Russian forces destroy about 500 Ukrainian troops, mercenaries in Donetsk advance

©Russian Defence Ministry/TASS

Russian forces destroyed roughly 500 Ukrainian troops and mercenaries in their advance in the Donetsk area over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Thursday.

"The enemy’s losses in that direction in the past 24 hours amounted to 470 Ukrainian personnel and mercenaries, three tanks, five infantry fighting vehicles, six armored combat vehicles, four motor vehicles, a Grad multiple rocket launcher, and also a Msta-B howitzer," the spokesman said.

In the area of the settlement of Vodyanoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, an ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army’s 72nd mechanized brigade was obliterated, the general added.

Russian assault teams keep destroying Ukrainian troops in western Artyomovsk

Russian assault teams continue actively destroying enemy forces in the western part of Artyomovsk, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Donetsk direction, assault teams continued active operations to destroy the enemy in the western part of the city of Artyomovsk," the spokesman said.

Airborne Force units and artillery of the southern battlegroup provided support to the assault teams and thwarted the enemy’s attempts to counter-attack on the flanks and redeploy reserves, the general added.

"During the last 24-hour period, operational/tactical aircraft flew 10 sorties to support the operations of the assault teams. Artillery of the southern battlegroup accomplished 64 firing objectives," Konashenkov reported.

In addition, the strikes inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army units in the area of the settlements of Bogdanovka, Krasnoye and Stupochki in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the spokesman said.

Russian forces neutralize three Ukrainian subversive groups in Kupyansk area

Russian forces struck Ukrainian army units in the Kupyansk area and neutralized three enemy subversive groups over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, assault and army aviation aircraft and artillery of the western battlegroup delivered strikes against enemy units. The activity of three Ukrainian subversive/reconnaissance groups was thwarted," the spokesman said.

The enemy lost "as many as 50 Ukrainian personnel, two armored combat vehicles and two pickup trucks" in that area in the past 24 hours, the general specified.

Russian forces eliminate over 60 Ukrainian troops, two tanks in Krasny Liman area

Russian combat aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems destroyed over 60 Ukrainian troops and two tanks in the Krasny Liman area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Krasny Liman direction, aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems from the battlegroup Center struck the enemy units near the settlements of Yampol, Seversk Maliy and Serebryanka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

Over 60 Ukrainian personnel, two tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, a Gvozdika self-propelled artillery gun and a D-30 howitzer were destroyed in that area in the past 24 hours, the general specified.

Russian forces strike Ukrainian army’s headquarters in DPR

Russian forces struck the joint headquarters of the Ukrainian combat group Bakhmut near Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the area of the settlement of Konstantinovka, the joint headquarters of the Ukrainian army’s combat group Bakhmut was struck. In addition, in areas near the settlements of Terny and Tonenkoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, three command/observation posts of the battalions from the Ukrainian army’s 25th air assault and 116th territorial defense brigades were struck," the spokesman said.

During the last 24-hour period, operational/tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 86 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 127 areas, the general added.

Russian forces destroy 30 Ukrainian troops in southern Donetsk, Zaporozhye areas

Russian forces destroyed about 30 Ukrainian troops in the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

In the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, aircraft and artillery of the battlegroup East struck the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Ugledar, Velikaya Novosyolka and Shevchenko in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the spokesman specified.

"As many as 30 Ukrainian troops, an armored combat vehicle, and also a D-30 howitzer were destroyed in those directions in the past 24 hours," the general reported.

Russian forces neutralize Ukrainian saboteurs in southern Donetsk, Zaporozhye areas

Russian forces neutralized two Ukrainian subversive groups in the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, the activity of two Ukrainian subversive/reconnaissance groups was thwarted near the settlements of Pavlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Malinovka in the Zaporozhye Region," the spokesman said.

Russian forces eliminate over 15 Ukrainian troops, US-made M777 howitzer in Kherson area

Russian forces eliminated over 15 Ukrainian troops and a US-made M777 artillery system in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kherson direction, over 15 Ukrainian personnel, two motor vehicles, a US-made M777 artillery system, and also two Msta-B howitzers were destroyed in the past 24 hours as a result of damage inflicted by firepower," the spokesman said.

Russian air defenses down three Ukrainian combat drones in past day

Russian air defense forces shot down three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Vladimirovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Kremennaya and Kuzemovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 411 Ukrainian warplanes, 228 helicopters, 3,779 unmanned aerial vehicles, 415 surface-to-air missile systems, 8,757 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,090 multiple rocket launchers, 4,626 field artillery guns and mortars and 9,631 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.

For one Palestinian family in Islamabad, iftar meals blend Arabic and Pakistani cuisines

During Ramadan, Basma Jihad, a Palestinian mother of four, spends most of her evenings in the kitchen of her home, preparing Arabic dishes along with staples or Pakistani iftar spreads.

Jihad’s family have been living in the Pakistani capital for the past 29 years, but still love to cook their favorite Palestinian and Middle Eastern dishes, such as musakhan, maqluba, mansaf, ouzi and qidreh, for iftar to maintain a connection to their cultural heritage while living far from their homeland.

