🇮🇳 🚀 India soars to new heights with heaviest-ever Bluebird-2 satellite launch

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a groundbreaking communications satellite, the Bluebird Block-2, on December 24, 2025, with the LVM3-M6 rocket carrying it into low Earth orbit.

👉 The Bluebird Block-2 is designed to bridge the digital divide, delivering key mobile communications and internet to remote areas without mobile towers or specialized satellite phones.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥🇷🇺✈️ Baikal plane with Russian-made engine makes FIRST flight

✅ Equipped with domestically-made VK-800 engine and AV-901 propeller

✅ Tests were successful: plane reached a speed of 210 km/h & an altitude of 400 m

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇷🇺 All key parameters of Russia's position on the settlement in Ukraine are well-known to the US - Kremlin

Other statements by Dmitry Peskov:

🟠 Russia will soon resume contacts with the US through existing channels

🟠 The Kremlin won’t comment on the information the special presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev brought from the US, as it is inappropriate to conduct negotiations on the settlement through the media

🟠 Russia will formulate its position on the settlement based on the information from Dmitriev

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️ ZARECHNOYE IN THE ZAPOROZHYE REGION FREED

By liberating the settlement of Zarechnoye in the Zaporozhye region, Russian forces have expanded their foothold along the Gaichur River's western bank, capturing 9 square kilometers of territory, while also gaining control of a strategic segment of the motorway between Bratskoye and Ternovatoye.

🟠 Russian forces are continuing mop-up operations against the remaining Ukrainian militants in the settlements of Dimitrov, Grishino and Rodinskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic

🟠 Russian air and missile firepower pounded Ukrainian defense, energy and transport infrastructure used to support the Kiev regime's military, as well as temporary deployment points for Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries in 147 locations

🟠 Air defense superiority: nine guided aerial bombs, two US-produced HIMARS missiles and 335 UAVs were vaporized by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,405 troops killed or wounded

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖🇫🇮 Finland militarizes full-throttle under guise of ‘Russia threat’

Finland is “arming up” in anticipation of a potential conflict with its neighbor, Russia, The National Interest reports.

🟠 The Finnish Air Force plans to equip its US-made F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter jets with AIM-120D3 air-to-air missiles, designed to engage targets at a medium range before they even enter visual range

🟠 In September, the US State Department green-lit procurement by Finland of 405 AIM-120D3 AMRAAM missiles and eight AIM-120D-3 guidance sections worth approximately $1.07 billion

🟠 Since joining NATO, Finland has been steadily ramping up its militarization, reinforcing the alliance’s time-worn narrative of a ‘Russian threat’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly emphasized that Russia has no intention of attacking anyone.

According to him, Western politicians regularly scare their populations with a fabricated threat to divert attention from domestic problems.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣🇪🇺 EU becomes its own worst enemy – Viktor Orban

The decline of the European Union, rather than the Ukrainian conflict, is what really threatens to plunge Europe into war, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the Magyar Nemzet newspaper.

👉 The real reason of the existing risk of escalation, Orban argued, is the political, economic and social decline of Western Europe, whereas the Ukrainian conflict is more of a symptom of the current situation rather than its cause.

According to him, the process that led to this state of affairs started during the 2000s and was exacerbated by Europe’s inadequate reaction to the ensuing financial crisis.

🔊 Orban also noted that a war in Europe may break out soon, and that 2025 might have been the last peaceful year for the region.

He pointed out that the decisions that were made at the EU summit in Brussels last week were aimed at prolonging the Ukrainian conflict and continuing Europe’s confrontation with Russia.

✅ Though there are powers in Europe that seek peace – like Hungary, for example – Orban warns that those European elites who seek war seem to be gaining an upper hand.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥🇷🇺 Ukraine's speedboat fails to slip past Russian mighty guardsmen

Mortar team of Dnepr battlegroup smashed enemy's navy assets in Dnepr River's delta (Kherson region).

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 FSB thwarts Ukraine-planned terrorist attack on Transneft oil pipeline

📑 "It has been established that the suspect was recruited by a Ukrainian terrorist organization... Besides preparing the attack, he also had the task of gathering intelligence on Russian oil and gas infrastructure," the statement said.

The FSB added that the suspect was eliminated when he resisted arrest, thwarting the planned attack.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚫💰Burdened & broke: Ukraine slaves away $27b annually on endless debt repayments

Debt maintenance is expected to amount to over 10% of Ukraine’s projected GDP for 2026 and 2027, media outlet Ekonomichna Pravda, which became privy to the Ukrainian government’s debt strategy, has calculated.

Ukraine’s debt payments will amount to:

🔸 2026 - about $27.7 billion (11.3% of projected GDP)

🔸 2027 - about $29.8 billion (10.5% of projected GDP)

🔸 2028 - about $30.5 billion (9.5% of projected GDP)

Ukraine's debt (per the report):

🟠 75% is external

🟠 77% is in foreign currencies

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💵🚫 China pushes digital yuan into ASEAN countries to chip away at dollar rule

China is expanding its digital yuan, or e-CNY, into ASEAN trade routes.

Recent People’s Bank of China (PBOC) pledges include cross-border pilots with Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, all tied to the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

This builds on 2020 pilots, currently accelerating amid US trade tensions.

