🪖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.

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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.

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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.

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👑🇩🇰 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.

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 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.

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🛰 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.

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🇬🇧 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.

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🇮🇱🇸🇾 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.

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🇷🇺 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.”

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🇪🇬 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.

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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.

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❗️ 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.

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❗️ 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

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🇹🇷 Turkish National Defense Minister Yasar Guler stated Sunday that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK, banned in Turkiye as a terrorist organization) is "losing mobility" after "intensive and effective activities" against it.

"Our glorious army has achieved tremendous successes, especially in the fight against terrorism. The Turkish armed forces have carried out the most comprehensive, most intensive and most effective activities. This has put an end to the mobility of the terrorist organization," Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu quoted Guler as saying.

The armed conflict between the PKK and Turkiye began in 1984 and reignited in 2015. The organization, which seeks the creation of an independent Kurdish state, including on the Turkish territory, has established bases in Iraqi and Syrian territories close to the Turkish border, where the Turkish military has been targeting them in land and air strikes.

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🇷🇺 Almost 90% of residents of Russia's new regions received Russian passports in 2023, and to speed up the process, special migration units have been created, Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said.

She added that issuing documents to new citizens was one of the main tasks of the interior ministry.

"For this purpose, nine document printing facilities have been opened in the new regions, as well as in Crimea and the Rostov Region. More than 100 migration units were opened in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions," she said.

For those who cannot get to the units, organized mobile groups, points and offices have been set up, the spokeswoman added.

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63% of Ukrainian capital's energy infrastructure was damaged or destroyed in 2023, the head of Kiev City Military Administration, Serhiy Popko said on Sunday.

"[A total of] 63% of the city's energy facilities were damaged. Throughout the warm period of the year, thousands of specialists worked 24/7 to prepare the destroyed power system for the current heating season," the city's administration quoted Popko as saying.

On Friday, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko signed a guarantee agreement with German bank KfW for a loan of 24 million euros ($26.57 million), which would be spent to reconstruct Ukraine's energy sector.

Strikes against Ukrainian critical infrastructure have been carried out by Russia since October 10, 2022, two days after the first attack on the Crimean Bridge committed by the Kiev regime.

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Hundreds of court documents surrounding the late sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public on Monday.

More than 150 names of those close to the child predator—including the British monarchy’s Prince Andrew and former US President Bill Clinton—will be revealed in the documents, according to reports.

Earlier this month, US District Judge Loretta Preska ruled that there was no longer any legal justification for continuing to conceal the names of those who were mentioned in the legal filings. According to Preska’s order, the unsealing should begin after January 1st. She first issued her ruling on December 18, giving those in the unsealed document just two weeks to appeal.

👉 Follow the link for more details

🇰🇵 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has instructed the country's military to destroy the United States and South Korea with "a blow" and "without hesitation" if they choose a confrontation path and provoke a conflict in the Korean Peninsula, the state-run KCNA news agency reported on Sunday.

The North Korean leader added that Washington's "inveterate hostile acts" against Pyongyang "have evidently evolved into a stage of execution which can lead to actual military actions and thus trigger a conflict between the armed forces of both sides."

Kim has reiterated the need to "steadily step up the work for getting the overwhelming war response capability and the full and perfect military combat readiness to deter any form of provocation and action at a blow since the enemies' desperate efforts get more serious."

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