🔸What’s known about Israel’s ground operations in Lebanon so far?

🔸Watch: Israel carries out several strikes targeting southern Lebanon

🔸Pentagon agrees on 'necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure' on Israel-Lebanon border

🔸Video: Russia’s Su-35 air maneuvers scared off US military

🔸Shigeru Ishiba becomes Japan’s new prime minister

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Julian Assange has arrived at the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg, where, for the first time since his release, he will talk about his years in prison.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has refused to accredit Sputnik's correspondent for Julian Assange's speech, despite the timely submission of an application.

The Wikileaks founder will testify before the committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on October 1. This is his first public appearance since his release.

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Zakharova brands Blinken as 'scoundrel' over his remarks on Babi Yar tragedy

Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of false plans to denazify Ukraine, recalling the Babi Yar massacre of 1941 when the Nazis killed 34,000 Jews.

"Only a scoundrel could say that, because Russia denazifies those who became the successors of the crimes of the murderers of the victims of Babyn Yar — Russia denazifies Bandera followers, who glorified the collaborators, Bandera and Shukhevych," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman responded.

Zakharova also drew attention to the fact that it is in the United States that there are monuments for fascist collaborators.

She recalled that those who shot innocent Soviet citizens in Babi Yar were, among others, units of the Ukrainian auxiliary police from the western occupied Ukrainian regions. These units were subordinated directly to the SS, "the symbolism of which modern Ukrainian followers of Bandera and Shukhevych are so fond of using."

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📹 The Israeli army released footage of its troops preparing to take part in a ground operation in southern Lebanon

“The forces of the 98th Division, including the forces of the Commando Brigade, paratroopers and armored vehicles of the 7th Brigade, have been preparing over the past weeks for a ground operation in southern Lebanon, which began last night," the Israeli army said.

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CIA 'campaign of retribution' against Assange 

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, said that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) organized a "campaign of retribution" against him, demonstrating to the world the capabilities of intelligence organizations for extraterritorial repression.

"The CIA drew up plans to kidnap and to assassinate me within the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and authorized going after my European colleagues, subjecting us to theft, hacking attacks, and the planting of false information. My wife and my infant son were also targeted," Assange said. 

"The CIA's targeting of myself, my family, and my associates through aggressive extrajudicial and extraterritorial means, provides a rare insight into how powerful intelligence organizations engage in transnational repression," he concluded.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russian and Chinese warships begin joint patrols in Asia-Pacific

Russian and Chinese warships have begun joint patrols in the Asia-Pacific following joint drills, Russia's Pacific Fleet said in the recent statement.

"Russian and Chinese navies' warships replenished supplies in the Sea of Okhotsk after participating in the 'Beibu/Interaction - 2024' exercise, formed a tactical group, and began carrying out patrol missions in the Asia-Pacific region. The ship group crossed the Bussol Strait and entered the northwestern Pacific Ocean," the statement read.

During joint patrols, the crews will:

🔸 Conduct training and combat exercises;

🔸 Improve anti-submarine defense;

🔸 Practice sea rescue.

The Russian tactical group includes large battleships. Chinese destroyers, a frigate, and an integrated supply ship are also taking part in the patrol.

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Western world slowly accepts Ukraine's defeat

Ukraine is becoming more open to discussing a ceasefire and possible concessions to resolve the conflict, reports the Financial Times.

The publication quotes European diplomats attending the UN General Assembly.

“We’re talking more and more openly about how this ends and what Ukraine would have to give up in order to get a permanent peace deal,” says one of the diplomats, who was present in New York.

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❗️Russian troops liberated Vishnevoye in the Kharkov region and Krutoy Yar in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry announced.

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🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:

◻️ Russia’s Battlegroup Vostok repelled two counterattacks. Ukrainian losses reached a total of 125 troops.

◻️ Enemy losses in Russia’s Battlegroup Yug combat zone came to 900 militants and an ammunition arsenal.

◻️ Enemy losses in Russia’s Battlegroup Sever combat zone came to 95 servicemen.

◻️ Russia’s Battlegroup Zapad repelled two counterattacks. Ukrainian losses reached a total of 410 troops.

◻️ Russian air defenses shot down three ATACMS missiles, three HIMARS rockets and 31 Ukrainian drones over the day.

