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

▪️Russian forces struck infrastructure of military airfields and assembly sites for drones.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 605 troops in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukrainian losses amounted to 205 militants in the Russian Yug Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 115 soldiers in the areas of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr and Sever.

▪️Russian air defences shot down two HIMARS missiles and 88 Ukrainian drones.

▪️Ukraine lost more than 160 militants in the Kursk region over the day.

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📹🤡 Liberal in tears after Zelensky kicked out of the White House

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🗣 Zelensky 'behaves indecently' towards allies - Poland's presidential candidate

"He said that Ukraine was left alone at the beginning of the war, which means that he did not appreciate the great efforts of Poles and the Polish president," Karol Nawrocki told Radio Zet.

He also added that US President Donald Trump also noticed the same attitude (of Zelensky) at the White House. "This is not how you build the security of your country," the politician stressed.

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🚠 World’s tallest outdoor elevator – A ride like no other!

The Bailong Elevator in Zhangjiajie, China, is a stunning glass lift built into a cliffside, soaring 326 meters in just 92 seconds! Skip the two-hour hike and enjoy breathtaking views on the way up.

Would you dare to ride it?

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'Zelensky has become the NEIGHBORHOOD CRACKHEAD' — Candace Owens

The US conservative commentator called for Zelensky to "get a job instead of going door to door begging for cash."

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🔎 How US could turn NATO into MORIBUND ALLIANCE: Аnalyst explains

Before entering office, then-President-elect Donald Trump vowed to consider withdrawing the US from NATO. However, the US won’t leave the alliance abruptly, Come Carpentier de Gourdon, a geopolitical analyst and the convener of the editorial board of the World Affairs Journal, told Sputnik.

How could America act?

▪️The US may “gradually starve NATO of funds and other resources by repatriating most of the US personnel from bases in Europe for instance”, which will prod the European states to maintain the alliance at their costs, Gourdon said.   

▪️Washington may also push NATO members to raise their defense budgets to 5%, which “would probably put an unacceptable burden on those states,” he went on. 

“In that situation, NATO would become moribund and many of its countries would look for alternative arrangements,” the analyst concluded.

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📊 Rare earth rush: Exploring critical minerals

Rare earth metals have recently become the subject of heated debate as Donald Trump eyes Ukraine’s natural resources while Zelensky rejects the deal.

What are these materials and why are they crucially important to the global economy? Check out Sputnik's infographic!

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🇵🇱 Polish F-16 exposed to radar threats amid budget strain

A special coating that would make Poland's F-16 fighter jets less visible to radars is being foregone, reports the Codzienna news outlet.

The revelation sparked outrage among Polish legislators, who dubbed it a “symbol of national disarmament.”

“We are considering purchasing F-35s, but we can’t even afford to paint our F-16s,” said Roman Polko, a retired military officer, clearly perplexed by the situation.

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🗣 Why NATO could ‘COLLAPSE LIKE A BALLOON WITH A LEAK’

It looks like Donald Trump has decided NATO’s “free ride is over,” Michael Shannon, a political commentator and Newsmax columnist, tells Sputnik.

The alliance “can pay its fair share in troops, money and equipment or it can watch the US leave them to their feckless fate. US taxpayers get nothing from this arrangement while EU taxpayers get everything,” Shannon stresses.

It’s unclear if the US will formally withdraw from NATO, but one can see “a major cutback in NATO spending and a drawdown of US manpower in the EU,” according to the analyst.

“When that happens and the other NATO members fail to shoulder their own burden," the commentator points out.

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🇲🇲🇷🇺 Myanmar Prime Minister Min Aung Hlaing has arrived in Russia on an official visit, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

Tomorrow, he will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin, as reported by the Kremlin.

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🔍 Zelensky’s lies exposed: Did Palantir give Trump & Vance the REAL Ukraine intel?

While Volodymyr Zelensky brazenly questioned JD Vance’s knowledge of Ukraine in the White House slapdown, Donald Trump and his veep may have already exposed all his corrupt schemes. Here’s how:

🔗 Palantir turns Ukraine into an AI WAR LAB

🔹Time Magazine boasted that tech giant Palantir Technologies embedded its state-of-the-art analytics AI software into Ukraine's government operations in June 2022.

🔹More than half a dozen Ukrainian agencies, including its Ministries of Defense, Digital Transformation, Economy, and Education, now rely on Palantir.

