⚡️ WHO strips COVID-19 of pandemic status

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

▪️In the Kherson direction, Russian air defense systems obliterated two Ukrainian Su-25s;

▪️In the Kupyansk direction, Russian forces wiped out as many as 95 Ukrainian troops, an Akatsiya self-propelled gun and an M777 howitzer;

▪️Near Chasov Yar, Russian forces destroyed a bridge, which Ukrainian troops used for transporting ammunition supplies and transferring reserves in the direction of Artemovsk;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to 65 troops, one armored vehicle and other motor vehicles;

▪️In the Kharkov region, one ammunition depot was destroyed;

▪️The activities of three Ukrainian sabotage groups in the Kharkov region were foiled;

▪️Two Ukrainian infantry brigade ammunition depots were destroyed close to Kramatorsk and Avdeevka in the DPR;

▪️In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Ukrainian losses amounted to 90 troops, one tank, a D-30 howitzer and an M777 howitzer;

▪️In the Kherson direction, as many as 80 Ukrainian troops, 15 armored fighting vehicles and other motor vehicles were destroyed.

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🇩🇪 There is a conflict between German politicians and businessmen in light of the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, geopolitical analyst and author Pepe Escobar tells Sputnik’s New Rules

💬 “They were already a first-class trading power on the way to becoming a superpower before the SMO, before the sanctions and before the bombing of the Nord Streams. And now they're going back to 100 years ago, to put it in Xi Jinping’s language,” Escobar said.

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🇭🇺 Ukrainian crisis is 'Klondike' for arms makers & profiteers, Viktor Orban says

Arms manufacturers raking in massive profits, financial profiteers, and Western economic circles who hope to lay their hands on Russia's rich natural resources are the ones who are interested in seeing the Ukraine conflict rage on, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. "There's always a reason for the start of any war," he added.

The Hungarian PM also pointed to avaricious Western economic circles, including 92-year-old American billionaire George Soros, who "always dreamed of somehow setting foot on Ukrainian soil - and they succeeded - and also hopes to gain access to Russia's natural resources".

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Economist and professor Mark Frost explained that the US Federal Reserve's policy of raising interest rates is about "fighting inflation by making all these banks less liquid, which is accelerating the problem we're having with the banks."

"But then also we promised the world that we're going to fight inflation," Frost said. "We fight inflation very differently than we fight bank illiquidity. And that's the problem. They're trying to love two lovers, so to speak."

Read the expert analysis on Sputnik’s website

🎙 A brand new episode of the #AfroVerdict podcast from our friends from Sputnik Africa: enjoy!

🗣️”Everything that has been coming from the United States, NATO, and the EU is totally false”: Crimea-based American filmmaker Regis Tremblay speaks about Western coverage of the Ukrainian counteroffensive

🎧Listen to more of Tremblay’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

📹 Combat operations of Mi-28N attack helicopter crews of Russian Aerospace Forces (video by Russian MoD)

During the combat flights, the army aviation pilots launched rockets at identified fortified positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units.

The hits were recorded by means of objective control. As part of the special military operation, army aviation helicopter crews continue to carry out tasks to destroy armored vehicles and military infrastructure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, escort military convoys, deliver troops and military cargo, and provide air support.

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Czech Ex-Military Intel Chief: West's war on Russia has made Moscow stronger

The proxy conflict in Ukraine and the West's sanctions "total war" against Russia have so far failed to achieve their objectives, with Moscow reorienting its economic relationships toward Asia and the Global South.

"To top things off, the sanctions that we as the West began to impose on Russia were
a) to a large extent not completely legal from the point of view of international law, and
b) completely stupid, because we shouldn't think that the largest nation on Earth, endowed with the greatest natural resource wealth <...> would somehow be fundamentally damaged by getting McDonald's to leave," former Czech Military Intelligence chief Petr Pelz said.

For more comments by Pelz, check out our article here

🗣️”So it is a region-wide destabilization in the same vein as the overthrow of the Ukrainian government and transforming it into a proxy against Russia. It is the same thing, just in Asia versus China”: Bangkok-based Ex-US Marine Corps independent geopolitical researcher and writer Brian Berletic speaks about US attempts to destabilize the nations along China's periphery

🎧Listen to more of Berletic’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

'Jihadist' killed in Ukraine got NATO weapons, SAS training - investigation

A Belarusian-born ultra-right-wing fighter, Daniil Lyashuk, also known as "Mujahid," who was sentenced for torturing civilians and Donbass militia detainees, was released from prison in 2021 after serving four years.

He returned to the front in 2022, where he was filmed with NATO-supplied weapons and equipment. In a social media post, he mocked Belarusian servicemen and boasted about receiving training from Britain's elite Special Air Service special forces unit.

Lyashuk founded and commanded the "Vendetta" combat group during his second tour in Donbass, before being killed in fighting with Russian forces in 2023. His crimes were so severe that he was characterized as the cruelest and most dangerous member of the Tornado Battalion.

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Germany seeking to limit number of refugees crossing into EU

"We will ensure proper identification, registration and verification of people coming to the EU’s external border," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the Handelsblatt daily in an interview published Friday.

Faeser said EU nations made a "significant breakthrough" by agreeing a protocol that will streamline screenings and are negotiating further procedures that will make it easier to identify those with weak asylum cases before they enter the EU.

"In that way, rejected asylum seekers will be driven away faster from the EU’s external borders," she explained.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees estimates that almost 81,000 filed for asylum in Germany in the first three months of this year. The figure does not include Ukrainians, who are entitled to unconditional protection in the EU.

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🗣️"So I think we are in a dangerous situation now with the US becoming involved and beefing up the Filipino military and establishing it as a base. And that is what these activists are saying 'We do not want our country used as a base and launching pad for a potential US war on China.": managing editor of CovertAction Magazine and author Jeremy Kuzmarov speaks about public sentiment about the alliance between the United States and the Philippines

🎧Listen to more of Kuzmarov’s analysis in our podcast Political Misfits

"So what we are expecting is that Iran will be coming into Syria to rebuild the main infrastructure and help Syria rebuild its gas and oil industry as soon as the Americans are kicked out": Beirut-based broadcaster and journalist Laith Marouf speaks about cooperation between Iran and Syria

🎧Listen to more of Marouf’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

US lawmakers introduce bill to enable states to verify citizenship of voters

"It’s simple: only American citizens have the right to vote in American elections. Proud to join Representative Chip Roy in this effort to equip states with the ability to verify citizenship status," US Congressmen Matt Rosendale said in a statement via Twitter.

The legislation, dubbed the Protecting American Voters Act, is also co-sponsored by Congressmen Pete Sessions and Michael Burgess.

The bill amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require the US Homeland Security Secretary and Social Security Commissioner to provide state governments, upon request, with information to verify the citizenship status of people registering to vote in federal elections, according to the bill text.

The measure, if signed into law, would apply to all US elections held after January 1, 2023.

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