❗️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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🎥🎥 Putin holds extended meeting with Ministry of Defense

👉 Watch the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website

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⚡️In 2024 Russia liberated 189 settlements as part of its special operation, President Vladimir Putin stated during an expanded meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry board.

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❗️Russia will lift its self-imposed restrictions on deploying intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles if the United States begins deploying such systems, Putin said.

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❗️The number of modern weapons in Russia's strategic nuclear forces has reached 95%, Putin said.

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🗣Putin: West continue their attempts to retain their global dominance

“They wage hybrid warfare and pursue containment policies, including against Russia. They have set the goal of inflicting strategic defeat on Russia and continuing to provide the illegitimate regime in Kiev with weapons and money, sending their mercenaries and military advisors, thus promoting a continued conflict,” the Russian president said at the Defense Ministry meeting.

He also added that Western countries see themselves as “representatives of God in the world, even though they do not believe themselves”

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❗️The Russian military now advances an average of 30 square kilometres a day, Russian Defense Minister Belousov said.

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❗️The losses of the Ukrainian armed forces in 2024 exceeded 560,000 servicemen killed and wounded, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said. The total since the beginning of the war is almost a million people.

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🗣Russian forces have the strategic upper hand on the line of contact – Putin

More key statements by the Russian president on the US, NATO and the collective West to the Russian Defence Ministry meeting:

🔸 NATO countries are ramping up their military expenditures, while troop strike groups are gathering along Russia's borders.

🔸 NATO is increasing its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, practising the deployment of missile systems.

🔸 Russia will respond comprehensively to the risks associated with possible US missile deployments in the Asia-Pacific region.

🔸 The US and the West continue to try to impose their rules on the rest of the world and have not abandoned their attempts to maintain dominance.

🔸 The US continues to pump arms and money into Ukraine.

🔸 The US shrugs off all rules, and wages hybrid wars against 'undesirable' states, including Russia.

🔸 New military-political alliances are being formed in the world at the behest of the US.

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❗️In line with Putin's directives, Belousov proposed establishing a new military branch specializing in unmanned systems.

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⚡️📹 Watch the full speech of the Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Defense Ministry meeting.

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🗣Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov warned that the US missile defence base in Redzikowo in Poland, 165 kilometres from the Russian border, will be able to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles.

He also noted that the US will soon deploy intermediate-range missiles in Germany, which will be able to reach Moscow in eight minutes.

Belousov stressed that the experience of building an air defence system around Moscow should be used as a model for other regions.

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🗣Russian forces shot down 86 Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles, 215 ATACMS ballistic missiles, 1,629 HIMARS rocket shells, and over 27,000 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles this year, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said.

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🗣The situation on the battlefield will not change, even if Ukraine lowers the mobilization age to 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated during the Defense Ministry board meeting.

"I believe that lowering the mobilization age to 18 would already be a crime. Reducing it to 14, as was done in Hitler’s Germany with the creation of the Hitler Youth, would be another crime. It’s clear to everyone that this won’t alter the battlefield situation," Putin remarked.

He accused Kiev regime of acting under the orders of those whose interests it serves.

"Under their guidance, Kiev will go as far as lowering the mobilization age to 18 and sending boys to die," Putin said.

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Former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad quashed rumors about his decisions during the armed overthrow of the Syrian Arab Republic this month.

▫️Assad clarified in a statement that he never planned to resign or seek asylum, even as armed opposition forces gained ground.

▫️He stressed that staying in the country after "terrorists" seized power would have been pointless.

▫️Assad revealed that he learnt of the fall of Damascus after he had relocated to Hmeymim Airbase, used by Russian forces.

▫️Following instructions from Russian officials, he was evacuated from Hmeymim to a Russian base.

▫️Assad explained that he left his country after the collapse of the Syrian Arab Army and the paralysis of state institutions, but insisted that he did not abandon his people or the armed forces.

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