❗️The embassies of Italy, Greece and Spain in Kiev are temporarily closed to the public due to security concerns, according to statements from diplomatic missions and media.

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❗️Russian troops have eliminated the Ukrainian group entrenched in the area of the Olgovskaya Roscha in Russia's Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry informed

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Sweden suspects Chinese ship of damaging submarine cables – reports

Swedish authorities will investigate the possible role of a Chinese ship, the Yi Peng 3, which was passing near the damaged cables in the Baltic Sea at the time of their rupture, the Financial Times reported.

A representative of the ship's owner, China's Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, told the outlet that the Swedish government had asked the company to cooperate with the investigation. According to the newspaper, the company owns only one ship and is based near the port city of Ningbo in northeastern China.

Earlier, Swedish officials said they had recorded the movement of ships near the cables at the time of the malfunction. After studying the movement of ships just before the C-Lion1 cable broke, Finnish media noted that the Yi Peng 3 had its data transmitter turned off at the time.

On November 18, the operator Cinia reported a "defect" in the 1,200 km C-Lion1 cable between the German port of Rostock and Helsinki.

Later, Lithuanian operator Telia Lietuva said the undersea communications cable between Lithuania and Sweden, which intersects with C-Lion1, had been damaged. According to the company, the damaged line is quite old, and malfunctions have already been repaired. However, the operator believes it was not an accident, as another crossing cable was also damaged.

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Assassination plot was aimed at igniting ethnic conflicts in Russia

Abdula Mamadibirov and Murad Goshdadov have denounced that they fulfilled their part of the agreement with Gadzhiev, but never received the money. They demand that the ex-deputy confess that the purported assassination attempt Kerimov was rumored to be planning was not really prepared.

"Now you have turned off your phone. Now we tell you. Go and tell Ramzan how you [deceived] us," Mamadibirov and Goshdadov told the lawmaker.

Gadzhiev may be seeking to leave the country following the scandal. "At the moment, Gadzhiev holds a passport of the Republic of Turkiye, but he has not given up his attempts to obtain American citizenship," one source told Sputnik.

He wanted to create an interethnic conflict between Russia's neighboring republics, the source added.

"According to the plan of Gadzhiyev and his handlers from foreign intelligence services, the statement about the impending assassination attempt was meant to ignite an ethnic conflict between [Russia's regions of] Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia," the source said.

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❗️The strike was carried out on strongholds of the allied forces of the Syrian Army in the desert near Palmyra, many people were killed and wounded, a local source told Sputnik.

Syrian Sana TV Channel says that the attack was conducted by Israel.

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US to step up pressure on Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Venezuela's opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez the country's ‘president-elect’ for the first time, pointing out that Washington wants to increase pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

The US accuses Maduro of fraud in the July 28 presidential election, which Venezuela's top court claimed Maduro won. The opposition said tallies collected by its observers show a clear victory for Gonzalez.

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia recognizes the legitimacy of Maduro and wishes success to his government. He stated this at a press conference following the BRICS Summit, answering a question from a Globo TV journalist.

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Brazil signs agreement with Starlink rival

Brasilia has signed a satellite internet services agreement with China's SpaceSail, a major competitor of Elon Musks’ Starlink. SpaceSail has 40 satellites in orbit and plans to launch 648 more within 14 months. By 2030, it plans to have 15,000 satellites in orbit.

"We are entering into this agreement so that they can offer this service as soon as possible, provided they comply with all laws and regulations," said Brazilian Communications Minister Juscelino Filho.

SpaceSail has also signed a preliminary agreement with Brazilian state-owned company Telebras, which will provide its infrastructure - data centers and fiber-optic networks - to China.

"We signed a memorandum of understanding to start negotiations. We are providing our infrastructure to see if it makes sense for them [China] to work in Brazil," said Telebras President Frederico Siqueira Filho.

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🚨An air alert has been declared in Kiev and five other regions of Ukraine

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US withdraws objection to use of Storm Shadow missiles for strikes deep into Russia

The position of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the use of Storm Shadow missile has changed in recent days, The Times reported.

In September, he ruled out allowing Kiev to use them for strikes deep into Russia, and before the G20 Summit Starmer also refused to say whether he would ask US President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow to attack Russia.

