⚡️Putin: we will never retreat, there is no force that can divide us and stop our development

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️Putin wished all Russian families all the best: we decide the fate of Russia, we are one big family, we are together

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇨🇳 China will “definitely be reunited” – President Xi Jinping in New Year’s speech

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖 Key points of Russian MoD briefing on progress of special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️The Russian Armed Forces repelled four attacks in the Kupyansk direction; the total losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) amounted to 120 servicemen.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces repelled a Ukrainian attack in the Krasny Liman direction, with enemy losses amounting to up to 50 servicemen.

▪️A Ukrainian fuel and lubricants warehouse was destroyed on the northeastern outskirts of Kharkov.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces destroyed three HIMARS MLRS and one Alder MLRS.

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Donetsk direction amounted to up to 300 servicemen; three attacks by Ukrainian assault groups were repelled.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces repelled one attack by a Ukrainian assault group in the South Donetsk direction; enemy losses amounted to up to 100 servicemen.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 75 servicemen killed and wounded in the Zaporozhye direction.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces destroyed Ukrainian aircraft in hangars at airfields in the Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa regions.

▪️Russian air defense systems intercepted 14 Ukrainian HIMARS and Alder missiles and 31 UAVs.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces destroyed an S-300 radar in the Odessa region.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces struck Ukrainian fuel and ammunition warehouses in the Zaporozhye and Kiev regions.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇱 The Israeli government has approved a portfolio swap between the top diplomat, Eli Cohen, and Israel Katz, the current energy minister, the prime minister's office said.

"The Government has, this morning, approved the appointment of Minister Eli Cohen as Minister of Energy and Infrastructure instead of Minister Yisrael Katz, and the appointment of Minister Yisrael Katz as Minister of Foreign Affairs instead of Minister Eli Cohen," the office said in a statement.

Both decisions are subject to parliamentary approval, the statement added.

It also wrote on X that Cohen "will continue to serve as a member of the Security Cabinet," despite the change of portfolio.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇪🇬 An Egyptian intelligence delegation paid a visit to Israel on Thursday to reconcile positions on a possible deal to end the hostilities in the Gaza Strip, but Israel is yet to respond, Al Araby Al Jadeed newspaper reported, citing a source in Egypt, and adding that Israeli officials confirmed that these issues will be discussed at a military council and then Egypt will be provided with a response to them.

One of the delegation's goals was to understand whether Israel was ready to pull its troops from Gaza in the event that a comprehensive agreement is reached, the newspaper added.

Meanwhile, Palestinian factions continue internal consultations on a prisoner exchange and ceasefire agreement. However, no final formula of the deal has been worked out yet, the newspaper wrote, adding that "Hamas needs an official promise from the agreement's sponsor countries that firing will not resume under any circumstances."

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️Russian Defence Minister in New Year's address: Russian army has shown invincibility, ability to crush enemy in any conditions

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the destruction of three Ukrainian UAVs over the territory of the Rostov region by air defense systems on duty.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Scott Ritter: Belgorod attack meant to provoke Russian overreaction to prevent West from dumping Kiev

💬“The Ukrainians claim to fire against military targets, but the use of cluster munitions and the targets they hit clearly indicate that this was a clear-cut case of the indiscriminate use of military weapons against exclusively civilian targets – a war crime in the extreme,” Ritter told Sputnik in a video commentary responding to Saturday’s Ukrainian cluster bomb attack on Russia’s Belgorod.

“The timing of this, on the eve of a new year - one of the most widely celebrated holidays in Russia, I think is designed to be both a psychological blow against the Russian people, and in striking such a blow to generate some sort of reaction by the Russian government that would allow Ukraine to create the case or restate the case to their Western allies for the need for continued financial and military support,” the former Marine and UN weapons inspector said.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

With 2023 having come to an end, Sputnik has made a list of the top cringeworthy moments in politics of the past year. Let's hope that in 2024, far fewer people will be embarrassed by their political leaders.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

👑🇩🇰 Queen Margrethe II of Denmark announced in her New Year's address that she will abdicate the throne on January 14, 2024.

"I will leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik," she said during her traditional New Year's Eve speech broadcast on Danish television.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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

▪️The death toll from Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip has reached 21,822, and the number of injured people has grown to 56,451, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said.

▪️Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused South Africa of "cowardice" and lying for filing a genocide lawsuit against Israel, saying the Israeli military is the most "moral" in the world.

▪️At least 68 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on Sunday, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

▪️The Israeli government has approved a portfolio swap between the top diplomat, Eli Cohen, and Israel Katz, the current energy minister, the prime minister's office said.

▪️ Iran will continue negotiations and consultations with the UN Security Council members in an effort to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told Sputnik.

▪️The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had suspended military activity in a neighborhood of the city of Rafah, located in the southern Gaza Strip near the border with Egypt, for humanitarian purposes until 12:00 GMT on Sunday.

