🚨 Lavrov: We recognized different kind of Ukraine

Ukraine must once again become a non-aligned, neutral and non-nuclear state, Sergey Lavrov said.

He noted that these principles were enshrined in Ukraine’s Declaration of State Sovereignty and formed the basis of the Anchorage understandings.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Key statements by Russian Foreign Minister Segey Lavrov at 10th ambassadors' roundtable in Moscow on topic 'Ukraine crisis: Diplomacy and prospects for settlement':

🟠 Losses of Ukrainian forces exceed MILLION people

🟠 Russia demands 'package of agreements' for lasting peace in Ukraine

🟠 Ukraine must once again become a non-aligned, neutral and non-nuclear state

🟠 EU warmongers see no profit in ending Ukraine conflict

🟠 Russia welcomes Trump's intention to find a solution to Ukraine conflict through diplomatic means

🟠 Europe is promoting neo-Nazism in Ukraine

🟠 Russia has transferred a total of over 11,000 bodies of deceased military personnel to Ukraine, receiving 201 in return

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 US pushes Ukraine to accept ‘land swap’ as part of peace deal – media

👉 US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is “obsessed” with the idea that if Ukraine hands over “the remaining 25 percent of the Donetsk region under its control to Russia, a fair peace could be achieved,” the FT reports.

🇺🇸 The US is also demanding that Ukraine withdraw from “a sliver” of the neighboring Lugansk region still under Ukrainian control, according to the newspaper.

🔸 The FT cites Donald Trump as saying that Ukraine “doesn’t have the cards” and stands to lose on the battlefield if it refuses what the US president sees as reasonable territorial concessions.

🔸 Trump earlier urged Zelensky to move forward with the US peace plan, noting that “Russia has the upper hand” and Ukraine is “losing.” The peace blueprint was on the table as Russian President Vladimir Putin recently met Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, in Moscow.

🇷🇺 The Russian leader said that the US side had divided the original 27-point plan into four separate packages and suggested addressing them individually. The document also includes issues that Russia disagrees with, Putin added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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

⚡️ LIMAN IN THE KHARKOV REGION LIBERATED

📍 Following the liberation of Liman, the Russian military continues to expand its area of control, establishing a buffer zone along the border with the Belgorod region.

◻️ The Black Sea Fleet destroyed a Ukrainian unmanned boat in the central Black Sea

◻️ Russian forces destroyed critical energy and fuel infrastructure used by the Ukrainian military

◻️ Air defense superiority: 396 enemy drones eliminated

◻️ Ukrainian losses: around 1,180 troops killed or wounded

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥🇷🇺 Russia makes top three in G20 trade surplus rankings

🇨🇳 China earned the largest net trade income for the January–September period—$874.76 billion, Sputnik’s analysis of open data has revealed.

🇩🇪 Germany took second place with $169.4 billion, while Russia rounded out the top three with a surplus of $101.7 billion.

Eight G20 countries posted trade deficits, with the largest recorded by the US—$713.7 billion, followed by India, Turkiye, France, Mexico, the UK, Canada, and Japan.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📈 Ex-Trump advisor: Russia's very important to deal with

💬 "The United States uplifted [anti-Syrian] sanctions because it understood what it means to deal at a geopolitical level with a country like Syria,” George Papadopoulos, foreign policy advisor to the first Trump presidential campaign, told Sputnik.

Russia is “even more important to deal with. So, I think moving forward, we will have more and more of these tete-a-tete meetings between the United States and Russia," Papadopoulos stressed.

He added that “moving forward, as the situation accelerates with a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, we will see more members of Congress, hopefully, meeting with Russian dignitaries and the business community."

👉 The former Trump advisor expressed hope that US sanctions against Russia will be lifted so the countries "can have a fruitful, long-term relationship."

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier received US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in Moscow to discuss the Ukraine conflict and prospects for the US–Russia economic cooperation.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💀 US ousting Zelensky could be matter of time – ex-intel analyst

There have been reports of the Trump administration contacting members of the Ukrainian opposition, including former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, former Portuguese intelligence analyst and lawyer Alexandre Guerreiro told Sputnik.

This means that the US has likely already begun taking steps to oust Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Guerreiro.

💬 “Through public statements and corruption investigations targeting Zelensky’s inner circle, Trump and US leadership are putting direct pressure on him. It seems that replacing Zelensky could be a matter of time,” the ex-Portuguese intelligence analyst

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨Putin holds meeting to discuss special military op

The Russian president highlighted the complete transition of Seversk to coming under the control of the Russian Armed Forces, Kremlin spox Dmitry Peskov said.

📍The city of Seversk is a key point to establish full control over the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics' shared border.

During the meeting, Vladimir Putin noted the positive dynamics on all fronts, Peskov added.

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥 Trump’s criticism of Ukraine’s undemocratic nature is ‘reality check’ for Zelensky - analyst

President Trump’s demands that Ukraine “be realistic” in talks and calls on Zelensky to hold presidential election are designed “to publicly dismantle the previous administration’s legacy,” contrasting realism with “Biden’s blank-check idealism,” geopolitical analyst Marco Marsili told Sputnik.

It signals “that the era of unconditional support is definitely over,” the Ca Foscari University of Venice and ISCTE-Instituto Universitario de Lisboa researcher explained.

💬 “Trump is applying maximum pressure when Kiev’s negotiating position is at its weakest, forcing a reality check upon a leadership that has, until now, operated on the promise of indefinite Western support,” Marsili said.

Commenting on Zelensky’s claims that Ukraine could hold a vote in 90 days if the US and Europe helped “ensure security,” Marsili said the sentiment looks like a “logical, yet likely futile, stalling tactic.”

