❗️The seizure of Russian assets abroad is illegal, fraught with serious harmful consequences, and will be another blow to the global economy - Kremlin spokesman Peskov said

"Russia already has a list of assets that may be seized from foreigners in response to their actions," he added.

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🔥 Pow! A direct hit!

📹 Russian paratroopers eliminated a Ukrainian observation post on the Dnepr River's right bank.

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⚡️The Russian Air Force carried out 50 multiple attacks and one massive strike with precision weapons and drones on military facilities in Ukraine, all of them were hit - the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

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❗️The president of Poland called an urgent meeting with the military leadership after Ukraine's violation of its airspace.

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'Zelensky needs to go before Ukraine collapses'

Key-points from former Pentagon official Stephen Bryen's article for the Asia Times:

▪️There is an emerging consensus in the Biden administration that Ukraine is barely hanging on in its war with Russia and that some sort of negotiated settlement is needed;

▪️The US and its NATO allies have poured massive amounts of military hardware and ammunition into Ukraine, have provided the backbone for Ukrainian strategic intelligence, trained Ukrainian troops, and have put advisers in the field, some of whom have been killed in action;

▪️The Ukrainian army is facing defeats on the battlefield. Setbacks are seen nearly everywhere along the line of contact;

▪️On the political front, cracks are getting wider. Yulia Timoshenko served as Ukraine’s prime minister twice but now says that the country is at a dead end and is facing defeat;

▪️Ukraine is facing a huge troop problem as it suffers more and more battlefield casualties;

▪️The forced recruitment of soldiers has negative political implications for Ukraine’s leadership (which is why Zelensky was trying to blame it on Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny).

▪️Ukraine says there will be harsh penalties for draft dodgers with fines and prison sentences of up to eight years.

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🇨🇳 The Chinese Parliament has appointed Navy Commander Dong Jun as the new head of the Ministry of Defense.

The previous minister, Li Shangfu, was removed from his post in October. Western media speculated that Beijing's lack of official comment was due to corruption under his mandate.

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Ukrainian troops were unable to shoot down any of the 300 Russian X-22 missiles fired since the beginning of the special military operation against Kiev, advisor to Ukraine's Air Force Command Yuriy Ignat has said.

“The X-22 missile flies at a speed of 4,000 kilometers per hour, it approaches the target mostly along a ballistic trajectory, so special means are needed to intercept it. We need air defense systems like Patriot, so it’s not so easy with these missiles. The enemy has used more than 300 of these missiles (since the beginning of the special military operation - ed.). In addition to the X-22, they also have a modernized version of this missile - the X-32," the Pryamoy TV channel quoted Ignat as saying in its Telegram channel.

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🇵🇱 A search is underway for the wreckage of an unidentified “aerial object” in Poland that came from the direction of Ukraine.

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❗️Argentina's President Milei officially declined the invitation to become a member of BRICS in a letter penned to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, according to Argentine media

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A huge queue of Ukrainian men has formed at the passport center in Warsaw, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

The men are looking to change their passports before the upcoming law on mobilization comes into force. According to a proposed law, draft dodgers will not be able to update their documents.

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Three Ukrainian HARM missiles made in the US were destroyed over the Belgorod region, according to Russia's Ministry of Defense.

Earlier, the governor of Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov said that air defense systems shot down a target on approach to Belgorod. According to preliminary data, there were no casualties or destruction.

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Head of Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov was shown experimental samples of "jihad mobiles," which are planned to be sent to the frontline

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🇩🇪 German newspaper Bild's forecast for the country: the worst is yet to come?

This year turned out to be difficult for Germany, but these are still "flowers," Bild writes with reference to German experts. In general, the political forecasts of two political scientists for 2024 are gloomy: Germany will lag behind in almost all areas:

► There will be a "period of deep polarization and weakening of manageability" in domestic politics;

► The economy will fall into a "recession period" and financial policy into "very cloudy weather";

► There will be an increase in tension, discontent and indignation in the social sphere;

In European politics, Germany is becoming "an unpopular colossus with feet of clay,“ according to Bild.

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🇵🇱 Polish general staff claims that the missile that violated Polish airspace belonged to Russia. It offered no evidence.

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🇵🇱 Polish military scrambled jets to intercept, shoot down missile that flew from Ukraine, but did not manage to do so in time, Polish operational commander said

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🚁 MI-28N in action

📹 Russia's helicopters hit enemy positions around Donetsk. As a result of the combat, all the designated targets were neutralized.

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Putin, Biden & Zelensky: What are the results of 2023?

📹 Using deepfake technologies, Sputnik has created imaginary end-of-the-year speeches by the three presidents. Here's what we think they would say if they could speak completely unfiltered.

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Reports about CIA woes in China: ‘Pity ploy’ or smokescreen?

Recent revelations in US media about the CIA having troubles rebuilding its spy network in China may serve several purposes, according to geopolitical analyst KJ Noh.

For one, Noh noted, the US spy agency may actually be trying to “send mixed messages” in order to obfuscate efforts to “reconstitute their human intelligence networks.”

On the other, it could be a ploy meant to draw attention away from the CIA’s own incompetence and get more money from Congress.

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🇷🇺🪖 Key points of Russian MoD briefing on progress of special military op in Ukraine in a week:

▪️In the Kupyansk region, Russian troops repelled 27 attacks by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian losses amounted to 265 soldiers and a tank;

▪️ In Krasny Liman, 13 Ukrainian attacks have been repelled. Ukrainian losses amounted up to 1,205 soldiers and six tanks.

▪️ In the Donetsk region, Maryinka was liberated, 27 Ukrainian attacks were repelled. Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 1,675 soldiers and seven tanks.

▪️In Zaporozhye, two Ukrainian attacks in the area of Verbovoye were repelled. Ukrainian losses amounted up to 475 people and one tank.

▪️In Kherson, attempts to transfer saboteurs of the Ukrainian forces to the islands and the left bank of the Dnepr were thwarted by the Russian troops.

▪️ Ten Ukrainian planes and two helicopters were shot down in a week.

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S Korean president tries to prevent provocations ‘by being provocative’ – expert

“I think the South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, is much more willing to be a lapdog for the United States,” George Koo, a journalist, social activist, and international business consultant, told Sputnik.

He argued that Yoon thinks that siding with the US will “ensure his staying in office," a scenario that the journalist said would never see the light of day. Dwelling on the South Korean president’s recent remarks about the need for Seoul to retaliate first and report later, Koo insisted that “it’s a way of preventing provocations by being provocative," which he warned may have “a very terrible ending.”

During his visit to a frontline army unit on Thursday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered his country’s army to respond to enemy attacks by retaliating first and only then reporting.

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Formations of the Western Battlegroup stormed the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kupyansk region.

First-person footage from the Russian Ministry of Defense clearly shows the high accuracy of the 30-mm BMP-2 gun.

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