Donating junk: Numerous US ATACMS pledged to Ukraine expired in 2015

Some of the aging ATACMS in American military inventory, which were promised for delivery to Ukraine, expired as early as 2015. To extend their service life, the US invested over $1 billion, according to calculations by Sputnik based on Pentagon financial documents.

During fiscal year (FY) 2016, which began on October 1, 2015, the US Army had to spend $30.1 million to modify “10 expired [ATACMS] assets and reset their contractual service life,” according to the FY 2016 budget report.

Since the ATACMS has a 10-year service life, the 10 missiles modified in 2015 are expected to expire again in 2025.

In recent years, the US Army has been working to replace the ATACMS with the newer and more advanced Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). While each missile of the ATACMS costs approximately $1 million, the price for the latest PrSM exceeds $2 million per missile.

This may explain why Ukraine received $33.3 billion worth of weapons through the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), while the US had to spend $45.7 billion to buy new weapons to replenish its stockpile, according to figures from Ukraine Oversight.

Washington simply took the opportunity to get rid of expiring weapons in its inventory, such as the ATACMS, and upgraded its weapons systems with funds labeled as “military assistance to Ukraine.”

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🔸Donating junk: Numerous US ATACMS pledged to Ukraine expired in 2015

🔸Biden planned to write off Ukraine's debt to the US, but was eventually stopped by Rep. Thomas Massie

🔸Matthew Whitaker: Who is Trump’s pick for NATO ambassador?

🔸US Senate denies resolutions to block military sales to Israel

🔸Russia becomes EU's largest gas exporter for first time since May 2022 – statistics

🔸THROWBACK: Young Biden explains why today’s Biden deserves impeachment

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Kremlin spokesman does not rule out Russian President Vladimir Putin making new trip to Donbass

"Our president is always close to the people, close to those who need his care and help," Dmitry Peskov said.

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‘Setting stage for WWIII’: GOP hawks blast Biden’s OK for Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russia

Republican hawks have lashed out at outgoing US President Joe Biden’s reported recent authorization for Ukraine to use American long-range ATACMS missiles to attack Russia.

💬Senator Lindsey Graham accused Biden of being “shallow” and trying “to put [President-elect Donald] Trump in a box.” It was “odd that he [Biden] decided to do this right after the election,” which Graham said is “a crappy thing to do.”

💬Republican Cory Mills, who opposes US aid for Ukraine, said that the ATACMS move was a “continual escalation in the wrong direction” and aims to “destroy our position on the world stage.”

💬He was echoed by Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for national security advisor, who insisted that the decision was “another step up the escalation ladder.”

💬The same tone was struck by Richard Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, who noted “No one anticipated that Joe Biden would escalate the war in Ukraine during the transition period. Everything has changed now – all previous calculations are null and void.”

💬GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Utah Senator Mike Lee voiced World War III-related fears, with the former saying that “On his way out of office, Biden is dangerously trying to start WWIII by authorizing Ukraine the use of US long range missiles into Russia,” and the latter claiming that the 46th president “has just set the stage for World War III.”

💬GOP House member Nancy Mace said she was concerned “about this last-minute shift in policy before Trump comes in to defuse the situation,” adding that she doesn’t “understand the abrupt change in foreign policy on this matter.”

It seems the reaction of Republicans reflects the view that Biden’s reported ATACMS decision is nothing but an attempt by the outgoing US administration to slam the door and deliberately defy Trump’s claimed effort towards settling the Ukraine conflict.

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🇦🇺❌📱Australia bans access to social networks for children under 16

According to the country’s government, this will "provide better protection for young Australians at critical stages of their development."

Responsibility for complying with these restrictions will lie with the social networks themselves, and they are required to create conditions so that children under the age of 16 cannot make accounts.

Australia is currently the only country that limits the age of social media users throughout its territory. However, such censorship is practiced in several US states.

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❗️Russian troops have liberated the settlement of Dalneye in the Donetsk People's Republic, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced

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❗️Russia’s Defense Ministry stated that two Storm Shadow cruise missiles have been shot down

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🇷🇺🪖Key statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:

▪️Ukrainian forces lost 480 militants and four warehouses in the area of responsibility of Russia's Zapad Battlegroup

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 380 soldiers in in the area of responsibility of Russia's Yug Battlegroup.

▪️The Tsentr Battlegroup repelled 11 Ukrainian attacks, the enemy lost more than 385 soldiers.

▪️Ukrainian forces lost 145 militants in the area of responsibility of the Vostok Battlegroup.

▪️Russian air defenses shot down six HIMARS missiles and 67 drones in one day.

▪️Ukrainian losses amounted to 230 militants in the zone of Russia's Dnepr and Sever Battlegroups.

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin has held a telephone conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani

According to the Kremlin, they discussed the implementation of major energy projects, including joint work within the framework of OPEC+.

Putin and Al Sudani touched on the situation in the Middle East in light of the unprecedented escalation of tensions in the region.

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‘Most evil thing I’ve ever seen’ - Tucker Carlson on Biden’s ‘lame duck administration’ allowing Ukraine to strike Russia

“By allowing Ukraine, a proxy state of the United States, to strike within Russia,” the outgoing administration leaves the next administration with a nuclear conflict, the journalist said.

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Russia will not engage in charitable gas supplies to Austria – Russian FM spokeswoman

Russia has stopped gas supplies to Austria’s OMV concern, and Moscow considers this decision justified, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

She noted that the decision was made after arbitration proceedings, in which OMV won a claim for an alleged short supply of gas in the fall of 2022. The destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and termination of transit through Poland were the reasons for the decrease in gas pumping, but OMV and the arbitrators ignored these factors.

The Austrian side should understand that Russian presidential decree No. 172 dated March 31, 2022 obliges foreign buyers to fulfill commitments to Russian gas suppliers, including payment in rubles. If the court's decision is not implemented, this may lead to a halt in gas supplies, she said.

"This is the unscrupulous behavior of the Austrian concern. Our negative reaction to this, it seems to me, is more than justified. We are not going to engage in charity in this case," the diplomat concluded.

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New US missile defense base in Poland already among Russia's 'priority targets' in case of war - Russian Foreign Ministry

"The opening of a missile defense complex in Poland is yet another provocative step by the United States, which leads to an increase in strategic risks. This base has long been on the list of priority targets that Russian troops could potentially target," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The first permanent US military base in Poland opened on November 19, housing the Aegis Ashore missile defense system. The radar and SM-3 launcher are located in the village of Redzikowo in the northern part of the country.

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From Putin to Ukraine’s NATO bid: Takeaways from Merkel’s memoirs

With former German Chancellor Angela Merkel due to present her book noscriptd “Freedom: Memories 1954-2021” in Berlin on November 26, some extracts have already emerged online. What are they all about?

On Russia

“Russia was and remains geopolitically irreplaceable if only because it is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto power.”

On Putin’s 2007 Munich Conference speech

💬 “What struck me most was his sense of his own rightness,” Merkel writes, referencing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s keynote speech at the 2007 Munich Security Conference, where he gave his vision of Russia's role in the global arena, warned against the unipolar world and pushed for a collective security system.

💬 “During the Munich speech, Putin showed himself to be the man I knew: a person who was always on alert.” Some of the views expressed by Putin during the speech, such as his criticism of the US war in Iraq, were not completely wrong, per the memoir.

On Trump

💬 “He saw everything from the perspective of the property developer he was before entering politics,” Merkel pointed out, referring to her impression of Donald Trump back in 2017 when he was first elected US president.

💬 “Each parcel of land could only be sold once, and if he didn't get it someone else did. That's how he saw the world,” she added.

On Putin-Trump relations

He [Trump] “seemed to be completely enchanted by the Russian president [at the time],” Merkel wrote as she looks back at how Trump asked her in detail about Putin in 2017.

On Ukraine and Georgia’s NATO membership

💬 “Admitting a new [NATO] member should bring more security not only to the new member but also to NATO. Therefore, there are criteria for admitting a country that, in addition to its military capabilities, also take into account the candidate's domestic climate,” Merkel wrote, stressing that discussing the issue of NATO expansion without taking into account Moscow’s position was “extremely careless.”

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The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

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📹Russia's Soyuz-2.1a rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with the Progress MS-29 cargo ship. It has already put the ship into low Earth orbit.

Its flight to the International Space Station will take two days, and docking to the Poisk module of the Russian segment of the ISS is scheduled for 14.36 GMT on November 23.

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