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The United States is set to provide Ukraine with $150 million more in munitions for use against Russia, the Associated Press reported.
The US is expected to unveil the aid package on Tuesday, the report said, citing two US officials.
The package will include munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), which are capable of launching long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) rounds, the report said.
It is unclear whether the package will include ATACMS munitions, but it will not include cluster munitions, the report added.
The package will also include 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, anti-armor weapons, small arms and grenades, the report said.
The package comes following a Ukrainian strike on Sevastopol on Sunday, which killed four people and injured 153 others, including children. The Kiev regime used US-supplied ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads.
The US’ involvement in the attack is “beyond any doubt,” Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia emphasized.
Moscow has repeatedly warned NATO countries that by supplying arms to Ukraine, they are both prolonging the conflict and dangerously escalating it.
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US President Joe Biden designated Kenya as a major non-NATO ally of the United States, according to a memorandum published by the White House.
"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 517 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended… I hereby designate Kenya as a Major Non-NATO Ally of the United States," the memorandum said.
◻️ US escalated Ukraine conflict to new level by facilitating terror strike on Sevastopol
◻️ Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador regarding the strike on Sevastopol
◻️ CIA veteran: US and British intel agencies likely behind Dagestan and Sevastopol attacks
◻️ NATO’s enlargement provoked Russia: why grilling Farage for stating the obvious?
◻️ Pentagon's African strategy shift: seeking new partners after Niger and Chad troop withdrawals
◻️ Too little, too late? Cases when US justice system failed
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Trump claims he was tortured in jail
“I want you to remember what they did to me,” Trump said in the fundraising pitch. “They tortured me in the Fulton County Jail and took my mugshot.”
NATO’s enlargement provoked Russia: why grilling Farage for stating the obvious?
British mainstream media and politicians criticized Nigel Farage for claiming NATO provoked Russia by expanding towards its borders from 1994 to 2022. Farage, however, is not alone in this view.
◻️ Farage’s critics compare his view to ousted Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who in 2014 saw Russia’s reunification with Crimea as a move “protecting against NATO’s attempt to encircle Russia... one of the big threats of our time.” Corbyn was also labeled as pro-Russian.
◻️ Current CIA director William Burns, when he was the US ambassador in Moscow in 2008, wrote to then-national security advisor Condoleeza Rice that “Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). In more than two and a half years of conversations with key Russian players, from knuckle-draggers in the dark recesses of the Kremlin to Putin’s sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests.”
Their correspondence was recently declassified and partially published by various think tanks and The Conversation.
◻️ Hungarian PM Viktor Orban told Tucker Carlson that NATO expansion should stop, preferably on Ukraine’s western border, “because we can’t afford it – to keep the long Ukraine-Russia border under NATO’s control.” Orban explained that “would mean an immediate danger for all of us – even for Washington.”
◻️ NATO’s outgoing Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg admitted that Russia’s protests against NATO expansion were willfully ignored.
“The background was that President Putin declared in the autumn of 2021, and actually sent a draft treaty that they wanted NATO to sign, to promise no more NATO enlargement,” Stoltenberg said. “That was what he sent us. And it was a pre-condition for not invade Ukraine. Of course we didn't sign that. He [Putin] went to war to prevent NATO, more NATO, close to his borders.”
Tragic accident involving Viktor Orban's convoy: one policeman dead, another seriously injured in Stuttgart crash
A 61-year-old police officer passed away on Monday, and another was left seriously injured following a traffic collision while escorting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban after attending his country's Euro 2024 match against Scotland.
The motorcycle squad from the Stuttgart traffic police was escorting Orban to the airport when a 69-year-old BMW driver, unaware that an intersection was closed for the escort, attempted to make a turn and collided with the male officer on his motorcycle.
The collision caused the officer's motorcycle to strike the motorcycle of a 27-year-old colleague. The 61-year-old officer succumbed to his injuries in the hospital, while the younger officer sustained serious injuries.
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Key points from Russian FM Lavrov's statements in Belarus after talks with his Belarusian counterpart Makei:
◻️ The overwhelming majority of Western actions since the start of the conflict in Ukraine are framed within an ultimatum directed at Russia across all fronts.
◻️ Moscow is not engaged in any "underground" negotiations regarding the situation in Ukraine; there have been no appeals to Russia regarding the second conference on settlement.
◻️ Putin's peaceful proposals are the result of a sober and constructive analysis of the current realities.
◻️ Moscow and Minsk will strengthen cooperation in the military-technical sphere.
◻️ The initiative for a Eurasian security system concerns all countries on the continent.
◻️ Russia is doing everything to prevent the involvement of an increasing number of countries in the Middle East conflict.
