📹 Left to their own fate: Ukrainian recovery team abandons wounded soldiers, drives away

A Ukrainian emergency recovery team exhibited serious “weakness” and low morale, deputy commander of the Tsar's Wolves brigade code named "Okhota" (Hunt) told Sputnik, providing video footage of these events.

In the video, a detachment of Ukrainian servicemen can be seen moving through a forest belt (0:16), who then come under Russian mortar fire from a BARS-1 volunteer battalion. According to “Okhota”, the scene took place in the Zaporozhye Region this July.

Later in the clip, a Ukrainian evacuation armored vehicle is seen arriving (0:29) and releasing a smoke screen (0:33), but only takes those on board who manage to run to it, while leaving more seriously wounded servicemen behind (01:00). Such instances are common among Ukrainian troops on the battlefield, Okhota stressed.

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🇧🇾 Lukashenko says Belarus might get second nuclear plant

The Belorussian president said he had a "crazy idea" to build one in the country's east.

The first one, the Astravets NPP, located in the country’s north-west, was launched in 2020.

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🚀 Russian lunar mission passes ten hour point, flight is normal

▪️On August 11, at 02:10 Moscow time (+03 GMT), a Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Luna-25 probe lifted off from the Vostotchny Cosmodrome

▪️Nine minutes later, the Fregat upper stage carrying the module separated from the rocket and reached Earth's orbit

▪️One hour and ten minutes later, the Luna-25 separated from the upper stage and entered the flight path to the Moon, after which the station was taken into direct control from the ground

▪️In five days, the spacecraft will reach lunar orbit at a height of 100 km

▪️The first soft landing near the Moon's South Pole in history is expected to take place on August 21

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

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces repelled three attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) in the Zaporozhye area.

▪️ Russian troops successfully repelled two attacks by UAF assault detachments in the LPR.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces in the area of the city of Zaporozhye hit the deployment point of foreign mercenaries.

▪️ The UAF lost up to 115 soldiers in the Krasny Liman direction.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces thwarted the UAF's attempt to conduct reconnaissance by fighting in the DPR.

▪️ The UAF lost over 165 servicemen in the Kupyansk area.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces successfully repelled five attacks by UAF assault groups in the Donetsk region.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces repelled three attacks by UAF assault groups in the DPR.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed up to 180 Ukrainian troops in Donetsk in a day.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed four ammunition depots of UAF brigades in Kharkov, Zaporozhye regions, and the DPR;

▪️ Russian air defense intercepted two HIMARS MLRS shells and shot down 16 Ukrainian drones.

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🇺🇸🇨🇳 Biden's crackdown on Chinese tech investment caused by 'tussle for votes and power'

President Biden notched up Washington’s trade confrontation with Beijing on Wednesday, setting in place new curbs on US investment in high-tech industries in China that ostensibly could be used to enhance Beijing’s military capabilities. Associate Professor of the Institute of International Relations of Nanjing University Gong Honglie weighed in on what he believes were the real reasons behind the crackdown.

In the context of the ongoing strategic rivalry between China and the United States, the Biden administration is politicizing bilateral trade, transferring it to the realm of a national security issue, Gong Honglie told Sputnik.

👉Follow the link for more details

📹 WATCH Russian missile blast foreign mercenary shelter in Zaporozhye

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🇷🇺 Foreign Ministry official reassures foreign firms seeking to do business in Russia

Foreign companies that want to work in Russia and comply with national laws are not threatened, Dmitry Birichevsky, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's economic cooperation department, told Sputnik. The official added that Western countries use various manipulations to force their entrepreneurs to leave the Russian market.

"Speculation about the alleged imminent nationalization of their assets is increasing, and companies that maintain their presence in Russia are subjected to pressure and harsh criticism in these countries for political reasons. This is part of the Western sanctions and economic pressure on our country," Birichevsky noted.

