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Morning Headlines
Reuters: European Union leaders agreed to open membership talks with Ukraine even as it continues to fight Russia's invasion, but they could not agree on a 50 billion euro package of financial aid for Kyiv due to opposition from Hungary.
BBC News: A Russian propaganda campaign involving thousands of fake accounts on TikTok spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine has been uncovered by the BBC.
ISW: Putin displayed notable confidence in publicly discussing Russia’s war on Ukraine during a joint event combining his annual press conference and “Direct Line” forum on December 14 but did not clearly define his envisioned end state for the full-scale invasion he launched on February 24, 2022.
Reuters: Blizzards swept across swathes of Russia on Friday, carpeting Moscow in one of the biggest snow falls in decades and sowing chaos on major roads where truck drivers battled with more than 20 centimetres of snow and strong winds.
France 24: Japan announced expanded sanctions on Friday over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, revealing dozens of newly sanctioned firms and other organisations, including export bans against some outside Russia and its ally Belarus.
More News
Reuters: The U.S. Senate will vote on military aid for Ukraine and Israel next week as negotiations continue over changes to U.S. border security policy that would be tied to the funding, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday.
AFP: EU leaders Thursday agreed to impose a 12th round of sanctions on Russia over the war on Ukraine, targeting diamond exports and better enforcing an oil price cap.
Reuters: A former FBI official was sentenced to over four years in prison on Thursday after previously pleading guilty to working for Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch under U.S. sanctions whom prosecutors have called Putin's "henchman."
The Kyiv Independent: Germany has handed over a Patriot air defense system, Patriot missiles, and more ammunition to Ukraine, the German government announced on Dec. 14.
BBC News: With a major military aid package stalled in the US Congress there have been dire warnings about Ukraine's long term ability to win the war against Russia. The BBC visited the front lines in eastern Ukraine - where ammunition is running low - to hear how concern over allies' support is affecting troops.
POLITICO: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned today that Putin will wage war elsewhere if Russia defeats Ukraine.
ERR: The Estonian government approved on Dec. 14 a military aid package of 80 million euros for Ukraine, containing Javelin anti-tank missiles, ammunition, and other aid.
Meduza: Finland’s government will again close all road checkpoints on the Russian border, having opened two of eight such crossings earlier in the day, in response to a resumed flow of asylum seekers.
POLITICO: Romania accused the Kremlin of an “irresponsible escalation” on Thursday, after it once again found evidence that a Russian drone crashed on its territory following Moscow’s overnight attack on a Ukrainian port.
Reuters: Putin vowed on Thursday to fight on in Ukraine until Moscow secures the country's "demilitarization", "denazification" and neutrality, unless Kyiv accepts a deal that achieves those goals.
AFP: Air raid sirens and loud explosions rang out over Kyiv on Thursday, moments after Putin ended a press conference during which he vowed "victory" over Ukraine.
Reuters: Slovak truckers have begun to allow a limited number of lorries to cross into Slovakia from Ukraine, the Slovak hauliers' association UNAS said on Thursday, easing their blockade which began on Monday.
AFP: Russia put the head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, on its "wanted" list on Thursday, accusing the agency he heads of attacks inside its own territory.
Reuters: Finland will on Monday Dec. 18 sign a defence cooperation agreement with the United States, the Finnish government said on Thursday, to grant the U.S. military broad access across the Nordic country to the vicinity of its long border with Russia.
Reuters: Finland's state-owned railway company VR said on Thursday it had seized four trains that it co-owned through a joint venture with its Russian counterpart, Russian Railways (RZD), that used to travel between the two countries.
Reuters: South Korea scrambled fighter jets on Thursday when two Chinese and four Russian military planes entered its air defence zone, South Korea's military said.
Meduza: Russia’s new repressions in 2023 mostly pale in comparison to last year’s legislative whiplash, but officials still managed several initiatives that are noteworthy for curtailing political freedoms even further. Here are the “highlights.”
worth mentioning
The high price of losing Ukraine. Military-strategic and financial implications of Russian victory
Video shows Russian soldiers may have used Ukrainian POWs as human shields
Putin says Macron stopped calling him
Highlights from Putin's annual press conference
How the US keeps funding Ukraine's military — even as it says it's out of money
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