◻️ Moscow will assist Minsk in opening a Belarusian embassy branch in Russia's Voronezh and Belarusian consulates general in several Russian cities.
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❗️"All that the West has been doing since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis is in line with an ultimatum directed towards Russia on all fronts," stated Lavrov, adding that Putin's peaceful proposals regarding Ukraine result from a sober and constructive analysis of the current realities.
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❗️The involvement of the US in the terrorist attack in Sevastopol is beyond doubt, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated.
The Minister emphasized that the weapons supplied to Kiev from the US cannot be used without direct involvement of American military personnel and their satellite capabilities.
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The Pentagon is looking for new partners in Africa to deploy troops that were based in Niger and Chad but have been withdrawn from there.
Charles Brown, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is now in Botswana, saying Monday that a number of countries on the continent are open to working with the US.
According to a Pentagon source quoted by the Associated Press, the U.S. will have to adapt to the stance adopted by African countries "and not impose external Western ideals."
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💬 The EU decision to send the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine bypassing Hungary's opinion is a shameless violation of red lines, the country's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto has said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said earlier that EU legislation allegedly allows the bloc to make such a decision even if some members of the association do not agree with it.
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‘Worst five years in the history of the EU’: Orban says von der Leyen must go
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called for Ursula von der Leyen to be replaced as president of the European Commission (EC), describing the past five years as the worst in the EU's history.
When asked why he was preventing von der Leyen from being appointed to a second term, Orban replied: "Due to her lack of efficiency. The green transformation has been a complete failure of management, and the migration package does not solve the problem."
"Europe needs more effective leadership. There are plenty of talented politicians who can provide it," the prime minister said in an interview with German media group Funke.
"The last five years have probably been the worst five years in the history of the EU. The achievements of the European Commission and the Brussels elite are weak," Orban maintained.
Yemeni Houthis claim to have successfully hit USS aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Ansar Allah movement launched a missile attack on the aircraft carrier Dwight Eisenhower in the Red Sea, military representative of the Houthis Yahya Saria stated.
US officials have not confirmed the information. This is not the first time the Houthis claimed to have hit a US aircraft carrier. Previously, several instances were denied by US CENTCOM.
Earlier, NBC reported that a commercial ship, which was passing by the American Dwight Eisenhower, saw explosions near the vessel, likely the latest attack by the Houthis. As a result, the US officials reportedly ordered the ship to return home.
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Outpost to wage war? Сomprehending US military presence on Guam
A United States Air Force (USAF) B-1B Lancer bomber, which recently touched down on Guam "to support routine missions," is the latest arrival of strategic American bombers at the western Pacific Ocean island - an unincorporated organized territory of the US.
What’s known about the US military presence on Guam and how many bases are there in the area?
▪️The US Army’s boots on the ground on Guam date back to the beginning of the last century, with military installations starting to appear during World War II.
▪️America’s growing military presence on the island “has been at least a decade in the making. It began in 2012 after Japan asked the US to move some troops out of Okinawa and gained traction in 2018 after the US national defense strategy called China a pre-eminent threat to US interests and security in the region,” according to the World Street Journal.
▪️The US Department of Defense (DoD) reportedly owns about 25% of Guam's land, where roughly 10,000 American soldiers are currently stationed.
▪️The Pentagon plans to spend a whopping $7.3 billion on military construction on the island between 2024 and 2028, amid reports that the DoD seeks to create “an air and missile defense architecture for Guam” to grapple with an alleged Chinese threat.
▪️Already, there are 12 military installations in Guam, which serve as strategic locations for America’s defense and support operations in the Indo-Pacific region.
▪️In particular, Guam is home to such strategic US bases as the Andersen Air Force Base, (the island’s largest military installation), Naval Base Guam, the Guam Army National Guard and the recently formed Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz.
▪️The USAF earlier this year proposed to upgrade the Andersen Air Force Base to host up to 12 Singaporean F-15 fighters for training.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian meanwhile warned against turning Guam into a US “outpost for waging war”, adding that the island’s security “depends on what role the United States wants Guam to play.”
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America is risking falling on its own sword — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The US presidential candidate slammed the US for striving to escalate the Ukraine conflict:
"Escalation has a terrible logic all its own. We should have learned this in Vietnam... It was the Vietnam war which changed global perceptions of the moral leadership of the United States. It will be Ukraine that cements those perceptions in the minds of the targeted and their many allies," he wrote on X.
The reaction of the UN secretariat to Ukraine's terrorist attack on Russia’s Sevastopol reflects their double standards, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said.
