Sputnik International

🇱🇧 Over 1,000 projectiles fired in southern Lebanon in one week The UN peacekeeping force recorded 1,030 projectiles fired in southern Lebanon between August 21 and 27 — an average of 147 per day — despite what it called "lower levels of violence than earlier this year." Since March 2, Lebanon's Health Ministry has reported 4,352 deaths and 12,318 injuries, with two more deaths and eight injuries in the past 48 hours. 📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣🇱🇧 Lebanese government gave enemy everything it wanted — Hezbollah chief Secretary General Naim Qassem gave a speech criticizing the Lebanese authorities for surrendering without compensation and rejecting the framework agreement with Israel.

💬 "The Lebanese Authority has chosen a path that does not befit it or Lebanon and has given the enemy everything it wants. Say no once, and show that you have something to contribute for the future."

According to Qassem, Hezbollah thwarted the "Greater Israel" project by preventing the IDF from reaching Beirut and capturing additional Lebanese territory.

"The enemy does not dare to build settlements in southern Lebanon because the resistance makes the situation unstable for them," he added.

He dismissed Israeli tactics and insisted that the resistance is the only force preventing Israel from consolidating control. 📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇳 Indian Navy gets first domestically-built multi-purpose ‘Samarthak’ vessel The ship is designed as a versatile trial and evaluation platform and is capable of performing maritime reconnaissance, offshore patrolling and disaster relief operations, Indian media report. Seventy-five per cent of the ships details are created in India, according to India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) vision — a plan unveiled in 2020 to make the country economically independent. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 New Russian reactor produces clean water, power and hydrogen in one unit The modular system uses supercritical CO₂ for operation without relying on sunlight or wind. 🔶 It operates autonomously and is not affected by weather conditions 🔶 Can desalinate seawater, solving the water shortage issue for hydrogen production 🔶 Estimated hydrogen cost: $2.93/kg — half of the current $6/kg market price 🔶 Compact design requires minimal land and offers stable and predictable energy prices This system could make green hydrogen viable and scalable for any region. The image is AI-generated 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸 How Ukraine weaponizes drones to terrorize civilians in Russia 🔸 Putin to hold talks with Xi at SCO summit sidelines on August 31   🔸 Russia’s Starlink killer shuts it out of the sky to leave Ukraine fighting blind – expert   🔸 Putin: over 30 countries worldwide show interest in cooperation with Russia 🔸 Russia hits Flamingo missile part factory in Kiev region – MoD 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Massive mushroom cloud spotted over Kiev region Local media report Russian Geran-4 drone strikes on an ammunition depot. Footage from social media 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇨🇳🇸🇦 Chinese AI-powered Micbot heavy-duty robots seek to enter Saudi Arabian oil market Micbot's quadrupeds are built for extreme and hazardous environments to keep workers out of harm's way. 🟠 The robots are explosion-proof, anti-magnetic, waterproof, and freeze-resistant 🟠 They can carry gas sensors and thermal imagers for autonomous leak and fire detection 🟠 Saudi oil firm Aramco has visited Micbot's R&D center four times since February 🟠 First shipments are expected in September or October This deal could open the door for Chinese industrial robotics across the Middle East. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Ukrainian port paralysis enters second month as Russia ramps up strikes - report While the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny have not been officially closed, major shipping companies have in practice ceased dispatching vessels to them, Le Monde reports.   The paralysis is throwing countless firms into logistical havoc while bleeding vital revenue from Ukraine's fragile, war-battered economy. Since late July, Russian forces have intensified their offensive on Ukraine’s Black Sea infrastructure, hammering logistics hubs and commercial shipping with relentless strikes aimed at severing military supply lines. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry warned that all vessels supplying Ukraine’s military or acting in its interests would be treated as legitimate targets. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💬 Putin takes new Russian auto for test drive The Russian president personally drove the new Volga K50 crossover SUV. The new automobile is easy to handle, Putin noted, adding that one can operate it using just “one finger.” 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇪🇸 People burn tents in Spanish Ceuta in protest against migrant invasion A group on a beach can be heard saying "I am Spanish" as shelters are burning in the background. In late July, Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa bordering Morocco, saw a massive influx of migrants. Spain’s Interior Ministry said around 72,000 people entered from Morocco, while Ceuta authorities said about 10,000 remained in the city as of August 11. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Putin to hold talks with Xi at SCO summit sidelines on August 31 – Kremlin All Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member-state leaders will attend the summit, along with the leaders of Armenia and Turkey. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold nine bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit that will taker place in Kyrgyzstan, including with Indian PM Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, as well as with the presidents of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov detailed. After the SCO summit, Putin will travel to Russia's Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), where he will address the plenary session on September 3. 🟠 The president of Indonesia will be the main guest at the forum — Putin will also hold talks with him 🟠 The plenary session will also feature the prime minister of Mongolia, the vice president of Myanmar, and China's first vice premier 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Russia’s Starlink killer shuts it out of the sky to leave Ukraine fighting blind - expert Russia’s Volna Kupol Garant is most likely the electronic warfare system that has Ukrainian military officials openly acknowledging a decline in Starlink's effectiveness, military expert and air defense historian Yuri Knutov tells Sputnik. Unlike conventional jamming focused on terminals, the system targets the frequencies used by Starlink satellites - the backbone of Ukrainian command and control, he says. The system boasts lethal targeting precision: 🟧 consists of six trailers carrying twelve parabolic antennas 🟧 radiates powerful interference across the 14-14.5 GHz band - the precise frequency range in which Starlink satellites receive signals 🟧 divided into eight 62.5 MHz sub-bands, each antenna targets its own channel, rendering the satellite unable to pick up signals from user terminals 🟧 a single complex creates a suppression zone of roughly twenty square kilometers, effectively a 4 by 5-kilometer rectangle of digital silence

