📑 Netanyahu to brief Trump on plans for possible new strikes against Iran — Reports

Israeli officials will present President Trump with intelligence at Mar-a-Lago this month showing Iran has rebuilt its ballistic missile program and air defenses after earlier strikes, and will discuss options for new military action, NBC reports.

PM Netanyahu is expected to argue the threat endangers both Israel and broader US regional interests. The meeting is set for December 29.

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🔊Gaza must be governed by Gazans — Turkish FM

Following mediator talks in Miami, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan outlined Turkiye’s three non-negotiable parameters for Gaza's future:

▫️ Gaza must be governed by Gazans.

▫️ Its territory must not be divided.

▫️ All actions must be for the benefit of Gazans.

Fidan said the meeting discussed reconstruction plans, timelines for handing administration to a technocrat committee, and the formation of a stabilization force.

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🔥 Media pushes propaganda to undermine US-Russia peace effort

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has publicly accused Reuters of running a "lie and propaganda" campaign to sabotage recent push to end the Ukraine war.

The narrative is being pushed by "warmongers" in NATO and the EU who want to "pull the US military directly into war with Russia." Their goal is to foment public hysteria and block a diplomatic settlement.

The US intelligence assesses that Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with NATO, Tulsi says.

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🗣 Putin is ready for dialogue with Macron — Kremlin

Russia assesses positively French president's readiness to resume dialogue with the Russian president, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik.

"He [Macron] said he was ready to talk with Putin... If there is mutual political will, then this can only be assessed positively," Peskov said.

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💬 'Restore sanity, peace, and security' — Dmitriev

The Russian presidential envoy welcomed DNI Gabbard's exposure of the warmongering pushed by the Western media.

"Voices of reason matter—restore sanity, peace, and security," Dmitriev wrote on X.

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🗣 Any Putin-Macron talks must be about 'understanding,' not 'lecturing' — Kremlin

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian president Vladimir Putin is "always ready to explain his positions in detail, sincerely, and consistently."

"Of course, if we are talking about dialogue, it should not be a dialogue about lecturing each other. It should be a dialogue about understanding each other's positions," he said.

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🇺🇸💰Some US lawmakers rake in mega-profits from Ukraine conflict – Anna Paulina Luna

💬 “You have members of the House and the Senate that are vocally against what [Trump, Witkoff and Kushner are] doing, because they are personally invested and benefited from a continued conflict in Ukraine,” Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna told a Turning Point USA event.

This is a conflict “of which we have no business being involved with,” Luna stressed.

She also warned against further US aid to Ukraine due to corruption-related risks.

💬 “We've sent millions and millions of tax dollars over there, and you know what they're doing? They're laundering the money. That's exactly what happened. I'm proud to report I never voted for a single dollar to go to Ukraine. And I still won't vote for that," Luna emphasized.

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🇵🇱 🤡 Poland's foundation Lechmar continues ties with Ukraine despite scandal

The Lechmar Foundation, linked to the controversial Polish firm PHU Lechmar, maintains official cooperation with Ukrainian authorities, despite being embroiled in a major defense procurement scandal, Sputnik has learned.

🔸 Foundation President Daniel Skorzewski sits on PHU Lechmar’s board, while co-owner Andrzej Pekala is on the foundation’s council, confirming the connection.

🔸 In September, the foundation provided equipment like laptops and 3D printers to schools in the frontline Zaporozhye and Sumy regions, announced by Ukraine's foreign minister.

🔸 The foundation funded a welfare trip in November 2025 for children of Ukrainian servicemembers, in partnership with the Ukrainian embassy in Poland.

🔸 PHU Lechmar is at the center of a scandal involving a $545 million contract shifted from Ukraine's Defense Procurement Agency to the State Border Guard Service, bypassing standard procedures, as said by Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

🔸 Zheleznyak also highlighted an $82.7 million contract with PHU Lechmar, dated 2023, that remained unfulfilled by the end of the year.

🔸 The Russian foreign intel revealed that associates of former Ukrainian President's head Andriy Yermak could have used PHU Lechmar in schemes to siphon off Western aid.

