🇷🇺🇺🇦 A gloomy mood reigns in the Armed Forces of Ukraine , writes The Washington Post.

As noted, discontent among soldiers is gaining momentum. Some of them openly doubt the orders of their commanders.

“The reason for the gloomy mood of the Ukrainians is that they not only understand that nothing has worked out for them this year, but also feel that the Russian ‘game’ is improving,” the publication quotes former British Army General Richard Barrons as saying.

🇮🇱🇱🇧 Footage of Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

🇮🇱🇵🇸 Footage of the operational evacuation of wounded Israeli soldiers by CH-53 helicopter directly from the battlefield in Gaza.

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Destroyed Bushmaster armored car and Sisu XA-180 armored personnel carrier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kleshcheevka area.

🇨🇳🇺🇲 Xi Jinping bluntly told Biden at their recent meeting in San Francisco that China will reunite with Taiwan - but "peacefully, not by force."

NBC reports this, citing sources.

Xi made the announcement at a group meeting attended by a dozen American and Chinese officials.

He said that the timing of reunification has not yet been determined, but the US is wrong in its predictions that China will try to take over Taiwan in 2025 or 2027.

In January, important presidential elections will be held in Taiwan, where supporters of declaring the island's independence (which could provoke a worsening of relations with China) and supporters of maintaining the status quo will fight.

At the San Francisco summit, Xi "expressed concerns about the candidates."

🇵🇱🏳️‍🌈 Poland to Fast-Track Gay Marriage?

Poland’s new Europhile government may be poised to fast-track the legalisation of same-sex marriage following a legal diktat from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The Strasbourg-based ECHR issued their verdict on Tuesday, declaring that current Polish statutes, which recognize marriage as between a man and a woman, violate the “right to respect for private and family life” outlined under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in a six-to-one decision.

The ECHR, which is often accused of being a technocratic body used to impose socially liberal values on European nation-states, made the decision in response to a challenge by five same-sex couples.

This is not the first time the ECHR has been accused of meddling in the affairs of sovereign nations around LGBT issues. In 2010, the Court was instrumental in strongarming the Italian government into recognising same sex partnerships with the similarly worded Oliari v. Italy case.

The ruling on same-sex partnerships heralded by this week’s ECHR decision could be the opening salvo in a range of liberal policies to be enacted under the new Tusk government. The newly installed PM has said LGBT recognition would be a major symbolic victory over the old PiS regime despite Tusk having minimised abortion and other social issues during the campaign trail.

🔗 https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/poland-to-fastrack-gay-marriage/

🌍 Ukraine was not included in the TOP 10 most popular news search queries on Google for 2023. This year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ranked first among the most requested news items

🇺🇲🇺🇦 The American newspaper The Washington Post has removed the tab dedicated to the war in Ukraine from its main page.

🇸🇰🇺🇦 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico confirmed that Slovakia will block Ukraine's admission to NATO, as this would be a step towards World War III.

Fico quite consistently implements his election promises (a rare case in these days)

Now Orban is not alone in the issue of blocking Ukraine’s admission to NATO. Potentially, Holland could also be added to them. in the event of the formation of a right-wing coalition. whose leader also opposes Ukraine's admission to NATO and the continuation of military assistance to it.

🇾🇪🇺🇲 The Yemeni Navy began mining the waters of Bab-el Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea, after the US and a coalition of 9 other states announced the imminent start of a military operation against Yemen.

🇺🇲🇺🇦 The United States has a clear plan for the future development of Ukraine, which does not imply the need to allocate funds at the current level, - Blinken

I am sure that this plan also does not involve the presence of the local population.

🇵🇸🇮🇱 Hamas did not agree to a one-week truce proposed by Israel

The Wall Street Journal writes about this, specifying that the information was received from Egyptian officials.

Israel's offer was to release 40 people, including all remaining women, children, and elderly men who needed urgent medical attention. In exchange for this, Tel Aviv was ready to stop ground and air operations for seven days, allowing humanitarian aid to be delivered to the exclave.

🇺🇦 Every day, about 6 thousand men of military age leave the territory of Ukraine abroad.

This was stated at a briefing by the head of the department for organizing border control of the Western Regional Directorate of the State Border Guard Service, Igor Matviychuk.

Of these, about 45% travel as truck drivers. Another 150-200 men travel as volunteers. The rest leave as fathers of many children, accompanying people with disabilities and unfit for military service.

It is not known for certain how many of them do not return later. But you can guess.

🇮🇱 🇵🇸 🇺🇳 IDF Executes 11 Men in front of family members says UN

⬛️ "the IDF then allegedly ordered the women and children into a room, and either shot at them or threw a grenade into the room"

📖 Here's the full details as written by the OHCHR:

🔶️ "On 19 December 2023, between 2000 and 2300 hours, IDF reportedly surrounded and raided Al Awda building, also known as the “Annan building”, in Al Remal neighborhood, Gaza City, where three related families were sheltering in addition to Annan family. According to witness accounts circulated by media sources and Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, while in control of the building and the civilians sheltering there, the IDF allegedly separated the men from the women and children, and then shot and killed at least 11 of the men, mostly aged in their late 20’s and early 30’s, in front of their family members. The IDF then allegedly ordered the women and children into a room, and either shot at them or threw a grenade into the room, reportedly seriously injuring some of them, including an infant and a child. OHCHR has confirmed the killings at Al Awda building, although the details and circumstances of the killings are still under verification. IDF has not released any information on the incident."

https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/un-human-rights-office-opt-unlawful-killings-gaza-city

📎 Arnaud Bertrand

🇵🇸🇮🇱📝 A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, "But I was told by others to do thus." Or that, "Virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice.

Do not tolerate evil, expose it.

🇷🇺 Our soldiers pray before moving forward to carry out a combat mission.

Powerful video.

🇵🇸🇮🇱 Hamas demonstrated a captured Israeli fuel tanker and a occupied position with an abandoned Israeli flag.

🇺🇲❗️ Users of the social network X (formerly Twitter) report large-scale failures

X users around the world are complaining about a large-scale failure of the social network - according to Downdetector, more than 47 thousand hits were recorded in the USA. When you specify a query in the search line, the following message appears: “nothing found for your query.” There have been no official comments about the incident.

🇺🇲🇺🇦 Republican Senator from Ohio James David Vance called the West's assumptions that Ukraine could push Russia back to its 1991 borders “fantasy.”

He wrote about this in X.

🇺🇦 Our previously published information about plans to recruit Ukrainians abroad into the Armed Forces of Ukraine is confirmed. According to Welt, Ukrainian Defense Minister Umerov advocates this idea.

The publication writes that Ukrainians between the ages of 25 and 60 will be asked to register at conscription centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Although Umerov spoke about the “invitation,” he made it clear that if someone does not comply with the request, sanctions will be applied:

"We're still discussing what should happen if they don't come voluntarily."