🇷🇺 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?

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‘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.

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🪖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.

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🇷🇸 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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🇵🇰🇺🇦 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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❗️One person was killed and two injured as a result of the overnight attack on Feodosiya, Aksyonov said.

❗️The Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, was damaged tonight in Feodosiya, Crimea, while repulsing an attack by Ukrainian forces with guided missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

During the anti-aircraft battle, two Ukrainian Su-24s, which launched the missiles, were destroyed by air defenses, the ministry said.

📹 🪖'NATO instructors could not properly train Ukrainian troops' - captured Ukrainian sergeant Valery Sidorchuk.

Sidorchuk said that he was taken to the draft office and immediately sent to the unit, where he was trained by NATO instructors in Estonia. After arriving at the front lines, the soldier experienced shortages of ammunition and food. NATO training standards proved useless.

"We had old rifles, guns that jammed all the time. We didn't have any heavy weapons, artillery, tanks. We had simple trenches, there was no place to hide. Our food and water was frozen, we had no way of heating it," the Ukrainian POW said.

Ukrainian officers were in no hurry to help their subordinates.

"They should just be punished for it - the attitude is bad, nobody values people's lives. Untrained soldiers were thrown into the fray with only assault rifles and grenades. No support. It's just irresponsible. We were just sent in as meat shields," he said.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has outlined "three prerequisites" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, he wrote that these conditions include the destruction of Hamas, the demilitarization of Gaza, and the de-radicalization of Palestinian society.

According to Netanyahu, once these conditions are met, Gaza could be rebuilt and the prospect of a broader peace in the Middle East would "become a reality".

The article comes after Netanyahu announced late last week that the Israeli army would intensify its fight against Hamas in the coming days and that Tel Aviv's military campaign in Gaza was "not close to being over".

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