🟠 Shoigu in North Korea: High-stakes talks with Kim Jong-un

🟠 Pentagon chief opts out of Ramstein group meeting

🟠 Iran ready to give away control of uranium enrichment to an international consortium

🟠 Cracks in EU’s ENERGY SUICIDE: France and Belgium refuse to back Russian gas ban

➕Check out Sputnik’s analysis:

🟠 Stockpiling or stocks running LOW? The truth behind Trump’s brag

🟠 NATO arsonists ‘aggressively adding fuel’ to Ukrainian fire, targeting both Russia and US amid talks – analyst

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❌No NATO invite for Ukraine

NATO is seeking to keep the final declaration of the summit, which will take place in The Hague later in June, brief and avoid mentioning Ukraine's possible membership to avert creating controversy, AFP reports.

What's more, NATO leaders won't adopt a joint statement on military support for Ukraine due to the suspension of new US aid.

Too bad, Mr. Zelensky 😨

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🚨🇺🇸🇨🇳US-China trade TAKES A HIT: Slumps nearly 20% amid tariff row

US-China trade dropped to $45.6 billion from $56.4 billion a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data for April.

China is the only country that faced a full month of elevated US tariffs – which kicked in on April 10 and were paused on May 14.

🟠If tariffs remain at their current levels – 30% on Chinese goods and 10% on US exports – total trade could shrink by 15-20% by the end of 2025, according to economic estimates.

🟠But if duties climb higher, the fallout could be much worse: mutual trade might shrink by as much as 50%, falling to $450-460 billion.

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🪖Running on empty: Ukraine’s Patriot missiles DWINDLE as Russia turns up the heat

Notwithstanding Ukraine’s latest drone attack on Russian airfields, the military trend is firmly in Russia’s favor, US media admits.

🇷🇺Russia is relentlessly chipping away at Ukraine’s limited stockpile of Patriot air-defense missiles, with reportedly fewer than 200 left.

Of the eight Patriot systems Ukraine has, only about six are operational at any given time due to ongoing repairs and maintenance, media reports speculate.

Bottom line? The math just isn’t in the Zelensky regime’s favor🤷‍♂️

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🇷🇺🛳 Baltic Fleet drills: Special forces storm 'hijacked ship' in impressive training

🟠Russian Baltic Fleet rehearsed anti-terror ops – elite troops & naval helicopters simulated liberating a "captured vessel."
🟠Storm teams fast-roped onto the deck, clearing it in a live-fire exercise.

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🇷🇺💥BOOM! Russian forces OBLITERATE Ukrainian Iris-T launcher & radar with a DEVASTATING Iskander strike in Dnepropetrovsk

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🤡France’s warhawks funnel $1.6B to Ukraine – with ‘buy French’ strings attached

Another $216 million is being handed over to the corruption-mired Zelensky regime for “reconstruction and EU integration projects,” per a communique from the office of French PM Francois Bayrou.

Bayrou also confirmed that the $1.6B in “guarantees” will ensure Ukrainian arms purchases from French defense contractors. No surprise there – France is just making sure it gets its slice of the war profits.

Europe is burning holes in its own pockets, but Ukraine’s tab is still covered.

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🇷🇺 Kremlin confirms explosion near Crimean Bridge – but NO damage, bridge fully operational

Other statements by Dmitry Peskov:

🔸 Time is needed to review draft memorandums – Russia and Ukraine will then agree on the date for the next round of talks

🔸 The timing of new negotiations depends on both sides’ readiness – no rush, progress comes with preparation

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⚡️RUSSIAN TROOPS LIBERATED the Redkodub settlement in the Donetsk People's Republic and the Kondratovka settlement in the Sumy region.

📹 The Russian Ministry of Defense published footage of battles for Redkodub.

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🗣Ukraine remains extremely aggressive and unwilling to seek sober solutions - Russian FM spokeswoman

Other statements by Maria Zakharova:

🟠The process of transferring 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to Kiev will begin in the near future
🟠Moscow will thoroughly examine the memorandum on Ukraine presented by Kiev
🟠Russia intends to responsibly approach the implementation of all agreements reached with Ukraine
🟠The results achieved in Istanbul have upset some people in Kiev, with the tone being set by Zelensky’s rude remarks toward the Russian delegation
🟠There are no 20,000 "kidnapped" Russian children; Russia is evacuating children to safe places and doing everything to reunite them with their families
🟠The reaction of Ukrainian neo-Nazis to the attacks on Russian railway tracks was predictable, emphasizing the misanthropic nature of Kiev
🟠The perpetrators and organizers of the attacks on Russian railway tracks will undoubtedly be identified and held accountable

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📹 WATCH as dazzling drones light up the sky… then TERRIFY as they become a deadly military SWARM!

