TV News LIES

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian long-range strikes have sharply reduced Russian oil refining in recent months, forcing Moscow to shut down oil wells and pushing its state budget deeper into deficit.

In his evening address, President Zelensky said Kyiv is expanding its deep-strike campaign against targets linked to Russia’s war machine, framing the operations as a justified response to Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian cities.

President highlighted the growing scale of Ukraine’s long-range drone program, saying strikes that once would have been considered exceptional have now become routine.

“There was a time when dozens of Ukrainian drones striking Russia was a big deal. Now, hundreds of our long-range sanctions every day are no longer a sensation,” Zelensky said.

Citing a Ukrainian intelligence assessment, the president said Russian oil refining has fallen by 10 percent in recent months. He said Russian oil companies have been forced to shut down oil wells, which he described as particularly damaging for Russia’s energy sector.

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The presence of two secret Israeli bases in Iraq may have led to the death of a shepherd who discovered them, according to an investigation by The New York Times (NYT).

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Israel set up a covert outpost in Iraq’s western desert during the conflict with Iran. The site was reportedly used to support air operations and housed special forces units.

According to the report, installations were built shortly before the war began in February and were later used during an attack in March on Iraqi troops who had nearly uncovered the site.

Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that the Israeli military deployed rescue teams and commando units to the forward position, tasked with extracting downed air crews from inside Iran if necessary.

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The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), in tandem with the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), has claimed operational responsibility for a highly destructive weekend air campaign that bypassed the Russian capital’s elite air defenses and heavily degraded occupied infrastructure in Crimea.

In a statement published to the intelligence agency’s official Telegram channel on Sunday, May 17, SBU Head Major General Yevhenii Khmara confirmed that specialized drone operators from the Center for Special Operations “Alpha” managed to simultaneously hit heavily fortified domestic manufacturing assets and frontline military airfields.

While the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have neutralized over 550 Ukrainian drones across 14 separate regions overnight, SBU flight logs and corresponding ground telemetry confirmed that precision munitions cleanly hit several highly sensitive targets inside the Moscow region.

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Something dangerous is happening within Israeli society, and it could have consequences for the entire region.

Since the beginning of the genocidal war in Gaza, Israeli society has consciously created a broad consensus around a violent discourse centred on revenge - one that encourages war not only against Palestinians, but across the region as a whole. 

Almost every public opinion poll finds overwhelming support for the war, and very little criticism of the continuous chain of crimes committed over the past two-and-a-half years. But this culture of revenge and violence has also turned inwards, affecting Israeli society itself.

Research increasingly reveals the psychological and social costs of the war, amid the spread of violence into every sphere of Israeli society.

As early as 1968, a year after the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, Jewish philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz published a foundational essay in which he coined the notion that “occupation corrupts”.

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France has pledged to broaden its defense commitment to Ukraine by offering specialized technical and operational cooperation to counter Russia’s intensifying use of ballistic weaponry.

The announcement followed a high-level telephone consultation between President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, May 16.

Writing on his official Facebook page, President Zelensky explicitly framed the development as a major milestone for Ukraine’s heavily strained air defense architecture.

“I thanked Emmanuel for his principled condemnation of Russian strikes on our cities and communities. These attacks make very clear what Russia is and why we all need to strengthen our collective defense against all threats. France is ready to work on anti-ballistic capabilities. This is a strong decision and an important step. We also discussed boosting our ability to repel Russian attacks right now,” Zelensky noted.

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Maldivian authorities on Saturday suspended the search for the bodies of four Italian divers believed to be deep inside an underwater cave, after a military diver died during a perilous mission to try to reach them.

The group of five Italian divers is believed to have died while exploring a cave at a depth of about 50 meters (160 feet) in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, according to Italy’s Foreign Ministry. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 meters (98 feet).

Maldives presidential spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said the search was suspended after Mohamed Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died of underwater decompression sickness after being transferred to a hospital in the capital.

Mahudhee will be buried with military honors in a funeral attended by President Mohamed Muzzu on Saturday night. The diver was part of the group that had briefed Muizzu on the rescue plan when he visited the search site on Friday.

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