🔊 Polish Tusk vows to build 'strongest army in Europe' in 2026

PM Donald Tusk outlined 2026 priorities: accelerating military expansion, major infrastructure projects, and the "repolonization" of industry, including defense.

"This will be a year of rapid conquest of the Baltic Sea," Tusk added.

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🗣 West continues tactics of silencing Ukraine's crimes — Zakharova

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Western media of deliberately silencing Ukraine’s crimes, following reports casting doubt on casualties from a Ukrainian drone strike on a cafe in Russia's Kherson Region.

"The West hasn't abandoned its tactics of 'strategic silence,' when terrorist attacks by Bankova Street can go unseen for years," Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

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☢️ Japan may consider acquiring nuclear-powered submarines — PM

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated Japan is not ruling out any option — including nuclear-powered submarines — to strengthen deterrence amid a deteriorating security environment.

"We are not ruling out any option, but the discussion is not being conducted for the sake of a predetermined conclusion, but for the sake of finding solutions necessary to increase Japan's deterrence and response capabilities,” Takaichi said in an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun.

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💬 Collectivism has been tried before — Dmitriev

Russian special presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev responded to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural promise to replace "rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism" with a sarcastic reminder:

"Dear Comrade Mamdani — just a friendly reminder that this has been tried before."

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💬 US accuses China of 'unnecessary' escalation around Taiwan

"China's military activities and rhetoric toward Taiwan and others in the region increase tensions unnecessarily," US State Department's spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, stated.

Chinese FM spokesperson called the PLA's recent drills a deterrent action against separatist forces who seek "Taiwan independence" through military buildup.

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☢️ Russia calls out West's escalation on Iran nuclear program

Russian Foreign Ministry official Oleg Postnikov told Sputnik that Western policy toward Iran’s nuclear program is a deliberate dead end, criticizing last year’s failed negotiations.

"The West has adopted a policy of escalation, which is inherently erroneous, untenable, and leads to a dead end," he stated, noting Russia had worked to reach sustainable agreements that account for Tehran’s interests.

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🗣Resolution of Ukraine conflict requires the West on board - Turkish diplomat

The West needs to be proactive and support the peace process if any results are to be achieved, a Turkish diplomatic source told Sputnik.

“There is an understanding that achieving progress requires joint efforts, with all parties — including the West — showing initiative… this is essential,” the source added.

The US administration had previously announced the development of a plan for a Ukrainian settlement.
Russia has emphasized that it remains open to negotiations and committed to the agreements reached in Anchorage with the US side.

However, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov underscored that Ukraine must make a decision and begin negotiations, emphasizing that the space for the Zelensky regime’s freedom of decision-making is shrinking amid the offensive actions of the Russian military.

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🚨Terrorist attack in Kherson region leaves 27 people, including 2 minors, killed – Russian Investigative Committee

During inspection of the terrorist attack site in the Kherson region, fragments of several drones were found and seized, it stressed.

31 people, including 5 minors, were taken to hospitals with injuries of varying severity, Russian investigators added.

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🇷🇺🎯Russian drone ops score critical hits

00:00 Drone controllers destroyed Ukrainian signal relay antenna and the temporary base of an adversary's attack drone squad

00:11 UAV operators struck enemy vehicles transporting personnel to the front line

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🗣Ukraine’s drone strikes at Putin’s residence attempt to sabotage Trump’s peace plan - Ex-UK diplomat

The Zelensky regime is also desperately trying to derail any potential normalization of US-Russia relations, says veteran British ex-diplomat Alastair Crooke.

British and NATO elites, he argues, are determined to prevent a resolution of the proxy conflict in Ukraine for a mix of strategic and financial reasons.

“💬 The Europeans will be really on the hook for a lot of losses because they've guaranteed loans to Ukraine, to Zelensky… they own a lot of Ukrainian bonds, and the banks will be in a bad place if they're not able to crush Russia and take its resources as collateral to back up their very fragile, if you like, credit.”

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▫️ Kherson forensic bureau releases names of civilians killed in Ukrainian drone strike

▫️ Polish Tusk vows to build 'strongest army in Europe' in 2026

▫️ West continues tactics of silencing Ukraine's crimes — Zakharova

▫️ Collectivism has been tried before — Dmitriev

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🇮🇷 ⚛️ Settlement on Iran’s nuclear program within reach — Russian Foreign Ministry

A resolution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program is achievable if all sides show sufficient political will, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official told Sputnik.

💬 “We believe that with the necessary political commitment from all parties involved, a settlement around the Iranian nuclear program is entirely possible. Any progress in this direction would be welcome,” said Oleg Postnikov, director of the Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control.

