🇨🇳 PLA launches large-scale ‘Just Mission-2025’ drills around Taiwan — reports

China’s People’s Liberation Army has begun large-scale exercises dubbed “Just Mission-2025” around Taiwan, involving ground forces, the navy, the air force, and rocket forces of the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command, according to a PLA report.

The drills are taking place in the Taiwan Strait as well as parts of the East China Sea, South China Sea, and the Philippine Sea. The exercises include practicing patrol operations, joint actions, and blocking key facilities.

The PLA said the drills are intended to test joint operations capabilities and serve as a warning to supporters of “Taiwan independence.”

Live-fire drills are scheduled for December 30, and ships have been advised to avoid entering the exercise areas, the report said.

On December 17, US State Department approved possible arms sales to Taiwan totaling about $11.1 billion.

⚠️ China has repeatedly stressed that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and has consistently opposed US arms sales to the island, warning such actions violate the one-China principle and contribute to regional destabilization.

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🚨 🇮🇱 Houthis view Israel's presence in Somaliland as military target

💬 "We view any Israeli presence in the Somaliland region as a military target for our armed forces, as it constitutes aggression against Somalia and Yemen and a threat to the region's security," Houthis leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said, Al Masirah broadcaster reported.

On December 26, Israel officially recognized the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland, located in the northern Horn of Africa, as an independent state. Netanyahu and the president of the self-proclaimed republic, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, signed a joint declaration of recognition. Israel became the first country in the world to recognize Somaliland. Somalian authorities categorically rejected "Israel's encroachment on sovereignty."

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🔥🇷🇺 Russian drone units tighten the grip from the sky

00:00 UAV operators disrupted a Ukrainian troops rotation in Sumy

00:28 Drone crews destroyed enemy unmanned ground platforms in Gulyai-Pole (Zaporozhye region)

00:42 A Molniya-2 UAV team eliminated a Ukrainian machine-gun position on Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) direction

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🟠 ‘Very close’ to Ukraine deal — Trump after meeting with Zelensky

🟠 Trump to meet Netanyahu over Phase 2 of fragile Gaza ceasefire

🟠 China launches large-scale ‘Just Mission-2025’ drills around Taiwan

🟠 North Korean Kim Jong-un oversees long-range strategic cruise missile drill

🟠 Houthis view Israel's presence in Somaliland as military target

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🇷🇺 Airborne Troops' Osa-AKM SAM system destroys Ukraine's RAM-2X attack drone in Zaporozhye region

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🚨 Ex-Commander-in Chief Zaluzhny may resign as Ukrainian envoy to UK

Valery Zaluzhny has informed Zelensky of his intention to return from London to Kiev in early January 2026, Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shariy wrote on his social media.

🔶 Zaluzhny and Zelensky discussed various jobs for the former, from prime minister to head of the president’s office, with Zaluzhny showing no interest in the matter at the time, according to Shariy

🔶 Zaluzhny also considered taking the post of Ukrainian ambassador to the US or returning to his capacity as Ukraine's commander-in chief, even though no decision has been made yet, Shariy added

Zelensky appointed Zaluzhny as Ukraine's ambassador to the UK in early May, about two months after dismissing him from his position as commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In early December, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office approved charges of genocide against Zaluzhny.

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🚨🇪🇺 Ukraine joins NATO’s Article 5 war games for first time

🗣 Ukrainian forces from a joint NATO training center took part in the LOYAL DOLOS 2025 exercises, Ukraine’s General Staff said on social media.

👉 The drills practiced NATO Article 5 collective defense scenarios focusing on "testing alliance mechanisms" across Europe with 1,500 soldiers-turned-warmongers to "deter" imaginary Russian aggression.

NATO continues to expand its aggressive initiatives under the guise of "deterrence," while Russia has ZERO plans to attack Europe, as Putin has repeatedly stated. He underscored that Western elites are scaring their own people with bogus "Russian threats" to hide their domestic failures.

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🚨🇷🇺🇺🇸 New Putin-Trump phone call to take place in very near future - Kremlin

Russia agrees with Trump's assessment that peace in Ukraine has become much closer, Kremlin Spox Dmitry Peskov said.