💬 “The Starlink signal can be completely jammed - or distorted badly enough to make it unusable also for communications,” says the historian.

He clarifies: 🔸 suppressing communications isolates Ukrainian units from their command, preventing real-time coordination and requests for reserves or ammunition 🔸 Ukraine’s long-range artillery targeting, assault-group maneuvers and AI-enabled drones such as the “Hornets”, which use Starlink to transmit battle-damage assessment data, all rely on the network

💬 “Without Starlink, Ukraine’s battlefront would collapse," he argues, given that Russia’s forces are advancing on virtually every axis.

According to the analyst, the new system can operate effectively, protecting Russia’s reserves, depots, headquarters and command posts from enemy unmanned aviation. Now that Russia has reportedly launched serial production of this EW system, “we have shut Starlink out of the sky wherever we need to,” sums up the expert. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russia hits Flamingo missile part factory in Kiev region - MoD

🗣 "The target was the industrial enterprise Fire Point LLC, which produced and stored chemical substances required for the manufacture of solid-fuel boosters and warheads for Flamingo long-range cruise missiles," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇷🔍 Iranian researchers develop light-based cancer-killing smart gel with 80% effectiveness The smart hydrogel combines chemotherapy and light-based therapy to target breast tumors with precision. 🟠 The gel is made from chitosan, a natural biocompatible material 🟠 It releases drugs in a controlled manner and activates when exposed to laser light 🟠 It generates reactive oxygen species that damage cancer cells specifically 🟠 Tests showed it eliminated over 80% of breast cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact This approach could offer a less toxic, more targeted alternative to conventional breast cancer treatments. The image is AI-generated 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Putin: over 30 countries worldwide show interest in cooperation with Russia

