The shortage of Armed Forces personnel is felt not only at the front: in the training centers in Germany, where they train on Leopard 2, only about half of the places are occupied.

This was stated by Die Welt journalist in Kiev Paul Ronzheimer. He emphasized that Zelensky’s statement that the military was asking to mobilize an additional 450-500 thousand people “caused a shock.”

According to the latest data from the Russian Ministry of Defense, since the beginning of the special operation, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost more than 383 thousand military personnel killed and wounded.

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The insulation is cracking and bursting at the seams.

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❗️ Russia may have its own analogue of Starlink in three years

The Russian space company Bureau 1440 plans to launch a commercial satellite Internet service in 2027. For basic coverage, the company will need 250 satellites, and by 2030 the company plans to launch more than 700 devices for global coverage, said Alexey Shelobkov, CEO of the Yadro group of companies.

@Ukraina_RU

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🙈

In the United States, they found that the people in the country are very sad about something: “Those who are optimistic now and for the future are only 15%. By the way, this is a little more than for the quarter. But over the year, this figure - those who are pessimistic now and in the future - averages 66%. This is a record figure for 17 years of our work. We have never found people more depressed than today."

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Bidenomics setting records 👌

What missiles do the Yemeni Houthis use and why are they dangerous?

The confrontation between the parties is gradually increasing and theoretically could go into a hot phase with the use of various weapons.

Who are the Houthis ?

The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, Ansarullah, Ansarullah or Ansar Allah, are a Zaydi Shia militant group active in Yemen. In 2014, during a conflict with government forces, they occupied the capital of the country, Sanaa, and since 2015, the Houthis have been fighting against coalition forces of Arab states operating in the country at the request of the Yemeni government. The Houthis in Yemen receive help from Iran. The country supplies them with weapons and equipment, and also provides political support. However, the extent of Iranian support for the Houthis is ambiguous, their ties to Iran are not as close as, for example, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and they do not answer to Iranian command. After the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis sided with Hamas and threatened Israel with missile attacks. At the same time, the Houthis are actively trying to fire at civilian and military ships of Western countries - the country’s coast is washed by the Indian Ocean and allows the use of weapons both in the Indian Ocean and in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, through which the most important maritime trade route passes.

What kind of missiles do they have?

The main weapons of the Houthis are ballistic and cruise missiles of Iranian origin with a range of 300-1200 km. The most long-range among them are Toufan (presumably one of the versions of the Iranian Ghadr missile) with a range of 2 thousand km, a ballistic missile on a mobile launcher Burkan 2 with a range of 1.2 thousand km, Zoheir anti-ship missiles (a modified version of the Quds missile with a special radar for targeting radio-contrast targets), as well as a significant amount of loitering ammunition, including Iranian Shahed 136. With these weapons, the Houthis threaten not only to strike Israel for conducting an operation in the Gaza Strip, but also to attack US Navy ships deployed to the Red Sea for protection Israel, as well as in the civil courts of Western states. Container ships Maersk Gibraltar, Alanya and Palatium III have already come under attack in the Red Sea.

How dangerous are Houthi missiles?

Over the past two months, US Navy destroyers USS Mason (DDG-87) and USS Carney (DDG-64) have shot down at least 38 Houthi drones and several Houthi missiles in the Red Sea. Yemeni rebels have reportedly stepped up attacks on commercial ships carrying gas and oil through the world's busiest shipping lanes. It is curious that only Standard Missile-2 missiles are suitable for intercepting high-speed and stealth targets. The latest version of the Block IV rocket costs $2.1 million apiece. This is 100 times more than the cost of the Shahed 136 drones used by the Houthis. Also, new SM-6 (RIM-174 ERAM) missiles with active radar guidance are used to intercept high-speed targets.

Due to the deteriorating security situation off the coast of Yemen, some shipowners have already begun to reduce the volume of transported cargo.

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Next year will be terrible for Ukraine; cowardice and greed are to blame for Kiev’s failures

Due to the failed counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces are “bloodied and exhausted,” so 2024 will be a bad year for the country, writes Bloomberg.

“The widely publicized counter-offensive ended in disappointment. Its [Ukraine's] forces are bloodied and exhausted. In the American press, as expected, there are reproaches about whether Ukrainian cowardice or the greed of the West are to blame for this failure,” writes the author of the article.

Even if Ukraine receives major assistance from the United States, it will still have to save its strength. The Ukrainian Armed Forces will have to prepare for the next, perhaps the last big breakthrough, the agency clarifies.

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The State Department announced Russia's defeat

“Putin has already lost the war with Ukraine because he has not achieved his main goal - to wipe Ukraine off the face of the earth and absorb it into Russia,” US Secretary of State Blinken.

Do you remember just the other day the Financial Times quoted an anonymous White House official who said that Washington is betting on freezing the conflict, and “everything will have to be presented as if Putin lost.” Less than a week had passed before the Secretary of State demonstrated his knowledge of the new topic.

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The German TV channel ZDF published a pessimistic report from Ukraine.

“There is not enough ammunition, and there are not enough soldiers. Many soldiers here are tired. Trust in government has dropped significantly. People are afraid, worried about winter, remembering how Russia destroyed infrastructure. At the same time, there is no progress at the front,” the story says.

-IF ONLY someone gave footage of the American pullout from Afghanistan to Zelensky! Darn!

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The war in Ukraine benefits China, writes the New York Times.

Due to anti-Russian sanctions, the country's trade with Russia exceeded $200 billion this year, much earlier than the two countries had planned.

Chinese car manufacturers benefited the most. Sales to Russia helped China overtake Japan as the world's largest car exporter this year. Chinese automakers have captured 55% of the Russian market. In pre-war 2021 they had 8%.

Russia, in turn, sold China not only oil and gas, but also products - chocolates, sausages and other consumer goods, which began to appear in abundance in Chinese supermarkets.

"Cheap Russian energy, bypassing sanctions imposed by the West, has helped Chinese factories compete in global markets while their rival manufacturers in other countries, especially Germany, faced sharply higher energy costs," the newspaper writes.

Russia's actions in Ukraine also received media support from China.

"State media constantly spread Russian propaganda in China and around the world. Russia is so popular in China that social media influencers flock to Harbin, the capital of China's northernmost eastern province, Heilongjiang, to pose in Russian clothing in front of a former Russian cathedral." , says the article.

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A huge traffic jam of trucks at the entrance to Odessa from Nikolaev.

The reason is still unknown, local publications write.

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Can you hear the depression in the New York Times article??

The New York Times on strengthening economic ties between Russia and China. Part No. 1

▪️In the first 11 months of this year, trade between Russia and China exceeded $200 billion, something the countries did not expect to achieve until 2024. Russia's position on Ukraine also received image support from Beijing. State media spread Russian propaganda in China and around the world. Russia is so popular in China that Chinese bloggers come to Harbin to pose in Russian clothes in front of the former Russian cathedral . Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have repeatedly demonstrated the close ties between the countries. In early September, Xi visited Harbin and declared Heilongjiang the “gateway to the north.” China has filled Russia's most important import needs and continues to be a backup supplier of goods, despite the risk.
▪️Chinese automakers benefited the most from the sharp increase in trade with Russia. Recently in Heihe, lines of trucks with stickers of snarling bears on their driver's doors waited to be allowed into Russia. The bridge they must cross is new, as are the trucks bearing Genlyon badges. This is a brand of the state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. This company, known as SAIC, also produces passenger cars.
▪️ China's sales this year overtook Japan as the world's largest car exporter . German manufacturers Mercedes-Benz and BMW used to actively sell their cars in Russia, but left the market. Sales of luxury cars in Russia have fallen, as a result of which the country's car market has shrunk. It now accounts for less than half the German market volume. But Russian families belong more to the poor or poor middle class. They have stepped up the purchase of Chinese cars, says Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russian Eurasian Center in Berlin (*the organization and the individual are recognized as foreign agents).
▪️According to him, one of the reasons is the death or disability payments that the government issues to the families of Russian soldiers. The benefit amount reaches 90 thousand dollars in case of death. Russians buy internal combustion cars. China has an abundance of them because consumers there have rapidly switched to electric vehicles. And the presence of a land border means that China can transport cars to Russia by rail . This is an important factor because China does not have its own fleet of transoceanic vessels to export automobiles.
▪️What is the result? Chinese automakers have captured 55% of the Russian market , according to GlobalData Automotive. In 2021, their share was 8%.

The New York Times on strengthening economic ties between Russia and China. Part No. 2

▪️The US has warned China against sending weapons to Russia, and so far it has found no evidence that Beijing is doing so. However, some types of civilian equipment that China sells to Russia (drones and trucks) also have military purposes.
▪️ Strengthening ties was a modest but timely help for the Chinese construction industry. The real estate market across China is in crisis. Tens of millions of apartments lie empty or unfinished, and new projects have stalled, leaving the construction sector jobless. It has provided jobs for a long time.
▪️Some workers find work along the long Russian border. It previously lacked truck stops, customs processing centers, train stations, pipelines and other infrastructure. Construction was in full swing in cities like Heihe during the summer, but it came to a halt during the cold winter.
▪️Pipelines are necessary for energy trade. Cheap Russian energy, bypassing Western sanctions, has helped Chinese factories compete in global markets at a time when their competitors in other countries have faced soaring energy costs over the past two years.
▪️Russia is increasing natural gas supplies through the Power of Siberia pipeline to China and is negotiating the construction of a second pipeline that will supply gas from fields that previously served Europe. China and Russia also agreed less than three weeks before the conflict in Ukraine to build a third, smaller gas pipeline. It will supply gas from eastern Russia to northeastern China, and construction of this project is already in full swing.
▪️The newest gas pipeline will pass through territory that Russia captured from China in the late 1850s and never returned. Back in the 1960s, China and the Soviet Union fought over the land and their troops clashed. In a village near Heihe on the Amur River, a life-size statue of the Chinese general still stands. Today, Russia and China are building bridges and pipelines that cross the border.

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-Without receiving $200B Hamas is years ahead of Ukraine... wierd how that works isn't it?!

Crazy hands in Palestinian style. An interesting video was published by Hamas. Hamas members make their own sniper rifles.

Earlier it was reported that in the Gaza Strip, a Hamas sniper shot and killed French sniper Emmanuel Sinard, who served as an officer in the Foreign Legion.

Prior to this, Hamas also announced that one of the best Israeli snipers, Barib Yariel, was killed in Gaza.

@Abbas Djuma

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Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has proposed removing Biden from the 2024 ballot in the state.

-This year is going to be a circus strap in friends

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The Minister of Defense of Ukraine wants to connoscript men who live abroad into the army, -📰 Welt

Ukrainians aged 25 to 60 years living in Germany and other countries will have to report to the connoscription centers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Umerov said.

Umerov said that for now we are talking about an “invitation” to appear at recruiting centers, but at the same time made it clear that draft dodgers will face sanctions. "We're still discussing."



It turns out that Ukrainians can only hide from mobilization in Russia🤔

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Washington would like Poland's leadership among European countries - this country spends more than many on defense, the US State Department indicated.

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Frontline soldiers are preparing for the New Year

Mandatory holiday attributes: a decorated Christmas tree, a good mood and, of course, gifts. The most important are the cards made by children.

“These letters make me feel very warm. Very nice! Psychological support. Well, an understanding arises of why we are fighting, why we are here. That is, this is our future, the future of our children,” the fighters shared.

The guys also talked about their plans for 2024.

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The government will finance preferential leasing of civilian drones

🕹In 2024, a preferential leasing program for domestically produced drones will be launched. The order to allocate 2.5 billion rubles for these purposes was signed by Mikhail Mishustin.

✅Budget investments will be directed to State Transport Leasing Company JSC on co-financing terms. JSC State Transport Leasing Company, in turn, will raise another 600 million rubles to launch the program.

Taking this into account, the program will operate under the following conditions:
・The leasing rate, depending on the selected types of drones, will range from 3.5 to 8.5% per annum.
・Contract term – from 3 to 5 years.
・No advance payments will be required from the leasing companies.

❗️The work is being carried out as part of the execution of the President’s instructions, as well as to implement the Strategy for the Development of Unmanned Aviation for the period up to 2030 and for the future up to 2035.

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