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France 24: The United States on Monday unveiled almost $6 billion in military and budget aid for Ukraine, as Washington races to provide assistance before Trump takes office next month.

The Kyiv Independent: German prosecutors have indicted three individuals accused of plotting sabotage and espionage against military and industrial sites in Germany, Deutsche Welle reported on Dec. 30.

Bloomberg: Putin has given a local company control of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s joint venture, upending the brewer’s plans to exit the country via a deal with a Turkish partner (archive).

Ukrainska Pravda: Ukrainian partisans in Russia's Moscow Oblast set fire to two locomotives overnight on Dec. 30 destined for occupied regions of Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent: President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed human rights activist Olha Reshetylova to the newly created position of military ombudsman on Dec. 30.

The Daily Beast: Trump’s social media posts about annexing Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal startled America’s allies and delighted foreign foes. In Russia, the statements were interpreted to mean that Trump isn’t really opposed to foreign wars of conquest after all.

The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces have suffered around 427,000 soldiers killed or wounded this year, mainly in battles in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Dec. 30.

Reuters: Ukraine and Russia carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war on Monday, with the two sides bringing home a combined total of more than 300 former captives. Kyiv brought home 189 former captives, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russia's Defence Ministry said, while the Russian ministry said 150 Russian servicemen were returning home.

AFP: Azerbaijan said on Monday that Moscow had promised to punish those responsible for the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that Baku says was shot at by Russian air defences.

Reuters: Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean ordered his government on Monday to start preparing for the possible nationalisation of gas company Moldovagaz, which is 50%-owned by Russia's Gazprom.

Ukrainska Pravda: Operatives from Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Tavriia Operational Strategic Group, have destroyed a Russian headquarters and killed the soldiers inside in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Reuters: Syria hopes for "strategic partnerships" with Ukraine, its new foreign minister told his Ukrainian counterpart on Monday, as Kyiv moves to build ties with the new Islamist rulers in Damascus amid waning Russian influence.

The Kyiv Independent: The United States will provide Ukraine with $15 billion, backed by future revenues from frozen Russian assets, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Dec. 30. The agreement was signed between Ukraine's Finance Ministry and the World Bank.

Reuters: Chemicals factories founded or owned by some of Russia's wealthiest men are supplying ingredients to plants that manufacture explosives used by Moscow's military during the war in Ukraine.

VEON: Ukraine's leading mobile operator Kyivstar has signed an agreement with Elon Musk's Starlink to introduce direct-to-cell satellite connectivity, Kyivstar's parent company VEON said on Monday. Direct-to-cell devices are connected to satellites equipped with modems that function like a cellphone tower, beaming phone signals from space directly to smartphones.

worth mentioning

Austria energy regulator expects smooth transition as Ukraine gas deal ends

Czechs ready to help Slovakia when Ukraine gas transit deal ends

‘No heating, no light': Moldovans fear looming energy shortage as Russia halts gas supplies

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