Harold Turner | The issue of long-range weapons for use in attacking interior, pre-war Russia, is developing into a very big - and dangerous - situation. Threats are being hurled back and forth, very publicly. | It all began when word came out early last week, that the U.S. was "considering" allowing Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons, to attack deep interior, pre-war, Russia. The Russians sent explicit, written warnings to the US which said "If Ukraine uses long-range weapons to attack interior Russia, it will affect both sides of the Atlantic." ■ A few days later, at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, word leaked that the question of Ukraine using NATO (West) Supplied weapons to strike deep inside Russia was being discussed! Russia's Ambassador to The United States, Anatoly Antonov, then repeated publicly, his government's written warning: "If Ukraine uses long-range weapons to attack inside Russia, it will affect both sides of the Atlantic." ■ Late this past week, word leaked from US and UK Intelligence Agencies claiming Russia had taken delivery of "hundreds" of IRANIAN-MADE FATH-360, short-range ballistic missiles, for Russia to use against Ukraine. This revelation set off a firestorm of threats. ■ Saturday, The Defense Ministry of Ukraine (which can't even adequately defend their own land) said that "If Russia uses Iranian Missiles to target Ukrainian Civilians, then their Response against Iran will be Severe." Yes, you read that correctly, Ukraine just threatened Iran! ■ But the really big development took place today, from Israel. Israel announced that If Iran supplies missiles for Russia to use in attacking Ukraine, then Israel will supply "long range precision missiles to Ukraine, to strike Russia." Yes, you read that correctly; Israel just threatened the Russians.

Andrew Korybko | This is nothing but a false pretext for justifying the open deployment of Western troops in Ukraine. | Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told the BBC late last week that “It’s my personal view that legally we would have the right to self-defense” in helping Ukraine shoot down Russian missiles that allegedly threaten the three nuclear power plants (NPPs) that are still under Kiev’s control. This comes after he told the Financial Times earlier in the week that Poland has the right to intercept Russian missiles in Ukraine if they appear to be approaching the Polish border. [...] The objective is to cross another of Russia’s “red lines” by openly deploying Western troops to Ukraine on the pretext of this being about “nuclear security”, after which any attacks against them could be spun as “nuclear terrorism” and exploited to justify deploying more troops and systems to “defend them”. The geography in which the initial deployment would take place only concerns the Western Ukrainian hinterland, but it could expand to approach the Dnieper and then cross it as part of “mission creep”.

CIA and U.S. State Departments Anti-Russia Internet Troll Boiler Rooms - HACKED | For a long time, K Street firms in Washington, DC, operating “Internet Opinion Management” houses/boiler rooms, have been run by the State Department and the CIA. Today, two of those . . . anti-Russian operations . . . have been HACKED and their info, leaked. Databases from the anti-Russian funds The U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF) and Free Russia Foundation (FRF) have now been leaked online. Among the leaked documents are the organizations' payrolls, information about correspondences and their participants, and other data. [...] The documents reveal that the foundation's employees were destabilizing the situation in Russia using a bot farm, for which a special guide was written as part of an anti-Russian campaign overseen by intelligence services. It turned out that the employees of this "elf factory" posted calls for protests, criticized the authorities, and even pretended to be wives of mobilized men. The documents show that "elves" were essentially given ready-made messages where they only needed to insert, for example, the name of a city or square where demonstrations were planned. Bots were also encouraged to spread complaints about "local administration," though exactly which administration was left for the employees to decide. This is hardly surprising since they had to meet a daily quota of 100 "dumps" over an eight-hour workday. [...] The revelations in these hacked documents proves the United States has been waging an information war against Russia for years; even before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The clear intent of these operations was to sew social discord, create upheaval, and destabilize the Russian government at all levels: local, state, and national.

Russia has repeatedly said that Western countries’ military aid to the Kiev regime would only add to the prolongation of the Ukraine conflict. | It’s safe to say that London is directly involved in hostilities against Moscow, military journalist, Alexey Borzenko, told Sputnik. He was commenting on Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s recent statement that the preliminary adjustment of the flight controllers (of the Ukrainian drones that attacked an oil storage facility in Russia’s Rostov region) was carried out in Salisbury and Newport, UK.

