🇺🇸🤔 Why the US is rushing to upgrade its Patriot system

The Pentagon is pushing to "fix" the Patriot air defense system — but even with new launchers & 360° radar, can it handle Iskander-M or Kinzhal?

Watch the breakdown 👆

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🇷🇺 Russian Solntsepyok TOS-1A obliterates Ukrainian troops massing for counterattack near Volchansk, Kharkov region

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🚨🇺🇸🇷🇺US preparing for possible Putin visit to 2026 G20 Summit

Washington is making arrangements for Vladimir Putin’s potential visit to the Miami G20 next December, Russia’s sherpa Svetlana Lukash revealed.

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🇷🇺 Russian Army's Svod system: A practical breakthough in network-centric warfare

👉 A new digital command system, known as Svod, is being rolled out across the Russian Armed Forces, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov announced.

What is Svod - and how does it work?

Secure information environment

◻️ Svod is a tactical-level information-sharing and situational awareness system for military command personnel

◻️ Officials at all levels – from platoon to formation – will operate within a single secure information environment using trusted devices

◻️ Troops will gain real-time access to critical digital services, including weather updates, mapping tools, satellite imagery, and data on air and ground conditions

◻️ This year, the system successfully completed combat trial operations within the Tsentr Battlegroup in the zone of special military operation. By September 2026, the system is to be rolled out in stages across all force groupings

Сutting the time from detection to strike

◻️ The primary goal of Svod is to shorten the “detect–decide–engage” cycle at the tactical level by enabling direct, near‑instant transmission of data from reconnaissance assets to fire units

◻️ This is especially critical at the infantry tactical level, where conditions change instantly and delays cost lives. Reliable data sharing improves not only strike effectiveness but also troop survivability

A game-changer in network-centric warfare

◻️ Svod is not a “from scratch” development – it is the next phase of Russia's Unified Tactical Command System (ESU TZ)

◻️ The ESU TZ is built on a network‑centric principle linking all battlefield participants into a single network at three major levels: reconnaissance, command, decision-making. It includes 11 subsystems managing electronic warfare, artillery, air defense, engineering, and logistics, as well as a unified information network that integrates various communication types

◻️ It is built on the same principle but more pragmatic: it rapidly “stitches” reconnaissance assets and fire units into a single network at the tactical level

◻️ Svod marks the shift from the theory of network-centric warfare to its widespread practical application, enhancing situational awareness and decision-making speed

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🔸 Venezuelan oil blockade could make Asia’s markets less dependent on US — analyst

🔸 Western embassies in Kiev report deepening crisis from Mindich-Zelensky affair - Russian Intel

🔸 Collective West remains main source of military threats to Russia - General Staff chief

🔸 War-like chaos outside EU headquarters in Brussels

🔸 Why the US is rushing to upgrade its Patriot system

🔸 Russian Army's Svod system: A practical breakthough in network-centric warfare

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🚨 'I hope Ukraine moves quickly because Russia is there' - Trump on Ukraine settlement

US President Donald Trump said progress has been made toward a Ukraine settlement and expressed hope that Ukraine will move quickly.

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🔥 Russian ‘steel birds’ thwart Ukraine’s offense west of Kupyansk

Upon noticing Ukraine moving in the Kharkov region, the Zapad battlegroup recon drones shared targets info with strike UAV units, which then crushed several enemy pickup cars and Humvee armored cars.

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🇷🇺 BEHIND THE SCENES: How Putin’s year-end press conference is prepared

Footage from Gostiny Dvor shows final preparations underway for the presser, which will take place on Friday, December 19, at 9 am GMT.

📍 Sputnik will be covering the event live on Telegram, X, and its website.

Stay tuned!

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📄🚀 White House outlines new US space policy under Trump

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order launching what the White House describes as a new phase of US space policy, aimed at expanding American capabilities in space exploration, security and commercial activity, according to a White House fact sheet.

🌑 The White House said the order calls for a US return to the Moon by 2028, with initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost to be established by 2030. It also directs preparations for deploying nuclear reactors on the Moon and in orbit, including a lunar surface reactor targeted for launch by 2030.

