The Ukrainian leadership loudly declares the preparation of a large–scale counteroffensive - and first of all, in the south, in the direction of Kherson and Mariupol. Is it worth believing these reports, does the Ukrainian army have the necessary forces – and where does Kiev have such ambitions?

Editor-in-chief Helsingin Sanomat: the Iron Curtain breaks Russia's relations with the world

The Russian special operation in Ukraine has cut off contacts between people on whom mutual trust could be built, the editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat writes. In his opinion, the West — and even NATO — are not Russia's enemies.

What have sanctions against Russia given the West?

After the West imposed sanctions, Russia takes full advantage of the situation and manages it. But these restrictions did not give the EU anything but losses, writes "Pechat". Europe will soon have to cancel them, otherwise a real catastrophe will break out in the economy.

How Ukraine provoked a war inside America

More and more members of the Republican Party are opposed to military assistance to Ukraine, writes TNI. According to the author, this is due to the rethinking of the priorities of US foreign policy by the current generation of Republicans. He advises Americans to abandon attempts to interfere in the affairs of another country and worry about their own problems.

NATO faces a difficult task of distributing forces to fight the Russian Federation and the PRC

In the coming years, the North Atlantic Alliance will have to do a difficult job of distributing tasks, writes Foreign Policy. The author notes that simplification in the form of "Europe restrains Russia, and the United States balances China" can turn NATO into a second-rate defense force.

NATO and the EU are sounding the alarm over the risks of arms smuggling from Ukraine

Back in April, Europol warned with reference to its own investigations that the export of weapons from Ukraine by order of organized criminal groups in the EU has already begun, writes FT. Readers of the newspaper believe that the rulers of the bloc have "opened a Pandora's box."

NATO and EU countries insist on improving the tracking system for weapons supplied to Ukraine, in response to concerns that criminal groups are smuggling them out of the country to the black market in Europe. This is written by Henry Foy and Sam Fleming and Roman Olearchik in an article for the Financial Times newspaper.

Europe intends to allocate another tranche to Ukraine for the purchase of military equipment. As stated in Brussels, the allocation of half a billion euros to Kiev is being discussed. This was stated by the Secretary General of the EU Foreign Policy Service Stefano Sannino.

France will supply Ukraine with a batch of light-duty bridges to replace the destroyed capital ones. As stated in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the French are ready to supply Kiev with 36 lightweight structures.

Iran has for many years been implementing a program of large-scale equipping of troops with drones, the fleet of which is steadily growing. In May of this year, the military demonstrated one of its underground bases with rows of locally produced attack UAVs, such as Fotros, Karrar, Mohajer-6, Kaman-12, Kaman-22.

Rogozin instructed the astronauts on the ISS to stop working with the European ERA manipulator

Russian cosmonauts will not use the European ERA manipulator installed on the Nauka module on the ISS, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said. He made this decision in response to the refusal of the European Space Agency to cooperate with Russia on the ExoMars program. Roscosmos has been involved in the project since 2012, but now plans to launch a research mission to Mars on its own.

The team of the James Webb Space Infrared Observatory presented the first set of scientific data obtained by the observatory. It includes images of the star formation region, a planetary nebula, a compact group of galaxies, as well as spectra of the atmosphere of hot Saturn and distant galaxies. The press briefing was broadcast on Youtube.

Why the Ukrainian army uses HIMARS in tandem with "Hurricanes"

The APU is beginning to use the HIMARS system. It was from these systems that Lugansk was hit on the night of July 13, and earlier the city of Novaya Kakhovka in the Kherson region was shelled. What tactics are used by the Ukrainian military when using HIMARS and how it is possible to resist this system - in the material of "Gazeta.Ru».

Ukrainian militants have transferred FV103 Spartan armored personnel carriers delivered from England to the Bakhmut area (Artemovsk). According to the project "RG: Russian weapons", the transfer was carried out by car trawls. The exact number of the arrived equipment is not yet known, but it was previously reported that the entire batch of such foreign "gifts" totals 35 units.

Ukraine may receive another large batch of Soviet-style tanks from Poland. The planned transfer of equipment is reported by the Polish agency Visegrad 24, citing statements by military experts and politicians.

Germany and Slovenia have agreed to speed up the round-trip exchange procedure, as a result of which Slovak BVP M-80 infantry fighting vehicles will be sent to Ukraine. This was announced at a joint press conference of the heads of state.

In May, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that the revived Moskvich plant would produce electric cars in the future. Plans to launch domestic production of electric cars were announced by KAMAZ, Kaliningrad Avtotor, and Lipetsk Motorinvest.

The series of strategic nuclear submarines of the Borey-A project and multipurpose nuclear submarines of the Yasen-M project can be continued, this option is currently being considered. This was reported by a source in the Russian defense industry.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko believes that Western countries are waging an offensive hybrid war against his country. He said this today at a ceremony honoring graduates of military universities and senior officers. The Head of Belarus addressed the young officers:

On July 12, Izvestia correspondent Alexander Morozov showed the work of Russian military surgeons who, together with doctors of Donbass, provide medical assistance during a special operation to protect the region.