Tears of Joy: Donetsk civilians celebrate liberation of Maryinka

Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley (@TXDPR) explained that for years, the Ukrainian military used Maryinka as a key launching pad for drone and artillery strikes against Donetsk. That reign of terror has finally come to an end.

“This victory is personal for me and my family - My wife and her family are from Petrovsky, my wife and I lived there for three years before the beginning of the SMO, but moved to the city center because of heavy shelling about two years ago. Our house in Petrovsky has been damaged three times by shelling - not directly hit, but from heavy artillery shells landing within 100 meters of our house multiple times. We were lucky. Some of our close neighbors were killed. Many people never understood that the Petrovsky District was closer to the Nazis in Maryinka than to the Donetsk city center.

I have close friends among those who liberated Maryinka, and one great friend who died in the effort, and did not live to see the task completed. And he was not alone. There is no victory without sacrifice, and great sacrifices were made to reach this seminal turning point in the war. And make no mistake, though on a smaller scale, this victory is every bit as profound as the liberation of Bakhmut. It is not just a turning point in this war, it is the point of no return.

There are tears of joy in Petrovsky tonight. The last couple of months have seen a major escalation of targeted attacks specifically against civilians there, that have taken a heavy toll, both physically and spiritually. Those attacks will now diminish, and while there is no easy road ahead, the liberation of Maryinka is a huge stepping stone towards the defeat of the Nazis in Avdeevka, and the eventual liberation and de-nazification of Ukraine.”

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

▪️Netanyahu visited the Gaza Strip and said the military "asked not to stop": “We are not stopping, we are continuing to fight and we are deepening the fighting in the coming days, and this will be a long battle and it is not close to being over. We need patience, unity, and to stick to our mission,” said Netanyahu at a meeting of the Likud faction meeting in Knesset. “Everyone asked me only one thing: that we don’t stop and continue on until the end,” he added.

▪️An adviser of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in an Israeli missile attack on the outskirts of Syria's Damascus, the Tasnim news agency reported.

▪️The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) sent 12 ambulances to evacuate its personnel and patients from a number of hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip after local emergency transport was destroyed in a raid by Israeli forces.

▪️The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has donated 80,000 vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella for children aged up to six years in the Gaza Strip, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) of the Israeli Defense Ministry said.

Hamas released a video of ambush on IDF military transport in the Central Gaza Strip.

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❄️ Is America playing 'catch-up' to Russia in the Arctic?

"Russia won the race in the Arctic. It will take the United States years to catch up, if ever. Consequently, the US can’t threaten Russia’s achievements in the Arctic," Dr. Mamdouh G. Salameh, an international oil economist and a global energy expert, told Sputnik.

Moscow is concerned about Washington's unilateral push to hastily expand its continental shelf rights in the Arctic in defiance of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The United States has neither signed nor ratified the Convention.

"The Biden administration has stated that it may want to join [UNCLOS]," Michael Maloof, former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, told Sputnik. "We'll see what it does in its remaining months in office here during this term."

Time will tell whether the US will start playing by the rules.

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🇷🇺 How Russia's layered air, ground and sea-based defenses shield its Black Sea shores

The Black Sea has been a focal point of the NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine from the opening days of the special military operation, with the body of water witnessing naval blockades, amphibious landings, drone warfare and even close calls between Russian and US forces.

What resources does Russia have at its disposal to secure this vital theater?

👉 Follow the link to learn about Russian onion layer defenses

‘War is scary’: Donbass children send a message to American children

Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley (@TXDPR) asked schoolchildren in Makeevka, a city near Donetsk, what they wanted to tell American kids their age. Here’s what they had to say.

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President Putin plans to call battalion commander Troshin, who took part in the liberation of Maryinka, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik

🇨🇳🇵🇭 China сastigates Philippines 'extremely dangerous' South China Sea incursions

In an announcement, The People's Daily, an official publication of the Communist Party of China, has raised alarm over the Philippines' continued reliance on US support to engage in "extremely dangerous" actions in the South China Sea aimed at disrupting regional peace.

The report, published on Christmas Day, has not yet elicited any official response from the Philippines' Foreign Ministry or the national task force responsible for managing South China Sea issues.

Over the past few months, tensions between Beijing and Manila have flared up due to a spate of run-ins in the South China Sea. These include accusations that China rammed a ship carrying the Philippines' armed forces chief of staff earlier this month.