Postnikov added that Russia acknowledges Iran’s compliance with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as well as its comprehensive safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

👉 Western policy toward Iran’s nuclear program is a deliberate dead end, Postnikov underscored previously, as he criticized last year’s failed negotiations.

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🚨🇵🇱 Zelensky’s visit was ‘festival of shame’ for Poland – Polish media

The visit of the expired leader of the Ukraine regime on Dec. 19 exposed Poland to the “ultimate ridicule,” writes Mysl Polska.

📄 Polish President Karol Nawrocki supported the transfer of MiGs to Ukraine and endorsement of over $90 billion to the regime, although he publicly boasted of a "tough, honest, and partnership-based conversation" with Zelensky, it notes.

However, the huge sum is “another donation, not a loan at all. A donation from our pockets,” the portal adds, stressing that a “losing” Ukraine simply won’t be able to repay it.

👉 The publication excoriates Polish leaders for obediently carrying out decisions “delegated” from the UK, Germany and France, noting that in Ukraine, “it is rightly believed that they owe us nothing, as we are merely subcontractors.”

The Polish leaders “are now groveling not only before their Western overseers, but even before the actor they hired from a failing country,” fumes the publication.

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🚨 🇫🇮 Crooked tie = crooked claims? Finnish leader’s NY fashion fail

During his New Year address, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb grabbed headlines—not for his words, when he stated that “ties with Russia have changed forever,” - but for his disheveled look.

📄 Finnish media reported that he appeared on camera with a noticeably wrinkled and crooked tie.

🔊 “Viewers couldn’t miss it—the president’s tie was completely lopsided… This isn’t the first time Stubb has run into tie trouble,” writes Iltalehti.

Journalists reminded readers that back in 2024, during a visit to Estonia, the president ran into similar accessory mishaps.

🗣 Stubb, always zealous in peddling the West’s hawkish narratives, previously called Russia was "the number one threat" to Europe – a statement that elicited a swift rebuttal from Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

He called woke globalists — citing Finnish President Alexander Stubb — as the "greatest threat to Western civilization."

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🗣 🇪🇺 Narcissist globalists sacrifice Europe to bleed Russia dry — journalist

The globalist elites orchestrated a WWII-like scenario where Europeans are thrown in to weaken Russia, while the US and the UK are "out of it," investigative journalist Elizabeth Lane says.

💬 "These people have absolutely no boundaries of what they can do. It's almost like the international law only should work for Russia. But when it gets to the United States, we are kind of lawless and free here. It's almost like a narcissist cannot be opposed," she explains.

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

▫️ Russia's army liberated nine settlements over the week

▫️ Russian forces carried out one massive and six group strikes with precision-guided weapons against Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises and energy facilities

▫️ Russian forces repelled 16 Ukrainian attacks attempting to break through to the city of Kupyansk in the Kharkov region

▫️ Air defense superiority: Su-27 aircraft and 1,662 drones were shot down

▫️ Ukrainian losses: 9,065 troops killed or wounded

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🔥 🇷🇺 Safety from above: Russian troops show no-contact demining

New footage by Russia’s Defense Ministry shows soldiers of the Vostok battlegroup engineering unit clearing a way for assault units and vehicles via cutting-edge remote means.

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🫠 🌐 When politics got cringe: 2025 edition

From Trump’s fabled peace deal with ‘Aberbaijan and Albania’ and Macron’s fingershake with Erdogan to NATO chief Rutte’s ‘Daddy’ fetish and Putin’s visible bewilderment with the US media’s screaming, 2025 was a bountiful year for cringe.

🟠 World leaders have cameras pointed at them almost 24/7. Sometimes, they make fools of themselves, or express thoughts or emotions you wouldn’t expect from someone in their position.

Check out Sputnik’s compilation of the funniest moments involving world leaders for the outgoing year👆🏻

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🗣 🇷🇸 Serbian protests show signs of color revolution - Russian envoy

External factors supported much of the protest movement's organization, initiation, and maintenance on such a high level, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Russia's envoy to Belgrade, said.

💬 "Yes, this is one of the options, let's put it this way, of advancing a color revolution in Serbia, which, as I recall, we have also discussed, that aims to change the government, changing specific individuals in power, President Vucic," he added.

Mass student and opposition protests erupted in Serbia following the collapse of a station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 15 people on November 1, 2024.

📍 By mid-August this year, tensions in Serbian cities had sharply escalated, with protesters growing more aggressive, clashing with police, setting up barricades, and blocking key access roads.

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