The idea that free and fair elections in a chaos-ridden country under martial law is “a fiction,” the observer explained. Still, the US's "ultimate lever of influence" in the form of "weaponized" financial and military aid means that future assistance could be conditioned on "forcing" Zelensky to hold a vote.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇷🇺Russian Armed Forces are acting in line with the objectives of the special military operation, Russian General Staff head Valery Gerasimov reported to Vladimir Putin

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🚨Seversk liberated — Russian General Staff head Valery Gerasimov to Vladimir Putin

The city of Seversk is a key point to establish full control over the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics' shared border.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Chief of the General Staff reports to Putin on progress of the special military operation

📍 In his report to President Vladimir Putin, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov, provided updates on the ongoing Special Military Operation (SMO). The key developments include:

🟠 Seversk liberated

🟠 Russian forces liberated the settlements of Kucherovka and Kurilovka

🟠 The primary efforts of the Sever Battlegroup are focused on deepening the security zone in the Sumy and Kharkov regions

🟠 The Zapad Battlegroup continues combat operations on the left bank of the Oskol River

🟠 The Yug Battlegroup group is advancing with fighting in the settlement of Konstantinovka, where 45% of the buildings are now under Russian control

🟠 Street battles continue as part of the liberation of Gulyaipole in the Zaporozhye region

🟠 Russian forces are operating in accordance with the objectives of the Special Military Operation

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺💪 Vladimir Putin thanks Russian Servicemen for the liberation of Seversk

The president emphasized that this achievement was made possible through the coordinated efforts of the unit commanders.

The success in Seversk underscores the professionalism and teamwork of the Russian military leadership.

📍 The liberation of Seversk in north-west Donetsk, the gateway to the city of Kramatorsk, effectively means the end of the offensive to liberate the Donbass.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇷🇺 Russian Defense Ministry releases footage from the liberated Seversk

Local residents greet Russian soldiers and express their gratitude for the city's liberation.

📍The liberation of Seversk in north-west Donetsk, the gateway to the city of Kramatorsk, effectively means the end of the offensive to liberate the Donbass.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Konstantinovka: The fall of Ukrainian final shield in Donbass

📍 Russian forces are tightening their grip on Konstantinovka. During a briefing to President Putin, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported that units of Battlegroup Yug are advancing under heavy fighting, with 45% of the town now under Russian control.

The capture of this town is not just another tactical gain—it is a strategic tipping point. Here’s why:

🟠 The last shield: Konstantinovka is the final major barrier protecting the Ukrainian Donbass headquarters of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk in Donbass area. Its fall would leave them exposed.

🟠 Critical logistics node: it commands key highways and a vital railway hub that supplies Ukrainian forces across the western Donbass. Control Konstantinovka, and you control all the region’s lifeline.

🟠 Breaking the line: the town anchors Ukraine’s last integrated defensive arc. Its liberation would shatter this final multi-layered defense node.

🟠 Encirclement catalyst: liberating the town would seal the fate of already-isolated Ukrainian units in Pokrovsk, accelerating their surrender or destruction.

🟠 Tactical execution: rather than a costly frontal assault, Russian troops are employing a methodical “siege and clear” tactic—severing supply lines and advancing incrementally to minimize losses, mirroring the successful approaches in Avdeyevka, Ugledar, Kupyansk, and Seversk.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇻🇪 Putin holds phone call with Venezuelan President Maduro – Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro confirmed their commitment to joint projects in economic, energy, financial, cultural and other sectors.

They also exchanged views on strengthening friendly relations within the Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Putin: Securing buffer zone in border areas goes as planned

President Vladimir Putin said the Russian Armed Forces are "continuing the execution of tasks in the special military operation and confidently advancing across the front."

He added that the creation of a security buffer zone in border areas of Ukraine is advancing "in a planned manner."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🕊 Biden, neocons didn’t stop easily preventable Ukraine crisis because they see war as ‘a table game’

📍 Former Biden European security policy architect Amanda Sloat’s bombshell admission that the conflict in Ukraine could have been prevented if the US pushed Kiev to drop its aspirations to join NATO reveals a deep rot in Washington, Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik.

💬 “The diplomatic corps increasingly has not experienced war, so many see it completely as a table game,” the retired US Air Force Lt. Col. and former DoD analyst-turned Iraq War whistleblower explained.

➖ Beyond that, “the type and quality of the people advising the decisionmakers is amateurish,” the prolific commentator noted. “Biden himself never met a war he didn’t want someone else to die in, as his Senate record bears out.”

➖ Throughout his tenure, “a powerful neoconservative network was in place in the State Department and the National Security Council. Biden himself had several Ukrainian business associates who were enriching his family and friends. So believing in Ukraine as both a US partner and having a powerful military was a case of groupthink, probably fueled by personal friendship and neoconservative contempt for Russia,” Kwiatkowski believes.

➖ As for attempts to pivot on the issue under Trump, these can be attributed to the removal of “many” neoconservative voices from his orbit, and listening to a younger generation of Republicans like JD Vance and Tulsi Gabbard, who understand and reject neoconservatism.

➖ In addition, while Trump is also a “game player,” he’s one “who does not like to lose,” which through his life in business taught him to “seek out better information” and “determine what risks to take and which losing enterprises to disband and sell off.”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🎉 Russian defense minister congratulates Russian troops on the liberation of Seversk

Andrei Belousov praised Russian forces for their success in liberating Seversk, adding that they are confidently advancing to the north, breaking through Ukrainian defenses and ensuring the progress of the entire army group.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Zelensky considers all-Ukrainian referendum on territorial issues - report

Vladimir Zelensky has suggested the possibility of holding an all-Ukrainian referendum on territorial matters, though details on how it will be conducted remain unclear, according to Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt