🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- American fighter jet passing a Chinese balloon over Myrtle Beach, Sourh Carolina.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- Residents of Mecklenburg and Gaston County, North Carolina have been urged to “not take potshots” at the Chinese balloons.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- Some “experts” in America claim the Chinese balloons are “practice runs” for a “Chinese invasion of America.”

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- Fox News says the second balloon over the Carolinas will be shot down within the next 45 minutes

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- The airspace from Charleston to Wilmington is fully empty, aside from two American military aircraft.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- Biden has taken the decision. The balloon will be shot down shortly.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- Myrtle Beach, just moments ago

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- Three American aircraft, likely F-18 Super Hornets or F-16 Fighting Falcons, are circling the balloon over Myrtle Beach.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- The balloon has been destroyed

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- Footage of the balloon being shot down

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- There is an alleged third Chinese balloon flying outside the United States.

🇮🇱🇵🇸⚡️- Earlier today, the IDF raided a hideout for the Al-Qassam Brigade in Jericho, resulting in a clash between Palestinian and Israeli forces

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- China released a statement saying they are “strongly discontented” with the shoot down of their balloon and reserve the right to “any necessary reaction to this incident.”

🇺🇦⚡️ - Alexei Reznikov has resigned as Ukraine's Minister of Defense.

🇺🇦🇷🇺 - Kirill Budanov, Ukraine's new Minister of Defense, has said he expects a Russian offensive this month.

Some commentators have said that Russia will look to open a second front near the Russian-speaking region of Sumy, in the northeast of Ukraine, whereas others have predicted that a second front will be opened in the west of the country, perhaps with the goal of capturing Kiev or Lvov. At this stage, it's too early to tell what will happen.

🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡️- The mayor of Slovyansk has called for total evacuation of the city.

🇮🇱🇺🇦⚡️- Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a press conference that he is “strongly considering” sending Iron Dome defense systems to Ukraine

🇺🇦🇷🇺 - It is now fair to say that Ukraine has solidified its position as the loser in its protracted conflict with Russia.

At this point, with the ongoing Ukrainian withdrawal from Artyomovsk and the evacuation of Slavyansk (an ethnically Russian town, by the way), it's probable that Russia will liberate the whole of the Donetsk People's Republic and may even liberate some of Dnepropetrovsk Oblast during the coming months.

Since the beginning of the SMO, Artyomovsk has the main Ukrainian stronghold in the Donbass, and by holding it, Ukraine prevented Russia from liberating the entirety of the Donetsk Oblast. The West (including Israel, the Little Satan) ramping up the quality of their aid to Ukraine shows they are aware that a total catastrophe in the Ukrainian Armed Forces is only an inevitability at this point.

As such, we can predict that the SMO will significantly escalate by late February, and that Ukraine's losses will only increase throughout spring and summer.