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29 Dec, 2023 11:01

Russia confirms ‘massive barrage’ on targets in Ukraine

An overnight operation added to 50 group strikes conducted throughout the week, the Defense Ministry reported

The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that its forces launched a series of air attacks against multiple targets in Ukraine in the last week. A statement from the ministry on Friday detailed 50 “group” strikes and a single “massive” barrage using precision missiles and drones.

The ministry described the intended targets as“defense industry sites, military airfield infrastructure and depots for the storage of artillery munitions, naval drones, arms and fuel for military vehicles,” as well as troop positions.

All of them were successfully hit, the statement added.

Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, reported earlier in the day thatat least 158 separate launcheswere detected by Kiev’s troops on Thursday evening and Friday morning. He claimed that of the total, 27 drones and 87 cruise missiles were intercepted.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yury Ignat said in a televised statement that “we have never seen so many targets on our monitors simultaneously.”

Officials in various parts of the country claimed damage to several warehouses and a metro station in Kiev, among other locations.

(This is the ultimate, “Fuck Around and Find Out” moment. Russia is tired of the long and drawn out bullshit from Ukraine. The End is Near.)

https://www.rt.com/russia/589869-moscow-massive-attack-ukraine/

(Oh Hell NO)

29 Dec, 2023 13:17

Ukraine requests emergency funding meeting – Bloomberg

The prime minister has urged a group of Western donors to meet in January

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal has sent a letter toan international group coordinating funds, to request an emergency meeting with Western donors, as Kiev confronts “exceptionally high uncertainty” over its budget, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

According to the outlet, Shmygal sent a letter this month to theMulti-agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine, urging Western sponsors help cover the budget shortfall.

“To uphold macroeconomic stability, it is imperative that we receive sufficient, prompt, and predictable external financing, beginning January 2024,” Shmygal wrote.

The Ukrainian economy relies almost entirely on financial support from the West, and Kiev has voiced concerns as to whether the flow will continue, as new aid packages were recently blocked both in the European Union and in the US.

The Finance Ministry said last week that Kiev's fiscal needs for2024 are estimated at $37.3 billion, after more than $42 billionin foreign aid received this year. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian budget may suffer a deficit in the first two months of the year, according to Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko.

“It is hardly possible to hold any discussion about recovery and rebuilding projects, when we are struggling to fulfil the 2024 survival priorities,” Shmygal reportedly said in the letter. He also requested holding a donors' meeting in January, ahead of a scheduled gathering in February.

US lawmakers in the House of Representatives have blocked a bill for the next major Ukraine aid package worth $60 billion, which President Joe Biden requested in October.

Another package from the EU worth €50 billion ($55.6 billion) was blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban this month.

Earlier, Ukraine's former Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov comparedthe national economy to a “zombie” that only shows signs of life with Western financing, saying that it was “falling apart” with minimal GDP growth and a looming devaluation of the hryvnia.

(FUCK The Oligarchs and thieves, arrest them and seize their money and only give it honest brokers in Ukraine.Who are the International Committee making decisions?)

https://www.rt.com/business/589885-ukraine-financial-aid-emergency-meeting/

29 Dec, 2023 13:10

Biden slams Nikki Haley after Civil War slavery dodge

The Republican presidential candidate has walked back her comments amid a barrage of criticism

US President Joe Biden has hit out at Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley after she avoided citing slavery as a central cause of the US Civil War at a New Hampshire town hall meeting this week.

Responding to a question from an audience member on Wednesday, Haley, the former US ambassador to the UN, said that the Civil War was fought over “how the government was going to run – the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.”

Haley turned the question back to the voter, who said that “it’s astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning slavery.”

Haley’s response also drew a fiery rebuke from both sides of the US political spectrum. Biden referenced her comments in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, writing simply: “It was about slavery.”

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and one of Haley’s opponents in the Republican primary, told reporters in Iowa on Thursday that his GOP rival appeared to have “some problems with basic American history.” He claimed that her response was “incomprehensible word salad” and showed that the former South Carolina governor is “not a candidate that’s ready for primetime.”

Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison told CBS that it shouldn’t be “hard” to condemn slavery, and that doing so “is the baseline for anyone who wants to be president of the United States.”

A representative for Republican frontrunner Donald Trump declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

Amid growing backlash, Haley sought to clarify her comments in a Thursday radio interview. “I mean, of course, the Civil War was about slavery,” she told Good Morning NH with Jack Heath.

“That’s the easy part of it,” Haley added. “What I was saying was, what does it mean to us today? What it means to us today is about freedom.”

There is a broad consensus among historians that the US Civil War of 1861-65 was fought over the concept of slavery. The Southern states, which had seceded from the Union, opposed attempts by states in the North to impose limits on slavery, especially in western territories.

Haley has previously defended aspects of the Confederacy, the term given to the seceded states. The state she governed, South Carolina, was the first to secede – with Haley saying in 2010 that it had a right to do so.

In 2015 she signed a bill into law to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol following the murder of nine black people by white supremacist Dylann Roof. However, she was later criticized for describing the flag as a symbol of “heritage.”

Slavery was officially abolished by the US Congress on December 6, 1865.

(Is Birdbrain giving the Globalist message that they are ok with slavery, but the Military Industrial Complex will decide what wars they fight and they want a lot of endless wars; but it has to be about Democracy WW, not necessarily slavery, because what the West has done, is cause slavery in the countries they deposed the elected leaders. What a strange dodge, someone told her to stay away from the defeating the cause of slavery?)

https://www.rt.com/news/589884-us-haley-slavery-criticism/

29 Dec, 2023 09:07

Ukraine hit by large-scale air attack – Kiev

A Ukrainian military spokesman said that an unprecedented number of weapons was used in the reported barrage

The Ukrainian Air Force has claimed that a massive Russian barrage hit cities across the country on Thursday night and Friday morning. Officials nationwide have reported damage at multiple sites.

The alleged air raid, which has yet to be confirmed by Moscow, reportedly involved dozens of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat told the media “we have never seen so many targets on our monitors simultaneously.”

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a metro station was damaged, as well as warehouses in two separate districts of the Ukrainian capital. His office added that a business center was also set on fire.

Sergey Lisak, who heads the Dnepropetrovsk Region, reported that a shopping mall was hit in the city of Dnepr, the region’s capital. Oleg Sinegub, his counterpart from Kharkov Region, said “civilian infrastructure” was damaged, including warehouses and a medical facility.

Prime Minister Denis Shmygal reported there had been issues with the power supply in the city of Kharkov – which city Mayor Igor Terekhov confirmed – and damage in Lviv, Sumy, Odessa, and Zaporozhye Regions. The minister claimed that “most of the air targets were intercepted” by Ukrainian forces.

Ignat claimed on national television that Russia used “everything” in its arsenal from kamikaze drones to hypersonic air-launched Kinzhal missiles.

Moscow previously stated thatKiev tends to exaggerate the numberof Kinzhal missiles used by Russia in the conflict in order to claim that it intercepted those projectiles.

The Ukrainian official estimated thatRussia used 18 Tu-95 strategic bombersto fire air-launched missiles overnight.

Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top general, later said that the military had detected 158 separate launches and claimed that 27 drones and 87 cruise missiles were stopped. He put the number of Kinzhal launches at five.

Earlier in the week,Kiev celebratedwhat it hailed as a major success in the conflict: aRussian warship in the Crimean port city of Feodosia was damagedby air-launched cruise missiles.

https://www.rt.com/russia/589864-ukraine-night-air-attack/

29 Dec, 2023 12:43

US allies waver on joining Red Sea task force – Reuters

Several members of the US-led effort to protect ships from Houthi attacks have yet to confirm their participation, the agency says

Several US allies are withholding their supportfor a maritime coalition aimed at protecting shipping routes in the Red Sea from attacks by Houthi militants in Yemen, Reuters has reported.

When the Biden administration announced thetask force of 20 nationsearlier this month, it was seeking a firm international response to actions by the Houthis, butso far only 12 countrieshave confirmed their participation in the effort, the news agency said in an article on Thursday.

Two US allies in the EU – Spain and Italy, who were eventually named as contributors to ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ – have sincedistanced themselvesfrom the task force.

Madrid insisted that it would only take part in NATO-led missions or EU-coordinated operations.“We will not participate unilaterally in the Red Sea operation,”it said. Rome confirmed that it is sending a warship to the area, but stressed that this was at the request of Italian shipowners, not as part of ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian.’

“The reluctance of some US alliesto link themselves to the effort partly reflects the fissures created by the conflict in Gaza,”Reuters stated.

Washington continues to back the Israeli military operation in the Palestinian enclave, despite increasing international criticism the Israeli bombardment, through which more than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The Houthis, who control a large part of Yemen’s territory, including the capital Sanaa, have said they will be targeting Israeli-linked vessels in response to Israel airstrikes and the ground invasion of Gaza. Since November 19,a dozen ships have been attacked or hijackedalong the busy shipping route.

The Red Sea is the entry point for ships using the Suez Canal, through which some 12% of worldwide trade passes, according to the US Naval Institute.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said earlier that “the coalition formed by America is to protect Israel and militarize the sea without any justification,” adding that it would not be able to stop the group from targeting ships heading for Israel.

US Central Command announced late on Thursday that a US Navy guided-missile destroyer shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile that were fired by the Houthis. None of the 18 ships that were in the area were damaged in the incident, it added.

(Solution:remove all NATO US soldiers in all countries that refuseto support & protect our military in the Red Sea and in other areas. When Trump is back this betrayal will be used towithdraw from NATO permanently!This display only reinforces our “Allies” are not allies but leeches who use us for their needs only. They are finally saying the quiet part out loud.)

https://www.rt.com/news/589882-us-yemen-houthi-israel/