❗️Russian military court recognized Georgian National Legion as terrorist organization, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced.

The formation was created in 2014 under the auspices of Ukrainian military intelligence.

"Members of the legion take part in hostilities on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces and are also involved in organizing sabotage and terrorist attacks on the territory of Russia, torturing servicemen of the Russian armed forces and killing civilians," the FSB said.

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Ukrainian pilots’ F-16 ‘training pipeline pretty meager’ – report

Problems related to the delivery of US-made F-16 fighter jets to the Kiev regime remain - "from the number of pilots who will be able to fly them to crews ready to keep them working," an unnamed senior American defense official told Defense News.

The "training pipeline" for Ukrainian pilots on the F-16s "is pretty meager," the official said, adding that training remains the main "kink" in the process to deliver the F-16s to Ukraine.

"Between Europe and the US, there are only a dozen Ukrainian pilots learning to fly the planes right now. That's just a handful of pilots, and that's just the pilots," the source said. Other members of an F-16 crew, such as maintainers who keep the fighter in working order, are also critical, the official said. Other issues include "the length of the course itself - made more difficult by the highly technical English language training required - and finding a place to store the trainers," they added.

Up to 60 F-16s are expected to be delivered to Ukraine this year from Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed that the F-16s will not change the situation on the battlefield and that they will be destroyed just like other Western military equipment delivered to Kiev.

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❗️Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia assessed the upcoming conference on Ukraine in Switzerland in an interview with Sputnik:

💬 The main goal of the upcoming conference is to present Russia with an ultimatum in the form of Zelensky's "peace plan".

💬 All the West is asking of the countries of the Global South is to rubber-stamp a pre-agreed ultimatum to Russia based on Zelensky's "peace formula".

💬 Russia's partners in the UN consider it hypocrisy and stupidity to try to issue an ultimatum to Moscow at the upcoming conference.

💬 Peace talks on Ukraine without Russia are a way to nowhere, it will not be possible to resolve the conflict without Moscow's participation.

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Do Israelis prefer Gantz to Netanyahu as PM?

Israel's National Unity chairman Benny Gantz would beat Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu if elections were held today, the Times of Israel reported, citing the Maariv poll.

The results of the poll showed Gantz with 41% of the vote, while Netanyahu's approval rating was less than 40%.

The poll comes on the heels of Gantz's party's withdrawal from Netanyahu's government and Israel's rescue of four hostages from Hamas captivity in Gaza.

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Such documents have no legal force, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the US-Ukraine security agreement.

The US and Ukraine signed a bilateral security agreement during the G7 summit in Italy. However, the agreement could easily be reversed by future presidents, as the pledge is an executive agreement, not a treaty.

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Houthis strike Ukrainian ship in Gulf of Aden

The Yemeni Houthis fired two anti-ship cruise missiles at a Ukrainian-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

"Both missiles struck M/V Verbena, a Palauan-flagged, Ukrainian-owned, Polish-operated bulk cargo carrier," CENTCOM announced on X.

The Houthis confirmed the attack:

"The naval, missile, and UAVs forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces and with the help of Allah almighty carried out three military operations within the past 24 hours as follows: The first operation carried out by the missile forces in the Arabian Sea targeting the ship 'Verbena' and the hit was accurate caused fire ignition on it," the movement wrote on Telegram.

The Houthis also said their equipment directly hit the Marshall Islands-flagged ship SeaGuardian and the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Athina in the Red Sea.

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🚨LIVE: Putin to meet with Russian foreign ministry officials

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet with top Russian Foreign Ministry officials and discuss all major issues, including Ukraine, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Stay tuned!

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❗️LIVE NOW: Russia's President Putin meets with Russian foreign ministry officials

👉 Watch the livestream here or on Sputnik's website

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❗️The world is changing rapidly and will not be the same as before - in terms of global politics and economics, Vladimir Putin said.

"More and more states are striving to strengthen their sovereignty," the Russian president added.

The foundations of a multipolar world order are being laid on the basis of a new reality, Putin said.

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❗️Russia sees other countries' growing interest in BRICS — Putin

"Russia will facilitate the smooth integration of new participants into BRICS," the Russian president said.

According to Putin, BRICS will eventually become one of world’s core regulatory institutions

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❗️Russia is interested in developing dialogue at the UN on creating a system of indivisible security, Vladimir Putin said.

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❗️Western powers, led by the United States, considered that they had won the Cold War and could determine the world order; they answered Russia’s questions with excuses, Vladimir Putin said.

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⚡️No country in the world is immune from being added to the list of states hit by NATO -- Putin

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❗️NATO is trying to increase pressure on those countries whose development it plans to restrain, including Russia, Putin said.

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❗️It quickly became clear that the Western scheme of ensuring security in the world does not really work, the Russian president said at the meeting with officials of the Foreign Ministry.

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⚡️Vladimir Putin called reports that Russia wants to attack Europe as speculation: this is absolute nonsense, a justification for an arms race.

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⚡️ Countries need to work out their options for ensuring security in Eurasia — Putin

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❗️The danger to Europe does not come from Russia, it comes from the United States - Putin.

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The selfishness and arrogance of Western states have led to the current state of affairs, the world has come close to the point of no return, Russia's president said.

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