🇩🇪📉 The Deutsche Bundesbank has announced the largest loss in its history, marking a significant financial setback for the central bank.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇮🇷 Russian FM Sergey Lavrov met with the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during a visit to Tehran, Sputnik's correspondent reports.

The minister conveyed "huge greetings" from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pezeshkian and said that the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, which Moscow and Tehran signed in January, had already begun to be implemented.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤨 'Yes, it’s extortionate looked at one way, but so was Lend-Lease in 1941, wasn’t it?' — former British PM Boris Johnson of Donald Trump's updated economic agreement with Ukraine

BoJo said that he had seen the latest draft of the document and considered it more beneficial for Ukraine than the original version.

“I look at this document, and I see positive things for Ukraine," Johnson said.

Ukraine is already in a terrible situation after his advice in 2022, when it was he who convinced Kiev to refuse to sign a peace agreement with Russia.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🍳🇺🇸 Eggs-clusive: Americans shelling out more for scrambled breakfast

Due to an egg shortage and supply chain issues, fast food restaurants across the US are raising prices on egg-based dishes. Waffle House, for example, with over 2,000 locations, has started charging an extra 50 cents per egg.

The outbreak of avian flu has decimated poultry farms and experts warn the shortage and high prices could persist for months.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔍 Not a blank check: How much is Europe's aid to Ukraine?

French President Emmanuel Macron interrupted his US counterpart during his US visit, insisting Europe isn't just "loaning money" to Ukraine but shoulders 60% of the total aid effort. Is this true and how much is actually coming in loans?

💶 How much has Europe invested?

Since February 2022, Europe and the US have committed $257.6 billion to Ukraine (ifW Kiel data):

🔹Europe: $138.2 billion (54%)
🔹US: $119.4 billion (46%)

👉 Breakdown of European aid

🇪🇺EU institutions: $52.1B

🇩🇪Germany : $18.1B

🇬🇧UK: $15.4B

🇩🇰Denmark: $8B

🇳🇱Netherlands: $7.7B

🇸🇪Sweden: $5.7B

🇫🇷France: $5.1B

🌍Other: $26.1B

According to The Economist, 90% of aid from EU financial institutions - which means around $47 billion - was in loans, with individual countries also providing their aid in loans, guarantees and grants.

👉 EU aid programs

G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loans

🔸$50B, funded by extraordinary revenue from frozen Russian assets.
🔸The EU contributes $20B via Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA), with the first $3.2B disbursed in January 2025.

👉 EU’s Ukraine Facility (Up to $54B by 2027)

▪️$40B in budget support ($34.6B in concessional loans, $5.4B in grants)
▪️$7.3B in investment funds (via EBRD, EIB)
▪️$6.7B for technical assistance

Apparently, much of Europe's support comes in the form of loans - and that's NOT free aid.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💬 What does a Ukrainian soldier think when he knows he might die for a war in which the outcome is already decided?

Italian journalist Angelo Giuliano reflects on this.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪐 Mars was once a wet planet: New findings paint a different picture

A recent study in Nature journal reveals that Mars' iconic red hue is due to iron ferrihydrite, which forms only in cold, wet conditions — challenging the long-standing belief that it was caused by dry hematite.

This discovery strengthens the theory that ancient Mars had water before becoming the dry desert it is today.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚔️ Russia’s military power becomes INCREASINGLY stronger - Blackwater founder Prince

Eric Prince argues that Ukraine is unlikely to reclaim all its past land, criticizing the West's outdated defense technology amid the growing effectiveness of Russia's military.

He points out that while Western weapons might work for a short period, Russia's advanced electronic warfare renders them ineffective over time.

Prince believes this should be a wake-up call for the US.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥 Precision strike

A successful and precise attack by a drone, operated by Russian fighters from the Yug Battlegroup, has led to the destruction of a Canadian-made Roshel Senator armored vehicle.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇬🇧 Starmer pledges to boost defense spending to 2.5% of GDP despite British military being IN SHAMBLES

"The biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War," promised UK PM Keir Starmer during his speech in the House of Commons ahead of meeting with Trump.

💰 To fund this military buildup, the UK will cut overseas aid from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP.

📉 Despite current defense expenditures at 2.3% of GDP, the British military remains in shambles due to systematic underinvestment.

The UK faces:

🔹Shrinking army
🔹Aging submarine fleet
🔹Outdated air defenses

🚢 Even the Royal Navy’s HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers fail in every war game simulation, getting sunk every time.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 US secretary of state RULES OUT giving Ukraine nuclear weapons

"I don't think anyone would think that's a serious offer on their part" - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, answering the question about giving Zelensky nuclear weapons.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt