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Reuters: The Biden administration plans to announce a $425 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday including counter drone rockets and munitions, two U.S. officials said on Thursday.

CNN: The US has intelligence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to provide the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah with a Russian-made missile defense system. The Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group, which operates in Syria, has been tasked with carrying out the delivery of the surface-to-air SA-22 missile system.

The Insider: The office of the presidential envoy to the Russia's Central Federal District has crafted a strategy for regional officials to enlist migrants, individuals facing bankruptcy, debtors, the unemployed, and other vulnerable segments of society into the military, iStories report.

POLITICO: Two Moldovan nationals were arrested in Paris last Friday after admitting they painted Stars of David on a wall on the orders of an unidentified individual. “An individual in Russia” directed the 33-year-old man and 29-year-old woman to carry out the act in Paris’ 10th arrondissement.

Reuters: The United States on Thursday imposed sweeping new measures against Moscow over the war in Ukraine, targeting Russia's future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops and equipment, among others, in sanctions on hundreds of people and entities.

ERR: At least three criminals sent from Estonia to Russia to serve their sentences have been involved in combat operations in Ukraine within the ranks of Wagner, an investigation by "Pealtnägija" found.

AFP: A Russian drone manufacturer announced this week it would open a production line in Uzbekistan, as one local official said Thursday the drones were designed for "agricultural" purposes only.

Reuters: A group of senior Republicans in the U.S. Congress urged President Joe Biden to send longer-range missiles to Ukraine, in a show of continued support for Kyiv among U.S. lawmakers despite pushback from some conservatives against more aid.

The Kyiv Independent: Russian vehicles not registered with the Latvian authorities by mid-February will be seized and sent to Ukraine, the Latvian Parliament announced on Nov. 2.

Reuters: Polish truckers will block several border crossings with Ukraine starting next week in protest at what they say is Ukrainian hauliers' free rein in Poland that is hurting their business, a co-organiser of the protest told Reuters.

The Kyiv Independent: The International Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Russia must pay $267 million in damages to DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company. The payment is in compensation for assets in Crimea that Russia seized from the company when it illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014.

AFP: From espionage to information manipulation, France faces an "omnipresent and lasting threat" of foreign interference, with Russia and China seen as the main perpetrators, the French parliamentary intelligence committee said on Thursday.

Reuters: A top ally of Putin warned Poland on Thursday that the NATO member state was now considered a "dangerous enemy" by Russia and could end up losing its statehood if it continued on its current course.

CEPA: Abductions of children started as soon as Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine. Tens of thousands have now been taken, and the longer it goes on, the harder it will be to rescue them.

AFP: Kyiv on Thursday named Swiss food giant Nestle as a "sponsor of war" over the Kit Kat-maker's continued operations in Russia.

Reuters: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday she was confident that the European Union next month would advance Ukraine's bid to join the bloc at a summit seen as a key milestone in Kyiv's efforts to integrate with the West.

AP News: Russian shelling killed an 81-year-old woman in the yard of her home and a 60-year-old man in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region Thursday, local authorities said. The deaths were the latest civilian casualties in Moscow’s recent ramped-up bombardment of the front-line area.

Reuters: Ukrainian forces repelled a new Russian assault near the town of Vuhledar in eastern Donetsk region and continued its attempt to press forward in the south, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.

BBC News: An offshore firm helped create companies used by members of Putin's inner circle, including one hiding the late mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's yacht, the BBC can reveal.

Reuters: Putin on Thursday signed a law withdrawing Russia's ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, a step condemned by the organisation which promotes adherence to the landmark arms control pact.

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