🇪🇺 Europe is preparing for the fact that it will have to compensate Kiev for the missing assistance from the United States, and under this scenario, it has five to eight years to restore its defense capability, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated on Saturday.

"For example, the defense industry will take time to ramp up. Right now we have about five to eight years to catch up in the military, industry and society," Pistorius told Welt, adding that in the next ten years, the US will show more interest in the Pacific region rather than in Europe, and therefore Europeans themselves need to become more involved in ensuring security in the region.

The EU has been trying to reach an agreement on 20 billion euros in military support for Ukraine and intends to include another 50 billion euros in the EU budget to provide macro-financial assistance to Kiev over the next four years. However, the plans have faced opposition from some member states, mainly from Hungary.

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🇩🇪🪖 German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius suggested possible reintroduction of compulsory military service in the country, calling its suspension a mistake despite the reasons that existed at the time.

However, it is hard to return compulsory connoscription now due to a number of issues, including legal and political, Pistorius said. At the same time, he is currently considering a Swedish connoscription model, where both men and women are considered liable for military service, but only a portion of them are connoscripted, Pistorius added.

On April 28, Pistorius told Spanish press that Germany had no plans to bring back compulsory military service since Berlin did not have the capacity or funds for this.

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🇺🇦🪖 “Attack helicopters, advanced fighter jets, long-range missile systems, and Abrams tanks”

These items are among Ukraine’s wishlist for the United States as German media reports plans for a 2024 counteroffensive.

The report comes despite the broad failure of Ukraine’s efforts in 2023 as the country continues to grow its stockpile.

“What we are experiencing is basically a controlled rearguard action,” said one expert, suggesting Kiev is fighting a losing battle.

Ukraine will reportedly abandon efforts to reclaim territory and simply focus on attempting to kill as many Russians as possible.

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🇵🇸🇮🇱 Hamas stated on Saturday that it would not negotiate a hostage exchange until Israel ended its military operation in the Gaza Strip.

"The Hamas movement reiterates its position not to conduct any negotiations on the exchange of prisoners until the military operation against our people finally ends," the movement stressed.

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🇷🇺🪖 The Russian air defense destroyed 33 Ukrainian drones over Russia’s Lipetsk, Rostov, and Volgograd Regions, the Russian Defense Ministry stated.

"Tonight, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by fixed-wing drones on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped. Air defense systems destroyed and intercepted 33 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territories of the Lipetsk, Rostov, and Volgograd Regions," the ministry reported.

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is investing millions of dollars to construct a vast underground bunker, according to a report in US media.

The doomsday shelter is part of a sprawling compound being built on property the multimillionaire owns in Hawaii which will include mansions, a large gym, and treehouses.

Denoscriptions of the bunker read like the stuff of science fiction, with soundproofed rooms and passages hidden behind bookshelves leading to secret areas.

Zuckerberg has attempted to maintain secrecy around the project, forcing contractors to sign strict nondisclosure agreements.

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❗️Australians protested in Melbourne today calling for a boycott of Starbucks over its perceived anti-Palestinian position.

The #boycottstarbucks has been used in about 5,000 posts generating over 42 million views in the past 30 days. Overall there are about 17,000 posts with this hashtag that have received over 175,000 views.

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❗️Australians protesting in Melbourne today chanted "There is only one solution - Intifada revolution".

Intifada is an Arabic word that literally means “uprising”, and in the Palestinian context, it is understood to mean a civil uprising against Israel.

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❗️Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through Melbourne's CBD today blocking main streets for the 10th Sunday in a row since the war in Gaza began.

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🇷🇺 Freight traffic along the Northern Sea Route via the Arctic is projected to grow from this year's 36 billion tonnes to 50 billion tonnes in 2024, with the infrastructure-related projects drawing interest of Chinese investors, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev told Sputnik.

He also said that unlike the Suez Canal, the Northern Sea Route would not be rendered impassable by one ship stuck sideways.

"The Northern Sea Route is also of great interest to our Chinese colleagues, in terms of infrastructure work. This interest is sparked by the fact that that there is a lot that needs to be done. It is necessary to build new icebreakers and escort vessels, create a satellite constellation, a system of stations of the Ministry of Emergency Situations there," the official said, summing up by saying that "a lot needs to be done to make the Northern Sea Route truly comfortable and safe."

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Wolves in sheep's clothing: military recruiters persuade Ukrainians to join army, not tell risks

Ukraine’s authorities have intensified the recruitment of soldiers for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In Lvov, "soft mobilization" has begun: employees of military commissions walk the streets and "catch" men of connoscription age to tell them about the advantages of contractual service, Ukrainian media reported. There have also been raids in Kiev, Odessa, and Krivoy Rog, where connoscription notices have been distributed in cafes and even gyms.

Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022. In addition, according to the decree on general mobilization, most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are forbidden to leave the country.

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❗️ After the collapse of the USSR, the West wanted to collapse Russia too, Putin told journalists

🇻🇦 On Sunday night, international media widely covered the “trial of the century”: the story of 75-year-old Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was sentenced by a Vatican tribunal to 5.5 years in a case involving luxury real estate transactions abroad.

The New York Times writes that Becciu was one of the most influential people in the Vatican, and the trial, which lasted for several years, even affected Pope Francis.