◻️ Ukrainian losses reached a total of 60 militants and three ammunition arsenals in Battlegroup Dnepr's area of responsibility.

◻️ Enemy losses in Russia’s Battlegroup Tsentr combat zone came to 635 troops.

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No need for Russian hackers when the Joker is in charge

California has passed a law banning ID verification from voters before casting a ballot.

"They just made preventing voter fraud against the law. The Joker is in charge," Elon Musk commented on the integrity of the US elections.

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The Russian Marines of the Pacific Fleet destroyed a ten-man reconnaissance group of the Ukrainian forces in the Russian Kursk region, law enforcement agencies told Sputnik.

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Stoltenberg officially hands over the powers of NATO Secretary General to Mark Rutte

Sputnik has recalled some of the memorable remarks Stoltenberg made during his NATO stint:

◻️ Russia’s victory in the Ukraine conflict would be “not only a big defeat for Ukrainians, but it will be a defeat and dangerous for all of us," Stoltenberg stressed in October 2022. The statement could be considered recognition of the fact that NATO is fighting in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time.

◻️ Supporting Ukraine “is not a charity, it is an investment in our own security," Stoltenberg started out 2024 by saying.

◻️ The NATO chief egged on allies to let Kiev use long-range Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia. "There have been many red lines declared by him [Russia’s President Vladimir Putin] before, and he has not escalated," Stoltenberg told reporters.

◻️ Stoltenberg refused to admit that Ukraine had coordinated its attack on the Russian border region of Kursk with its Western proxies. "In this respect, NATO played no role," Stoltenberg said in a German media interview.

◻️ Stoltenberg famously accused Russia of "trying to meddle in and undermining the trust of democratic institutions in several NATO allied countries and also elsewhere” during a speech at the Center for Strategic Studies in New Zealand in 2019. In fact, the US and NATO boast a track record of senseless and bloody wars.

◻️ The Crimean Peninsula was reunited with Russia as a result of increased "great power competition," Stoltenberg said. In effect, Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in a 2014 referendum after a US-instigated coup ousted the legitimate Kiev government and became a catalyst for the Ukraine conflagration.

◻️ Stoltenberg doubled down on the fact that “NATO’s door is open. Ukraine will join,” during a speech in Berlin on September 19.

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❗️39 pro-Ukrainian radicals who incited teenagers to violence against government officials, classmates and teachers were detained, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

The ages of the detainees range from 14 to 35 years old. Nine of them were found to be involved in the preparation of armed attacks. Preventive and operational measures were carried out in 78 regions of Russia, with ammunition and weapons seized.

The FSB noted that correspondence with the Ukrainian curators was conducted through the Discord messenger.

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❗️Russia strongly condemns Israel’s attack on Lebanon - Russian MFA

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the Israeli authorities to:

🔸 Immediately cease hostilities;

🔸 Withdraw their troops from Lebanese territory;

🔸 Engage in a genuine search for peaceful ways to resolve the Middle East conflict.

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🇨🇳🎈Thousands of balloons donned the sky over Tiananmen Square in China's capital, Beijing, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

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Israel’s attack on Lebanon – expert weighs in on possible further scenarios

Israel’s just-announced military operation in Lebanon is yet another effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to expand the war” in Gaza, Mehran Kamrava, Professor of Government at Georgetown University Qatar, told Sputnik.

Netanyahu is “expanding the war for a number of reasons” related to the fact that he has been “empowered and emboldened by a series of intelligence successes”, Kamrava said.

Possible scenarios of the Israeli operation may include:

🔸 “An expansion of the conflict to the extent that it will involve Iran”

🔸 If Iran “does attack Israel, then of course, the US will get involved”

🔸 Netanyahu pulls back

🔸 Besides the US, other countries could be involved in the conflict, including France, Egypt and Qatar

So far, the Jewish state “has had complete impunity”, and that one of the reasons for it is Iran “has withheld its fire” and “has not fallen into the trap of expanding the [Gaza] war", the analyst noted.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on October 1 launched what they called “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Operation Northern Arrows came after hours of Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire across the border, which killed 95 people and injured 172 more, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

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🐾 🚔Paw Patrol on duty

While the Chinese celebrate the 75th anniversary of PRC's foundation, stylish dog patrols keep order on the streets of Shanghai.

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❗️The Israeli army is mobilizing four reserve brigades and additional forces to tackle the northern front, the IDF statement said.

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