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Morning Headlines
Reuters: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday the presence of a Russian attack submarine in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea was "very worrisome".
The Kyiv Independent: A Russian drone attack on Ternopil, during the night of Dec. 2, caused a fire in a residential building and resulted in casualties, local officials reported. The attack killed at least two people and left several others injured.
Reuters: At least 25 people were killed in northwestern Syria in air strikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia, the Syrian opposition-run rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday.
01.12.2024
The Kyiv Independent: The European Union has delivered 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine, fulfilling the pledge it initially promised to deliver by the spring of 2024, the EU’s new top diplomat Kaja Kallas told the Kyiv Independent on the sidelines of her visit to Kyiv.
Euronews: National exit polls estimate that Romania’s future parliament and government will continue Romania’s strong pro-EU, pro-NATO and pro-Ukraine national strategy, despite a surge by the ultra-nationalist contenders.
EU Council: In 2025, the European Union will continue to provide economic, humanitarian, and military help to Ukraine. By the end of the year, the EU will have allocated €4.2 billion, and in 2025, it will transfer €1.5 billion euros each month from Russia's frozen assets.
Reuters: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has accused China of providing Russia with weapons for its war against Ukraine and threatening peace in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.
WSJ: China has been supporting Russia’s economy since the start of the Ukraine war by buying its oil while supplying it with everything from microelectronics to washing machines. Meanwhile, Beijing has been getting its own strategic benefit: a real-world case study in how to circumvent Western sanctions (archive).
Reuters: The United States is not considering returning to Ukraine the nuclear weapons it gave up after the Soviet Union collapsed, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.
The Kyiv Independent: The Russian army suffered record losses in military equipment and personnel in November in the war against Ukraine, Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported on Dec. 1.
Reuters: Russian war bloggers reported on Sunday that Moscow has dismissed Sergei Kisel, the general in charge of its forces in Syria, after insurgents swept into the city of Aleppo in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years.
AP News: Putin approved budget plans, raising 2025 military spending to record levels as Moscow seeks to prevail in the war in Ukraine. Around 32.5% of the budget posted on a government website Sunday has been allocated for national "defense", amounting to 13.5 trillion rubles (over $145 billion), up from a reported 28.3% this year.
France 24: Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky called for security guarantees from NATO and more weapons to defend his country as he hosted the incoming head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the EU's new top diplomat Kaya Kallas for talks in Kyiv.
30.11.2024
CNN: Trump said he would require countries that are part of BRICS — a China- and Russia-backed group of emerging economies — to commit to not creating new currency or face 100% tariffs during his administration.
Reuters: Fifteen of Ukraine's civilian airports have been damaged since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was quoted as saying by local media on Saturday.
RFE/RL: Trump has held multiple phone conversations with Hungarian PM Orban since winning the presidential election, according to sources who spoke to RFE/RL’s Hungarian Service. Hungarian government sources said Trump has sought Orban’s opinion on ending the Ukraine war.
Reuters: Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov was elected president of the International Fencing Federation at the body's congress in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent on Saturday, the businessman's representative said.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine destroyed three Russian high-value radar stations in Russian-occupied Crimea on Nov. 29, Ukraine's military intelligence agency reported on Nov. 30. The radars include two 48Y6-K1 Podlet systems worth $5 million each and one Kasta-2E2 radar, estimated to cost around $30 million.
Sky News: An offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv’s control would end “the hot stage of the war” in Ukraine, but any proposal to join the military alliance should be extended to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a broadcast interview.
Militarnyi: Luxembourg has allocated €80 million for the purchase of Ukrainian weapons for the needs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in 2025.
ISW: The Russian military is considering establishing a separate service branch for unmanned systems, likely as part of the Russian MoD’s belated effort to catch up to the establishment of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces in February 2024.
29.11.2024
Politico: Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel needs to stop trying to justify her decisions in office which emboldened Putin and led to disastrous consequences for Ukraine, a top lawmaker in Kyiv told POLITICO.
Reuters: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has urged his NATO counterparts to issue an invitation at a meeting in Brussels next week to Kyiv to join the Western military alliance, according to the text of a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.
AFP: The International Criminal Court on Friday slapped down a request by Mongolia to appeal a decision saying Ulaanbaatar breached its obligations when it failed to arrest Putin during a visit.
The Moscow Times: Former Russian 'president' Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council and a vocal critic of Western nations, has reportedly purchased a 3.5-million-pound ($4.4 million) luxury yacht manufactured in the United Kingdom.
Novaya Gazeta Europe: A Ukrainian man suffering from schizophrenia from the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol who was abducted by the Russian military and abused in captivity for over a year has been charged with espionage, independent media outlet IStories reported on Friday.
BBC News: Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's controversial 2017 meeting with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and past statements on Russia's invasion of Ukraine have drawn fresh scrutiny after Trump picked her to oversee America's spy agencies.
Bloomberg: Russia’s rock-bottom unemployment rate should be the envy of any country, but it’s instead underscoring how the labor shortage fueled by the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine is making it more difficult for companies to operate (archive).
The Kyiv Independent: North Korea has supplied Russia with more than 100 short-range ballistic missiles, and 5 million artillery shells, Ukraine's military intelligence said on Nov. 29.
Reuters: Ukraine's army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Friday he would strengthen troops deployed on the eastern front with reserves, ammunition and equipment after he visited two key Ukrainian-held sites in the Donetsk region.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces reportedly struck an oil depot in Russia's Rostov Oblast, and destroyed a Buk-M3 radar station in Russian-occupied territories in Zaporizhzhia Oblast overnight, Ukraine's General Staff said on Nov. 29.
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