Trump's team will take a 'hard look' at Orban's ceasefire plan in Ukraine - Mike Waltz

President-elect Donald Trump's team will examine Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine, the president-elect's incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz said.

"We need to stop the fighting. And if that is some type of cease-fire as a first step, we'll take a hard look at what that means," he said in an interview to CBS.

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⚡️ Syrian embassy will open in the US tomorrow - local media

Syria's embassy will open in Washington DC for the first time since 2014, when diplomatic relations were suspended, according to sources at a pro-opposition Syrian TV channel.

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🥴 Ukrainian TV shows map of Ukraine without Crimea

In the commercial of the New Year's show of "Kvartal 95", the actors dream about how "Russia disappears", while erasing Russia together with Crimea from the map, local media reported. The clip has already been removed from social networks.

Next time, don't forget about the new regions!

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🏛 Top US universities urge foreigners to return before Trump's inauguration

Top US universities are urging their international students who are leaving the country for winter break to return to the United States before Donald Trump signs executive orders on migration on his first day back in the White House, the Axios portal reported.

At least ten universities, mostly on the East Coast, including the University of Southern California, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have urged international students to return to the United States before the inauguration on January 20, the publication said.

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Leader of South Korean ruling party resigns

Han Dong-hoon, leader of the People Power Party, has resigned as party chairman, the Yonhap news agency reported.

"I tried in every way to find a better way for this country instead of impeachment, but in the end I couldn't," he said, adding, "It's all because I'm not good enough. I'm sorry."

Han Dong-hoon had previously supported the impeachment of the president, although he was initially against it. After Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment, the party's executive committee collapsed due to the resignation of several members.

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Ignorance is bliss

Outgoing US President Biden claims that the Democrats ran the 2024 campaign "basically scandal-free."

Really, Joe?

Video from social media

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US cuts Javelin missile deliveries to Ukraine after early improper inventory in 2022

Washington has significantly reduced the deliveries of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine after 2022. A recent US Department of Defense (DOD) audit report reveals that early shipments of such weapons to Kiev in 2022 were not properly inventoried, according to a Sputnik analysis of Pentagon reports from 2022 onward.

"After reviewing the status of these defense articles in the SCIP-EUM [Security Cooperation Information Portal–End-Use Monitoring] database, we further assessed that XXX of these XXX (91 percent) did not receive an initial or annual inventory since being transferred to Ukraine during 2022. Over half of these items without any inventory data were expendable defense articles, including XXX Javelin missiles and XXX Stinger missiles," the report said, with the specific number of the defense articles redacted as classified information.

Approximately 67% of the overdue Enhanced End Use Monitoring (EEUM) defense articles that were improperly tracked or monitored entered Ukraine in 2022, the document noted.

The audit also highlighted that many of the defense articles delivered to Ukraine in 2022, including Javelin missiles, were no longer in the possession of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF).

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❓What’s known about Israel's strikes on Syria?

🔘 The Israeli air force struck military bases in western Syria's Latakia and Tartous overnight, according to local sources. The Israeli airstrikes caused colossal explosions in the central Syrian provinces of Hama and Homs.

🔘 Israel carried out around 75 attacks targeting Syrian weapons and ammunition depots, air defenses, bases and warehouses outside Damascus, and air defenses at the airport in Hama, as well as other sites overnight, according to The Times of Israel.

🔘 The Israeli military claimed it had destroyed 70-80% of Syria’s strategic military capabilities by December 10 after about 480 strikes spanning 48 hours hit most of the country’s strategic weapon stockpiles.

🔘 About 350 of the strikes were by manned aircraft targeting airfields, anti-aircraft batteries, missiles, drones, fighter jets, tanks and weapon production sites in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra, the IDF said.

🔘 Other attacks supported ground operations that targeted weapons depots, military structures, launchers and firing positions.

🔘 IDF ships struck two Syrian naval facilities, where 15 vessels were docked, with dozens of sea-to-sea missiles reportedly destroyed.

🔘 Israel was trying to justify its “unwarranted” seizure of territory in Syria, leader of the armed opposition, Abu Mohammad al-Julani told Syria TV on December 14, adding that “We are not in the process of engaging in a conflict with Israel.”

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What is known about Israel's strikes on Syria?

US cuts Javelin missile deliveries to Ukraine after early improper inventory in 2022

Legacy of US war kills 140 Afghans in 2024

VIDEO: ‘We need to stop the fighting’: Trump's team will take a ‘hard look’ at Orban's Ukraine ceasefire plan

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

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❗️No final decisions have been made about Russian military bases in Syria and their future will be determined in dialogue with the new government, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

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🇷🇺🪖 Key statements from the Russian MoD daily briefing on the special military operation:

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 500 militants in the Zapad battlegroup’s combat zone

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Yug battlegroup area amounted to up to 345 soldiers and two MaxxPro vehicles

▪️As a result of the actions of the Russian Sever and Dnepr battlegroups, Ukrainian forces lost up to 140 troops

▪️Russian air defenses shot down nine Ukrainian drones

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 185 servicemen and a Leopard tank in the Vostok Battlegroup area

▪️As a result of the actions of the Tsentr battlegroup, Ukrainian losses amounted more than 440 soldiers and three armored vehicles

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🗣 Further comments by Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

◻️ The Ukrainian side still refuses to negotiate with Russia

◻️ It is premature to talk about peacekeepers in Ukraine

◻️ I forwarded the question to the Ministry of Defense about the alleged North Korean military personnel that supposedly fell in the Kursk region

◻️ On the readiness of the Trump administration to discuss a truce in Ukraine: Trump’s team is not yet in charge of the White House, Biden's team is still in the Oval Office.

◻️ The Kremlin is ready to resume negotiations on Ukraine based on the Istanbul agreements

◻️ Putin will hold a traditional meeting with Russian business in the Kremlin on the evening of December 16

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