🇷🇺🇬🇧 BBC DISPLEASED AT PUTIN-ERA FREEDOM OF SPEECH: BBC's head of Moscow Bureau Steve Rosenberg came to Russia in 1997, but then the "glory days" of former Prez Yeltsin ended.

Unlike Russian media in the UK, Rosenberg has never been kicked out of Russia for his anti-Russian pieces - something he can't forgive Putin for!

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🇷🇺 TANK OF RUSSIAN CREW SURVIVES DESPITE BEING BLOWN UP ON MINES - they live to tell the story...

A beloved Special Operation hero with the call sign Berserk & crew successfully storm Urozhainoye ("Harvest") settlement in Donetsk Republic (ex-Ukraine).

After the vehicle is damaged, the brigade crawl for 4 hours to get to the Russian side.

01:38 - Berserk describes strikes on enemy positions entrenche along the path of the Russian advance.

02:25 - State of the tank after being blown up & fired upon by Ukrainian drones.

02:38 - Berserk recalls being evacuated with his gunner, who was bleeding profusely. The commander himself was also concussed.

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🇺🇦🇷🇺 UKRAINIANS CLAIM "NO SIDE IS WINNING" - urge negotiations.

With the East lost, really?

If there are negotiations, Ukrainians could end up having to sacrifice land for peace - BBC writes the obvious.

It's not just land. It's statehood and sovereignty, dissipating like sand through a sift - at the hands of a Nazi regime. All Zelensky had to do was implement the Minsk agreements to save his people and retain territorial integrity. But he made a deal with the devil instead....

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🇺🇦 UKRAINIANS LOSE OPTIMISM ON PROSPEROUS FUTURE: The number of Ukrainians who believe in Ukraine becoming a prosperous country - within the EU & in a decade, is sharply declining.

In October 2022, 88% responded positively about Ukraine's future in the EU. In December 2023 - 73%, and now in December 2024 - 55%.

Every 5th Ukrainian (19%) believes that in 10 years the economy will be entirely destroyed, and many Ukrainians will be living abroad.

The idea of ​​​​liberating lost territories in the Donbass has also become less popular. In May 2023, only 10% of Ukrainians were ready to postpone the liberation of territories. By the end of this year, that figure is 38%.

Was the 2014 pro-EU Maidan worth it? Rather than fulfil the Minsk Agreements, Ukraine chose the West as its new friend.

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🇺🇦🇷🇺 RUSSIA INTERCEPTS 68 NATO-SUPPLIED UKRAINIAN DRONES OVERNIGHT: The wreckage of a drone falls on an oil depot in the Smolensk region (pre-war West Russia.)

Air defenses shot down drones over Crimea, the Krasnodar region (pre-war South Russia), Smolensk region, Tver & Kaluga (West Russia) as well as Rostov & Kursk (South Russia.)

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JUST LIKE IN 1943: Ukrainian troops (speaking Russian) discover destroyed German Leopard tanks in their way in the Zaporozhye region (ex-Ukraine.)

Maybe not quite like 1943 - when Russia and Ukraine were on the same side.

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🇷🇺 LIBERATION ON NEW YEAR'S EVE: Russian tricolor waves valiantly atop the Thermal Power Plan in #Kurakhovo, Donetsk Republic (ex-Ukraine.)

The industrial zone in Kurakhovo was the last fortified area of ​​the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Fighters of the Russian 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade are now clearing the outskirts of Kurakhovo. The settlement is almost completely under the control of the Russian Armed Forces.

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UKRAINE SEVERS ALL TIES WITH GAZPROM: Russian gas stopped flowing to Europe via Ukraine at 08:00 Moscow time 1st of January, according to data from European gas transportation operators.

Moldova's #Transnistria enclave is the first to suffer, with the centralized heating system in populated areas reportedly turned OFF in the middle of winter...

Transnistria is a pro-Russian enclave - how will Russia respond?

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🇸🇳 "#SENEGAL TO RID ITSELF FROM FOREIGN MILITARY PRESENCE IN 2025" - President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

"I have instructed the Minister of the Armed Forces to propose a new doctrine of cooperation in the field of defense and security, which will entail the end of any foreign military presence in Senegal from 2025," Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

Earlier, Chad kicked the French out also - considered the stronghold of French influence in Africa. France now plans to reduce its presence in Gabon & Ivory Coast to just 100 troops in each country. What for - just go home?

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