▪️At least 15 missiles were fired at the US Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq late on Saturday. Two of the missiles landed on the territory of the base, AFP reported, citing local security officials.

▪️Syria urged the international community to stop Israeli attacks on civilians.

▪️Thousands of Israelis protested to call on Netanyahu's cabinet to reach a deal with Hamas that would secure the release of hostages.

▪️What might be the aftermath of NATO’s upcoming Steadfast Defender 2024?

▪️Air defense forces have destroyed several Ukrainian aircraft-type drones over the Smolensk and Tula regions of Russia. Two attempts were made to attack the Smolensk region.

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❗️🇮🇳 Indian passenger plane heading to Moscow crashed in mountainous northeastern Afghanistan: Afghani Media citing officials

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⚡️Falcon plane missing in Afghanistan is registered in the state register of civil aircraft of the Russia: Russian Aviation authority

Preliminarily, there were 6 people on board: 4 crew members and 2 passengers.

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What is known about the plane crash in the mountains of Afghanistan:

▪️ On Saturday evening, January 20, while in the airspace of Afghanistan, the Falcon 10 aircraft registered in the State Register of Civil Aircraft of Russia stopped communicating and disappeared from radar screens.

▪️ According to preliminary data, there were 6 people on board - four crew members and two passengers.

▪️ The Falcon 10 was produced in 1978 by the French company Dassault Aviation. The aircraft is owned by Athletic Group LLC and a private individual.

▪️ The aircraft performed a charter medical flight on the route Gaya (India) - Tashkent (Uzbekistan) - Zhukovsky (Russia).

▪️ The search for the plane is underway, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency reported.

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📹 Dnepr Group’s 152-mm Giatsint-B cannons destroy Ukrainian Armed Forces’ armored vehicles, fortified positions and boats in the Kherson region.

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❗️At least 12 civilians have been killed in Donetsk as a result of the Ukrainian shelling of a local market, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

Ukrainian troops fired at least six 155mm shells in the Kirovsky district of the city, where markets and a large number of shops are located.

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❗️The death toll from the Ukrainian shelling of the market area in Donetsk increased to 13, ten more were injured, said the head of the Republic of DPR Denis Pushilin.

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❗️A criminal case has been opened on the fact of the plane crash in Afghanistan with Russian citizens on board - The Investigative Committee of Russia.

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❗️The village of Krakhmalnoye in the Kharkov region was liberated as a result of the successful actions of the Russian "Western" group of troops, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

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❗️Russian troops defeated the temporary deployment point of foreign mercenaries in the Konstantinovka area of the DPR and destroyed the ammunition depot of the Ukrainian armed forces.

🇷🇺🪖 Other statements from the Russian Defense Ministry briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️ In the Kupyansk region, Russian forces repelled seven attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 55 soldiers;

▪️ In Krasny Liman, Russian troops repelled three attacks by Ukrainian Armed Forces' warplanes. Ukrainian losses amounted to 80 servicemen;

▪️ In Donetsk, Russian forces repelled two attacks in one day. Ukrainian losses amounted to 310 servicemen; in the south of Donetsk, Ukrainian losses amounted to 70 servicemen and two vehicles during the day;

▪️ Russian air defense systems destroyed 43 drones of the Ukrainian armed forces, repelled one Tochka-U missile and two HIMARS MLRS projectiles.

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🎯📹 Russian combat engineers in action

Russia’s Southern Group sappers discovered and destroyed Ukrainian Forces’ ammunition and explosive objects using drones.

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❗️The death toll from the shelling of the Kirovsky district of Donetsk by Ukrainian troops has risen to 18, the city's mayor announced.

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Red Sea Crisis - new opportunities for defense contractors?

The Sea Viper air defense system used by the Royal Navy in the Red Sea to shoot down drones will be upgraded with new warheads and new software worth $514 million, the UK Ministry of Defense said.
After the upgrade, the Sea Viper will be capable of countering ballistic missiles, the ministry added.

The contracts were awarded to the British division of MBDA, a missile joint venture owned by Airbus, the British military contractor BAE Systems and the Rome-based defense contractor Leonardo.

Earlier this month, a British destroyer operating alongside US warships in the Red Sea managed to repel "the largest attack" by the Houthis. In addition, the US and UK launched a series of strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen to "degrade their fighting capabilities."

In the wake of the recent escalation of the crisis in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have begun attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea that are linked to Israel.

Russia strongly condemns the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea as well as the US-UK airstrikes on Yemen, calling the latter "another example of the Anglo-Saxon distortion of UN Security Council resolutions and complete disregard for international law.

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❗️The death toll from the shelling of the Kirovsky district of Donetsk has risen to 25, and the number of wounded to 20, the head of the Republic of the DPR Denis Pushilin announced.

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📹 Since the beginning of the year, the demining unit of the Russian engineer corps has defused about 800 explosive devices on the territory of the DPR.

The sappers are combing the area mined by retreating units of the Ukrainian armed forces. Russian engineers usually try to defuse dangerous grenades and booby traps on the spot. If this is not possible, they are taken to special dumps far from populated areas.

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‘Ill service’: Moscow criticizes Germany's support for Israel amid South Africa's genocide lawsuit

Moscow is not surprised that Berlin recently decided to counter South Africa in its International Court of Justice lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide against Gaza, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

“This comes against the backdrop of Germany’s unconditional support for Israel, regardless of consequences. This policy line pursued by German authorities has long and firmly occupied an important place among the unspoken dogmas of the ‘rules-based order’ defined by Washington,” Zakharova pointed out.

"The German political elites seem to have done Israel an ill service,” she added. “In a corresponding government statement, Berlin refers to ‘the consideration of German history and the crime against humanity in the form of the Holocaust,’ thereby declaring itself an ‘expert’ in mass extermination-related issues. But what can we do with the crimes against humanity committed by Germany against other nationalities and ethnic groups during the Second World War?” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Apparently, she went on, Berlin “again forgot that according to the UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/60/7 and a number of other international documents, the Holocaust is the persecution and mass extermination of representatives of various ethnic and social groups by the Nazis.”

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Berlin Declaration “reinforced the need to recognize the importance of respectful treatment of all ethnic and religious groups without segregation,” Zakharova pointed out.

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