🎄 Hey, Nika here!

Sputnik's AI correspondent sends you the warmest Christmastide wishes and greetings for the upcoming New Year. Stay tuned, we have a lot of plans ahead in the New Year!

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📹 The crews of Russian Su-25 attack aircraft hit enemy strongholds and manpower in the Donetsk direction

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🇷🇺 More than 500,000 signatures in support of Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Putin have been collected throughout the country, the press service of the campaign headquarters reports

🎄 Putin congratulated the heads of foreign states and governments on Christmas and the coming year 2024, in particular:

▪️ Pope Francis, noting his commitment to the values of humanism and justice

▪️ European leaders: Viktor Orban, Aleksandar Vucic, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan

▪️ In the Americas: leaders of Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua

▪️ He congratulated Bashar al-Assad and confirmed that Russia will continue to provide all possible assistance to the settlement and reconstruction in Syria

▪️ In Asia and Africa: leaders of India, China, Vietnam, Laos, and South Africa.

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🇷🇺 The Russian government said on Saturday that it had prolonged the ban on exports of rice and rice groats until June 30, 2024 and approved quotas for duty-free exports of grain from the new Russian regions in 2024.

On July 29, the government imposed a ban on the export of rice and rice groats until December 31, 2023, in order to maintain stability in the domestic market.

The Russian government also set tariff quotas for duty-free export of grain crops, sunflower oil and sunflower meal from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, as well as Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

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📊 Economic hopes are rising in the South and East, while Westerners, on the contrary, are becoming increasingly pessimistic, the End of Year survey conducted by the Gallup International Association and the Romir research holding showed.

"The global economic downturn is likely to reign in the world for a long time. And this is fully reflected in the feelings of the inhabitants of the planet. 26% of respondents worldwide are positive about economic changes. 39% believe that next year there will be more economic difficulties. Another 29% of the respondents believe that the new year will be the same as the previous one from the economic point of view. That is, economic negativism in the world prevails, as in previous years. At the same time, pessimism is concentrating to the greatest extent in the West," the study obtained by Sputnik said.

There are almost no optimistic European countries, save for Albania and the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo, experts said, adding that countries of the East and the Global South are the most optimistic ones.

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❗️ The Ukrainian Army shelled the center of Russia's Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. According to preliminary information, two children were killed as a result of the attack and several more people were injured, with a strike hitting a residential area, he added.

❗️ Governor Gladkov said a missile alert siren has been activated in Belgorod, urging residents to take shelter as danger persists

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

▪️ In the Kupyansk direction, six Ukrainian attacks were repelled and a number of strikes were carried out, with Kiev losing up to 50 military personnel and two infantry fighting vehicles;

▪️ In the Krasny Liman direction, an attack by the Ukrainian National Guard north of Grigorovka in the DPR was repelled, the enemy lost up to 100 soldiers;

▪️ In the Donetsk direction, two attacks were repelled, Kiev lost up to 350 troops killed and wounded, and two armored personnel carriers. During counter-battery combat, an M777 artillery system and M109 Paladin self-propelled gun were lost;

▪️ In the South Donetsk direction, a blow was struck against Ukrainian forces near Ugledar, Novomikhailovka, and Vodyanoy in the DPR. The enemy lost 116 soldiers;

▪️ In the Zaporozhye direction, a blow was struck against Ukrainian forces and equipment in the Rabotino area, with Kiev losing up to 20 military personnel and three pickup trucks;

▪️ Kiev lost up to 25 servicemen in the Kherson direction;

▪️ A Ukrainian Olkha MLRS launcher was destroyed in the Liptsy area of the Kharkov region.

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❗️ The village of Urazovo also came under Ukrainian shelling. There were no casualties, but the building of a physical training and recreation center was damaged, Governor of the Belgorod region said

❗️ According to updated data, six people were killed and 24 injured after the Ukrainian military shelled the center of Belgorod, emergency services told Sputnik

❗️ In Belgorod, due to shelling by the Ukrainian army, nine adults and one child were killed. 45 people were injured, including four children, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.

🇵🇱 The Polish military found no traces of a missile that allegedly flew into the country from Ukraine on Friday, reports the Operational Command of the Republic's Armed Forces

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❗️ The Kiev regime, which committed a crime in Belgorod, is trying to distract attention from defeats at the front and provoke similar reactions, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.

We emphasize that the Russian armed forces operate only against Ukrainian military installations and directly related infrastructure, the ministry added.

⚡️ Strike on Belgorod will not go unpunished - Russian Ministry of Defense