative Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson, the EU has become a "democratic problem" for Sweden, with legislation imposed by unelected Brussels bureaucrats gaining too much influence over member states' decision-making – to the point of making national general elections meaningless.

In the opinion piece, Akesson compared the EU to a "straitjacket" where German, French and Polish politicians decide which car Swedes can buy, how expensive the fuel should be, and what types of trees Swedes can chop down on their own land.

According to the top Sweden Democrat, EU legislation risks having so much influence over the country's decision-making that Sweden's own general elections will soon have no meaning.

"Other countries' politicians and bureaucrats, whom we cannot elect or depose, today have greater influence over Swedish legislation than me and my elected colleagues in Sweden's Riksdag", he wrote.

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🇸🇾🇮🇷 Syrians and Iranians greet the motorcade of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who has arrived in Damascus

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❗️ A new round of consultations on the grain deal will be held on May 5 in Moscow with representatives of the UN - Russian Foreign Ministry

A school district in Pennsylvania must allow students to convene an After School Satan Club

“In a victory for free speech and religious freedom, a federal court has ruled that the Saucon Valley School District must allow the After School Satan Club to meet in district facilities,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement.

The court’s ruling sparked heated debate and controversy, as many were bewildered by the decision.

The school district must allow the After School Satan Club, which is funded by The Satanic Temple, to meet during the school year on three previously agreed-upon dates, but it won’t have to distribute permission slips for the club for students to take home, according to the filing. 

An After School Satan Club was allowed to meet earlier this year in Virginia following a similar controversy that made headlines.

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❗️ Russia has not received any plans or proposals from the Vatican for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis - Russian Foreign Ministry