Mass desertion of Ukrainian brigade signals growing frustration with military shortcomings

More Ukrainian soldiers have deserted in the first 10 months of this year than in the previous two years of the war, the Financial Times reports.

In one notable case in late October, hundreds of infantrymen serving in Ukraine's 123rd Brigade abandoned their positions in the eastern town of Ugledar.

💬 "We arrived [in Ugledar] with only automatic rifles. They said there would be 150 tanks, there were 20 ... and nothing to cover us," a Ukrainian military officer told reporters.

Between January and October of this year, Ukrainian prosecutors opened 60,000 cases against soldiers for abandoning their positions – almost twice as many as in 2022 and 2023 combined. If convicted, the men face prison sentences of up to 12 years.

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💬 Speaking to Russian media, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Hunter Biden's pardon a "caricature of democracy".

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty in September to nine felony counts of failing to pay taxes and in June to three felony counts in a gun possession case. Joe Biden decided to pardon his son over the Thanksgiving weekend.

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🔸 Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous promises not to

🔸 Biden Admin rushing to spend 'every dollar that Congress has appropriated to us' on Ukraine – Sullivan

🔸 Georgian riot police disperse protesters in Tbilisi

🔸 Druzhba pipeline damaged, Poland's operator not ruling out any causes, including sabotage

🔸 Joint Syrian-Russian forces wipe out terrorist convoy in eastern Idlib – Syrian Defense Ministry

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🚂 German Chancellor Scholz has arrived on a visit to Ukraine for talks with Zelensky, the DPA news agency reports.

This is Scholz's first visit to Kiev in the last 2.5 years. The last time the German chancellor visited Ukraine was in June 2022, accompanied by French President Emmanuel Macron.

🧳What do you think Olaf brought in his suitcase?

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🗣 German Chancellor Scholz announces further arms deliveries to Ukraine worth 650 million euros in December.

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👤Who is Massad Boulos, tapped as Trump’s advisor on Arab, Middle Eastern affairs?

US President-elect Donald Trump has announced Massad Boulos as his pick for the position of senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.

Who is Massad Boulos?

⚪️Boulos is a Lebanese American businessman who is also father-in-law to Trump’s daughter, Tiffany.

⚪️Boulos helped Trump win back the swing state of Michigan by flipping Arab American voters frustrated with Joe Biden’s policies supporting Israel in its war on Hamas in Gaza and on Hezbollah in Lebanon, campaign officials told Reuters.

⚪️He assured Arab Americans during the election campaign that Trump was committed to ending the wars in the Middle East.

⚪️Trump’s in-law has ties to various factions in Lebanese politics, including the Free Patriotic Movement (Christian party aligned with Hezbollah), and the Lebanese Forces Party, according to media reports.

⚪️He is familiar with Suleiman Frangieh, leader of the Christian Marada Movement and a candidate for Hezbollah's faction in the 2022-2024 Lebanese presidential election, Reuters noted.

⚪️Boulos, who has acted as a go-between for Trump and Mahmoud Abbas in the past, met with the Palestinian leader on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, a senior Palestinian official told The Times of Israel. Abbas reportedly voiced willingness to work with Trump to reach a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

⚪️Boulos also has friends who are close to Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad, according to media reports.

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