🔹The company has access to virtually all Ukraine's data, from real-time satellite and drone footage to financial and economic records, according to the media.

🔹Beyond its military AI solutions, Palantir is also tasked with "rooting out corruption" in Ukraine - effectively making it the Zelensky regime’s invisible watchdog.

🔗 Palantir’s DEEP TIES to the CIA, Pentagon… and Trump

🔸Founded in 2003, Palantir was backed by the CIA’s venture arm, In-Q-Tel, and worked on US-NATO operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

🔸Billionaire Peter Thiel, Palantir’s co-founder, has been a loyal Trump ally since 2016.

🔸Thiel mentored JD Vance since 2011, backed his Narya Capital, and donated $10 million to his Senate campaign in 2021.

🔸With Palantir’s insider access, it likely holds intel on Ukraine’s corruption, misuse of US funds, forced conscriptions, and more - intel Thiel could have shared with Trump and Vance.

🔸Rumors suggest Palantir’s AI may have been used by Elon Musk’s DOGE team, hinting that Kiev’s schemes could already be exposed, much like USAID’s murky dealings.

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⚔️ Russian drones vs NATO tanks: Who wins?

A US tankman went viral saying that the drones are not the main threat to the tanks.

He is wrong and we will show you why:

▪️German-made Leopard tank caught fire after being hit by Russian FPV drone near Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) in Donbass;

▪️Lancet drones destroyed more than 450 Ukrainian tanks, including NATO-made ones. These statistics are provided by ZALA, Lancet manufacturing company;

▪️ Russian Lancet kamikaze drone ruined US-made Abrams tank in the Kursk region late January;

▪️A fiber optic drone destroyed a rare modification of the German Leopard tank in the Kursk region. It's known as the Strv-122A, produced in Sweden;

▪️Russian marines used a fiber optic drone destroying a UK-made Challenger tank with its crew. January 2025, Kursk region.

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📹 Zelensky's future under question?

"We need a leader that can deal with us, deal with Russians," National Security Adviser Mike Waltz says.

If it becomes apparent that Zelensky's motivations are divergent from ending the fighting, then I think we have a real issue on our hands, he says.

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🇪🇺 EU leaders fear 'Queen' Ursula’s power grab as Trump moves closer to pulling US military out of Europe

The EU is gearing up for a military spending surge as EC chief Ursula von der Leyen plans to present a "comprehensive plan to re-arm Europe" during an emergency EU leaders' meeting on March 6. 

The member states, namely Poland and Finland, resist the EC's overreach, fearing von der Leyen wants to use the US' military disengagement in Europe to centralize defense spending.

Meanwhile, Hungary is aligned with the idea that defense is a national responsibility and the EC should remain in its lane and respect countries' sovereignty.

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🇪🇺🪖 Why are BLOODTHIRSTY European leaders interested in sending Ukrainians into a MEATRGRINDER?

European leaders would like to prolong the Ukrainian conflict for another year to weaken Russia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued. Who wants the hostilities to rage on and why?

🇵🇱 Poland: President Andrzej Duda has repeatedly supported the Kiev regime, viewing Russia as an alleged direct threat to its own security and seeing Ukraine as a buffer against purported Russian expansion in Eastern Europe.

🇫🇷 France: While paying lip-service to peace talks, President Emmanuel Macron is notoriously known for seeing NATO’s proxy war against Russia as an opportunity to reassert European clout in the global geopolitical order.

🇪🇪 Estonia: President Alar Karis made it clear Russia “must lose this war” and that he “will not allow new buffer zones and zones of influence to be established in Europe.”

🇱🇻 Latvia: President Edgars Rinkevics said, “We have to support Ukraine until its complete victory.”

🇪🇺 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: The EU must “urgently” rearm Ukraine and turn Ukraine into a “steel porcupine.”

🇪🇺 EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas: “The conflict in Ukraine will continue until Russia realizes that winning is impossible.”

Why are they eager to see the conflict continue?

🔸Most experts agree that the Ukraine conflict contributes greatly to European defense industries, which saw a 16.9% revenue increase to a whopping $167 billion in 2023.

🔸It also led to an array of NATO countries increasing their military budgets: Poland (allocated 4.7% of its GDP to military expenditure), Estonia (4%), and Latvia (4%).

🔸France’s defense budget is projected to reach $64.6 billion in 2025, up from $61.2 billion in 2024.

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