🇷🇺🇰🇵 The issue of organizing a performance of ballet dancers from Russia’s Primorsky Territory in North Korea is under discussion, Governor Oleg Kozhemyako said on Saturday, adding that it is important to examine suitable conditions for the performance.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Primorsky Territory this morning. Local authorities will discuss many issues with Kim, including the prospects of exchanging school groups for health vacations, Kozhemyako said earlier in the day. The North Korean leader also attended the "Sleeping Beauty" ballet performed on the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre.

"We are discussing the issue of whether we can perform in [North] Korea. Therefore, in order to do that, we need to see how well the halls match in terms of ... bars, depth, backstage. Especially the ballet stage. I think after our experts' research, we will conduct cultural exchanges since we are close to each other," the governor told reporters.

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The ongoing conflict in Ukraine may be about to move to a new phase amid the severe losses sustained by the Kiev regime forces, warns former senior Pentagon adviser Col. Douglas Macgregor.

With thousands of Ukrainian losses during the ongoing “counteroffensive”, Kiev appears to be “desperate for manpower” and is trying to rectify this problem by “forcing people into uniform inside the country that are not really capable of fighting” and attempting to repatriate Ukrainians of military age from overseas, Macgregor said during an interview with Norwegian political scientist Glenn Diesen.

“So I think the Ukrainian ground war, for all intents and purposes, is either at a standstill or perhaps even over,” he remarked.

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🇧🇪 Belgium will soon hand over to Ukraine ten decommissioned US-made M113 tracked armored personnel carriers, which have been repaired and are ready for shipment, Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder said.

🗣 “Today I can announce that the first batch of ten M113 vehicles has been prepared and will be sent to Ukraine as soon as possible,” the minister said in a written statement.

Overall, Belgium plans to transfer to Ukraine 40 M113 APCs, which were decommissioned by the Belgian army more than 10 years ago.

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📹 Russia's Ka-52 helicopters in action

Ka-52 pilots launched missiles at detected targets. As a result of the mission, the Ukrainian control center and some armored vehicles were annihilated.

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European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde has seized the cell phones of 26 members of the Governing Council in an unprecedented move to prevent information leaks, a British news agency reported on Saturday, citing sources.

The move came ahead of the vote to pick the ECB's top banking supervisor and were returned after the appointment of Deutsche Bundesbank Vice-President Claudia Buch to the position, the sources said.

The decision to seize the phones was made a day after the news agency reported that the bank would raise its key inflation forecast. The report had an impact on the forecasts of many economists, who were expecting no interest rate hike from the ECB, the report said.

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NATO will hold its largest exercises since the Cold War dubbed Steadfast Defender in Germany, Poland and three Baltic states in 2024, Chair of the Military Committee Adm. Rob Bauer said.

"In 2024, the Alliance will be holding its largest collective defense exercise since the Cold War: STEADFAST DEFENDER. Over 40,000 troops from across the Alliance will exercise in Germany, Poland and the three Baltic States," Bauer was quoted as saying by NATO at a joint press conference with the head of the Norwegian armed forces, Eirik Kristoffersen.

Steadfast Defender is an annual NATO-led exercise designed to ensure that the alliance's forces are trained, able to operate together, and are ready to respond to any threat from any direction.

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British army vet turned mercenary reported dead in Ukrainian conflict

The remains of Daniel Burke, a 36-year old veteran of the of the British Paratrooper Regiment, have allegedly been discovered by authorities in Ukraine, UK media outlet have reported, citing the Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

According to the report, Burke’s body was found in Zaporozhye, some 44 kilometers away from the frontline, and the GMP currently seeks to “support the identification” of the deceased and to return his body home with the help of the Ukrainian authorities and the dead mercenary’s family.

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🪖 Russian air defense shots down Ukrainian drone over Moscow region

There are also no damages or casualties after the fall of the debris, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

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🇳🇪🇲🇱🇧🇫 Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger sign charter to create defense alliance

An attack on the sovereignty or territorial integrity of one or more parties to the charter will be regarded as aggression against the other parties, the document read, which binds the signatories to assist one another, including militarily, in the event of an attack on any one of them.

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🪖 NATO boasts it can deploy 3.5mln soldiers in case of attack on bloc

💬 “We are talking, in NATO as a whole if Finland and Sweden have joined, of about 3.5 million soldiers in the alliance,” Rob Bauer told reporters at a press conference with Norwegian Chief of Defense Gen. Eirik Kristoffersen, adding that NATO can deploy 300,000 soldiers in the first month of a potential attack on the bloc.

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🇷🇺🇰🇵 Kim Jong Un delegation visits oceanarium in Russia’s Vladivostok.

The North Korean leader was amused by the behavior of a walrus named Misha.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 US imports of Russian fertilizer hit record $944mln

Russia was the US' second-largest supplier of fertilizer this year, the largest supplier being Canada, which exported $2.8Bln of fertilizers in seven months. Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar make up the other top five countries from which the US imports fertilizer.

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🇷🇺🇰🇵 Kim Jong Un’s train leaves Russia's Far East, marking the end of his visit, a Sputnik correspondent has reported

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☔️❄️ Mother Nature strikes again: US media blames natural phenomena for Ukraine's failing counteroffensive

Ukrainian forces have been dogged by a new nemesis. UK intelligence has already identified pesky Russian bushes on the battlefield as a bar to their ultimate success. But now a US media report has discovered a new enemy: the end of summer accompanied by “drenching rain and icy cold [weather].”

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🇷🇺 Russia vows condign response to NATO'S growing military presence in Arctic

💬 "The strategy to reinforce NATO's military capability in this area, which involves Finland's accession to the alliance and Sweden's looming connection to it, highlights the prevalence of aggressive tactics within NATO to safeguard its own security in the northern latitudes, even if it comes at the expense of other nations' security," the Foreign Ministry's Ambassador for Special Assignments, Nikolai Korchunov, said.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 US waging war against Russia, whether they want to admit it or not, Lavrov says

They're supplying weapons, ammunition and intelligence to Ukraine, the Russian FM noted.

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🇺🇸 Donald Trump might not be averse to choosing a woman as his running mate

“I like the concept, but we’re going to pick the best person… But I do like the concept, yes,” the 45th US President in the interview, while also indicating that he was not yet focused too much on picking a potential Vice President.

At the same time, Trump took a moment to single out Kristi Noem as “one of the people I’d consider,” adding that the South Dakota Governor had given him a “full-throated endorsement, a beautiful endorsement.”

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❗️Key points of Russian MoD briefing on progress of special military op in Ukraine

▪️Russian forces repels three Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk direction, eliminating up to 180 Ukrainian servicemen

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Zaporozhye direction amounted up to 140 servicemen

▪️Russian troops repelled three Ukrainian attacks in the South Donetsk direction, eliminating up to 170 Ukrainian servicemen

▪️Russian air defense intercepted two JDAM bombs

▪️Russian forces hit Kharkov Armored Plant facilities, where Ukrainian armored vehicles were being repaired and restored, with a missile strike

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Russian Navy escorted US submarine for record nine hours in March

💬 “A surprise inspection of the Pacific Fleet was held, during which the forces of anti-submarine aviation detected a US submarine in the designated areas," the naval aviation chief of the Russian navy, Andrey Pakhomov, said in an interview.

The submarine did not notice the escort because the aircraft used passive means of tracking, he explained.

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