However, Starmer has now started to "set aside caution" about using missiles to strike deep into Russia. Starmer changed the wording after the United States withdrew its objections to missile strikes, the source said.

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Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu was shown nuclear developments for the purposes of the special military operation, according to a report from the press service of the Russian Security Council.

Shoigu visited the country's famous Sarov nuclear centre, where the first Russian atomic and hydrogen bombs were developed. The main task of the centre was and remains work in the field of Russian nuclear weapons, aimed at unconditionally guaranteeing the implementation of the Russian Federation's policy of nuclear deterrence.

Shoigu was also presented was presented the results of the nuclear center's work in the field of laser, supercomputer and other technologies in the outgoing year, as well as the tasks for 2025.

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Explosive legacy: Why landmines could haunt Ukraine long after the conflict

US President Joe Biden has purportedly authorized the delivery of “nonpersistent” antipersonnel land mines to Ukraine in a move that aims to boost Kiev’s defenses against advancing Russian troops, according to the Washington Post.

The reported decision means Biden has effectively undone his own policy given that in 2022, he reversed what he described as a “reckless” step by the Trump administration that allowed antipersonnel landmines' wider use.

“It will put more civilians at risk of being injured by unexploded mines, and is unnecessary from a military perspective,” Biden said at the time.

In a separate development last year, Russia's Permanent Mission to the UN sent a letter to the Security Council accusing Kiev of using scatterable PFM-1 (Lepestok) land antipersonnel mines against civilians in Donbass.

What are antipersonnel landmines?

🔺 They are encased explosive charge buried below the surface of the ground, typically detonated automatically by pressure when a target steps on it;

🔺 The device causes damage by direct blast effect or fragments, or both. Such mines are deadly or result in severe injuries, particularly amputations, as well as eye and hearing damage;

🔺 “Nonpersistent” mines are designed to self-destruct or lose battery charge to render them inactive within days or weeks. Arms control experts warn that even these mines could pose a safety hazard.

International legislature banning them:

⭕️ Antipersonnel mines are seen as indiscriminate weapons, which can remain hazardous years after the end of a conflict, harming civilians;

⭕️ The 1997 Ottawa Convention, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines;

⭕️ To date, a total of 164 countries, including Ukraine, have signed the treaty, with “millions of mines destroyed and thousands of square kilometers of land cleared” thanks to the document, per UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Reaction to the move:

💬 Biden “lost his mind,” Elon Musk said on X;

💬 The approval is “yet another escalation in the conflict with Russia ahead of President-elect Trump's inauguration,” Fox News said;

💬 The decision is “another major policy shift,” CNN reported.

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❗️Hezbollah's response to attacks in central Beirut will be strikes in central Tel Aviv, the movement's leader has claimed

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The US has allocated a new military aid package to Ukraine worth $275 million, according to the Pentagon.

It includes shells for the HIMARS MLRS, TOW anti-tank missiles, drones, and chemical protection equipment.

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How Russian forces use 'wolf hunt' tactics to break Ukrainian defenses in Kurakhovo

Russian forces operating in the Kurakhovo region of the Ukrainian conflict zone have been methodically dismantling Ukrainian defenses using a tactic similar to that employed by wolf hunters, Russia's Ministry of Defense reveals.

The tactic involves:

🔹 Russian assault units split into multiple small teams

🔹 These teams work to encircle the enemy

🔹 They strike from multiple directions

🔹 This tactic aims to leave the opposition with no room to maneuver.

Cut off and constantly pushed back from all sides, Ukrainian militants find themselves unable to hold their positions, no matter how well fortified they are, and often prefer to surrender rather than to continue pointless resistance.

In August, Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in what appeared to be an attempt to force Russia to divert its forces from the Ukrainian conflict zone to counter this breakthrough.

This gambit backfired spectacularly for Kiev as the Ukrainian assault achieved the exact opposite: the large number of troops Ukraine committed to the attack on Kursk led to Ukrainian forces lacking reserves to stop Russian offensive in multiple areas of the Ukrainian conflict zone, such as Kurakhovo, for example.

The city of Kurakhovo is important to Kiev from both the military and economic standpoints. Not only does it serve as the lynchpin of the Ukrainian defenses in the region, barring the way to a key logistical hub of Pokrovsk, it also currently serves as the only source of coking coal for the Ukrainian metallurgy industry.

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