🔊 "They are showing growing interest in our advanced practices and domestic expertise," said Russian President Vladimir Putin.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🪖 How Ukraine weaponizes drones to terrorize civilians in Russia Ukraine’s military continues to embrace a sinister and systematic pattern of warfare explicitly targeting the defenseless. Fresh testimonies and official reports from Russian regions paint a damning picture of how drones and artificial intelligence are used by the Ukraine regime to hunt civilians, punish evacuees, and terrorize urban populations. 👉 In a chilling account, Yevgenia Kirichenko, a resident of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, described a harrowing evacuation during which a Ukrainian drone stalked her family. 📍 The woman signaled to the drone operator that they were carrying an infant, yet the drone attacked 📍The family survived only by diving under a tree as the explosive detonated inches away, raining shrapnel from above 👉 The targeted nature of these strikes was further evidenced by a high-tech assault on residential infrastructure in Sevastopol, which Russian authorities have condemned as an intentional act of urban terrorism 📍 UAVs struck a five-story apartment building and two separate kindergarten facilities in the city 📍 Casualties were miraculously avoided, yet the intent was clearly lethal, Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev confirmed 📍 The drones were loaded with metal ball bearings - a classic anti-personnel modification designed to maximize human injury over structural damage Nonetheless, the residential building was heavily damaged, over a dozen vehicles were destroyed, and the blast wave caused extensive damage to the children's facilities. Two civilians were wounded, including an elderly woman reportedly suffering a closed head injury and a man struck by shrapnel. 👉 AI algorithms are being deliberately integrated into this campaign of atrocity, specifically programmed to identify and destroy civilian transport. 📍 Ukrainian military programmers are coding AI to specifically target passenger buses, says Russia's Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik 📍Since the beginning of the year, nearly 170 passenger buses have come under fire in Russian regions 📍This calculated strategy has resulted in the deaths of 43 people, including three children, and has left 329 individuals wounded, 17 of whom are minors, Miroshnik said. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Ukrainian drone deliberately struck woman holding her baby during evacuation Evgenia Kirichenko, a resident of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People's Republic, told Sputnik that a Ukrainian drone intentionally targeted her as she tried to evacuate the area with her infant. She and her family narrowly escaped with their lives. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇷🇺 Russia successfully launches intercontinental ballistic missile, training units arrive at designated area of Kura test site - MoD 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸 US Navy pays billions for submarines that don’t sail The US Navy wants more submarines and a bigger fleet, with President Donald Trump even floating a return to WW2-style aircraft carriers costing up to $22 billion apiece. But the mundane matter of maintenance is already eating into the navy’s existing fleet - and the failed war on Iran has exposed how little slack remains, shows a new Government Accountability Office study. 🟠 15,000+ operational days lost to attack-submarine maintenance delays over the past decade 🟠 $3.4 billion spent sustaining crews and submarines that provided no operational capability 🟠 Los Angeles-class subs cost almost $220,000 per day while idle 🟠 Virginia-class subs exceed $237,000 per day 🟠 One submarine, USS Pasadena, has been sitting around waiting for decommissioning since January 2025 - with a shipyard slot not expected until November 2028 The GAO warns that "inactive idle time for submarines is projected to worsen," and between 2026 and 2030, the navy will be stuck with 15 submarines and 14,000 days of inactive idle time, at an estimated cost of $3.1 billion for zero operational output. 👉 Furthermore, infrastructure is crumbling. Maintenance depends on four public shipyards - Portsmouth, Norfolk, Puget Sound, Pearl Harbor - plus two private yards. All suffer from aging facilities, chronic labor shortages, and material constraints. Meanwhile, the navy's proposed "solutions" fall short: defueling pier-side (no feasibility study done), using floating dry docks (no technical analysis), or transferring crews (blocked by the same lack of capacity). 📍 The problems reported for attack subs reverberate across other parts of the fleet, according to GAO, as part of systemic rot. The image is AI-generated 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇧🇬🇨🇿 Bulgaria and Czech Republic among Ukraine’s key arms and diesel suppliers — expert Bulgaria provides Ukraine with armored combat vehicles, artillery systems, 122 mm and 152 mm shells, ammunition for BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket systems, mortars, and small arms, Russian Academy of Sciences analyst Nikolai Plotnikov tells Sputnik. According to some data, Bulgaria also covers up to 40% of Ukraine’s diesel fuel needs, he adds. Another significant supplier is the Czech Republic, which has modernized around 800 T-72 tanks for Ukraine and is an important part of the so-called ammunition coalition, the expert notes. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt