You're doing It wrong: Ukraine's former top general lambasts failed counteroffensive

The Ukrainian counteroffensive, which started in June with much pomp and amid expectations that crack assault brigades equipped with Western military gear would easily smash through Russian defensive lines, ended without much fanfare as the dreams and aspirations of the strategists in Kiev did not survive the contact with harsh reality.

Former Ukrainian Armed Forces’ chief of staff Victor Muzhenko has told media that summer counteroffensive “disappointed many" in Kiev and beyond.

Having admitted that Kiev’s expectations to capture Russian territory did not translate into reality, Muzhenko argued for a shift to “strategically active defense” and for the creation of a “powerful reserve, not only quantitative but also qualitative.”

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🇬🇧 The British Navy has come up with a new scheme in a desperate attempt to attract potential sailors.

The Royal Navy is offering to pay the military £500 (58,000 rubles) for each recruit attracted, according to the Daily Mail.

The news comes amid fears that the world could soon be “plunged into a new world war," with British generals believing the country would be ill-prepared for such a conflict, one newspaper noted.

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🇺🇸 Biden's Ukraine and Israel funding package faces GOP border battle

President Joe Biden's proposed $106 billion package earmarked for defense causes languishes in limbo. The funds, caught in the crossfire of political wrangling, face Republicans insisting on an overhaul of US-Mexico border policies as a precondition for approval.

As signs emerge of a growing Republican reluctance towards aiding Ukraine, proponents are reframing the narrative. They claim that a significant portion of the allocated funds contributes to bolstering the domestic defense industry, redirecting investments and job opportunities back into the heart of America.

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Zaluzhny vs. Zelensky: Top Ukrainian general surpasses president in approval rating

Reports suggest there is a major spat between the chief of Ukraine's military and the head of state after the much-touted "counteroffensive" against Russia failed, leading only to dramatic casualties and growing fatigue in the West.

According to the data, Zaluzhny has a 82% approval rating, while Zelensky is at 72%. Likewise, 63% of citizens fully trust the commander and 19% tend to trust him more, while for the Ukrainian leader these numbers are 39% and 33%, respectively.

In the hypothetical scenario of elections featuring both Zelensky and Zaluzhny, neither would secure victory in the first round (47.4% of voters would hypothetically support the president, and 30.7% the commander). In the second round, the votes would be almost evenly distributed: 42% for Zelensky and 40% for Zaluzhny.

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🇺🇸The United States currently doesn't manufacture a single advanced semiconductor for AI systems on its territory, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.

"Yes, we need manufacturing in America. Fundamentally, this is a national security initiative. The United States of America really makes no leading-edge chips on our shores today," Raimondo said at the Ronald Reagan National Defense Forum in California.

She added that even the chips marketed under the brand of US technology company Nvidia are all made in Taiwan.

In August 2022, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to implement the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which includes more than $52 billion in subsidies for US semiconductor manufacturers in an effort to counter China's growing technological clout.

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Muslim groups in swing states vow to end Biden’s reelection chances

Pro-Palestine protesters and Arab and Muslim groups around the nation have been demanding that Biden call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and do more to protect innocent Palestinians in Gaza. The group says that the movement is designed to leverage the power Muslim Americans have through their votes.

In 2020, roughly 59% of Arab Americans supported Biden, but that support has evaporated in the shadow of the war in Gaza. In a poll released on October 31, support for Biden among Arab Americans had dropped to just 17%.

“We are joining the national movement to abandon Biden and we will campaign against you along with our political allies,” activist Zade Al Ali said at a November 22 #AbandonBiden press conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Biden administration has not responded to media requests about the coalition.

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🇫🇷 If Israel intends to completely eliminate Palestinian movement Hamas, the war will last 10 years, so Israel should more clearly articulate its goal in the conflict, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

"I believe that now the Israeli authorities will have to define their goal in a more precise way ... The complete elimination of Hamas - what is it, and does anyone think that it is possible? If this is the goal, then the war will last ten years," Macron said at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai.

The French president also added that "the destruction of an entire territory or the bombing of all civilian potential" is not "a good response to the actions of a terrorist group."

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🇺🇸💰US spends 50% more on ammunition due to Ukraine's high artillery burn rate - Pentagon

"Ukraine's high burn rate for artillery has hammered home the need to invest even more in munitions. So compared to the defense budget from just five years ago, we're putting nearly 50 percent more money into munitions," Lloyd Austin, US Defense Secretary, said.

He also noted that the production of artillery shells in the US will quadruple during the Biden administration.

The Pentagon chief also stated that the US will continue to support Ukraine amid ongoing hostilities in the Middle East, adding that the outcome of the Ukrainian crisis will define global security for decades to come and the United States has no option to "sit it out."

At the same time, the Pentagon still refuses to provide data on the level of support for Israel.

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 Latest updates on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

▪️ Israeli PM Netanyahu says war will continue 'until we achieve all our goals';

▪️ The military wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said it had fired rockets at Tel Aviv in response to civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip;

▪️ Air raid sirens sounded in central and southern Israel, and for the first time in 11 days an alarm was heard in Tel Aviv, a Sputnik correspondent reported;

▪️ The blame for the disruption of the humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip lies with the radical Palestinian movement Hamas, which, according to the Israeli side, refused to release 17 women and children from hostages;

▪️ Israel will continue to fight in the Gaza Strip at least until the radical Palestinian movement Hamas fulfills agreements to release hostages, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said;

▪️ The Israeli army said its air force attacked Hamas targets in Gaza, the IDF drone eliminated 5 militants of the movement.

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📹 Russian paratroopers, supported by artillery and the Kornet anti-tank missile system, destroyed two Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicles in the Zaporozhye region.

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❗️An estimated 100,000 Australians marched through the centre of Melbourne today in support of Palestine blocking roads for the 8th week in a row.

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❗️Australian Police officers stage a protest of their own demanding higher wages and walking off the job during mass pro-Palestinian rallies in Melbourne today.

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