“This is an illustration of bias and hypocrisy in the UN Secretariat trying to shy away from calling a spade a spade. The crimes committed by the Kiev regime are invisible and NATO members are participants in these crimes," Nebenzia told reporters.
Kenyan Police Head to Haiti Amid Controversy Over Deployment
Kenyan police officers are departing for Haiti on Monday to lead a multinational force combatting escalating violence from powerful gangs, which has contributed to political upheaval.
President William Ruto's administration is defying a court ruling that deems the deployment unconstitutional, sparking criticism over the police force's checkered history of alleged abuses.
The initial deployment of 400 officers marks the beginning of Kenya's commitment to send 1,000 personnel for the United Nations-led mission in Haiti.
While the US has pledged $300 million to support the mission, President Biden has expressed concerns that American troop presence in Haiti could lead to misinterpretations and raise significant questions.
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CIA veteran: US and British intel agencies likely behind Dagestan and Sevastopol attacks
💬 "The likelihood that there was a CIA and/or MI6 involvement is very high," Larry Johnson, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official, told Sputnik. "I don't think it's just a coincidence that you had the attack in Sevastopol coincide with this series of attacks in Dagestan. At a minimum, it would have been a CIA incitement. But you can't rule out that there was actual contact training."
On June 23 unknown gunmen opened fire on two churches, a synagogue and a traffic police post in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala in Russia's Dagestan Republic. The attacks claimed the lives of 20 people, including 15 policemen, civilians and an Orthodox priest.
It coincided with the Ukrainian military strike using US-made ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads on Sevastopol earlier in the day, which killed four and injured 153 civilians.
"The West, in concert with Ukraine… [has] decided to shift its focus to trying to promote terrorist attacks in Russia and to do a variety of acts, everything from the missile strikes to these kinds of attacks on religious institutions and security forces, with the goal being to create domestic unrest," Johnson said.
🇷🇸 Serbian President Vucic addressed accusations of military transactions with Ukraine
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic dismissed claims made by the Financial Times that Serbia is allegedly selling weapons to Ukraine, stating that the weapons were sold to other countries with which Serbia has contracts.
"I want to point out the tricks used by foreign services and certain politicians. Every day I am accused of being Putin's spy, puppet... And then they say: Vucic didn't sell weapons to Ukraine, but to Spain for example, and yet that weapon ended up in Ukraine."
"We ensure the most normal business for our defense industry," Vucic said.
"We do not export weapons and equipment to protect ourselves from the fact that our brothers are not killed with Serbian weapons."
Turkiye is eagerly awaiting a visit from Putin, Erdogan's proposal is openly on the table and will be discussed, Turkiye's Foreign Minister announced.
At the same time, Kremlin spokesman Peskov confirmed to Sputnik that the possibility of a meeting between Putin and Erdogan in Astana is being worked out.
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❗️Zelensky announced that he is dismissing the commander of the Joint Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Yuriy Sodol.
"I decided to replace the commander of the United Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Yuriy Sodol, with Brigadier General Andrii Gnatov," he said on his telegram channel.
US escalated Ukraine conflict to new level by facilitating terror strike on Sevastopol
💬 "The US is very complicit in this," Earl Rasmussen, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel and international consultant, told Sputnik, commenting on Ukraine's recent terror attack on Sevastopol, noting that it was "Highly likely the Global Hawk [US surveillance drone] was providing reconnaissance, targeting information and potentially guidance information for the ATACMS itself."
Washington's involvement in the Ukrainian missile strike on Sevastopol is undeniable, given that it was conducted with the US-made ATACMS missiles programmed by American specialists, while a US RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drone was operating near Crimea that day, Russia's Foreign Ministry stated on June 24.
The military expert emphasized that Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia cannot affect the balance of power in the zone of special military operation.
He believes that the strike on Sevastopol was aimed at "the civilian population to garner some type of concern there, to provoke some type of uprising or dissatisfaction with the government."
The expert expects Washington will play down the recent slaughter of civilians in Sevastopol as ‘collateral damage’.
"It definitely looks like the US has kind of escalated this one more level," he said. "And the role that it's playing in not just authorizing the use for long range, but actually playing a role in facilitating the execution of these long range targeting efforts into Russia,” Rasmussen said, warning that the attack “drags the US very, very much right into the war."
🎥🎥 Russian FM Sergey Lavrov Holds Presser With His Belarusian Counterpart
📹 Watch the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website for more details
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⚖️ Too little, too late? Cases when US justice system failed
Kerry Max Cook, a man wrongfully accused of murder who spent 20 years on death row, has been officially exonerated by a Texas court. It reversed the verdict stating misconduct by police and prosecutors.
