🚨 Russia & Ukraine hold new exchange of bodies of dead soldiers – Russian presidential aide

Under the Istanbul agreements, the bodies of 1,000 dead Ukrainian servicemen have been handed over to Ukraine, and the bodies of 38 fallen Russian troops have been handed over to Russia, Vladimir Medinsky announced.

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📈 Gold and silver prices soar to record highs

Prices of Gold and silver surged over 4% on Thursday morning, with the metals reaching historic highs earlier in the session of about $5,600 and $119 per troy ounce, respectively, according to trading data.

April gold futures on the New York COMEX exchange were up 4.54% from the previous close, gaining $243.24 to $5,582.69 per troy ounce. Earlier in the session, prices hit an all-time high of $5,625.89 per ounce.

At the same time, March silver futures rose 4.15% to $118.237 per ounce, having earlier reached a record high of $119.

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🚨Lavrov: Russia unaware of US–Ukraine security guarantees

Russia does not know what specific security guarantees the US and Ukraine may have discussed, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that Russia has not been informed of any formal arrangements.

👉Lavrov also stated that the political issues in the settlement process were previously outlined by President Vladimir Putin and remain in force.

💬“The political issues were outlined by the president, and they remain in force. We leave everything else to the conscience of our Ukrainian and American colleagues, who in recent days have made repeated and numerous statements,” Lavrov told journalists.

❗️He emphasized that Russian negotiators will continue to engage in talks in any available format, adding that Russia will judge the outcomes by “real agreements,” not “public games.”

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🇷🇺🇦🇪Putin and UAE President Al Nahyan begin talks at Kremlin

Negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan have begun at the Kremlin, with both leaders highlighting the breadth of bilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues.

🇷🇺President Putin’s opening remarks:

🔶Russia–UAE partnership is developing dynamically, multi-faceted, and mutually beneficial

🔶Russia highly values the personal contribution of the UAE president to advancing bilateral ties

🔶UAE is a key trade partner for Russia in the Arab world, with trade turnover steadily growing

🔶Putin noted the strong level of investment cooperation between the two countries

🔶He said Russia and the UAE have several landmark initiatives in the energy sector

🔶He acknowledged the UAE’s efforts regarding the Ukraine crisis

🔶Russia expressed gratitude to the UAE for hosting trilateral talks between Russia, the US, and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi

🔶Putin noted the UAE’s role in facilitating exchanges of POWs between Russia and Ukraine

🔶He stressed the importance of the ongoing Russia–UAE dialogue in light of the situation in the Middle East

🔶Putin said the creation of a Palestinian state in line with UN decisions is a fundamental issue

🔶He congratulated the UAE on successfully hosting the Games of the Future and thanked it for supporting the initiative

🔶Putin suggested continuing discussions one-on-one over a working lunch after the talks

🇦🇪President Al Nahyan’s remarks:

🔶He thanked President Putin for the warm welcome and hospitality

🔶Al Nahyan said relations with Russia are rooted in a legacy of productive cooperation and strong partnership

🔶He expressed a commitment to strengthening ties and advancing development goals in the interests of both countries

🔶UAE president stated his support for political and diplomatic efforts to resolve conflicts

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

⚡️ BELAYA BEREZA IN THE SUMY REGION LIBERATED

📍 The liberation of the village of Belaya Bereza expands the bridgehead for an offensive in a new direction.

◻️ Russian Armed Forces struck a Ukrainian military-industrial complex facility

◻️ Air defense superiority: 111 drones eliminated

◻️ Ukrainian losses: around 1,150 troops killed or wounded

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

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🚨🇷🇺Russia proposes Moscow — not the UAE — for possible peace talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov added that Zelensky had not yet responded to the latest invitation to come to Moscow.

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🇷🇺 Russian arms corporation Rostec released rare footage of the MTU-90M universal tank bridge-layer — an engineering vehicle used to rapidly cross ravines, trenches and rivers during combat operations, built by Uralvagonzavod.

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🗣 West seeks ‘face-saving’ Ukraine peace deal to dodge ‘loser’ label – expert  

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s description of the much-talked-about Ukraine security guarantees that stipulate French and UK troop deployment, along with US support is “definitely a roadblock because there was Russia’s formal opposition to any presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil,” French geopolitical analyst Come Carpentier de Gourdon tells Sputnik. 

💬 “It would in fact make Ukraine a member of NATO, which is not something that Russia is prepared to accept as far as I know,” Gourdon notes.

He adds that although Washington speaks of “pulling back from many foreign areas” and focusing on North and South America and the Asia-Pacific region, its actual policies remain unclear, since Rubio, who belongs to the neoconservative camp, favors maintaining a broad US military presence worldwide.

According to Gourdon, Rubio’s Ukraine security guarantees scheme could translate into several scenarios: 

🟠 “It could be a formula similar to what has prevailed for the last 50 years between the two Koreas”, with a “permanent division” and US troops stationed on the Ukrainian side 

🟠 Ukraine would keep claiming Donbass, which would “obviously be supported by the West”

🟠 “Some sort of quid pro quo can be worked out, like perhaps stationing troops in Finland, as was the case” with the USSR’s Porkkala naval base after WWII or “even a Russian contingent in Cuba, which would not be acceptable to the US in principle.”

🟠 As for sending Western weapons to Ukraine, “there should be strict limits and control” and these should be stationed “not close to the border with Russia or to the line of control between Russia and Ukraine.” 

It’s still unclear what the ultimate decision will be, because the US and Western European powers “want to work out some sort of face-saving so that they do not look as having completely lost” the Ukraine conflict.

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🗣 'Stop believing the British media': UK volunteer's message from Donbass to his fellow Britons

The British public should focus their concerns on pressing domestic problems at home in the UK, like why local prisons are suddenly becoming so overcrowded, said Ben Stimson, a British volunteer fighter in Donbass, speaking to Sputnik.

He also urged his fellow citizens to stop the UK from supplying weapons to Ukraine.

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🔥 ICE protests: Twin Cities dusting off 2020 Black Lives Matter playbook

📍 Minneapolis and Saint Paul residents are now deploying the same high-intensity protest tactics used during the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement—this time, centering their sights on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

2020 blueprint

The “deeply liberal” Twin Cities aren’t just protesting—residents are deploying a battle-tested strategy:

🔸 Rapid-response networks:

Vast, organized networks involving thousands of volunteers monitor immigration agents, coordinating through encrypted apps like Signal.

They are:

🔶 Tracking federal convoys

🔶 Forming protester caravans behind immigration vehicles

🔶 Gathering, making noise, and filming when ICE stops to make arrests

🔸 Mutual aid hubs:

Former 2020 supply depots have been reactivated to provide:

🔶 Large-scale food and supply deliveries

🔶 Safer transportation infrastructure

🔶 Care networks for relatives and partners left behind after ICE arrests

🔸 Economic resistance:

Mirroring historical strikes, more than 300 local businesses have expressed solidarity with anti-ICE protesters:

🔶 In coordination with protests, businesses across Minnesota—restaurants, museums, bookstores, and cafés—close for the strikes

🔶 Labor unions, faith leaders, and community activists organized an economic blackout titled “ICE Out of Minnesota: A Day of Truth and Freedom”

Why it’s scalable

This isn’t a reboot it’s muscle memory. Infrastructure forged during the 2020 uprisings has been turned into a coordinated apparatus capable of confronting federal operations at scale.

Apart from the public outrage of ICE man-hunting spree, tensions are boiling in Minnesota over:

🔶 ICE fatally shooting US citizen Renee Good on January 7, sparking widespread protests

🔶 Border Patrol agent killing another US citizen, Alex Pretti, on January 24

The 2020 BLM protests lasted months, sweeping across the US—now, with anti‑ICE unrest surging, the question looms: Could this movement rival or surpass BLM?

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❌ 'They won't fight for Starmer': Donbass volunteer from UK weighs in on likelihood of real war with Russia

People from the UK by and large oppose the idea of NATO leaders pushing for war against Russia. Even the military are eyeing conscription, Ben Stimson, a British volunteer fighter in Donbass, told Sputnik.

💬 "Some of the very conservative right-wing newspapers are saying people will go to prison for not fighting against Russia in World War III, as they're predicting is going to happen," he highlighted.

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🇺🇸Trump says he has ordered all commercial airspace over Venezuela reopened, allowing Americans to travel there safely as early as today.

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🚨Trump says 'A LOT OF PROGRESS' being made on Ukraine settlement

US President Donald Trump said his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are working intensively on resolving the Ukraine conflict, signaling that a breakthrough may be approaching.

He added that he personally asked President Vladimir Putin not to carry out strikes on Kiev and several other cities.

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🇷🇺🇦🇪UAE presidential trip to Russia reflects deep ties and hopes for easing Middle East tensions – experts

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's visit to Russia reflects the depth of bilateral relations and the growing role of the UAE as an effective mediator, Emirati economist Nael al-Jawabira tells Sputnik.

💬"Moscow and Abu Dhabi face common challenges amid a complex international landscape, including the fallout from the Ukrainian conflict, pressure on the global economy and the need to maintain stability in energy markets," the economist says.

The two countries have historically cooperated across multiple sectors — notably in energy through OPEC+, as well as in space, food security and logistics — giving their partnership a long-term strategic edge, notes al-Jawabira.

💬“The UAE’s commitment to diplomatic dialogue has been a key factor in its role in the Ukrainian crisis mediation process,” he says.

Russia–UAE relations are at "an exceptionally high level," echoes Abbas Hbeish, Lebanese Russia expert and deputy director of the Russian-Arab Cultural Center.

Hbeish suggests that Russo-Emirati relations could play a key role in easing rising tensions in the Persian Gulf.

💬“The UAE president may be counting on Russia to play a significant role in containing escalation in the Middle East — particularly in the Persian Gulf — as further destabilization would pose risks not only to the UAE, but to the entire region.”

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🇷🇺Lavrov: EU and Kiev reworked US peace plan on Ukraine

Moscow has not seen the full "20-point plan" for peace in Ukraine promoted by Kiev and Western countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Turkish broadcaster TGRT and the newspaper Türkiye.

But he pointed out that even interim versions no longer include Russian demands for national minority rights.

Key statements:

🔶 European NATO members and Kiev reworked the US plan, removing clauses on respecting the rights of national minorities

🔶 The core of the Ukraine crisis is not territory, but a Russophobic and Nazi regime

🔶 Russia does not "leak" information and believes negotiations should be treated seriously

🔶The Baltic states, Germany and France, along with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are spreading rumors of a looming Third World War

🔶 European leaders use the "Russian threat" to mobilize voters and keep power

🔶 Russia would be willing to help de-escalate the US conflict with Iran as it did in the 2025 12-Day War.

🔶 Moscow offers its "good offices" to ease tensions between Iran and Israel, as Russia maintains relations with both

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