Brazil rejects US criticism and defends its relations with Russia

Brazil on Monday rejected US criticism that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was "echoing Russian and Chinese propaganda" about Ukraine.

The Brazilian refusal came after the White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, claimed that Brazil was "repeating Russian and Chinese propaganda without looking at the facts" about the situation in Ukraine.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira commented on Kirby's remarks, saying: "I don't know how or why he reached this conclusion, but I don't agree with him at all."

Washington approves sale of F-16 fighter upgrade kits to Turkey

The US State Department has notified Congress of its approval of the sale of Link-16 Tactical Data Link Network Modernization Kits to Turkey. The sale package also includes automatic collision avoidance systems as well as hardware and engineering support.

The US State Department has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jet communications system upgrade kits to Turkey.

On Monday, informed sources reported that the State Department officially informed Congress of its decision to sell the Link-16 tactical data link network update kits for fighters to Turkey.

The sale package includes automatic collision avoidance systems as well as hardware and engineering support to upgrade the Link-16 tactical data link network in Turkey's F-16s to Block Upgrade-2.

The US Congress has the right to object to sales approvals to NATO countries within 15 working days, and 30 days to non-NATO countries.

According to established norms, the State Department informs Congress of the sale plans informally, and after receiving a response, it informs officially.

It is noteworthy that Link-16 is a military wireless communication network used by NATO and its member states.

This network provides the exchange of tactical information between aircraft, helicopters, drones, ships and ground forces.

The Pentagon: We are concerned that our weapons provided to Kiev will be used to launch strikes inside Russia

The United States has expressed concern about Kiev using the weapons it provides to strike Russian lands, indicating that it is not interested in entering directly into the crisis and escalating it into a third world war.

"We expressed concern that the equipment we provided could be used to strike targets inside Russia," Colin Cole, US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Political Affairs, said in an interview with the American magazine "Foreign Policy".

"President [Joe] Biden has also made clear that while we do everything we can to support Ukraine, the United States is not interested in getting directly involved in the conflict and turning it into World War III," Cole added.

Meanwhile, according to a Pentagon spokesman, the opinion that the United States is "backing off a large number of issues due to fear of escalation is wrong."

Earlier, John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the White House National Security Council, said that Washington does not encourage Kiev to launch strikes outside Ukraine and does not provide it with the necessary funds for such sorties.

Kirby also said that the US side believes that negotiations on Ukraine are not yet inevitable, and the fighting will continue for at least a few more months.

He added, "I don't think negotiations are imminent. And you're probably going to see the fighting continue for a few more months, I think you're probably going to see heavy fighting in the coming months as both sides fight as you know for battlefield advantage."