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🗣Russian FM spox roasts UN over FAKE NEWS & HYPOCRISY 🇺🇳🤥

Elon Musk is calling to “Defund the UN” – he’s hit the nail on the head with that one, says Russian FM spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

🔸 The US owes the UN over $3 billion – yet still dips into its classic playbook of “rules for thee, not for me.”

🔸 The UN plays along while US companies get juicy $360 million contracts and rake in $2 billion yearly, per published data alone, Zakharova noted.

🔸 The UN Secretariat’s brilliant strategy: Instead of demanding overdue cash, they just invent new budget cuts.

🔸 Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accused digital platforms of disinformation earlier this month – prompting Elon’s tweet “Defund the UN.”

🔍 REALITY CHECK: The Secretariat is a top-tier FAKE NEWS factory

🔹 Bucha hoax: Fabricated with the finesse of a bad soap opera script.

🔹 Alleged kidnapped children and violence against Ukrainian women – Russian FM Sergey Lavrov has been asking for evidence for three years, but is still ignored by UN “fact-checkers.”

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🇷🇺🇰🇵Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu held a meeting with the North Korean leader, the sides discussed the Ukraine crisis and the situation on the Korean Peninsula – Russian Embassy

✅ Shoigu discussed cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang in various fields with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

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🇵🇰🇷🇺🇮🇳Pakistan seeks Putin’s mediation in conflict with India

Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif has reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin, requesting assistance in the ongoing conflict with India, Syed Tariq Fatemi, special assistant to the Pakistani PM, revealed during a meeting at the Valdai International Discussion Club.

💬 “We asked Russia to use its influence to bring India and Pakistan to the negotiating table for a peaceful resolution,” Fatemi shared after speaking with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

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🗣Russia is ready to begin the prisoner exchange with Ukraine on June 7-9 – head of Russian delegation Medinsky

Other statements by Medinsky during a meeting with Putin:

🟠The working language during the negotiations in Istanbul was Russian

🟠The Ukrainian side promised to study the Russian memorandum and provide comments later

🟠Negotiations one-on-one in Istanbul lasted for more than three hours

🟠Russia at the Istanbul talks urged to focus on working out the terms of peace, not a ceasefire

🟠Final figures on the exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine are being agreed upon, and it could be 1,200 people

🟠Medinsky shows Putin a list of allegedly abducted children handed over by the Ukrainian delegation and confirms that this matter is being considered now

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🚨All three terrorist attacks in Russia's Kursk and Bryansk regions were organized by the Ukrainian intelligence services - Investigative Committee

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🗣Zelensky’s rejection of Russia’s proposal for brief 2-3 day pause to collect the dead and injured is a mistake - Lavrov

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🗣Zelensky calls the results of the talks "insubstantial" because they were about people, not money or arms supplies - Russian FM spokeswoman Zakahrova to Sputnik.

He was never interested in his citizens, she added.

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🚨‘The decisions to commit such crimes were, of course, made in Ukraine at the political level’ – Putin on terrorist attacks in Bryansk and Kursk regions

🟠Putin calls tragedy in Bryansk region targeted attack on civilians, adds that this is called terrorism

🟠All crimes against civilians on the eve of the second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine were aimed at sabotaging them, said Putin

🟠The sponsors of Kiev are accomplices of terrorists

🟠Ukraine is experiencing huge losses and retreating along the entire line of combat

🟠Putin on Kiev's requests to hold a meeting at the highest level: What is there to talk about in these conditions, who negotiates with terrorists?

🟠For the Kiev regime, power is more important than peace and people's lives

🟠The Kiev regime is completely rotten, corrupt

🟠The Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region suffered absolutely senseless and huge losses

🟠Ukrainian troops these days are suffering one defeat after another

🟠The Kiev authorities lack basic political culture, allowing themselves direct insults against those with whom they are trying to negotiate

🟠If there is respite in hostilities, it will be used to pump Kiev with weapons, continue forced mobilization, prepare terrorist attacks

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🤡German Defense Minister pledges long-range weapon systems to Ukraine ‘in just a few weeks’

💬 "…last week, we agreed that Germany would finance the production of long-range weapons in Ukraine. (...) The advantage is that a significant number of long-range weapons can be produced this year. The first systems could be delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in just a few weeks," Boris Pistorius said as he arrived at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels.

💬 "Germany has provided a quarter of its own Patriot systems. We are not in a position to supply more systems. But we are urging the US, as well as other allies, to supply Patriot or similar systems," the minister added.

➡️Russia has repeatedly emphasized that long-range weapons provided by the West are being used by Ukrainian armed forces to carry out attacks against civilians on Russian territory and promised that such attacks won’t go unanswered.

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