Important Takeaways:
- Russia’s Medvedev Says Any UK Troop Deployment to Ukraine Would Be a Declaration of War
- Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comments in response to a visit by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to Kyiv to announce an increase in military funding to help Ukraine purchase new military drones.
- “I hope that our eternal enemies – the arrogant British – understand that deploying an official military contingent to Ukraine would be a declaration of war against our country,” Medvedev wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
- Medvedev cast himself as a liberal modernizer when he was president from 2008-2012, but now presents himself as one of the fiercest anti-Western Kremlin hawks.
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Important Takeaways:
- Putin unleashes hypersonic missiles in deadly new wave of airstrikes on Ukraine – as UK intelligence claims Russia is on course to lose 500,000 troops on frontlines by end of 2024
- Vladimir Putin unleashed hypersonic missiles in Russia’s latest deadly wave of airstrikes across Ukraine, regional officials said Monday.
- At least four civilians were reported killed and at least 30 injured in the strikes that hit near the front lines of fighting in the east as well as in central and western parts of the country, which has been under invasion by Russia since February 2022.
- Ukraine said it had destroyed 18 out of the 51 missiles of different types launched
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces used precision sea-launched and air-launched long-range missiles, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, to strike what it called ‘facilities of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.’
- Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense reported that Russia is on course to have lost a total of 500,000 soldiers by the end of this year
- Western officials and analysts had previously warned that Russia was stockpiling its cruise missiles in preparation for a strategy of winter bombardment, as bad weather keeps the 930-mile front line largely static after 22 months of war.
- Unlike last winter, when the Kremlin’s forces targeted Ukraine’s power grid, Russia is now aiming at Kyiv’s defense industry, they say. But the almost daily barrages have repeatedly hit civilian areas. Monday’s attacks struck a string of urban areas, including housing and a shopping mall, across Ukraine
- The strikes come less than a week after Kyiv warned it only had enough ammunition to withstand a few more powerful attacks, amid intense Russian bombardment.
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Important Takeaways:
- A move by Japan to provide Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine will have “grave consequences” for Russia-Japan ties, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
- Relations between Moscow and Tokyo, already difficult, have deteriorated sharply since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Japan has joined its Western allies in imposing sweeping economic sanctions on Russia.
- Last week, Japan said it would prepare to ship Patriot air defense missiles to the United States after revising its arms export guidelines, in Tokyo’s first major overhaul of such export curbs in nine years.
- Although Japan’s new export controls still prevent it from shipping weapons to countries that are at war, it may indirectly benefit Ukraine in its war with Russia as it gives the United States extra capacity to provide military aid to Kyiv.
- “The Japanese side loses control over the weapons with which Washington can now do whatever it wants,” Zakharova told a weekly briefing. “It cannot be ruled out that under an already tested scheme Patriot missiles will end up in Ukraine.”
- Such a scenario would be “interpreted as unambiguously hostile actions against Russia and will lead to grave consequences for Japan in the context of bilateral relations”, she said.
- Earlier this month, Japan and South Korea both scrambled jets to monitor joint flights by Chinese and Russian bombers and fighters near their territories.
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will make his case for more U.S. aid for the war against Russia during meetings in Washington this week, as lawmakers struggle for a deal that would link funding for Kyiv with domestic immigration controls.
- His arrival in Washington comes as Congress is under a tight – if not impossible – deadline for acting, as it is scheduled to go into recess for the year by Friday.
- President Joe Biden has urged Congress to act by year’s end and Democrats in Congress were trying to win approval of about $50 billion in new security assistance for Ukraine.
- Also included in Senate Democrats’ measure is humanitarian and economic aid for the government in Kyiv, as well as $14 billion for Israel as it wages war against Hamas in Gaza.
- Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pushed for some type of pro-immigrant provision, such as expedited work permits for migrants or better access to legal representation, the source also said.
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Important Takeaways:
- Poland issues shocking warning of upcoming Russian attack on NATO countries
- Poland has warned of a shocking impending Russian attack on the West that could come within the next three years.
- In an interview with Nasz Dziennik, the head of Poland’s national security agency, Jacek Siewiera, said that Russia could attack NATO countries within 36 months.
- Siewiera argued Russia could attack Poland, Estonia, Romania, and Lithuania as they are on NATO’s eastern flank.
- He said: “If we want to avoid war, NATO countries on the eastern flank should adopt a shorter, three-year time horizon to prepare for confrontation. This is the time when a potential must be created on the eastern flank that would be a clear signal deterring aggression. Therefore, it is necessary to further increase the number of Polish troops.”
- This comes after German think tank German Council on Foreign Relations issued a warning that Europe needs to be on high alert to Russian escalation that could result in a direct attack. But their time frame was a little more optimistic.
- They said in a statement: “With its imperial ambitions, Russia represents the greatest and most urgent threat to Nato countries.
- “Once intensive fighting will have ended in Ukraine, the regime in Moscow may need as little as six to ten years to reconstitute its armed forces.
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Important Takeaways:
- White House warns it is ‘out of money and nearly out of time’ to aid Ukraine
- The warning, issued on Monday in a letter to congressional leaders, laid out how the government had already gone through about $111bn appropriated for Ukraine military aid.
- “I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from US military stocks,” Shalanda Young, director of the office of management and budget, wrote in the letter, parts of which were published by the Hill.
- The latest plea for money comes after the White House asked Congress to act on a $100bn supplemental funding request in October, arguing that it “advances our national security and supports our allies and partners”.
- The request identified border security, allies in the Indo-Pacific, Israel and Ukraine. About $61bn covered money for Ukraine, which included $30bn to restock defense department equipment sent to support the country after Russia invaded in February 2022.
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine will join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance, according to Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg – but only after the nation’s war with Russia is over.
- “Allies agree that Ukraine will become a member of NATO. At [the NATO-Ukraine] meeting, we will agree recommendations for [Ukrainian reforms], as we continue to support Kiev on this path to NATO membership,” he said.
- The comments by Stoltenberg, a former Prime Minister of Norway, may be premature. Many NATO members, particularly Hungary and Turkey, seem unlikely to approve Ukrainian membership. It is also unclear whether Donald Trump would do so if he wins the next U.S. election, which currently appears likely.
- On the question of Ukraine joining the European Union, Hungarian leader Viktor Orban has suggested the proposal is untenable. Many of his arguments against Ukraine joining the EU, such as the fact its territory is uncertain, also apply to the country joining NATO.
- If it did, it would immediately full under the alliance’s mutual defense clause, meaning further conflict with Russia, a nuclear power, would immediately draw in all NATO member-states, including America and nuclear-armed Britain and France.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia warns NATO of ‘catastrophic consequences’ as tensions with Moscow threaten WW3
- The Russian Foreign Ministry released a dire statement on the 90th anniversary of the Russian-US relationship warning that relations were hanging by a thread
- The statement read in part: “Owing to Washington’s policy of rampant Russophobia, [relations] risk being severed at any moment. This is not Russia’s choice, but reckless moves on the part of the United States that spin the wheel of escalation, including the doctrinal task of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on Moscow, risk leading to catastrophic consequences.”
- Moscow accused the US of being “hopelessly and nonsensically focused on changing the regime and stirring up internal strife in Russia, a project into which substantial funds are being invested”.
- As Russia’s war with Ukraine approaches its third year, Moscow’s position on the battlefield has become more desperate. Billions of dollars worth of Western weaponry has flooded into Ukraine, blunting Russian advances.
- Amid this backdrop of Russian soldiers being killed by NATO weapons given to Ukraine, tensions have skyrocketed. Rhetoric out of Moscow has been sharp with some politicians and pundits going as far as to call for war with the West.
- A war between NATO and Russia would be devastating and many think that such a conflict could go nuclear.
- Russia has nearly 6,000 nuclear warheads while NATO countries – the US, UK and France – have a similar amount.
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine is apparently heightening attacks inside Russia and on targets in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
- In its Sunday assessment of the war, the ISW wrote about reports of Kyiv’s increased attacks, which includes the frequent strikes on Crimea as well as other Moscow-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine.
- According to the ISW report, Ukrainian partisans attacked a Russian military headquarters in the occupied city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine on Saturday. The ISW said the Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported at least three Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and Rosgvardia officers were killed in the Melitopol attack.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the war with Russia will not end until all occupied land is returned to Kyiv’s control.
- Kyiv’s targeting of Crimea has relied on cruise missile and drone attacks, and has wounded a significant part of Russia’s naval fleet stationed near the peninsula
- Since February 2022, Ukraine has hit at least 17 Russian vessels in its quest to neutralize Moscow’s naval fleet
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia captures US weaponry handed to Ukraine in nightmare blow for Joe Biden
- Russia has released images of US and German-made heavy artillery seized on the frontline in Ukraine – describing the vehicles as “trophies”.
- In a taunt to Kyiv’s allies in the West, the Russian defense ministry detailed how the equipment – Leopard 2 tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles – was captured during a battle in the Zaporizhzhia region.
- Alongside a short clip, the ministry said in a statement: “Leopard tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. These are our trophies.
- “Equipment of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Zaporizhzhia region.”
- It comes less than a fortnight after President Biden announced a new $300m military aid package to Ukraine, which includes sophisticated weaponry such as drones to allow strikes from range.
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