🚨US envoy Witkoff says trilateral talks with Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi were detailed and productive, with further progress expected in the coming weeks.

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🚨 FACT-CHECK: Zelensky’s casualty claims vs reality

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky told France 2 that 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the conflict.

❓Why this number looks implausibly low

👉 Force size: In 2022, Zelensky himself said the Ukrainian army numbered 800,000.

👉 Mobilization rate: Ukraine has mobilized at least 30,000 people per month for nearly four years — that’s about 1.44 million additional troops.

👉 No demobilization: Unlike Russia, Ukraine does not rotate or demobilize units – except for the severely wounded.

👉 Simple arithmetic: The Ukrainian armed forces should number around 2.5 million by now – but they don’t. So where did everyone go?

🔍 Other estimates

🔶Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in December 2025 that, based on multiple independent estimates, Ukrainian losses long ago exceeded one million.

🔶Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said almost 500,000 Ukrainian troops were killed or injured in 2025 alone, exhausting Kiev’s mobilization capacity.

🔶In November 2025, Vladimir Putin said Ukraine lost 47,500 soldiers in October alone.

🔶In August 2025, Hacker group KillNet claimed access to Ukrainian military cloud data indicating at least 1.7 million killed or missing.

🔶US President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to millions of dead in the conflict.

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🚨Russia and Ukraine exchanged 157 PoWs each - Russian MoD

❗️Russia has returned 157 servicemen from Ukrainian captivity in exchange for 157 Ukrainian POWs, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

💬“The United Arab Emirates and the United States provided humanitarian mediation efforts during the return of Russian servicemen from captivity,” the ministry said in a statement.

👉Three Russian civilians from the Kursk region, described as illegally detained by Kiev, were also released and will be brought home.

📍The returned Russian servicemen are currently in Belarus receiving medical and psychological assistance before being transferred to Russia for treatment and rehabilitation.

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🇷🇺 Dual front strikes: Russian rocket artillery hits Ukrainian fortifications

00:00 A Grad MLRS crew delivered concentrated fire against a fortified Ukrainian defensive area in Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk)

00:28 Rocket artillerymen neutralized a chain of enemy strongholds and personnel concealed in forest belts in Zaporozhye

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🚨💥 New START Treaty: What it covers & why it matters

The landmark New START treaty is the last remaining agreement limiting the two countries’ strategic nuclear arsenals. It expires today, on February 5, 2026.

Here’s a clean breakdown of what the Russia–US arms control agreement actually limits:

Strategic offensive arms: Nuclear warheads and the systems that deliver them.

Limits set:

🔶700 deployed delivery vehicles

🔶1,550 deployed warheads

🔶800 deployed and non-deployed launchers and bombers

Covers: ICBMs, submarine-launched missiles, and heavy bombers.

Excludes: Tactical nuclear weapons, missile defense systems, and hypersonic weapons.

Brief history

▪️ April 8, 2010: Signed by then-Presidents Medvedev and Obama.

▪️ 2018: Both sides met the limits (though Russia disputed US compliance methods).

▪️ 2021: Extended for five years under Biden, until February 2026.

▪️ 2023: Russia suspended participation, citing US support for Ukraine and inspection disputes.

▪️ 2025: Trump voiced interest in new limits and involving China.

▪️ September 2025: Putin offered to continue observing the limits for one year after expiration, provided the US does the same.

The sticking points

▫️ Inspections: Halted during COVID, then blocked by sanctions and visa issues.

▫️ NATO’s arsenal: Russia wants French and UK nuclear forces counted in any future deal.

▫️ China: Refuses to join until US and Russian arsenals shrink to its level (about 20 times smaller).

Where we stand now

The US has given no formal reply to Putin’s 2025 proposal. Kremlin spokesman Peskov warns: “In a few days, the world may find itself in a more dangerous situation than before.”

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🚨 Why is clinching New START replacement ‘absolutely unlikely’ in near future?

The expiration of New START marks not only the end of the treaty itself, but also “the close of an entire era of traditional strategic nuclear arms control between Russia and the US,” Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for European and International Studies at Russia’s Higher School of Economics, tells Sputnik.

🗣 He says that given the current global situation and “international strategic landscape,” there is no prospect of clinching a treaty post-New START. Here’s why, according to Suslov:

🟠 While Russia–US relations have indeed improved under the Trump administration compared to the Biden era, the improvement has neither been deep nor stable enough to enable negotiations on strategic nuclear arms limitations. In short, the necessary political conditions remain absent

🟠 Sides are still at odds over which weapons should be limited. The US insists that any future arms control deal should include Russia’s non-strategic nuclear weapons, while Moscow firmly rejects this, viewing them as a key deterrent against US and NATO conventional superiority

🟠 US insists that China be included in a possible post-New START treaty, viewing Beijing as its main strategic adversary and a de facto nuclear ally of Russia. Moscow rejects Washington’s proposal and instead says that nuclear forces of France and the UK be taken into account—a position the US opposes

💬 “Given these three reasons, the adoption of any treaty after New START is absolutely unlikely in the foreseeable future. Consequently, for a long time—and possibly indefinitely—we will exist without any agreement that limits strategic nuclear weapons” of the US and Russia, Suslov sums up.