Key expansion facts

🟠 Renminbi (RMB, or yuan) settlements with ASEAN countries surged, hitting 28% of bilateral trade worth $597 billion in early 2025 (Standard Chartered Bank analysis/October)

🟠 Singapore is a key offshore RMB hub and fintech center for Chinese firms (including blockchain companies like Wanxiang)

🟠 Singapore's RMB deposits rose to around 224–276 billion RMB (~$31–38 billion USD/2023–2024)

🟠 PBOC launched a Shanghai-based digital yuan center in September 2025 to integrate e-CNY with global/cross-border systems, facilitate payments, blockchain services, and digital assets

🟠 Regional comprehensive economic partnerships (RCEP) have boosted regional supply chain integration and trade, contributing to increased RMB settlement in ASEAN countries

Strategic impact

🟠 By 2030, RMB is expected to be the world’s #3 currency, with 5–10% of global FX reserves (up from ~3%) (Morgan Stanley)

🟠 Share of global payments and trade finance could double to 8–10% on SWIFT, making RMB billing standard in Asia and China-linked trade

🟠 The digital yuan boosts momentum: e-CNY and mBridge could cut costs and speed up cross-border payments

China’s yuan is locking in a bigger, permanent role in global trade – a trend that feeds into the inexorable push to ditch the dominance of the increasingly weaponized US dollar.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

😍🇧🇷 Sputnik Brasil rolls out branded trams in Rio

Bright orange trams branded with a jaguar - one of Brazil’s national symbols - and the slogan “Sputnik — a different voice, unique content”, began running through Rio de Janeiro’s historic center - one of the city’s most popular routes.

💬 "People need new information to judge for themselves what is true and what is not. That is what journalism is!" people comment on the appearance of the branded Sputnik trams on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

Sputnik's Portuguese-language branch - Sputnik Brasil - was launched in February 2015.

Editorial offices are located in Moscow and Rio de Janeiro.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇬🇧 Starmer confirms UK cost-of-living crisis, tells Brits to deal with it

💬 “I know many across Britain are still struggling with the cost of living,” the UK prime minister said in his Christmas message on social media.

And while he did mention that “helping with that” issue is his priority, he suggested that other Brits should do their part as well.

💬 “So call round to a neighbor, check in on a friend or a relative who you haven’t heard from for a while. Reach out. It can make a huge difference,” Starmer suggested.

One can only wonder if that difference would be as huge as Starmer’s government deciding to stop fanning the flames of the Ukrainian conflict and thus helping make fuel more affordable to thousands of Brits.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Iran rejects IAEA inspection calls until watchdog clarifies stance on US & Israeli strikes

Iran will reject International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of bombed nuclear sites until certain conditions are met, President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami said, as quoted by Tasnim.

If the IAEA deems military attacks acceptable, it should formally declare US and Israeli strikes on safeguarded nuclear sites permissible, Eslami said.

If not, he added, the agency must condemn them and spell out post-conflict obligations.

He stressed that until the issue is resolved, any political or psychological pressure – including renewed inspection demands of bombed sites – will be rejected and ignored.

Iran's atomic chief emphasized that no country in history has cooperated with the UN nuclear agency as extensively as Iran, whereas incumbent IAEA chief Rafael Grossi is following Western directives instead of adhering to the organization's charter.

The country had earlier urged the UN nuclear watchdog to clearly define and codify what measures should apply “if a country’s nuclear industry, which is under the agency’s supervision, comes under a military attack.”

Israel launched surprise attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military sites in June, sparking a 12-day war that saw the US bomb Iran’s civilian nuclear program facilities.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💰 Russia’s ruble strengthens despite Western sanctions

Having increased by 45% since the start of 2025, the Russian ruble has “outpaced every major currency against the dollar this year,” Bloomberg ruefully admits.

Despite Joe Biden’s boasts in 2022 that the ruble was “reduced to rubble” by Western sanctions, Russia's currency did not just manage to weather this economic onslaught but emerged stronger and more resilient.

The news agency also notes that a stronger ruble helps Russia’s Central Bank fight inflation.

Russia’s Federal Statistics Service on December 24 reported that annual inflation in Russia dropped lower than 5.7%.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🟠 Ukraine slaves away $27b annually on endless debt repayments

🟠 Russian strategic card: New Tu-160Ms add more muscle to air power

🟠 Iran rejects IAEA inspection calls until watchdog clarifies stance on US & Israeli strikes

🟠 China pushes digital yuan into ASEAN countries to chip away at dollar rule

🟠 Sputnik Brasil rolls out branded trams in Rio

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖 Western media blues: Ukraine’s front lines slide, EU cash won't secure victory

Even though the EU has agreed to provide a $106 billion loan to Ukraine, it will not change the battlefield balance, the Guardian admits.

Recruitment in Ukraine is slowing, the publication continues, arguing that official claims of 27,000 troops a month are challenged by reports putting the real number closer to one-third of that.

Casualties are worsening Ukraine’s troop deficit.

Ukrainians worry that the Kiev regime's counterattacks over the past two years, including its incursion into Russia's Kursk region, have gained nothing but created a "strategic weakness", according to the media outlet.

💬 "After Kursk, Ukraine appears to have no capacity to surprise on land," the Guardian notes.

Meanwhile, the West’s earlier hopes for Russia’s economic and social collapse have failed: the country shows no signs of internal turmoil, and its economy is growing.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥🇷🇺 Russian Army deploys supercam drone & CRUSHES Ukrainian military equipment near Krasnoarmeysk

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Ukrainian conflict could end within 90 days — US NATO envoy

US Permanent Representative to NATO Matthew Whitaker stated a peace deal is closer than ever, suggesting the conflict could be resolved in the next 90 days.

"If it is going to get done, it is going to get done in the next 90 days," Whitaker told Fox News.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇭🇳🗳 Trump-backed candidate wins Honduras election after recount

Nasry Asfura, the conservative National Party candidate endorsed by President Trump, has been declared the winner of Honduras’ presidential election after a razor-thin margin and weeks of delays, technical failures, and fraud allegations.

The electoral authority, known as the CNE, said Asfura had won 40.3% of the vote, while Salvador Nasralla garnered 39.5%.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt