⚡️ Jake Sullivan pledges more ammunition, armored vehicles to Ukraine - report

The US national security adviser met with the head of Zelensky's office, Andriy Yermak, and pledged to provide Ukraine with hundreds of thousands of additional artillery rounds, thousands of rockets and hundreds of armored vehicles by mid-January, just before Trump's inauguration, the Guardian reports.

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Kamala Harris is back!

🤡And so is her accent...

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🔸Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Tucker Carlson: everything you need to know

🔸'Deep State won't like this' — X users praise Russian Foreign Minister, shame his US counterparts

🔸US pledges yet another military aid package to Ukraine

🔸Budapest Memorandum row: much ado about nothing?

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📹The Russian aerospace forces, using three FAB-250 aerial bombs, destroyed the temporary deployment point of Ukraine's National Guard unit in the village of Pravdovka in the Donetsk People's Republic

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❗️The Russian Army has liberated the settlements of Pustynka and Sukhiye Yaly in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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'Sense of joy and relief': CNN journalist on terrorists taking Syrian city Aleppo
 
CNN is pretty proud of being the first Western media to arrive in Aleppo after the rebelling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* organization captured the city.
 
❗️A quick reminder:
 
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham traces its origins to al-Qaeda*, was designated as a terror group by Russia in 2020, and is recognized as a terrorist organization by the UN.
 
*banned for terrorism in Russia and many other countries

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

🔸 Ukraine lost over 3,600 militants during the week in the Russia's Battlegroup Tsentr area of responsibility;

🔸 Ukraine lost over 3,565 militants during the week in the Russia's Battlegroup Zapad area of responsibility;

🔸 During the week Ukrainian forces lost up to 435 militants and six warehouses in the Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr area of responsibility;

🔸 Ukraine lost over 2,210 militants during the week in the Russia's Battlegroup Sever area of responsibility;

🔸 Russian troops carried out six group strikes with high-precision weapons and drones in a week. Ukrainian military-industrial facilities and deployment sites were hit;

🔸 Russia's Black Sea Fleet naval aviation destroyed eight unmanned Ukrainian boats.

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Current Russia-US tensions ‘more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis’

Commenting on Russian FM Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Tucker Carlson, where the top diplomat spoke on the Ukraine crisis, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official Larry Johnson criticized Washington’s involvement in the conflict.

“If the shoe was on the other foot, and Russia was supplying weapons to groups in Mexico or groups in Canada, and those groups were attacking the US, the US would hold Russia accountable for that. It would be viewed as an act of war,” he tells Sputnik.

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UK, Australia face spy shortage in their armies - report

Witnessing world events from 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan to armed conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, the new generation does not want to take the job because the intelligence services "are not doing any good," ABC News reported, citing a former MI6 agent.

In a desperate attempt to entice young people to take the job, the Secret Intelligence Service has eased recruitment rules for citizens with foreign-born parents to join the security agencies and launched a social media campaign that tries to "humanize the experience of young workers to persuade disillusioned millennials to apply," the outlet noted.

Australian youth, meanwhile, are more concerned about climate change, which they see as "a bigger threat to the country than hostile nations," the report added.

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❗️Russian President Vladimir Putin's 'direct line' to take place on December 19, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

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❗️Vladimir Putin's direct line, which will take place on December 19, will be combined with a press conference including several Western media outlets, Dmitry Peskov has said.

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Unlike the US, Russia treats its partners as equals

Russia has now made a very serious pivot in its relations. It has decided to partner and join forces with China, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official Larry Johnson tells Sputnik.

“In creating a new international order, an order that's based upon mutual respect, an order that treats all countries, regardless of size, regardless of whether they have nuclear weapons or not, regardless of whether they have critical mineral deposits, treat them all as equals,” he says.

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🇷🇴 What makes Romania so important for the US’ anti-Russia strategy?

The first round of Romania’s presidential election saw candidate Calin Georgescu, who is critical of NATO, gain significant support, prompting a swift response from the US with veiled threats. Why is Romania so crucial to US interests that it would threaten to withhold security cooperation and investments over political shifts?

◼️ A former member of the Warsaw Pact, Romania is now a part of NATO’s eastern flank and stands at the forefront of the bloc’s efforts to threaten Russia.

◼️ Romania’s Black Sea coast make it a convenient route for shipping weapons to Kiev.

◼️ NATO military infrastructure in Romania serves as a springboard to launch drones – such as the MQ-9 Reaper, for example – to spy from neutral airspace over the Black Sea on Russia’s activities and to potentially coordinate Ukrainian attacks against Russian territory.

◼️ Its status as a Black Sea country helps NATO justify its naval presence in that particular part of the globe.

◼️ Romania’s border with Moldova allows NATO to threaten Transnistria, a breakaway Moldovan enclave locked between Moldova and Ukraine, where a contingent of Russian peacekeepers is stationed.

◼️ The Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base located near Constanta is currently undergoing expansion and is expected to become NATO’s largest military base in Europe. This expansion threatens to turn Romania into an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” of sorts that sits right on Russia’s doorstep.

◼️ The Deveselu Military Base near Caracal hosts the US Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system, whose Mk 41 launchers may be used to lob missiles (such as, for example, Tomahawk cruise missiles) at Russia.

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Europe and the US are not the center of the universe

BRICS brings a new business order, through which Russia has recognized that it doesn’t need the West, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official Larry Johnson tells Sputnik.

“In fact, the countries that have broken economic relations with Russia are the ones that are suffering. Russia is thriving because Russia recognizes that Europe and the United States are not the center of the universe,” he says.

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🇹🇷 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a statement on the situation in Syria:

"Idlib, Hama, Homs and, of course, Damascus. Opposition forces are advancing towards Damascus. We hope that this advance will continue without any incidents. We called Assad. We said, 'Let's decide the future of Syria together.' Unfortunately, we did not get a positive answer on this issue," he said.

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