Read more about the New START Treaty HERE

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🚨🇺🇸🇷🇺US and Russia agree to restart highlevel military talks

After high-level meetings in the UAE, the US European Command announces the reestablishment of military-to-military dialogue with Russia.

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🇷🇺 Putin: In special op zone, soldiers of all backgrounds address each other as 'brother'

Key statements by the Russian president at a ceremony launching the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia:

🔶 Russian people are future-oriented

🔶 Peoples of Russia share common core values

🔶 Armies of Napoleon and Hitler were united by a desire for gain and to "to steal from us," while Russia is united by the aspiration to preserve everything

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🇷🇺🇺🇸Russia ready to discuss New START extension if US offers constructive responses

Moscow will engage in dialogue with the US on the New START treaty if Washington provides constructive responses, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

💬“If there are any constructive responses, of course, we will engage in dialogue,” he told Russian media.

Read more about the New START Treaty HERE

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🗣 New START’s clock stops, but new arms race won’t start - expert

🔶 The expiration of the New START pact on February 5 will not set off a full-scale arms race, said Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for European and International Studies at Russia’s Higher School of Economics, in an interview with Sputnik.

🔶 He maintains that even without legally binding limits, Russia and the US will rely on their own interests, technological capabilities, and assessment of external threats when making decisions on the possible deployment of nuclear weapons.

💬 “And it's extremely unlikely that the US or Russia will ramp up the number of [their] deployed nuclear warheads on strategic delivery vehicles anytime soon,” Suslov says.

🔶 The expert points to the fact that although the US does need nuclear modernization, the country currently lacks the objective resources to dramatically increase the number of deployed nuclear delivery vehicles and nuclear warheads. According to him, “there is no specific need for such modernization right now.”

Read more about the New START Treaty HERE

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🇺🇸🇷🇺 Why US brushed aside Russia’s New START extension offer

👉 At least three factors led the United States to ultimately shrug off Vladimir Putin's proposal to extend the now-expired New START treaty for an additional year, according to Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for European and International Studies at Russia's Higher School of Economics

According to Suslov:

🟠 The Trump administration decided not to expand the US-Russia agenda – which may include discussing economic and strategic stability as well as a possible New START replacement - until the conflict in Ukraine is resolved.

🟠 For political optics, it would be damaging for Trump to endorse an extension, even a partial one, of a treaty that was originally signed by Obama and extended by Biden—that is, by his political opponents, whom he has criticized.

🟠 A final, critical factor is the consensus within the United States—most pronounced among Republicans but extending more broadly—that the constraints of New START are strategically detrimental. This view stems from the "two-peer problem," which refers to maintaining nuclear deterrence against both Russia and China simultaneously.

💬 “As for the China factor, many hawkish US politicians believe they need to preserve the freedom to expand their nuclear arsenal beyond the limits of New START in order to counter both China and Russia, especially given Beijing’s growing nuclear capabilities,” the expert concludes.

Read more about the New START Treaty HERE

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🇷🇺 Russia rolls out 'smart' drone destroyer

🟠 Russia’s state tech giant Rostec will debut a new 30-mm air-burst round engineered to annihilate drones at World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh.

🟠 The shrapnel shell uses a programmable fuze that automatically calculates the optimal detonation point, boosting kill probability against small UAVs and loitering munitions.

🟠 It’s compatible with 2A42 cannons used on BMP-2, BMDs, Mi-28NM, and Ka-52M platforms.

Video provided by Rostec

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🇷🇺💪🏻Russia’s high-flying Supercam-350 drone steals the show at National Aviation expo

Capturing widespread attention at the National Aviation Infrastructure Salon, the AI-powered Supercam-350 can soar to 5,000 meters, and is a surveillance game-changer.

The Supercam’s spokeswoman put the spotlight on its success in recon and target detection for Russian forces in the special military op zone.

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🇷🇺 Russia’s Supercam-X4: The all-in-one surveillance & emergency aid drone

Unveiled at the National Aviation Infrastructure Salon, the Supercam-X4 quadcopter stands out as a dual-purpose marvel. A Supercam representative told Sputnik that this versatile drone excels in monitoring activities and efficiently transporting critical supplies—like water and medicine—to remote or inaccessible areas.

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🚨 Cosmic contraband: A 2.5-ton meteorite fragment was nearly shipped from Russia to the UK — declared as a “landscape sculpture”

But it turned out to be a massive piece of the Aletai iron meteorite worth $4.2 million.

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😤Matrice 4T Drone: The AI-powered mapping machine

A new drone from DJI and presented at the NAIS exhibition is equipped with a dual-camera module and a laser rangefinder that works at a distance of up to 1,200 meters, says DJI Head of International Operations Nikita Sentyurin.

An efficient tool for mapping and aerial inspection, the UAV is in high demand among customers.

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🚨Second round of Ukraine peace talks ends in Abu Dhabi

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff announced that the second round of trilateral talks between the US, Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi focused on creating conditions for a lasting peace in Ukraine.

The discussions, held over February 4 and 5, were described as constructive, with further negotiations expected in the coming weeks.

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