🇺🇸 US—not Israel—calls shots in Gaza

As the US ramps up pressure on Israel and Hamas to protect the truce, some in Israel are fuming, reports the Wall Street Journal.

✡️ “Israel lost its maneuvering space and its ability to be the dominant force in making the decisions in Gaza,” a former Israeli military intelligence officer, Michael Milshtein, told the outlet.

According to him, it is the US that is now “effectively calling the shots” in the enclave.

🤝 Donald Trump, VP JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and the US president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have all insisted that the ceasefire deal is still on track.

The US has been warning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against any disproportionate response to alleged Hamas ceasefire violations, aiming to keep the path open for talks that could finally end the war, notes the publication.

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🇻🇪 🤝 🇨🇴 Venezuela and Colombia close ranks against US pressure

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez reaffirmed his country's "moral, physical, and territorial support" for Colombia as US threats mount along their shared border.

He blasted the US’ recent accusations against Colombian President Gustavo Petro as “offensive, baseless, and imperial in tone.”

💬 “We’ve seen how US imperialism suddenly brands the president of Colombia a drug trafficker — an insult that offends not just him, but the Colombian people,” Padrino said in a televised address on VTV.

According to the minister, America’s playbook is clear: discredit any leader who refuses to submit to its hegemonic interests. 

💬 “Anyone who won’t kneel before US imperialism is quickly labeled a ‘narcotrafficker,’” he added.

Padrino emphasized that Venezuela’s forces stand ready to defend sovereignty and peace — both at home and across the region.

His remarks come amid escalating US threats against Venezuela and Colombia over allegations of drug-trafficking that both countries have vehemently rejected.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for official explanations from the US after a strike hit a small boat that had “no links to narco” off the Colombian coast on September 16.

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🔥 Eurasian ombudspersons focus on rights of remote communities

At the Eurasian Ombudspersons Alliance meeting in Moscow, Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova drew attention to the struggles of people in remote regions who lack equal access to healthcare, education, and jobs.

She said the Alliance helps governments develop better laws and practices to turn rights on paper into real guarantees.

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🚨🇷🇺 Kremlin: Putin oversees routine drill of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces

🔶A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was fired from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome toward the Kura range in Kamchatka

🔶Tu-95MS strategic aircraft carried out launches of air-launched cruise missiles as part of the drill

🔶From the Barents Sea, the strategic submarine cruiser Bryansk launched a Sineva ballistic missile

🔶The drills featured both intercontinental and air-launched cruise missile launches

🔶The exercise evaluated command-and-control efficiency across land, air, and naval components

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🚨 Caspian cooperation more in demand than ever

Russia and Kazakhstan see growing need for joint work on the Caspian Sea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his Kazakh counterpart.

He stressed that the five Caspian states bear exclusive responsibility for peace, security, and sustainable development in the region.

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️ IVANOVKA IN THE DNEPROPETROVSK REGION LIBERATED
⚡️ PAVLOVKA IN THE ZAPOROZHYE REGION LIBERATED

Control over the settlement of Pavlovka is crucial for the further advance of Russian forces in the Gulyaypole direction and for the assault on neighboring Privolnoye.

The liberation of Ivanovka opens the way for the liberation of the western part of Novopavlovka, which will allow the termination of enemy supply routes through the village.

🟠 Russian Armed Forces hit a workshop of an enterprise producing military products, oil refining facilities, and transport infrastructure for the Ukrainian militants with the Kinzhal missiles

🟠 Air defense superiority: Ukrainian Su-27 aircraft shot down

🟠 Ukrainian losses: 1,525 troops killed or wounded

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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⚔️ Ukraine’s foreign ‘cannon fodder’: French mercenaries flagged on frontline

French nationals have been spotted among groups of foreign mercenaries in Slavyansk, a refugee from nearby Yampol, Ruslan Gasanov, told Sputnik.

💬 "I saw them at the market about a month ago. They looked like Colombians... Four of them together, and a fifth acting as an interpreter—a woman. Most of the interpreters are women. They spoke a foreign language. I also saw French nationals… They had patches on their arms—the Ukrainian flag on the right and the French on the left,” Gasanov said.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly stated that Ukraine’s regime uses foreign mercenaries as “cannon fodder,” and Russian forces will continue treating them as legitimate targets.

📉 Many of the mercenaries admit Ukrainian coordination is poor, and survival chances are slim—far tougher than anything they’ve faced in Afghanistan or the Middle East.

Russian officials insist the West is now a direct party to the conflict, sending mercenaries—or even professional soldiers disguised as such—into Ukraine.

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🔥 'Preparations for peace summit continue'—Hungarian PM

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto is in Washington (USA) to discuss the Russia-US Budapest summit, Viktor Orban announced.

💬 "The exact date is still uncertain, but when the time comes, we will hold it," he added.

