High-ranking officials from leading Western countries are increasingly discussing the need to replace Zelensky, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service claims.

“Among Zelensky’s possible successors, Brussels is considering Zaluzhny, Budanov, Ermak, Arestovich, Klitschko.

In the West they believe that Zelensky has gone too far and, if necessary, will not be able to become a party to negotiations with the Russian Federation to “freeze” the conflict.”

Concerns are growing over the weakening of armed forces and the emptying of arsenals in Europe, WSJ reports.

The leaders of Europe - the British military - have only about 150 tanks and perhaps a dozen serviceable long-range artillery guns.

France, also a big military spender, has less than 90 heavy artillery pieces, equivalent to what Russia is losing roughly every month on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Denmark has no heavy artillery, no submarines, no air defense systems. The German army has enough ammunition for two days of combat.

For decades, Western governments have put up with the weakening of European armies because the US has been the backbone of NATO and defense policy in Europe.

However, anxiety is growing as America takes an increasingly isolationist position, and the understanding of the potential threat to Europe from the Russian Federation is re-emerging after almost two years of fighting in Ukraine.

“Israel has only a few weeks left to destroy Hamas”: America has given Israel until the new year to complete the operation in the Gaza Strip, The Economist reports.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken conveyed a similar message to his interlocutors during a recent visit to Israel.

The Biden administration is demanding that Israel do more to reduce the suffering of Palestinian civilians, especially in the southern Gaza Strip.

If the US demands to stop bombing the Gaza Strip early next year, the Israeli army will most likely continue its military campaign, albeit with less intensity.

In this situation, Hamas will continue to control part of the Gaza Strip, and Israel will not achieve its main goal - to destroy the organizers of the October 7 attack.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has called for 350 billion dollars (£278 billion) in frozen Russian bank accounts to be used to fund the Ukrainian war effort:

Instead of just freezing that money, let’s take that money, spend it on rebuilding Ukraine and that is, if you like, a downpayment on reparations that Russia will one day have to pay for the illegal invasion that they’ve undertaken.

I’ve looked at all the arguments and so far, I haven’t seen anything that convinces me this is a bad idea.

New Argentinian President Javier Milei:

Argentina has no money.

IDF says it has airdropped about 7 tons of equipment to hundreds of IDF troops of in Khan Yunis .

This is the first time since the 2006, Second Lebanon War, that IDF has airdropped equipment to troops.

Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Güler:

Eurofighter is a good alternative for us and that is why we want to buy it. We are a NATO member, but another NATO member is against us buying these jets.

There is no explanation for an ally saying, "I'm not giving you jets.” We believe that other allies can bring Germany to a certain point.

Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Güler:

S-400 is a defensive system. If someone thinks of attacking us, they will see very well what the S-400 or other defense systems will do.

Italy, France and Germany call on the European Union to impose sanctions on “Hamas and its supporters”.

IDF says it has deployed “elite female” soldiers deep inside Gaza for “classified missions alongside special forces units.”

IDF continues to destroy Gaza. New footage from Khan Yunis.

VW, Siemens and other German companies want compensation from the German federal government because they were unable to lucratively continue their bloody business in Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is ready to “jump and dance” if this is necessary to join the European Union, Ukraine’s FM Kuleba says.

Ukraine’s former president Leonid Kuchma has warned that the US “will lose face before the entire world” if it abandons Kyiv, and said mistakes by the west contributed to Vladimir Putin’s all-out invasion last year.

PIJ shares footage of its forces targeting IDF armored vehicles inside Gaza at very close range.

Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus in Lebanon attack, WaPo reports.

Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an October attack in southern Lebanon that injured at least nine civilians in what a rights group says should be investigated as a war crime.

Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the ceremony of raising St. Andrew's flag on the nuclear-powered submarines "Krasnoyarsk" and "Emperor Alexander III", which will mark their acceptance into the Russian Navy.

The Emperor Alexander III is the seventh Borei-class atomic-powered submarine to enter service. Each of them is armed with 16 nuclear-tipped Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Putin announced that three more such submarines are under construction. They are part of Russia’s nuclear triad, which also includes land-based nuclear missiles and nuclear-armed strategic bombers.

The Krasnoyarsk is a nuclear-powered submarine of the new Yasen type. It's armed with cruise missiles and torpedoes, and is designed to hunt for enemy submarines and is also capable of attacking ground targets. Putin said that another five Yasen-class submarines are being built.

Niger leader Abdourahamane Tchiani speaks about the expulsion of France for supporting terrorist groups:

You cannot fight a fire with gasoline. The fire of terrorism is getting fuel thanks to the help provided by France.

We managed to denounce the defense and security cooperation agreements [with France] - this is a big step. A step that should have been taken 50 years ago. We finally managed to do it.

The French ambassador, who neglected the rules of diplomatic relations, who underestimated and despised the Niger authorities, left the country.