Putin and Trump didn't discuss truce on January 7 during telephone conversation, he pointed out.

There is no talk of telephone conversation between Putin and Zelensky now, Peskov added.

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🚨🇷🇺 Ukraine losing land and will continue to lose it - Kremlin

Russia considers ending military conflict in Ukraine in context of achieving its goals, Kremlin Spox Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Ukraine needs to withdraw its forces from administrative borders of Donbass to stop fighting.

Other statements:

🔹 Russia will receive information about results of Florida talks between Trump and Zelensky after new Putin-Trump conversation, Russia cannot assess them yet

🔹 It's inappropriate to publicly comment on individual points of discussion regarding Ukrainian settlement

🔹 There is growing discontent in the EU that more and more of their leaders eager to continue war, reaching into taxpayers' pockets

🔹 Next elections will be difficult for the EU leaders, it is obvious

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

⚡️ DIBROVA IN THE DONETSK REGION FREED

The liberation of the settlement of Dibrova in the Donetsk region enables Russian forces to intensify attacks to encircle the city of Krasny Liman from both sides.

🟠 Russian forces repelled Ukrainian attacks aimed at breaking into the city of Kupyansk in the Kharkov region

🟠 Russian air and missile firepower pounded temporary deployment points for Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries in 153 locations

🟠 Air defense superiority: two operational-tactical Grom missiles and 140 UAVs were vaporized by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,360 troops killed or wounded

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🇨🇳 🇹🇼 🪖 China holds large-scale combat exercises east of Taiwan

The People's Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command deployed destroyers, frigates, fighter jets, and bombers to conduct coordinated drills in the waters and airspace east of Taiwan.

🔊 Exercises focused on assaults against maritime targets, seizure of regional air superiority, and submarine hunting and anti-submarine operations, the command said.

The drills were designed to test joint sea–air coordination, precise target detection, and rapid neutralization capabilities, highlighting the force’s multi-domain combat readiness.

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🚨 📆 Palestine in 2025: Shattered ceasefires, unrelenting suffering

From failed ceasefires and growing violence to a growing humanitarian crisis, 2025 has been a year of devastation for the Gaza Strip.

📹 Check out Sputnik's video to see how the outgoing year unfolded for Palestinians in the besieged territory.

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🚨🇷🇺🪖 Putin holds meeting on the situation in the special military operation zone

💬 Ukrainian armed forces units are retreating everywhere, along entire line of combat contact, Putin said.

🔹 The Ukrainian armed forces grouping, surrounded on the banks of the Oskol River, is gradually "melting away"

🔹 It is necessary to prevent the attempts of the Ukrainian army to hinder the Russian Armed Forces in Kupyansk

🔹 The liberation of Severodonetsk and effective operations in Konstantinovka are creating conditions for further advancement

The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, reported to Putin.

Statements by Gerasimov:

🟠 Russian armed forces conducting offensive along almost entire front

🟠 Ukrainian forces are not taking offensive action

🟠 Russian armed forces took control of more than 700 square km in the special military operation zone in December

🟠 Russian forces successfully advancing deeper into enemy defenses in the special military operation zone

🟠 The liberation of Boguslavka completed

🟠 Russian troops actively advancing in the city of Krasny Liman

🟠 Units of the North Korean Army provided significant assistance in demining the Suzhansky, Glushkovsky, and Korenevsky districts of Russia's Kursk region

🟠 The Russian Sever battlegroup took control of over 940 square km in Kharkov and Sumy regions during the offensive

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🚨🪖 Fake photoshoot mission in Kupyansk ends with Ukrainian soldiers’ surrender – POW

A Ukrainian soldier, captured by Russian forces, shared his experience of a three-day journey to a location in Kupyansk for a photoshoot meant to "prove" the supposed presence of Ukrainian troops in the city.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Putin–Trump hotline: Dive into world-shaping conversations

A new Putin–Trump phone call will take place in the very near future, the Kremlin has just announced.

The two leaders have spoken on the phone nine times before, with each call tackling critical global issues.

Track the timeline of these talks.

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