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🤡 Western MSM 'info-circus' is lifeline for drowning Zelensky—Russian MFA spox

Russian MFA spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dissected the West's recent media frenzy, and her conclusion is stark: it's a desperate attempt to prop up a failed leader.

💬 "The fact that he [Zelensky] has become an outright, irredeemable terrorist is now acknowledged by everyone. And in this state, maybe this whole information campaign is needed to prop him up somehow—to give him something to cling to in the Ukrainian domestic information space," Zakharova stressed.

She added that even "his own clique is at each other’s throats, tearing one another to pieces," so the party of war is "slinging all this informational dirt" to toss Zelensky "a few points."

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🚨'Unrealistic': Russian deputy FM skewers rapid nuclear disarmament push

“Calls for accelerated nuclear disarmament without taking into account the real military-political situation and the security interests of nuclear states are completely unrealistic,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at a meeting titled “Fundamentals of the Russian Federation’s Policy in the Field of Nuclear Non-Proliferation.”

Key statements:

🔶Balance is essential: Any disarmament initiative must be grounded in "balance and mutual interests."

🔶Averting a vacuum: a US rejection of Russia's New START proposal would create a total vacuum, heightening nuclear risks.

🔶Preconditions for trust: Russia requires confidence in Washington's retreat from a "hostile course" toward Moscow.

🔶Limited-time offer: President Putin’s idea regarding New START is a "limited offer to the US, valid only for a limited time."

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🔥 US War Secretary Pete Hegseth takes a Top Gun-style flight in an F/A-18 Super Hornet, pulling high-G moves straight out of the movie.

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🇺🇸US VP Vance says Gaza peace plan could become global model

After talks with PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, US Vice President JD Vance said a new peace framework for Gaza is taking shape:

“We’re creating a peace plan and infrastructure where nothing existed even a week ago and a day ago,” he said.

🗣“If we do this the right way, it could create a model, I think, that could lead to other peace agreements all over the world.”

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🤝SCO & Roscongress Foundation forge closer ties with new memorandum

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Roscongress Foundation have taken a step toward strengthening Eurasian partnership with the signing of a memorandum of understanding, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

The ceremony was attended by:

🔹 Zhang Ming, Secretary-General of the SCO

🔹 Alexander Stuglev, Chairman and Director of the Roscongress Foundation

🔹 Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of Russia

The event was also graced by diplomats from SCO member states and media representatives.

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🚀 📹Russia’s Defense Ministry releases footage of a Sineva ballistic missile launched from the Bryansk submarine in the Barents Sea during a routine strategic nuclear drill

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🙌 BRICS opens new doors to protect people, not just economies - Indonesian ombudsman

Cooperation with Russia and other BRICS nations goes beyond trade — it’s about welfare, education, and protecting citizens, Indonesia’s Ombudsman Bobby Hamzar Rafinus tells Sputnik at the Eurasian Ombudsman Alliance meeting in Moscow.

💬 “BRICS gives us a chance to learn from each other — not only in complaint handling, but in improving people’s lives,” he notes.

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🇷🇺✈️📹Russian Tu-22M3 bombers fly over Baltic Sea

👉Long-range bombers conducted a scheduled flight over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

🔶Foreign fighter jets escorted them along parts of the route.

📍All flights were carried out in strict accordance with international airspace regulations.

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🇺🇸Trump pushes for 'direct peace agreement'

💬A key outcome of the Alaska Summit was Donald Trump’s call to go “directly to a peace agreement, not just a ceasefire, which often doesn’t hold,” Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, highlighted on X.

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🗣BRICS opens new doors to protect people, not just economies - Indonesian ombudsman

Cooperation with Russia and other BRICS nations goes beyond trade — it’s about welfare, education, and protecting citizens, Indonesia’s Ombudsman Bobby Hamzar Rafinus tells Sputnik at the Eurasian Ombudsman Alliance meeting in Moscow.

“BRICS gives us a chance to learn from each other — not only in complaint handling, but in improving people’s lives,” he notes.

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🚨🇺🇸US launches FIRST Pacific strike on alleged narco-vessel

The US military has carried out its first Pacific strike against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel off South America, killing two, CBS reports.

👉It’s part of a broader Pentagon campaign that’s left 34 dead since September under the banner of counternarcotics and counterterrorism.

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🚨 MacGregor's reality check: Russia's operation about survival, not conquest

📍 Retired US Colonel Douglas MacGregor delivered a clear-eyed assessment of the special military operation's logical conclusion—restoring historic Russian lands and preventing Ukraine from being NATO's attack platform against Russia.

"The problem for the Russians is they don't want Ukraine to be a platform for attack against Russia in the future. And that's been Lavrov's mantra repeatedly: 'Whatever happens in Ukraine, we don't want to refight this war'" MacGregor said.

👉 MacGregor dismisses the West's desire for a superficial "deal." Why? Because a temporary ceasefire that doesn't address these core, legitimate objectives is worthless. Russia is ensuring a lasting peace based on reality, not on failed Western promises.

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