“In Ramadan, we mix in between Pakistan culture and our culture,” she told Arab News, as she cooked katayef, an Arabic dessert commonly served during Ramadan, and poured vegetable oil in a pan to fry samosas, a South Asian pastry with a spiced filling.

“I like iftar in Pakistan, it is different from ours.”

Jihad said that almost all Pakistanis break their fast with dates and starters, such as fruit chaat, pakoras and samosas, while Palestinians immediately start with the main course.

Though Jihad intends to stay in Pakistan with her family due to due increasing tension over Israeli attacks on Palestinians, they periodically visit Palestine, and remain in touch with their relatives and friends by phone.

“If they (my children) go there, I am always afraid. Maybe my son will do something without thinking, and they (Israeli forces) will kill him or put him, in jail. This is one reason I am staying here,” she told Arab News.

“Islamabad is our home now. We really love Pakistan,” she said.

Jihad and her family visit Hebron, her hometown in Palestine, every two or three years.

She returns to Islamabad with special spices and cooking ingredients to prepare Arabic cuisine. These include sumac, a spice used in the national dish of Palestine known as musakhan, as well as bulgur, jameed (dry yogurt) and green olives.

“We visit our country and when we come (back), we put all these things in our luggage,” she said.

Jihad’s rented house in Islamabad is decorated with a Palestinian flag and images of Al-Aqsa Mosque to keep in touch with her homeland.

Her two sons and two daughters were born in Islamabad after she moved there with her husband Jihad Muhammad following their marriage.

One of her daughters, Maryam, a secretary to the Omani ambassador to Islamabad, said that she loves Pakistani food as “it is a mix of tastes which we don’t have in our culture.”

She added: “We have only one taste in the food, but in Pakistani culture in each spoon you have a very different taste of the food.”

Maryam said that biryani and white chicken handi are her favorite Pakistani dishes. She said that her family love to have Pakistani food on the iftar table because of the variety of flavors.

Recalling her visit to Palestine in February last year, Maryam said that she took Pakistani culture there by gifting local handicrafts, spices and shawls to her relatives and friends.

Maryam said that she hopes her cousins and friends from Palestine can spend a Ramadan in Pakistan to experience “the difference of taste” in the South Asian country.

IKEA plans new US stores in $2.2 billion push to challenge Walmart and Wayfair

The company's logo is seen outside of an IKEA Group store in Saint-Herblain near Nantes, France, March 22, 2021. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

IKEA stores owner Ingka Group will spend 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) expanding in the United States over the next three years, its biggest investment in a single country, in a bet to win American customers as other big-box retailers close stores.

Sweden's IKEA, which opened its first U.S. store in 1985, near Philadelphia, is seeking to win market share in the U.S. as cash-strapped consumers look for more affordable products.

"It is in all the states across the U.S. where we see opportunities, but I would say in particular the South, where we see big demand that we have not so far been able to respond to," said Tolga Öncü, head of IKEA Retail at Ingka Group.

Ingka plans to open eight new big IKEA stores and nine smaller stores as well as upgrading existing stores in the U.S., which is IKEA's second-biggest market by sales after Germany, the company said on Thursday.

Öncü said specific locations for the stores had not yet been decided. The new stores, including nine "plan and order points", smaller stores where customers can get advice and order furniture for delivery, are in addition to already planned IKEA openings in downtown San Francisco and in Arlington, Virginia.

As consumers spend less, big-box retailers Walmart and online furniture retailer Wayfair are cutting jobs and shutting stores, creating an opportunity for IKEA to pick up cheaper store and warehouse space. The IKEA expansion will create 2,000 jobs, Ingka said.

"There are locations available that have not been available before, there are opportunities for us to speed up investments in acquiring land and existing locations to bring IKEA closer to the many people," Öncü said.

The planned stores would increase the number of IKEA locations in the U.S. by around a third, from 51 stores and two "plan and order points". Ingka Group had revenues of 5.5 billion euros ($6.03 billion) in the U.S. in its 2022 financial year.

($1 = 0.9130 euros)

($1 = 0.9126 euros)

Elon Musk's SpaceX set to launch first test flight of Starship rocket system

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People wait before the planned brief uncrewed test flight of SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket from the company's Boca Chica launchpad near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

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A view of the SpaceX Starship on its Boca Chica launchpad following a postponement in its launch date due to a frozen valve, after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted a long-awaited license allowing Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch the rocket to orbit for the first time, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 18, 2023. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

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SpaceX workers are shown next to the company's Starship near their Boca Chica launchpad before launch on an orbital test mission, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 19, 2023. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

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Crews prepare for the launch of the SpaceX Starship, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S., April 19, 2023. REUTERS/Steve Nesius

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US Has Stopped Flying Global Hawk Surveillance Drones Over Black Sea - Flight Tracker

The US has completely stopped flying its Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft over the Black Sea, following the incident with a US MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Black Sea waters off Russia's Crimea, data from the Flightradar24 tracker website and analyzed by Sputnik, has shown.

