Cephalotrocity

A senior Russian military officer was killed when a car exploded on Friday in the town of Balashikha just east of Moscow, Russia's Investigative Committee said.

It named the officer as Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and said it had opened a criminal case into the incident.

Michael Gloss, 21, was the son of CIA Deputy Director for Digital Innovation Julianne Gallina Gloss, and Iraq war veteran Larry Gloss.

Before arriving in Russia on August 13, 2023, Gloss was travelling around Europe. On his Vkontakte page bio, he wrote: "I ran away from home (and) traveled the world. I hate fascism."

On April 4, 2024, he was killed, likely during a Russian offensive near Bakhmut, however, his burial in the U.S. did not take place until December 2024, Important Stories reports.

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Cross-posted from "Top US officials pull out of Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks in London" by @MicroWave@lemmy.world in !world@lemmy.world

Summary

London talks aimed at securing a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia have been downgraded and will no longer include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff.

The US state department blamed logistical reasons, but it was clear the decision was last-minute and left the Foreign Office wrongfooted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out recognising occupied Crimea as Russian territory, after reports suggested this was being considered by the US and the Kremlin. "Ukraine does not legally recognise the occupation of Crimea. There's nothing to talk about," said Zelensky.

Ukraine's ministry of strategic industries said it was "naïve" to expect Ukraine to change its position on "non-negotiable" issues such as Crimea.

Cross-posted from "Vladimir Putin offers to halt Ukraine invasion along current front line" by @xpostml10@lemmings.world in !world@lemmy.world

Some 3,400 previously identified deaths from its August and October 2024 reports can no longer be found in the PDFs released by the ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.

At least 1,000 children are among those no longer on the list, according to two research reports, which corroborated each other's findings.

The discrepancy has made researchers concerned about the possibility of numbers being intentionally inflated by Hamas, especially since the health ministry’s figures are widely reported in international media and seen as relevant by the likes of the UN, and triggering widespread social response and even political developments.

cross-posted from: https://biglemmowski.win/post/5679173

The protests come after calls were made on Tuesday on social media platforms for Palestinians in Gaza to come out and express their frustration against Hamas and the endless war in the Gaza Strip. Last week, Israel resumed its air and ground assault on Gaza in order to pressure Hamas to release all remaining hostages.

Some Palestinians voiced caution about publicly speaking out against Hamas for fear of retribution, but many of the demonstrators said they were tired of living under their conditions and need their voices to be heard.