Cook’s case is a drop in the ocean when it comes to stories of US justice gone wrong.
As of February 2024, the National Registry of Exonerations recorded 3,478 exonerations in the US from 1989 through the end of 2023.
People were exonerated thanks to DNA testing, scrutiny of actions by police, prosecutors, and public defenders.
Wrongful convictions and/or death penalty resulted from:
◻️ Police misconduct such as false accusations, fabricating or concealing evidence, forensic fraud, witness tampering, mistaken identifications, false confessions, perjury.
◻️ Defendants' representation by poorly trained and underfunded court-appointed counsel.
◻️ Lack of meaningful judicial process and review.
◻️ General arbitrariness, racial disparities, high costs, etc.
Here are just some cases when the US justice system failed.
◾️ Convicted of murder, Glynn Simmons survived the longest known wrongful sentence in the US - 48 years behind bars. After it was found that prosecutors had failed to turn over crucial evidence to his defense lawyers, he was exonerated in Oklahoma in 2023.
◾️ Carey Dean Moore is believed to have served the longest time - 38 years on death row – before his execution in 2018.
Some received capital punishment despite being ‘possibly innocent.’
➖ Larry Swearingen was sentenced to death in 2000 over a murder charge and was executed in Texas in 2019 despite ‘flawed’ forensic evidence.
➖ Nathaniel Woods, convicted in Alabama in 2005 for the killings of police officers, was executed in 2020. It was claimed his case was steeped in official misconduct, coerced informant testimony, and racial discrimination.
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📹 A Palestinian has recorded a video message asking for an end to the airborne dumping of humanitarian aid on the Gaza Strip.
"You are killing us," he said.
❗️ The death toll from the terrorist attacks in Russia's Dagestan has risen to 20, the head of the region's Health Ministry said
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💬 The use of cluster munitions in civilian areas is incompatible with international law, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights told Sputnik after the attack on Sevastopol.
Earlier, Ukraine struck the Russian city of Sevastopol using US-supplied ATACMS armed with cluster munitions.
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Triple gold triumph for Russian canoe and kayak teams at BRICS Games
The BRICS Games are taking place from June 12 to 24 in Kazan. Approximately 5,000 athletes from over 90 countries are participating, competing for 387 sets of medals.
The winners of the competitions were:
🥇Dmitry Sharapov, Mikhail Pavlov, Pavel Skryabin, and Alexander Bots (canoe four, 500 meters);
🥇Anastasia Panchenko and Ivan Yepishin (kayak double, mixed, 200 meters);
🥇Ekaterina Shlyapnikova and Sergey Svinaryov (canoe double, mixed, 200 meters).
Silver medalists included:
🥈Vitaly Yershov, Maxim Spesivtsev, Viktor Gavrilenko, and Alexander Sergeyev (kayak four, 500 meters);
🥈Alina Kovaleva and Dmitry Sharov (canoe double, mixed, 200 meters);
🥈Maxim Spesivtsev (kayak single, 5,000 meters);
🥈Ilya Pervukhin (canoe single, 5,000 meters);
🥈Alina Kovaleva (kayak single, 5,000 meters).
Third-place finishes were achieved by:
🥉Andrey Laskorunsky, Dmitry Mamtsov, Ivan Yepishin, and Vasily Pogreban (kayak four, 500 meters);
🥉Kristina Kovnir, Natalia Podolskaya, Elena Anyushina, and Kira Stepanova (kayak four, 500 meters);
🥉Sofia Shtil and Mikhail Pavlov (canoe double, mixed, 200 meters);
🥉Vitaly Yershov (kayak single, 5,000 meters);
🥉Elena Mironchenko (kayak single, 5,000 meters);
🥉Ivan Dmitriev (canoe single, 5,000 meters).
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🇫🇷🇷🇺 A Frenchman fighting alongside Russian forces sends a message to his compatriots
French people who join the ranks of forces loyal to Kiev for ideological reasons "do not necessarily analyze the situation. They do not try to understand who is fighting, why and how it has come to this", Sergueï Munier, commander of the Normandie-Niémen unit in the Donbass, told Sputnik Africa.
"They see that there are nationalists in Ukraine, they see symbols of the Third Reich. They say that is fine, that is all they need," he explains.
"Is he really serving France? Does going to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians or Russians, whatever you call them, really serve France?" he asks.
"Stop the senseless war and rearmament" — Action against NATO and arms supplies to Ukraine in Germany
In the German city of Kaiserslautern, people took to the streets to protest NATO and weapons supplies to Ukraine, bringing posters saying "Peace without NATO", "Peace with Russia instead of the road to World War III!" "Stop Ramstein," and "No more fascism — no more war".
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