▪️An Egyptian intelligence delegation paid a visit to Tel Aviv on Thursday to reconcile positions on a possible deal to end the hostilities in the Gaza Strip, but Israel is yet to respond, Al Araby Al Jadeed newspaper reported, citing a source in Egypt.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🛰 New Year’s greetings from orbit

Greetings from space! Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Konstantin Borisov aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have beamed down heartfelt New Year wishes to all their compatriots on Earth!

"From the ISS, we wish you health, success and prosperity," Kononenko said, while Chub encouraged sharing warmth and creating miracles. Despite being far from their loved ones, the Russian cosmonauts said they felt their support.

The ISS, home to a diverse crew including American, European and Japanese astronauts, is in a festive mood. Despite the distance, the crew plans to exchange gifts and visit different segments of the station for their New Year's celebrations. With the ISS completing an orbit every 90 minutes, they can experience the New Year 15 or 16 times a day.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇬🇧 Britain's armed forces are ready to launch a round of air strikes against the Yemen causing havoc in the Red Sea, increasing the risk of a dramatic increase in regional tensions.

According to the proposals, the UK would team up with the US and possibly one other European country to launch a barrage of missiles at Yemeni armed forces, either at sea or on the Arab country’s sovereign territory.

According to a Whitehall source, the coordinated strikes might include RAF jets for the first time or HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer that successfully destroyed an attack drone with a Sea Viper missile earlier this month in the Red Sea.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇱🇸🇾 Two Israeli F-16 fighter jets, without entering Syrian airspace while operating from the Mediterranean Sea, have struck targets in the area of the Syrian city of Aleppo with six cruise missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria said on Sunday.

"On December 30, from 17:14 to 17:27, two F-16 tactical fighters of the Israeli air force, operating from the Mediterranean Sea without entering the Syrian airspace, launched an air strike with six cruise missiles on targets in the area of the city of Aleppo," Vadim Kulit, deputy head of the center, told a briefing.

There were no casualties as a result of the attack, Kulit added.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Putin outlines Russia’s main accomplishment in 2023

As the clock struck 12 am Moscow time and Russians bade farewell to 2023, President Putin appeared on television to offer citizens his traditional New Year’s greetings, this time for the year 2024.

Putin characterized the outgoing year as one in which Russia “remained firm” in the defense of its national interests, freedom, security and values, and outlined what will need to be done in the coming years to make the country “even stronger.”

The New Year is about “bright hopes” and a “sincere desire to please one’s loved ones,” Putin said. “In the coming year, I would like to wish all Russian families the very best. After all, the history of each family forms the history of our huge, beautiful and beloved Motherland. Its destiny is determined and created by all of us – the multinational people of Russia. We are one country, one big family.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇪🇬 Negotiations on the creation of a free trade zone between Egypt and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are at the final stage, Russian Trade Representative to Egypt Alexey Tevanyan told Sputnik.

"The signing of a free trade agreement between Egypt and the EAEU will facilitate the access of our goods to the Egyptian market. Negotiations on the free trade zone are at the final stage," Tevanyan said.

Russian engineering products are respected in Egypt because of their price-quality ratio advantage, Tevanyan added.

"Egyptians have purchased a large batch of our passenger cars and are well acquainted with Lada cars, which have long been assembled at local facilities," Tevanyan said.

The contract to supply the Egyptian National Railways with 1,350 passenger cars worth more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) was signed in 2018. Production was carried out in Russia and Hungary.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Two US bases in the Al-Hasakah Governorate in northeastern Syria have been attacked by rockets and a drone, a local source told Sputnik on Sunday.

"Several rockets have fallen down near residential buildings at the Al-Jabsa oil field in [the town of] Ash Shaddadi, which is occupied by American troops as their military base," the source said.

The source added that the US base at Kharab al-Jir airfield in Al-Hasakah has been attacked by a drone.

The number of attacks on the bases of the US-led international coalition in Iraq, as well as US troops in Syria, has significantly grown over the past months since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated on October 7. Shia armed groups operating in Iraq have claimed responsibility for attacks. Washington, for its part, believes that the attacks are carried out by pro-Iranian groups.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk kills 3 people, leaves 7 wounded on New Year's Eve

Three people were killed in the shelling of the city of Donetsk in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) by Ukrainian troops on New Year's night, DPR head Denis Pushilin stated Monday.

Earlier in the day, Pushilin said on Telegram that seven people were injured in the shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces.

The DPR representative office in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination reported earlier that the Ukrainian military fired 15 rockets from multiple launch rocket systems shortly after midnight.

"Unfortunately, there are fatalities - preliminary, three people," Pushilin said in a message on Telegram.

He added that medical assistance was being provided to the wounded people.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ The death toll from Ukraine’s strike on Donetsk rises to 4 people, 13 others injured, head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin said.

Footage from Russia's Donetsk following the Ukrainian attack on New Year's Eve

Subscribe to @SputnikInt