💢British Ministry of Defence: On 19 December 2022, President Putin travelled to Minsk to hold talks with President Lukashenko of Belarus. The presidents discussion included talk of a single defence space.Although Russia and Belarus prominently publicise Russian units' deployments into Belarus, the armed forces of Belarus have likely recently taken on a significant, but more discreet role in training thousands of newly mobilised Russian reservists. The likely use of Belarusian instructors is an attempt to partially remediate the lack of Russian military trainers, many of whom are deployed in Ukraine or have become casualties. Although Russia and Belarus have an extensive background of military co-operation, the training of mobilised Russian personnel by Belarusians represents a role reversal. Belarusian forces have traditionally been considered by Russia as inferior to Russian forces and their employment as trainers is an indication of overstretch within the Russian military system.

💢Taiwan announced that 30 Chinese military aircraft violated Taiwan's airspace and continued on their way despite warnings

💢Official Russian news agencies announced that the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov caught fire in the Murmansk

💢Denmark minister of defense said that Denmark will provide a new financial aid worth $43 million to Ukraine

💢Ukrainian army says the armed forces have completely liberated the city of Bakhmut and the Russians have been forced to retreat. Russian forces continues to bombard Bakhmut

💢The latest Defense Intelligence Update situation in Ukraine, published by UK Ministry of Defence

💢Ukrainian ministry of defense announced that 100,000 Russian soldiers were killed in Ukraine since February 24 until December 21, 2022.

💢Russian say that the naval exercises of Russia and China are a response to actions United States

💢Associated Press: At least 10,000 new graves have appeared in Mariupol since beginning Russian invasion.

💢White House say North Korea  sent weapons to Wagner PMC forces

💢Media outlets owned by militias associated with the Islamic regime in Iraq claimed that an American soldier had been killed in Iraq. This news has not yet been confirmed by reliable sources.

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💢Two Chinese military aircrafts violated Taiwan's airspace

💢British Ministry of Defence: On 21 December, President Putin was presented with plans to expand the Russian military by around 30% to 1.5 million personnel. It isn't clear when this level would be achieved. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shigou explained that the expansion would involve at least two brigades in north-western Russia growing to divisional strength. He cited the supposed threat from Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO. This constitutes one of the first insights into how Russia aspires to adapt its forces to the long-term strategic challenges resulting from its invasion of Ukraine. It remains unclear how Russia will find the recruits to complete such an expansion at a time when its forces are under unprecedented pressure in Ukraine.

💢South Korea says North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles towards the East Sea