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☦️ Hotels of Kiev Pechersk Lavra will host Ukrainian military personnel

The hotels will no longer accept Orthodox pilgrims, the acting director of the reserve said.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture commission accompanied by the police continues to seal the monastery’s buildings, threatening to evict Orthodox monks

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🗣️ On the prospects of the Ukrainian counteroffensive:

“The political clock is running down. We have elections coming in the United States, from the autumn that will become the major priority. We have elections coming in Britain and of course, as the elections start-up in Britain, we may be very fervently supporting Ukraine in this war. But nonetheless, domestic issues will begin to become more important and elections anyway can throw up all kinds of unpredictable elements… So there are these political factors that are playing in,” Alexander Mercouris, writer and international affairs analyst, host of The Duran on Youtube, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Mercouris’ analysis in our podcast New Rules

👉 Watch the full episode of our show on YouTube or Rumble

🇬🇧🪖British army may start recruiting autistic people

Some neurodivergent individuals, such as those with dyslexia and dyspraxia, already serve in the armed forces, but British military official Andrew Murrison said he wanted to look into recruiting more personnel with autism, Asperger's, and ADHD, who may "have skills and attributes that other people do not have."

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🇷🇺🇳🇪 Russian flags flying high in Niger following new leadership’s takeover

Fabric sellers in Niger say they’ve been flooded with a multitude of orders for the colors of the Russian and Nigerien flags.

Various experts attribute the phenomenon of locals seeking out Russian flags to a revival of pro-Russian and pro-Soviet sentiments in Africa, with the Russian Federation being seen as a viable alternative to the West.

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🇺🇸 F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots barely getting off the runway

The White House confirmed in mid-July that it would allow European allies to start training Ukraine’s pilots to fly American-made F-16 fighter jets and would “provide the necessary tools for Ukrainians to begin the training “as soon as Europeans are prepared."

Kiev might be clamoring for American-made F-16s amid its faltering counteroffensive, but the first Ukrainian pilots to undergo training on the fighter jets most likely will not be ready to fly them until next summer, according to a US report.

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🇷🇺🛠 Rugged Russian ingenuity: Repair units adapt mortar shell to be fired by RPG launcher

Nazim, a commander of a Russian repair squad, says the adapter allows the grenade launcher to be turned into a small handheld mortar.

Take a look!

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YouTube terminated the channel of Scott Ritter, a former American intelligence officer

#SputnikInfographic 🇷🇺 The Russian Lancet drone is considered one of the main threats to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. UAVs (drones) from the Russian Kalashnikov arms have shown high efficiency in the zone of a special military operation, which was the reason Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an increase in their production.

📊 Take a look at the Sputnik's infographic showing the main characteristics of the drone

🇳🇪 West's concern for 'democracy' in Niger masks 'lust' for uranium

Regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened Niger with invasion to overthrow the new military leadership on behalf of Paris and Washington. But author and historian Dr Gerald Horne, professor of history at the University of Houston, Texas, said the US and NATO were too tied up in Ukraine to credibly threaten the West African country directly.

Western leaders' stated fears for democracy in Niger hide their true "lust" for the West African nation's resources, says a US historian.

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🇺🇸⚖️ US Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced the appointment of a special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation who will also provide a public report explaining the decision on whether to prosecute him once the probe is completed.

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🇳🇪 African Union backs up ECOWAS resolutions on Niger

🗣 "The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, expresses his strong support for the decisions adopted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on anti-constitutional change in Niger," a communique issued by the union read

The chairperson also called on the military leadership in Niger "to urgently halt the escalation of relations with the regional organization ECOWAS, including the cessation of the continued sequestration of President Bazoum in worryingly poor conditions"

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🇷🇺🇺🇳 Russia has requested an open meeting of the UN Security Council over the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine on August 17 - acting permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the UN

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🇨🇳🛢🇸🇦China's demand for Saudi oil primed to surge despite global output cuts

Purchases of Saudi crude are about to grow in September compared to August, with Saudi Aramco supplying additional term cargoes to refiners such as China's Rongsheng Petrochemical and other customers in Asia.

China is prepped to accept the delivery of almost 40 percent extra crude oil from Saudi Arabia in the upcoming month as a large Chinese oil refinery commences intake of more oil under a recently negotiated deal.

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🇷🇺⚔️ Kupyansk clashes: Ukraine forces face encirclement amid Russian advance

Russian forces have advanced to within less than 7 km of Kupyansk, a Kharkov region town helping hold Ukrainian defensive lines together. What’s the area’s strategic significance? And what would its loss mean for Ukraine militarily?

Sputnik reached out to veteran Russian military intelligence officer Anatoliy Matviychuk for his assessment.