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🔥 Ulyanovsk airborne assault unit sharpens skills in Zaporozhye region

Soldiers master:

✅ Shooting
✅ Camouflaging
✅ Observing

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🚨📑 Peace plan provisions proposed by Ukrainians, Europeans will unlikely bring lasting peace closer - Kremlin aide

The trilateral meeting of the US, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators is not being prepared, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said.

Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev will report on progress in talks with the US after returning to Moscow, he added.

Russia isn't aware whether Ukrainian negotiators are in Miami, Ushakov said.

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🔸 Putin is ready for dialogue with Macron — Kremlin

🔸 Dmitriev: Ukraine talks with Witkoff, Kushner proceeding constructively in Miami

🔸 US seizes second oil tanker near Venezuela in one week

🔸 Netanyahu to brief Trump on plans for possible new strikes against Iran

🔸 Some US lawmakers rake in mega-profits from Ukraine conflict – Anna Paulina Luna

🔸 Ukraine will eventually meet US and Russian terms as conflict bankrupts Europe – expert

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❌ EU rejects Russian energy, now faces soaring costs and canceled holidays – Russian Foreign Ministry

🗣 Brussels’ policy forces local authorities to adopt strict austerity measures, cancel holiday events, and abandon traditional lighting, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Other statements by Zakharova:

🔸 In the EU, including its economic heart Germany, amid authorities’ failure to save New Year and Christmas, it is up to businesses and ordinary Germans to fund the holidays

🔸 New Year's celebration at the Brandenburg Gate — an open-air event with live music and fireworks that attracts people from all over Europe — is under threat

🔸 Local authorities completely cancelled Christmas illuminations on Kurfurstendamm, one of Berlin's largest streets, due to cost concerns

🔸 Citizens and local business had to look for a new contractor and pay for the service

🔸 Festivities at the Brandenburg Gate were paid for by crowdfunding

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🇯🇵 Japan's nuclear ambitions ‘must be prevented at any cost’ – North Korea

💬 “Japan's attempt to go nuclear must be prevented at any cost as it will bring mankind a great disaster,” the director of the Institute for Japan Studies at the North Korean Foreign Ministry warned as cited by KCNA.

Other statements:

▫️ Japanese position goes "beyond the red line” and “clearly reflects Japan’s long-cherished ambition for nuclear weaponization"

▫️ “Japan's true purpose of crying out about the threats from neighboring countries is to justify its moves to become a military giant with nuclearization as its ultimate goal”

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

🟠 Russian forces continue mopping up remaining Ukrainian militants in the settlements of Dimitrov and Rodinskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic

🟠 Russian air and missile forces struck defence, energy and transport infrastructure used to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces, long-range drone production sites and temporary deployment points of Ukrainian troops and mercenaries in 144 areas

🟠 Air defense superiority: 29 UAVs were shot down by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,285 troops killed or wounded

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🤝 Russia highly appreciates G20 Sherpa meeting in US

The Russian delegation is very pleased with the first G20 Sherpa Meeting hosted by the United States early this week, the Russian sherpa to the Group of 20 major economies, Svetlana Lukash, told RIA Novosti in an interview.

The United States convened a G20 Sherpa meeting in Washington, DC from December 15-16.

It was attended by representatives from the African Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Kingdom.

The US assumed the G20 2026 presidency on December 1.

US President Donald Trump will host the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Miami from December 14-15, 2026.

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📹LIVE NOW: Putin attends Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting

👉Watch live in our Telegram

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🇭🇺 'Financing Ukraine drains Europe’s strength' - Orban

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🇪🇺🇷🇺🇺🇸 Europe erasing itself from Russia–US security talks – Russian diplomat

The EU unambiguously calling for a prolongation of the Ukraine conflict has played a negative role for the bloc, Maxim Buyakevich, Russia's acting permanent envoy to the OSCE, told Sputnik.

He commented on the emerging Russia–US discussion about Europe’s future security architecture.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier stressed that Europe has excluded itself from the Ukraine settlement process, with all EU-proposed changes to the US peace plan aimed at blocking it.

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🚨🇷🇺🇧🇾 Putin: Russia and Belarus work closely together

The countries are making progress in defense & economic cooperation, says Belarusian President Lukashenko.

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