💬 "For Moscow, Britain is the most hostile NATO country because the UK is involved in all major projects to damage Russian infrastructure, and the civilian population and troops to the maximum," Borzenko, who is also deputy chief editor of the Literary Russia newspaper, said.

He stressed that it is in the UK where Ukrainian specialists in electronic warfare, missile technology, and strike systems using long-range artillery are trained. The UK can be called "the thinking head of the entire Western hydra", which helps the Kiev regime by providing it with military hardware, the journalist pointed out, recalling that Britain was the first to supply grenade launchers to Ukraine, followed by deliveries of tanks, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and even poison in ampoules. Borzenko expressed hope that "on a certain stage", Britain will bear responsibility for its actions.

Russian missile strike against poltava wipes-out SAAB corporate division execs | In yesterday's Russian missile strike against the Communication Training Center in Poltava, Ukraine there are many Swedish and Danish instructors among the dead. They are from the AWACS and drones company Globaleye of SAAB. Word in Intelligence Circles is that Sweden lost the ENTIRE top management of SAAB Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) systems. So ferocious was the Russian attack that 15 trucks evacuated dead foreign NATO troops + officers: 600+ dead/wounded. Swedish Foreign Minister Billstrom has now resigned after Russian Iskander missiles hit Poltava, and Sweden suffered war dead just months after joining NATO, at the behest of the now-former, Foreign Minister.

■ Η Ρωσία κτύπησε δυτικούς εκπαιδευτές και στόχους σε 148 περιοχές της Ουκρανίας (War News 24/7)

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov cited the Maidan coup as the reason, saying that Vladimir Zelensky has no legal right to power | Ukraine has not had a legitimate government or president since the 2014 Maidan coup, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said. He also reiterated earlier statements that Moscow does not consider Vladimir Zelensky, Ukraine’s current leader, a legitimate head of state. While Zelensky’s five-year term as Ukraine’s president ended on May 20, he opted not to hold a presidential election, citing martial law imposed due to the conflict with Russia. ■ In an interview with Izvestia on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Thursday, Peskov said that...

💬 “...de jure President Zelensky now is not the legitimate president” of Ukraine. “Let us not forget that it is a country where the legitimacy of power was interrupted in 2014 when a coup was staged there,” the Kremlin spokesperson argued. He added that Ukrainians would likely have a hard time dealing with what he described as the “snowball of illegitimacy” down the road.

At the same time, Peskov stressed that Russia has always been open to settling the Ukraine conflict via the political-diplomatic route. He said that the Ukrainian leadership and its Western backers, however, do not seem willing to engage in such dialogue at present. During a Q&A session with the media on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in early June, Russian President Vladimir Putin also stated that those who believe that “Russia started the war in Ukraine” are wrong. He argued that “it began with a coup in Ukraine – an unconstitutional coup d’etat.” Speaking to the issue of Zelensky’s legitimacy as Ukraine’s leader, Putin suggested at the time that his powers should have been transferred to the country’s parliament following the expiration of his term in office.

The U.S. is close to an agreement to give Ukraine long-range cruise missiles that could reach deep into Russia, but Kyiv would need to wait several months as the U.S. works through technical issues ahead of any shipment, U.S. officials said. | The inclusion of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) in a weapons package is expected to be announced this autumn, three sources said, though a final decision has not been made. The sources declined to be named because they are not authorized to discuss the topic. ■ Sending JASSMs to Ukraine could significantly alter the strategic landscape of the conflict by putting more of Russia in range of powerful, precision-guided munitions, an important concern of the Biden administration, the officials said. ■ Military analysts have suggested the introduction of JASSMs - which are stealthy and can strike further than most other missiles in Ukraine's current inventory - could push Russian staging areas and supply depots back by hundreds of miles. This would severely complicate Russia's ability to sustain its offensive operations and potentially provide Ukraine with a strategic advantage.

■ Biden Escalates Again, Threatening Russia with Long-Range Cruise Missiles (John Miles)

US officials tell Reuters the US could start delivering JASSM missiles this fall | The US is close to reaching an agreement on giving Ukraine cruise missiles that could hit targets deep inside Russia, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing US officials. ■ The officials said the US is expected to include Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) in a weapons package that will be announced for Ukraine this fall. But first, there are technical issues to work through to ensure they can be fired by Ukraine’s Soviet-made fighter jets. ■ An older version of the JASSM can hit targets over 230 miles, and there are newer versions that can fly over 500 miles. Reuters said it was unable to establish which kind the US is considering sending to Ukraine. Providing the older, shorter-range version would put less strain on US military stockpiles.

■ Russia has now issued a DIRECT warning to the United States and to NATO (09/04/24)

A prisoner was tied to a desk and apparently electrocuted, footage shows | Ukrainian troops can be seen filming the brutal torture of a defiant Russian prisoner of war (POW) who refused to disparage his country and hail Kiev’s military, in a highly disturbing video circulating on social media. ● The 90-second undated clip depicting the mistreatment of a POW was filmed by an unidentified Ukrainian soldier stationed in occupied Russian territory, apparently in Kursk Region, and shared by several Russian Telegram channels on Tuesday. ● The video shows the interior of an apartment where three handcuffed and blindfolded Russian prisoners are lying or sitting on the floor, while a fourth has been placed in a humiliating position. A fifth soldier, blindfolded, gagged, and stripped of his shirt, boots, and socks, is tied to an upside-down desk in the other room. ● Mockingly referring to the prisoners as “Ivans,” one Ukrainian captor asks them why they are silent, before approaching the one tied to the desk. He then removes the gag and asks what unit he belongs to. When he gets no answer, the Ukrainian hits him in the face.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, responding to a question about the potential delivery of long-range U.S. missiles to Ukraine, warned the United States on Wednesday not to joke about Russia's "red lines". | Lavrov said the U.S. was losing sight of the sense of mutual deterrence that had underpinned the balance of security between Moscow and Washington since the Cold War, and that this was dangerous. ■ He was commenting on a Reuters report that the U.S. is close to an agreement to supply Ukraine with long-range JASSM cruise missiles that could reach deep inside Russia - for which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been lobbying.

💬 "I won't be surprised by anything - the Americans have already crossed the threshold they set for themselves. They are being egged on, and Zelenskiy of course sees this and takes advantage of it," Lavrov told a Russian TV interviewer. "But they should understand - they are joking about our red lines here. They shouldn't joke about our red lines."

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned the West since launching what he called his "special military operation" in Ukraine in 2022 not to try to thwart Russia, which has the world's biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons. But Washington and its allies have increased military aid to Ukraine, including by providing tanks, advanced missiles and F-16 fighter jets.

■ RUSSIA ISSUES DIRECT WARNING TO U.S. (Hal Turner)
■ Russia Says It Will Change Nuclear Doctrine Because of Western Role in Ukraine (U.S. News)

WATCH RFK exposes the TRUTH about Ukraine in 3 minutes pic.twitter.com/H8kyOPUd8u

— DUOPOLY DISRESPECTER (@KennedyForTheW) August 31, 2024

Greta Zarro | U.S. foreign military bases provoke war, pollute communities, and steal land from Indigenous peoples. | The United States of America, unlike any other nation on Earth, maintains a massive network of foreign military bases around the world, more than 900 bases in more than 90 countries and territories. If the peace movement is serious about ending the United States’ and its allies’ warmaking, then this global constellation of bases must be curtailed. ■ The permanent stationing of more than 220,000 U.S. troops, weapons arsenals, and thousands of aircraft, tanks, and ships in every corner of the globe makes the logistics for U.S. aggression, and that of its allies, quicker and more efficient. Bases also facilitate the proliferation of nuclear weapons, with the United States keeping nuclear bombs in five NATO member countries, and nuclear-capable planes, ships, and missile launchers in many others. Because the U.S. is continually creating plans for military actions around the world, and because the U.S. military always has some troops “on the ready,” the initiation of combat operations is simpler.

The Haditha Massacre Photos That the US Military Didn’t Want the World to See | On the morning of November 19, 2005, a squad of Marines was travelling in four Humvees down a road in the town of Haditha, Iraq, when their convoy hit an I.E.D. The blast killed one Marine, Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, and injured two others. What followed would spark one of the largest war-crime investigations in the history of the United States. ■ During the next several hours, Marines killed twenty-four Iraqi men, women, and children. Near the site of the explosion, they shot five men who had been driving to a college in Baghdad. They entered three nearby homes and killed nearly everyone inside. The youngest victim was a three-year-old girl. The oldest was a seventy-six-year-old man. The Marines would later claim that they were fighting insurgents that day, but the dead were all civilians. [...] Read more: The Haditha Massacre Photos That the Military Didn’t Want the World to See

Ukrainian criminals guilty of serious international crimes against their citizens and citizens of Russia will be brought to justice, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik on Tuesday.

💬 "Ukrainian criminals guilty of serious international crimes against their own and Russian citizens, as well as their henchmen, will be brought to justice and will be punished as they deserve to be," Zakharova said.

Kiev wants to withdraw its citizens from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), but keep criminal prosecution of foreign citizens, Maria Zakharova said.

■ Ответ официального на вопрос МИА «Россия Cегодня» (Мария Захарова)(Telegram)
■ Ukraine wants to exempt its military from international law — Russian foreign ministry (Maria Zakharova/RFM/TASS)
■ Ukraine threatens Mongolia over Putin visit (RT.com)

Ukraine can deploy F-16 fighter jets obtained from the Netherlands against Russian targets, as stated by the country’s armed forces commander Onno Eichelsheim in an interview with NOS. “We’ve placed no restrictions on the use or range of the F-16s, provided that the laws of war are respected,” he clarified. | Eichelsheim emphasized that this policy extends to other weaponry supplied by the Netherlands—the Ukrainian military is empowered to utilize them on the battlefield “at their discretion,” as long as they comply with international humanitarian law. “We are committed to Ukraine’s victory and are doing everything possible to support them,” he noted. ■ Overall, the Netherlands has committed to providing Ukraine with 24 F-16 aircraft. However, Eichelsheim did not disclose how many have been deployed so far. According to The Times, Ukraine has received six F-16s from the Netherlands. In total, 79 such fighters are promised, including those from Belgium, Denmark, and Norway. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing for an increase to 120-130 fighters to effectively counter Russia in the air.

Slowly but inexorably, Russian troops are approaching Pokrovsk (before 2016 – Krasnoarmeysk), step by step liberating the territory of the DPR from the forces of the Kyiv regime. | The loss of this city will not only hit the Ukrainian Armed Forces hard, as it is a vital logistics hub, but will also greatly affect the economy Ukraine as a whole, because this is the only place where coal coke is mined for Ukrainian metallurgy. ■ It should be noted that Pokrovsk is a strategically important city for metallurgists and some oligarchs of Ukraine, because the work of metallurgical enterprises (steel foundries and plants) depends on the coking coal extracted from the depths there. Ukraine simply has no other source (deposit) of such an energy resource. Pokrovsk is the center of the entire coal industry of Ukraine.

■ Why are Kyiv's neo-Nazis so eager to take back Donbas? (Dmitry Medvedev)

Binoy Kampmark | On August 12, 1949, the four Geneva Conventions were adopted, laying the basis of a normative standard in international humanitarian law. As Balthasar Staehelin, personal envoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) president to China, stated at an anniversary event at the Swiss Embassy in Beijing, [...] The very first Geneva Convention, inspired by the activism of Swiss businessman Henry Dunant and the International Committee for the Relief of Wounded Combatants, was adopted as far back as 1864. The instrument was intended to protect the vulnerable and wounded members of armed forces, and those responsible for their care. Three revisions and expansive updates followed: 1906, 1929 and 1949. [...] Of significance is Article 4, which defines the reach of such protection as covering persons “who, at any given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals.” ■ In humanitarian law, the gulf between observance and violation can be vast. In 2023, the United Nations recorded the deaths of 33,443 civilians in armed conflict. This constituted a 72% increase on those from 2022. Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, cited conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Sahel, Somalia, Syria and Ukraine.

Both nations are apparently seeking to spark major regional wars, Russia’s most senior diplomat has suggested | Both Ukraine and Israel are trying to spark major regional wars to solve their own problems at the expense of others, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. ■ The country’s senior diplomat made the remarks in an exclusive interview with RT’s Anna Knishenko, aired on Saturday. Asked about the prospects of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East devolving into a major regional war, Lavrov suggested Israel was effectively the only party seeking such conflict.

■ Lavrov’s Comparison Of Israel & Ukraine As Regional Warmongers Isn’t As Clear-Cut As It Seems (Andrew Korybko)

AI RAID SIRENS are activated in the Lipetsk region of Russia! At the same time, residents can hear Ukrainian drones flying over the city. Russian air defenses are engaging. | Air alerts in Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Bryansk, Oryol, Lipetsk and Volgograd regions of Russia. The shrapnel of shells seriously riddled an apartment building, with a store and pharmacy on the ground floor suffering the most damage.

 ● Massive Ukrainian UAV strikes on Russia, some Russian sources say the biggest Ukrainian attack so far.
 ● A Ukrainian drone flies over Baskakovo in the Tula region of Russia just now!
 ● Ukrainian drones are being intercepted over the city of Belgorod in Russia.
 ● Ukrainian drone intercepted on path to Moscow!

Russian air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian drone headed towards the capital in the airspace over Podolsk in the Moscow region of Russia.

■ Russian air defenses repel large-scale Ukrainian drone attack – MOD (RT.com)
■ Nine drones taken down on approaches to Moscow — mayor (TASS)

Foreign Minister Szijjártó sat down for three hours with the CEO of the Russian energy giant. | Less than 24 hours after clashing with the EU’s foreign policy chief at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Hungary’s top diplomat Péter Szijjártó made a surprise trip to Russia. ■ The foreign minister sat down with the head of state-owned energy giant Gazprom on Friday, the day after a Foreign Affairs Council meeting where Hungary’s position on the war in Ukraine and its simplified immigration program for Russians and Belarusians were challenged by his colleagues. [...] After his three-hour meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller — who has been sanctioned by the United States and United Kingdom for his role in supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine — Szijjártó wrote that Hungary’s energy security “cannot be guaranteed” without Russian gas.

An intense rocket attack on the Russian city of Belgorod At least 5 civilians murdered, including women, despite efforts of paramedics to save them, 37 injured, including 6 children, 3 of whom in serious condition along with 7 adults, according to preliminary info by Ukrainian Nazis has killed at least 4 civilians, wounded 12 more, and caused extensive damage to civilian infrastructure. Ukraine attack[ed] a kindergarten, shopping malls, parking lots, and residential houses with NATO-supplied Vampire rockets filled with widely-banned cluster munitions. Even civilian passenger buses were hit by shrapnel | The city of Belgorod is completely civilian; there are no military bases, airports, storage warehouses or other facilities. The attack was designed to be against civilians! [...] UPDATE 10:51 PM EDT -- This attack comes after reports began surfacing in the US, CLAIMING (not yet verified) the US has granted permission for Ukraine to attack interior Russia, with U.S.-Supplied weapons. One weapons system which is being specifically mentioned in these reports, is the HIMARS with ATACMS long-range missiles. Of course, these particular weapons require in-flight guidance from...U.S. military satellites. So if the U.S. is now allowing Ukraine to select targets and have U.S. satellites guide the weapons to those targets, the Russian Foreign Ministry says this makes the US an active party to the conflict.