💬 Reacting to the new policy, newly confirmed NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told Fox News he is “completely aligned with President Trump’s vision,” calling the plan “probably the most significant national space policy since the Kennedy era.” He said his objective is to ensure the goals are achieved “ideally ahead of schedule.”

Isaacman also pointed to NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission, which he said is intended to send US astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than half a century, followed by a lunar landing. He added that the goal is not only to “plant the flag and pick up some rocks,” but to “establish the infrastructure” for a lunar base and future missions beyond the Moon and to Mars.

According to the fact sheet, the order also focuses on strengthening the United States’ ability to detect and counter threats to its space assets, upgrading launch infrastructure, and creating a commercial pathway to replace the International Space Station by 2030.

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💰📱 TikTok signs deal to sell US operations – reports

TikTok has signed an agreement to sell its US entity to a joint venture controlled by American investors, potentially ending a years-long effort to force its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest the app’s US operations, according to Axios.

💵 The deal is expected to close on January 22, Axios reported, citing an internal memo sent by TikTok CEO Shou Chew. Under the agreement, Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will collectively own 45% of the US entity, while affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will hold nearly one-third, and ByteDance itself will retain close to 20%.

Axios noted that the move follows prolonged negotiations involving the White House and the Chinese government, after US authorities raised national security concerns. Efforts to force a sale date back to 2020, when then-President Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting TikTok’s US operations.

Congress later passed legislation in 2024 requiring a sale or ban of the app, a law upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this year. Enforcement was repeatedly delayed as negotiations over a sale continued, Axios reported.

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✍️📄 Trump signs record $901B US defense bill, with $400M in Ukraine aid

The crucial piece of legislation authorizes a record $901 billion in national security spending, which includes $400 million in military aid for Ukraine.

According to the document, the US also plans to spend the same amount in fiscal year 2027.

Last week, the US House of Representatives released a compromised version of the NDAA for fiscal year 2026. The NDAA was supported by the House of Representatives last week and by the Senate on Wednesday.

⚠️ Russia has repeatedly stated that Western military supplies do not bode well for Ukraine and only prolong the conflict.

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💣 US military carries out strikes on two boats in Eastern Pacific

US Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out lethal strikes on two vessels it described as “operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” in international waters.

The command claimed intelligence indicated the vessels were “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes” in the Eastern Pacific and were involved in “narco-trafficking operations.” According to the statement, five men were killed — three on one vessel and two on the other.

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🔥🇭🇺 Orban slams EU’s €90B Ukraine loan as 'lost money,' warns of asset risks — reports

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticized the EU’s planned 90-billion-euro support package for Ukraine for 2026–27, calling it “lost money” and arguing that future generations would bear the cost, Reuters reported.

📌 Key points from his statement:

🔹 It is “clear” Ukraine will not repay the EU loan, and that “children and grandchildren” of those who approved it will end up paying.

🔹 Hungary is not taking part in the initiative: “Good that we are not participating… This is lost money,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

🔹 Orban argued the EU dropped the idea of confiscating Russian assets after realizing private EU assets in Russia are larger and could be frozen in retaliation.

🔹 If Russia sued over confiscation, the EU could be forced to return “twice as much.”

Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are not participating in providing guarantees for the EU’s 90B-euro loan to Kiev, an EU Council statement said.

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💵🇪🇺Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic opt out of EU’s $105B loan for Ukraine

Any mobilization of resources of the EU’s budget as a guarantee for this loan will not have an impact on the financial obligations of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, according to the EU Council.

European Council President Antonio Costa earlier announced that the EU will provide Ukraine with a 90 billion euro loan ($105.5 billion), secured by the EU budget and potentially reimbursable from frozen Russian assets.

🗣 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that “taking money of one side and giving it to the other would drag the EU into the conflict.”

Russia has repeatedly stated any move to confiscate frozen Russian assets by the EU would be met with an appropriate response as an act of robbery.

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❌ Russia will not compromise on deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine — MFA

Ukraine's membership in NATO, as well as the deployment of NATO military contingents and strike weapons on its territory, are absolutely unacceptable for Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.

We have spoken about this many times and explained our position, it is well known," Grushko said when asked which NATO-related issues in the Ukrainian settlement Russia is unwilling to compromise on.

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