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Morning Headlines
The Guardian: The White House has gamed out a last-minute strategy to bolster Ukraine’s war position that involves an avalanche of military assistance and sweeping new sanctions against Russia, according to a background briefing from a National Security Council spokesperson.
CNBC: SpaceX’s effort to put an additional 22,488 satellites into low-earth orbit is facing a formal objection from a Ukrainian-American nonprofit, which says it’s concerned about CEO Elon Musk’s “contacts with Russia and the alleged use of his Starlink system by Russian forces in Ukraine.”
Sky News: Russia's ability to outmatch Ukraine with artillery barrages on the battlefield has significantly reduced to just 1.5 Russian rounds for every Ukrainian shell fired back, Western officials have said.
ISW: Russian forces have suffered an estimated 125,800 casualties during a period of intensified offensive operations in September, October, and November 2024 in exchange for 2,356 square kilometers of gains.
More News
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian troops have driven Russian units out of Novyi Komar village in Donetsk Oblast, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia group of forces, told Suspilne media on Dec. 5.
ABC News: Tulsi Gabbard, whom Donald Trump plans to nominate as his director of national intelligence, was a faithful consumer of Kremlin-controlled propaganda network RT, three of her former aides told ABC News.
The Kyiv Independent: The Ukrainian military will get over 30,000 DeepStrike attack drones in 2025 within President Volodymyr Zelensky's resilience plan, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced on Dec. 5.
Reuters: A Russian court on Thursday rejected Raiffeisen Bank International's appeal against the freezing of shares in its local arm, as part of a lawsuit brought by Russian investment company Rasperia, court filings showed.
Politico: Russia will loosen restrictions on the way foreign countries must pay for its fossil fuels in order to circumvent new sanctions imposed by Washington on a leading bank.
The Kyiv Independent: The price of coffins in Russia has soared by 74% since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Moscow Times reported on Dec. 5.
AFP: Ukraine will not lower the age at which it starts drafting soldiers for its war against Russia, despite calls from key ally United States, a senior official told AFP Thursday.
The Kyiv Independent: German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Dec. 5 that Russia has significantly increased its naval and civilian presence in the Baltic Sea, highlighting its strategic importance for Moscow. The comments came shortly after a Russian warship fired a warning shot at a German military helicopter patrolling the Baltic Sea.
WaPo: Three years of pressure from an unprecedented sanctions campaign has weakened the Kremlin’s war machine. But Russia still manages to obtain many critical Western weapons parts with help from covert operatives and criminal gangs (archive).
AFP: Ukraine's foreign minister called Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov a "war criminal" Thursday as they both attended an international meeting in Malta, the latter's first visit to an EU country since the 2022 invasion.
Reuters: Western countries including the United States assailed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the war in Ukraine on Thursday at an annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Malta.
France 24: Moscow on Thursday announced the closure of Poland's consulate in Saint Petersburg, citing Poland's recent decision to shut down a Russian consulate in Poznan over accusations of sabotage. With tensions escalating since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland warned of further diplomatic closures if alleged espionage activities persist.
Reuters: A Russian man went on trial in Finland on Thursday on charges of committing war crimes while commanding a far-right paramilitary unit in eastern Ukraine a decade ago.
FT: A London-based businessman won a Ukrainian state contract to help defend a key power plant from Russian attacks while secretly helping Moscow’s intelligence services to launder money and evade sanctions, according to investigators and procurement records (archive).
Reuters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he had imposed sanctions on Georgian former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and some members of Georgia's government.
The Insider: Russian military intelligence (GRU) enlisted an Estonian pro-Russian propagandist to orchestrate a series of vandalism acts designed to intimidate and silence critics of Russia within Estonia. The targets of these attacks included the country's interior minister.
The Kyiv Independent: The Netherlands will contribute an additional $23 million to bolster Ukraine's air defense systems and cyber resilience, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp announced on Dec. 4.
worth mentioning
How Russian teenagers are being locked up for expressing dissent
Russian Railways to cut spending by around 40% in 2025
Kosovo accuses Serbia of 'terrorist attack' resembling Russian actions in Ukraine
Syrian rebels capture key city of Hama in fresh blow to Assad
Foreign adversary was likely behind Havana Syndrome, House Intelligence leaders say
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