#Iraq 🇮🇶: Islamic State (#ISIS) militants killed a village head and raided his house in #Saladin Governorate.

As a result militants captured a #Hungary-made 🇭🇺 AK-63D assault rifle and a 9mm Iraqi “Tariq” pistol.

https://x.com/i/status/2000263501936242971

Poland plans to transfer 6-8 MiG-29 “Fulcrums” to Ukraine, which will be withdrawn from service at the end of December and won’t be used by the Polish Armed Forces, in exchange for Ukrainian technologies related to the production of UAVs and missiles.

Facilitated by EU’s low-cost loans for defense acquisitions under the bloc’s Security Action For Europe (SAFE) scheme, the Croatian Ministry of Defense has placed an order for the purchase of 44 Leopard 2A8 tanks from Germany, a deal valued at almost $1.8 billion.

ISIS has now claimed responsibility for the attack against the “apostate” Syrian government south of Idlib, which killed four security personnel.

Ukraine’s 13th Main Directorate of Military Counterintelligence of the Security Service (SBU) and the Naval Forces conducted a special operation in the Russian port of Novorossiysk, detonating “Sea Baby” unmanned surface vessels (USVs) on a Russian Project 636.3/Kilo Varshavyanka-class submarine that was carrying four cruise missile launchers for the “Kalibr” missiles.

A Turkish Air Force F-16 “Fighting Falcon” jet shot down an unidentified UAV that was approaching the border of the country’s airspace from the Black Sea, according to an official statement from the Ministry of Defense.

As the US and Ukraine wrapped up a second day of peace talks in Berlin, US officials tell Reuters that US negotiators have told their Ukrainian counterparts that Kyiv must agree to withdraw forces from the eastern Donetsk region under any deal to end the war, with one of the officials acknowledging that there are still major obstacles to overcome to reach a deal on territory.

According to POLITICO, citing Ukrainian President Zelensky, US Special Envoies, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have signaled they are ready to give Ukraine security guarantees for a future peace deal that correspond to the same levels of protection as Article 5 in NATO, which allows the alliance’s members to respond to any aggression by Russia against Ukraine according to the members’ national interests.

POLITICO reports that Russia and the United States are expected to hold talks on Ukraine in Miami this coming weekend.

US and European officials have finalized a “platinum standard” security pact for Ukraine following two days of negotiations in Berlin, aimed at establishing a legally binding defense framework similar to US treaties with Japan and South Korea, sources familiar with the discussions told The Telegraph. The agreement would see the deployment of a US-led monitoring mission to mediate ceasefire disputes, while providing a strategic “backstop” involving US Air Force F-35 Lightning IIs and BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAMs) cruise missiles stationed in NATO territory to carry out counterstrikes if Russia breaches the armistice.

A US Navy F/A-18E “Super Hornet” fighter jet, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 31 (VFA-31) of Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) embarked onboard the USS Gerald R Ford (CVN 78), is currently operating over the Southern Caribbean Sea just miles off the coast of Caracas. The flight is being conducted alongside a pair of EA-18G “Growler” electronic warfare aircraft with Electromagnetic Attack Squadron 142 (VAQ-142).

The US is preparing a fresh round of sanctions on the Russian energy sector aimed at targeting vessels in the so-called “shadow fleet” and the traders facilitating Moscow’s oil transactions, with the measures could be unveiled as early as this week, and intended to increase economic pressure on President Vladimir Putin should the Kremlin reject a peace agreement with Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.

🔗 Bloomberg

The UK Government announced the delivery of the GRAVEHAWK short-range air defense system (SHORAD) to Ukraine, which is used to counter drones and helicopters and uses Soviet R-73 missiles and other legacy munitions possessed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), with the system reusing missile launch rails from Ukrainian Su-27 and MiG-29 fighter aircraft, and was manufactured by the UK and Denmark.

🔗 UK MoD