■ Ukraine military: Western intelligence data used for cross-border attack (NHK World)
■ Ukrainian strike obliterates civilian car in Belgorod (VIDEOS) (RT.com)
■ Number of people injured in Ukrainian shelling of Belgorod grows to 46 (TASS)
■ US to give Zelensky ‘free hand’ to strike deep into Russia – Moscow (08/30/24)

However, malfunction and piloting mistakes also remain a possibility, the newspaper says | The crashed F-16 plane, handed over to Kiev, could have been downed by the Ukrainian armed forces themselves using a Patriot air defense system, The New York Times reported citing a Western official. According to the official, there are signs that the plane could have been downed by a Patriot system. However, malfunction and piloting mistakes also remain a possibility, the newspaper says.

■ US official confirms first loss of F-16 in Ukraine — WSJ (08/30/24)

Washington has effectively become a party to the Ukraine conflict, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova has said | Washington is prepared to lift its ban on Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia’s territory with the use of US-supplied weapons, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. ● Last week, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said that US “policy does allow for Ukraine to conduct counter fires to defend itself from Russian attacks coming over that border region,” including Kursk Region, where an incursion by Kiev’s forces has been ongoing since early August. ● On Monday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Washington was aware of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s “desire” to be allowed to fire US weapons such as ATACMS missiles, which have a range of up to 300km (186 miles), deep into Russia.

■ US gives Ukraine carte blanche for attacks inside Russia, diplomat says (TASS)
■ Ukraine Apparently Given Carte Blanche for Operations in Russian Regions - Moscow (Sputnik News)
■ The West does not want to avoid escalation. The West is looking for trouble — Lavrov (VIDEOS) (08/30/24)

Initial reports indicate that the jet wasn’t shot down, but likely crashed due to pilot error, the official said | A US official confirmed that Ukraine lost the first of its F-16 fighter jets, the Wall Street Journal reported. The crash happened on Monday, just weeks after the first of the US-made aircraft arrived in Ukraine, according to the report. Initial reports indicate that the jet wasn’t shot down, but likely crashed due to pilot error, the official said. The incident occurred during a massive missile attack.

■ Ukraine: The gang who couldn't shoot straight (Hal Turner Show)

$1.5 billion in interest earned from immobilized funds are being used to aid Kiev, the bloc’s foreign-policy chief has announced | The EU has made its first transfer of interest earned on Russia’s frozen central bank assets to Ukraine and other states aiding Kiev, the bloc’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, announced on Thursday. A total of €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) was transferred, he said. ● Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting with EU foreign ministers, Borrell called the development “good news” and said that the funds would be used for Kiev’s military needs and to finance Ukrainian industry.

■ EU's total military aid to Kiev reaches 43.5 billion euros — foreign policy chief (TASS)

Ukrainian forces started a major attack on the Kursk Region on August 6 | Russia's readiness for peace talks with Ukraine was beyond doubt, but it was wrecked by Kiev's reckless move in the Kursk Region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference following talks with Senegalese Foreign Minister Yassine Fall. 💬 "We always remember that President [of Russia President Vladimir] Putin made the latest peace proposal in June, after all previous initiatives and agreements were ruined and sabotaged by the Kiev regime and its Western backers. Our readiness for talks was beyond anyone’s doubt, although, of course, after the reckless move in the Kursk Region, any discussion of this subject is no longer relevant," he said.

■ Oтносительно мирных инициатив по Украине (МИД России 🇷🇺)
■ Zakharova Calls Ukraine Attacking Kursk Region Way of Responding to Putin's Peace Initiative (Sputnik News)

Harold Turner | “The West does not want to avoid escalation. The West is looking for trouble. Western countries are like small children playing with matches.” — Lavrov | The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, again warned the United States and the West that they are "playing with fire" - and specifically mentions nuclear weapons - as they encourage Ukraine to invade Russia. ■ In [a] video with English sub-titles Lavrov tells reporters "The West does not want to avoid escalation. The West is looking for trouble. Western countries are like small children playing with matches.” He specifically references people doing this when nuclear weapons are involved ■ So that readers are aware that Lavrov did not mis-speak, he reiterated his remarks at a full blown press conference. Lavrov makes clear Russia is viewing developments in Ukraine as having potential for "World War 3"if the US and NATO continue causing Ukraine to escalate, Americans THINK they're safe across the ocean, [but they're not]. ■ Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Ukraine is collapsing. The Russians are making very significant gains in territory and Ukraine is running out of weapons and ammunition.

[...] It seems that Ukraine is deliberately escalating to cause...something...to take place that causes NATO to actually enter the conflict and begin fighting Russia. Apparently, to that end, former President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose Presidential Term of Office expired in May, publicly stated "Ukraine has developed new ballistic missiles which will destroy something important in Moscow. Then, Ukraine will issue an ultimatum "Leave Ukraine or we will destroy Moscow and St. Petersburg."

Ukraine says it has a new homegrown long-range weapon that will allow it to strike deep into Russia without asking permission from allies | Ukraine says it has a new long-range weapon to strike deep into Russia without asking permission from allies — a homegrown combination of missile and drone that the defense minister vowed Monday would provide “answers” to a wave of Russian bombings. ● The Palianytsia was created due to urgent necessity, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia has dominated the skies since the outbreak of the war in February 2022 and Ukraine's Western allies have placed conditions on use of their long-range missiles in Russia. On Monday, a wave of Russian missiles and drones targeted Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure in the largest such attack in weeks.

■ The US is sending $125 million in new military aid to Ukraine (AP)

Journalists waiting outside the court building failed to reach him for comments | Co-founder of the Telegram messenger app Pavel Durov has left the court building after being charged with numerous offences related to Telegram administration, a TASS correspondent reported. He left the territory of the court in a black minivan. Journalists waiting outside the court building failed to reach him for comments. ● Earlier, the court charged him with six offences out of 12 named previously, the capital prosecutor’s office said in a statement. The charges include the refusal to cooperate with the authorities, complicity in dissemination of child pornography, complicity in drug trafficking and in a fraud, committed within an organized group. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, he may face a prison term of up to ten years and a fine of 500,000 euro. ● The judge in charge of Durov’s case placed him under judicial control with an obligation to post a bail of 5 million euros, to report to the police station twice a week and he is forbidden to leave the territory of France.

■ Durov under investigation for child abuse (Big News Network/AFP)
■ Telegram CEO Durov Released From Custody, Says Telegram Complies With The Law (Sputnik News)
■ Pavel Durov’s Naivete Was His Achilles’ Heel (Andrew Korybko)
■ UAE freezes fighter jet purchase contract with France (08/28/24)

The ban applies to some reporters from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times, according to the statement | Russia permanently banned entry to 92 US nationals in response to the Russophobic policy of US President Joe Biden's administration, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

💬 "As a reaction to the Russophobic policy pursued by the Joe Biden administration with the stated goal of ‘inflicting a strategic defeat on Moscow,’ an integral part of which were ‘blanket’ sanctions against Russian politicians, members of the business community, scientists and cultural figures, journalists and media organizations, entry to the Russian Federation is banned on a permanent basis for 92 US citizens," the ministry said.

💬 "In addition to officials at the top and other levels in security agencies and special services, heads of key defense enterprises and financial institutions that supply arms to the Ukrainian armed forces and sponsor the regime in Kiev, the ‘stop list’ includes editorial staff and reporters of leading liberal-globalist publications involved in the production and dissemination of false stories about Russia and the Russian armed forces and propaganda that covers up the ‘hybrid war’ unleashed by Washington," the ministry went on to say.

💬 "As a response to the insane sanctions frenzy of the American ruling elite, the practice of expanding the list of people under entry bans will be continued with determination and consistency by including those who are directly involved in anti-Russian activities," the ministry said. "We remind the current US authorities that punishment is inevitable for hostile acts, whether they directly encourage [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky and his sidekicks to commit acts of aggression and terrorist attacks or represent attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation."