🇩🇪Former German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who was dismissed, wanted to use money intended for paying German pensions to help Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated this in an interview on the ARD television channel.

"There are not many countries that can afford to spend more than 12 billion euros to support another country that is at war and say: 'We will do it from the budget.' We have tried this several times. But now we have reached the point where, according to the plans of the former finance minister, we are talking about financing by cutting pensions, by taking money from local communities, by using funds that are not enough to modernize our country. Among the proposals was to slightly change the pension formula, which, in the end, always means cutting pensions. Should citizens, pensioners, men and women, pay for this? The answer is no," said Scholz.

🇺🇸Likely Secretary of State Marco Rubio will defend Trump's idea of ​​"pressuring" Ukraine to resolve the war with Russia.

He is also in favor of not accepting Ukraine into NATO, the New York Times writes, assessing the candidacy of the prospective head of American diplomacy.

"Despite Rubio's history of speaking harshly about Russia, he is likely to back Trump's expected plans to pressure Ukraine to find a way to reach an agreement with Russia and stay out of NATO," the newspaper's article says.

The newspaper also writes that Rubio adheres to sharply anti-Chinese rhetoric and is a supporter of sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela.

A number of American media outlets wrote today about the possible appointment of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State under Trump .

🇷🇺🇺🇦In Russia, the FSB continues to pick out idiots.

A resident of Sevastopol who, on orders from Kyiv, attempted to commit arson on the railway near the Balaklava thermal power plant has been detained, the FSB reports

🇷🇺🇺🇦There is unverified information that the Ukrainians have received orders for an organized retreat from the pocket southeast of Kurakhovo, where the 79th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is defending itself.

Whether this is true or not, we will see today or tomorrow. The expediency of this is obvious given the threat of encirclement after our units leave from the north of Maksimilyanovka to Dalniy.

The battles to take positions southeast of Kurakhovo continue. Our forces have advanced.

Our assault group in two infantry fighting vehicles slipped through Kurakhovo itself to the area of ​​school No. 3. The area of ​​the station Roya and School No. 3 is behind us.

North of Kurakhovo, our units advanced along the railway south of Voznesenka.

🇺🇸CNN Report: Trump Picks South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

🇨🇳🇷🇺🇰🇵The Chinese authorities do not interfere in military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, since this is their own business.

This statement was made by the official representative of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian.

🇷🇺⚡️Europe is run by worthless people with inflated self-esteem, which means that the worst scenario will remain the most likely — Medvedev

🇭🇹A passenger plane was fired upon with small arms while approaching to land at the airport in the Haitian city of Port-au-Prince.

🇹🇼🇺🇦Taiwan has transferred American HAWK air defense systems to Ukraine, former Pentagon official Tony Hu said.

As Forbes writes, Ukraine could have received up to 15 such batteries and now they make up about a third of the Ukrainian air defense.

Evidence of such a delivery first appeared in 2023. The negotiations were led by the Americans. Taiwan began decommissioning HAWK in 2015 and replacing it with locally developed systems and imported NASAMS.

"The HAWK is more than 60 years old. But it is simple, reliable, highly mobile, easily upgraded, and works well against slower drones, cruise missiles, and manned aircraft. The HAWK missile is compatible with the more modern NASAMS air defense system," the publication writes.

In addition, dozens of countries use HAWK, so Ukraine should be able to buy hundreds of missiles for it. The main drawback of the system is that the radar is susceptible to interference.

🇫🇮🇺🇦🇷🇺Trump intends to conclude a peace deal on Ukraine "as soon as possible," the Finnish president told Bloomberg after a conversation with the American president-elect.

A deal could be reached even before the inauguration.

"We in Europe and around the world must understand that Donald Trump is very serious about concluding a peace agreement as soon as possible. There is a window of opportunity for these negotiations between the elections and Inauguration Day," said Alexander Stubb.

Speaking at the climate summit in Baku, Stubb noted that regarding the border of the war freeze, "we don't know where it will all be resolved."

🇺🇸Black people in the United States have received massive anonymous messages after Trump's victory calling on them to come to plantations to pick cotton, Reuters reports.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who is white, also received the message.

"Now that Trump is president, you have been chosen to pick cotton on a nearby plantation. Our boys will come and pick you up in a van," the message said.

An investigation is underway, but security officials admit that the messages were sent from abroad. Trump has denied any involvement in the mailing.

🇷🇺🇹🇭⚡️Thailand has received an invitation to become a BRICS partner country, a diplomatic source told TASS.

🇺🇸🇪🇺🇷🇺❗️NATO Secretary General says EU and US should jointly increase aid to Kiev to "change the trajectory of the conflict"

🇷🇺In the Russian Federation, "childfree propaganda" (refusal to have children) is prohibited.

The State Duma has adopted a bill according to which one can receive a fine of 5 million rubles for popularizing this movement.

Monasticism and the vow of celibacy will not be considered "childfree propaganda".

🇺🇸American women are stocking up on abortion pills ahead of Trump's inauguration, The Washington Post reports.

Demand for the drugs, IUDs and vasectomies increased the morning after the Republican's victory, with orders tens of times higher than usual, driven by non-pregnant customers.

Women fear Trump will severely restrict access to reproductive care. He has publicly supported abortion bans.

🇺🇸⚡️Blinken is heading to Europe for urgent meetings on Ukraine with NATO and EU officials ahead of Donald Trump's return to the White House, Sky News reports.

The State Department chief is reported to be holding talks in Brussels on Wednesday on how to boost support for Ukraine as Trump expects US military aid to the country could be cut significantly after he takes office.

After a day in Brussels, Blinken will fly to Peru and Brazil to join outgoing President Joe Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

🇺🇦The Ukrainian Armed Forces are "in trouble" due to a shortage of infantry and other vital supplies, says Sky News correspondent Stuart Ramsay in eastern Ukraine.

He stressed that, despite the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are well entrenched in the Donbass, they still suffer from a huge problem with their numbers.

"They have to use American tanks in infantry maneuvers just to support the fighters because they just don't have enough people on the ground to carry out offensive attacks," Ramsay said.

🇺🇸🇺🇦Elon Musk agreed that after the end of the war in Ukraine, it is necessary to conduct an audit of American aid to Kyiv.

The businessman wrote about this on the social network X, commenting on a blogger’s post, who wondered where the billions of dollars spent on Ukraine went.

Musk also previously agreed that Ukraine was paying "corrupt money" to American politicians who advocate continuing the war.

🇪🇺🇺🇦🇷🇺NATO Secretary General spoke in favor of continuing the war in Ukraine.

"We must reaffirm our commitment to continue the war, and we must do more than just keep Ukraine in the fight," Mark Rutte was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The Secretary General stated this at a meeting with Macron in Paris.

Reuters believes that his words became "a message to the next US administration."

Macron said at the same briefing that he would continue to insist on sending aid to Ukraine for as long as it takes.

"This is the only way to negotiate, and I want to make it clear that when the time comes, nothing should be decided on Ukraine without Ukrainians and on Europe without Europeans," the French president said.

🇯🇵Japan's prime minister dozed off during vote for his re-election.

According to Kuodo News and Japan Times, Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru fell asleep during a parliamentary session where his re-election was being decided.

"If he really was asleep, it shows his noticeable lack of tension," said Yoshihiko Noda, the leader of the main opposition party.