In mid-March, the US government alleged that a Russian fighter jet dumped fuel on and collided with a US MQ-9 Reaper drone flying near Crimea, eventually leading its operators to bring the unmanned aircraft into the Black Sea. Russia denied attacking the drone in any way, saying the drone operators' poor and sharp maneuvering resulted in the aircraft falling into the Black Sea.

According to Flightradar24's archive of tracks, the last time a US Global Hawk drone flew over the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea was on March 21. Since then, US unmanned surveillance aircraft based in Italy's Sicily have not entered the airspace over the Black Sea.

Before that, since the launch of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the US military had been making an average of 8-10 reconnaissance flights per month over the sea.

From March 21 to April 20, US Global Hawks drones made only three flights from the airbase in Sicily, according to the tracker website. However, these flights have been made within the boundaries of the Romanian airspace at a distance of over 400 kilometers (248 miles) from Crimea — outside the range of drones' radar systems, which are capable of receiving radar images of an area at a maximum range of 200 kilometers.

A source familiar with the matter has confirmed to Sputnik that the last time a US Global Hawk surveillance drone flew over the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea was on March 21.

"Following the incident with the American Reaper drone, which fell into the waters of the Black Sea on March 14, Global Hawks made only two more flights over the Black Sea — on March 17 and March 21 — both at a range no closer than 140 kilometers from the southern coast of Crimea," the sources said.

"Apparently, the US command considered further flights in this area impractical. On the one hand, the amount of information received by a drone at such a range is sharply reduced; on the other hand, after March 14, the American side faced the danger of losing such equipment, and a Global Hawk is several times more expensive than a Reaper and is loaded with the most advanced equipment."

The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude unmanned surveillance aircraft operated by the US Air Force as a high-altitude long-endurance platform to collect intelligence and support forces in worldwide military operations. Global Hawks are capable of flying for up to 36 hours at a distance of up to 22,000 kilometers. The drones are equipped with various reconnaissance equipment, including radars, optical tracking systems, and infrared sensors.

Any weapons supplies to Ukraine to be considered as anti-Russian move — diplomat

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova
©Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation/TASS

Moscow considers any supplies of weapons to Ukraine as an openly hostile anti-Russian move, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday, commenting on South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol‘s statements on possible deliveries of South Korean weapons to Ukraine.

"Russia is conductive defensive military operations against the collective West, which has chosen the puppet regime in Kiev as an instrument of its hybrid proxy war against us. In this situation, we will consider any supplies of weapons to Ukraine, wherever they might come from, as an openly hostile anti-Russian move," she stressed.

"Such steps will negatively impact bilateral relations with those states that take them and will be taken into account when elaborating Russia’s positions on issues concerning core security interests of the relevant countries. As for South Korea, it might be about the approaches to the settlement of the situation on the Korean Peninsula," she said.

She recalled that Russian forces deliver high-precision strikes solely at military targets, not at civil infrastructure facilities. "As for concerns about victims among civilians, regrettably, this is a reality Donbass residents were faced with back in 2014 as a result of the aggression by the junta which seized power in Kiev. It was one of the key causes of the current crisis. We have seen no compassion for these numerous victims from the collective West, including Seoul," Zakharova stressed.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, the South Korean president said that South Korea could begin weapons supplies to Ukraine in case of serious threats to civilians in that country.

Conversation with summoned Western ambassadors took harsh tone — Foreign Ministry

The conversation with the US, British and Canadian ambassadors summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday took a harsh tone, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"They were summoned to the Foreign Ministry and everything was explained to them, in a tough tone, without any desire to soften things or soft-pedal the situation," the diplomat told Radio Sputnik on Wednesday.

Zakharova stressed that, if Western diplomats continue to act this way, such behavior would be deemed inconsistent with their declared status.

On Monday, Zakharova slammed the statements made by the UK, US and Canadian ambassadors following the sentencing of journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza (designated as a foreign agent) as constituting direct meddling in Russia’s internal affairs. The diplomat said that Moscow regarded UK Ambassador Deborah Bronnert’s remarks, which she made following the sentencing of Kara-Murza, as unacceptable and warned London against politicizing international human rights issues. Zakharova also stated that the demands of the US and Canadian ambassadors to free Kara-Murza were "the height of cynicism" at a time when their home countries were shamelessly violating human rights and persecuting dissenters.

The Moscow City Court on Monday sentenced Kara-Murza to 25 years in a maximum-security prison and a fine of 400,000 rubles ($4,880), banned him from engaging in journalism for seven years, and ruled that his freedom be limited for six months after his release from incarceration. According to the court ruling, he was found guilty of crimes stipulated under Part 2, Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code (RCC) ("Public Dissemination of Knowingly False Information About the Deployment of the Russian Armed Forces"), Part 1, Article 284.1 of the RCC ("Execution of Activities of a Foreign or International Organization Whose Activity Has Been Declared Undesirable on the Territory of the Russian Federation"), and Article 275 of the RCC ("High Treason").