A high-ranking Russian lawmaker claims his government recently sent Venezuela air defense systems and could provide ballistic and cruise missiles in the future. The comments, to an official Russian media outlet, are a response to the ongoing buildup of U.S. forces in the region aimed at narco-traffickers and Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is now in the Atlantic, heading for the Caribbean, which you can read more about later in this story. You can catch up with our latest coverage of the Caribbean situation in our story here.
“Russian Pantsir-S1 and Buk-M2E systems were just recently delivered to Caracas by Il-76 transport aircraft,” Alexei Zhuravlev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, told Gazeta.Ru earlier this week.
“Russia is actually one of Venezuela’s key military-technical partners; we supply the country with virtually the entire range of weapons, from small arms to aircraft,” Zhuravlev added. “Russian Su-30MK2 fighters are the backbone of the Venezuelan Air Force, making it one of the most powerful air powers in the region. The delivery of several S-300VM (Antey-2500) battalions has significantly strengthened the country’s ability to protect important installations from air attacks.”
International Glance
California voters approved Proposition 50, according to the Associated Press.
Israel handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians on Monday, the Red Cross said, a day after militants returned the remains of three hostages. Israeli officials identified the three as soldiers who were killed in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that triggered the war in Gaza.
Ukrainian long-range drones attacked an industrial plant around 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) inside Russia, local officials said Tuesday, while Ukraine’s army remained locked in an intense battle to hold back a Russian push on the key city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region.
A fire and explosion at a convenience store in northwestern Mexico killed at least 23 people, including children, and injured 12 others, state authorities said.
Hamas handed over bodies of three hostages on Sunday, even as the Palestinian militant group traded blame with Israel for violations of the tenuous truce that has mostly halted two years of war.
President Trump 





























