Russian Air Defenses Shot Down 75 Ukrainian Drones Overnight

"Russian air defenses destroyed 75 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and the Black Sea, and seven drone boats in the Black Sea overnight. 26 drones were destroyed over the Belgorod Region, 19 over the Lipetsk Region, seven over the Kursk Region, five over the Bryansk Region, four over the Voronezh Region, one over the Oryol Region, five over Crimea, and eight more were shot down over the Black Sea." Sputnik

Pentagon Refuses To Rule Out Strikes On Moscow In Shocking Exchange On Ukraine's Incursion Into Kursk

"The Pentagon on Thursday was asked by a reporter during the daily briefing whether Ukraine forces' use of American weapons in its ongoing Kursk incursion is "consistent" with US policy of what Ukraine can and cannot do with US weapons. It has become clear that Ukrainian troops are currently using American weapons to attack Russian territory, troops, civilians, and infrastructure.

Spokeswoman Sabrina Singh answered without hesitation that "yes it is consistent with our policy" and explained that Washington has supported the need for "crossfire" from Ukraine back across the border onto Russian positions from which it is being attacked, even if that is on Russian territory. She framed what is happening in Russia's Kursk oblast—an offensive which has entered day four—as 'defensive' in nature.
Singh still tried to point out that it remains US policy for Ukraine to avoid striking deep into Russian territory using American arms; however, when pressed about the scenario of a direct attack on Moscow, she simply said: "I’m not going to put a specific range on it" and thus refused to rule it out." ZH

Japan's Prime Minister scraps overseas trip over fears of megaquake

"Japan's prime minister Fumio Kishida (pictured) has cancelled an overseas trip to Central Asia over fears a megaquake threating 300,000 lives could hit the country. Tsumani waves struck the main southern island of Japan yesterday after a powerful earthquake was registered off the coast injuring eight people." MS

Russia’s Lipetsk region under ‘massive’ drone attack, governor says

"Residents ordered to evacuate with fire reported at military airfield in region about 460 kilometres south of Moscow. Artamonov said Lipetsk had “been subjected to a massive UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] attack”." AJ

Rogan: State Of Free Speech In The UK Is Worse Than Russia

"Responding to the recent authoritarian crackdown, Joe Rogan pointed out that more people get arrested in the UK for “thought crimes” on social media than they do in Russia. “Terrible government overreach – you’re seeing it now in England where people are getting arrested for tweets,” said the podcast host. Rogan then compared how Russia polices free speech on social media compared to the UK.

In Russia, only around 400 people are arrested each year for ‘hateful’ tweets, while that number is around 3,300 in the UK.
“The fact that they’re comfortable with finding people who’ve said something they disagree with and putting them in a cage in England in 2024 is really wild,” said Rogan.
He then drew attention to a recent statement by Stephen Parkinson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, who told Sky News that merely retweeting information about the UK riots could lead to criminal charges.
Rogan pointed out that the term “hateful” is completely subjective “and in our lifetime we’ve seen that get moved,” before explaining how ‘deadnaming’ a transgender person by referring to them by their original name is now treated as “hateful”.
As we highlighted yesterday, a woman in Cheshire was arrested for tweeting “inaccurate information” about the killer of three girls in Southport." ZH

Poll: Majority of Americans Oppose Unconditional Aid to Ukraine, Say Ukraine Cannot Win War

"A survey released on Thursday found that a majority of Americans oppose unconditional aid to Ukraine and believe that the country cannot defeat Russia. 80 percent of respondents

believe that American should either make aid to Ukraine conditional (45 percent), reduce aid to Ukraine (14 percent), or should not send any aid to Ukraine (21 percent). Fifty-two percent of respondents said that they do not believe that Ukraine can win the war against Russia, while 48 percent believe that result is still possible. Sixty-one percent of respondents said that America does not have a strategy for the Ukraine-Russia war, while 39 percent said that it does." MichaelSavage,com

101 combat clashes in past day

"Ukraine’s military reported a total of 101 combat engagements with Russian invasion forces, with most Russian assaults repelled in the Pokrovsk axis.
Russian airstrikes targeted the areas of Zolochiv, Snihy, Synkivka, Kolisnykivka, and Hlushkivka of Kharkiv region; Serebrianka, Siversk, Druzhba, Toretsk, Chasiv Yar, Novodonetske, Selidove, Oleksandropil, Vozdvyzhenka, and Hrodivka of Donetsk region; Kamianske, Novodanylivka of Zaporizhia region, and Novotyahinka of Kherson region.
Kharkiv axis: the enemy continued its assault attempts as six combat clashes took place in the Vovchansk area.

Three Russian attacks were recorded in the Kupiansk axis. Defense forces repelled assaults near Synkivka, Petropavlivka, and toward Hlushkivka.
Lyman axis: Ukrainian troops repelled 24 assaults in the areas of Makiivka, Terny, and Nevske.
Siversk axis: the Defense Forces repelled 13 attacks near Ivano-Daryivka, Spirne, Verkhniokamyanske, and Vyimka. Near the latter, the enemy launched five of the said assaults.
Kramatorsk axis: Ukrainian troops stopped 10 Russian attempts to break through the defense lines in the areas of Chasiv Yar and Kalynivka.
Toretsk axis: the enemy launched nine attacks with air support, concentrating their main blows toward Severne, New York, and Toretsk, as well as near Zalizne.
Ukrainian troops repelled 29 attacks in the Pokrovsk axis. The Russians focused their main efforts in the areas of Panteleimonivka, Novo-oleksandrivka, Vozdvyzhenka, Ivanivka, Zhelanne, Novoselivka Persha, and Yasnobrodivka.
Kurakhove axis: the Defense Forces continue to hold back the enemy in the areas of Krasnohorivka and Kostiantynivka. The enemy tried to break through Ukraine’s defenses three times.
Vremivka axis: the Russians launched three unsuccessful attacks on the Ukrainian positions toward Vodiane and Vuhledar.
Orikhiv axis: one unsuccessful battle for the enemy took place near Malaya Tokmachka.
No signs of enemy offensive groups being formed were detected in Volyn and Polissia axes where the operational situation has not changed significantly.
In the border areas in Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the Russian army maintains its presence, significantly intensifying air raids. From across the border, the Russians bombarded Bachivsk, Kucherivka, Romashkove, Kamianka, Popivka, Yunakivka, Kruzhok, Bunyakine, and a number of other settlements." Ukrin