The Washington Post used the phrase "trial of the century" in its headline about the trial. The newspaper writes that Becciu was the first cardinal to be prosecuted by the Vatican Criminal Court.

Corriere della Sera notes that the proceedings centered on a real estate transaction in London, as well as investments by the Secretariat of State in 2011-2018, where Becciu was substitute for general affairs.

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📹 The first night version of Russia’s Gastello attack FPV drone has been successfully tested in the special op zone, Sputnik's correspondent reports

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Politicians warn aiding Ukraine will bring about ‘end of EU’

The Ukraine conflict has to be stopped before Europe is turned into an “industrial and economic desert,” French parliamentarian Nicolas Dupont-Aignan warned.

“We give our money to Zelensky, we pay 4X more for our gas in the United States and poverty is exploding in our country!” the leader of the right-wing political movement “Debout la France” fumed in a post on X.

A similarly dire warning was given by founder of the now-defunct Megaupload file-sharing service Kim Dotcom. EC President Ursula von der Leyen is bringing the destruction of the EU closer with her statements about Ukraine, he wrote on X.

“Remember this moment. Nations agreed to join the EU on the promise of unanimity for all major decisions. This promise is now being broken. It’s the end of the European Union,” the entrepreneur said.

Kim Dotcom was referring to von der Leyen’s remarks amid Hungary's veto on Ukraine aid. “It is now also necessary to work on potential alternatives to have an operational solution in case...unanimity is not possible,” von der Leyen said.

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Russia 'plays the long game' amid Ukraine fatigue

Ukraine has the ‘odds stacked against it,’ while Russia is ‘playing the long game,’ retired Air Vice-Marshal Sean Bell told UK media.

Ukraine has failed to make any significant gains on the battlefront, and the advantage of the Russian Armed Forces on the battlefield is evident, Bell underscored.

‘They [Ukraine] don't have an air force. They don't have air power. They're not a member of NATO. They have a lot of issues stacked against them,’ he said, adding that the flow of aid from Western patrons has slowed to ‘a trickle.’

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A staggering number of British households are unable to pay their electricity and gas bills due to the cost of living crisis

The amount owed to energy suppliers has risen by £400 million since mid-October, reaching £3 bln ($3.8 bln), revealed a report released.

These concerns have prompted the industry regulator Ofgem to propose raising its cap on household bills by £16 or £1.33 a month, for the next financial year from April 2024. That rise is aimed at helping intermediary billing companies offset higher debt costs they say could drive them to bankruptcy.

“The record level of debt in the system means we must take action to make sure suppliers can recover their reasonable costs, so the market remains resilient, and suppliers are offering consumers support in managing their debts,” stated Tim Jarvis, Ofgem's director general for markets.

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❗️ Main statements by Vladimir Putin in interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin:

▪️ Putin admitted that naivety was inherent in him despite his work in intelligence and government positions;

▪️ The president added that in the 2000s, he had naive ideas about the West;

▪️ Vladimir Putin said that he blamed the inertia of the West's thinking for its tendency to confront Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union;

▪️ The West believes that such a big Russia is not needed and wants to divide and subjugate it;

▪️ Putin called the claim that Russia might attack NATO "complete nonsense" and that Biden's remarks about it were a figure of speech;

▪️ Russia is interested in developing relations with NATO countries;

▪️ Russia has neither territorial claims nor any other interest in going to war with NATO countries;

▪️ Russia had great relations with Finland, and now it will have to concentrate military units in the Leningrad Military District;

▪️ The US will have to take Russia into consideration and find common ground.

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🇷🇺🪖 Key points of Russian MoD briefing on progress of special military op in Ukraine:

▪️Russian troops repelled nine attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kupyansk direction;

▪️The Russian Armed Forces repelled an attack by a Ukrainian special forces brigade in the Krasny Liman direction. Enemy losses amounted to up to 90 military personnel;

▪️In the South Donetsk direction, the Russian Armed Forces repelled two attacks by Ukrainian assault groups;

▪️The Russian Armed Forces destroyed a HIMARS launcher in the Konstantinovka area in the DPR;

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 100 military personnel in the South Donetsk direction;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Donetsk direction amounted to up to 250 military personnel and four of their attacks were repelled;

▪️Over the past 24 hours, the Russian Armed Forces shot down two Ukrainian MiG-29s, one Su-25, two HIMARS missiles, a JDAM guided bomb, and 91 drones;

▪️Russian troops destroyed a command post of Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized as well as fuel depots for aircraft.

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📹 Crews of Russian army aviation helicopters strike enemy strongholds and manpower in the Kupyansk direction

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🎄 Germany's Grinch-like Federal Customs Service has warned on its website of the possible confiscation of Christmas gifts sent from Russia this festive season.

German authorities have threatened to steal Christmas by confiscating gifts mailed from Russia.

The EU's sanctions on Russia already include financial blocks, sectoral restrictions, transport and visa bans, export controls and import restrictions.

It has prohibited the import of strategic raw materials from Russia, including oil, petroleum products, coal, ferrous metallurgy products and gold — but now authorities have seemingly added frankincense and myrrh to that list.

The Federal Customs Service has extended the ban to personal belongings, including Christmas gifts, from Russia. Customs officials may now confiscate or detain items such as paper, wooden products, cosmetics and more.

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