👉 Follow the link to learn more

🪖Ukrainian military struggling with ammo shortage as Russia steamrolls ahead

While Russia is continuing to steadily step up production of weapons, the Ukrainian military is running out of manpower, arms and ammo.

"Regarding the [Russian defense] industry, for a number of items we have seen a 10-12-fold increase in production and supply volumes," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov told Sputnik.

In stark contrast, on the other side of the barricades, the Ukrainian military is complaining to Western newspapers that they "lack everything". Not only do they have to abort assault missions, they hardly have enough ammo and weapons to maintain their positions amid Russia's push.

"The guys are tired — very tired," a Ukrainian soldier told the Washington Post. "How long can we last? It’s hard to say, but it can’t be long."

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Pope Francis criticized war manufacturers and called for the end of violence around the world, paying particular attention to Gaza

Pope Francis noted that you cannot be opposed to war without opposing weapons.

“To say ‘no’ to war means saying ‘no’ to weaponry. The human heart is weak and impulsive; if we find instruments of death in our hands, sooner or later we will use them. And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise? … How much violence and killing takes place amid deafening silence, unbeknownst to many!” said Pope Francis. “Yet that is something they ought to know! It should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet-strings of war.”

Pope Francis called for a future when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation” and called for the return of hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attack and the end of military operations in Gaza.

👉 Hit the link to get more detail

🇷🇸 Serbian coup attempt sign of NATO’s ‘desperation’ amid Ukraine failure

💬“I suspect that the West’s current Maidan effort in Belgrade is less about a carefully considered long-term plan and more a desperate flailing response to the NATO disaster unfolding in Ukraine,” political analyst and former MEP Nick Griffin told Sputnik.

Balkans expert Dr. George Szamuely of the Global Policy Institute pointed out that Serbia “has long been a sore point for NATO and the EU,” refusing to join the Western alliance, and refusing “to go along with the NATO-EU policy towards Russia.”

💬 “We are witnessing this new attempt at a Maidan coup, because the authors of this attempt to overthrow Vucic are the same superficial Ivy League scenario plotters in the State Department, in the CIA, that have been guiding America’s disastrous foreign policy adventures for the past thirty years,” veteran international relations expert Dr. Gilbert Doctorow told Sputnik.

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❗️ The head of the Crimea republic Sergey Aksyonov has reported an attack near Feodosiya and that the port area has been cordoned off.

He added that the fire as a result of the attack had been localised and special services were working on the site.

Gaganauts of Geopolitics is keeping a close eye on top developments in India, Pakistan, South Asia & beyond.

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🇮🇳 Indian army's tankover: should Pakistan be worried?

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🇵🇰🇺🇦 Did Pakistan supply weapons to Ukraine?

🇧🇩 Is America eyeing Bangladesh for another colour revolution?

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Saudi Arabia not interested in joining US-led Red Sea coalition against Houthis - reports

The kingdom views the prospect of peace on its southern border "a more appealing goal" compared to joining any naval action after eight years of war with the rebel movement that drained Saudi coffers and helped drive Yemen into one of the world's most acute humanitarian crises, The New York Times reported.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud wants to transform it into a business hub by 2030 and seeks to resolve conflicts and soothe tensions across the Middle East, including through a rapprochement with Iran, its regional rival.

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📹 Russian paratrooper drone crews destroyed Ukrainian troops in shelters near the road to Chasov Yar near Artemovsk, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters.

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📸 10th annual Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest opened for entries!

The Andrei Stenin Photo Contest, organized by Rossiya Segodnya under the auspices of the Russian Commission for UNESCO, is aimed at supporting young photographers and drawing public attention to the challenges of contemporary photojournalism. Its international media partner is Sputnik News Agency and Radio.

The anniversary edition of the contest comes with updates. A new category, "View From Above," has been added to the existing four - "Top News," "Sports," "My Planet," and "Portrait. A Hero of Our Time".

Photographers aged 18 to 33 can still submit their applications on the contest website in Russian, English and Chinese languages. Applications for the 2024 competition will be accepted until March 15.

The photo contest is named after Andrei Stenin, a special photojournalist of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, who died in the line of duty near Donetsk in the summer of 2014.

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❗️Russian presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin summed up the year's results:

"Russia has become the largest economy in Europe, which is already breathing down Japan's neck."

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📹 Soldiers of the Akhmat special forces in the Artemovsk region (Bakhmut) destroyed two mercenaries from Colombia while capturing a dugout at the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the commander of the assault team told Sputnik.

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