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🇫🇮 Finland has announced that it is sending 🇺🇦Ukraine its 11th military aid package.

Weapons worth 30 million euros will be sent, bringing Finland's total military aid contribution to 190 million euros.

💥 Source
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⚡️⚡️ Happy last Monday of this disastrous year!
Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on December 26

🔥Off guard, again
Engels airfield, the airbase, near the city of Saratov, about 730km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, has been attacked once again early Monday morning, local media reports said.

The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said, citing Defence Ministry, that a Ukrainian drone was shot down by air defense systems as it was approaching the airbase. “Unfortunately, as a result of the fall of its wreckage, three servicemen were fatally injured. I express my condolences to their relatives and friends,” he wrote in Telegram post.

This is the second attack in this month. On December 5, as a result of the AFU strike on the airfield in Engels, three servicemen of the technical staff were killed, four more were injured.

☠️Year end summary by Medvedev
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev published an article on the results of 2022.

In a 4500 words text, he outlined in it the objectives of the military operation (“Denazification of the disgusting, almost fascist regime of Ukraine. Complete demilitarization of the Ukrainian state. Guarantees against aggression in the future”) and spoke at length about Russia’s standoff with the “collective West”.

He noted that 2022 has become a turning point. “It broke, among other things, the last illusions about the modern Western world, which loves so much (and quite unnecessarily) to call itself the "golden billion". Now it is finally clear that in the relations of independent and sovereign states with the Anglo-Saxon world in the current configuration, there can be no question of trust, hope for the decency of partners, their loyalty to the word and even their own beautifully stated principles. Alas, but we have no one to talk to and negotiate with in the West now, there is nothing to talk about, and there is no need for that”.

🇹🇷Erdogan’s back
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the West of a lack of efforts in resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In his opinion, Western countries were engaged in "only provocations."

"Unfortunately, the West has only made provocations and failed to make efforts to be a mediator in the Ukraine-Russia war. As Türkiye, we assumed this mediator role in 2022, and we began to operate the Black Sea grain corridor," Erdogan was quoted by Anadolu agency as saying.

📱Tech isolation
After Apple left Russia, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a reason for termination of its business here, Russian telecom operators failed to reach deal with Apple to support of VoLTE and VoWiFi for iPhone 14, Kommersant writes. These functions improve the quality of communication, and calls via VoLTE in large cities of Russia accounted for more than 60% of voice traffic. High-quality voice transmission is not available on the iPhone 14 in Russia while using phones as hotspots, too, requires manual configuration.

“The very fact that these functions are blocked reduces the value of the smartphone”, Alexander Surkov, head of the GS Group, told the newspaper. He added that this will further reduce trust and loyalty to the Apple ecosystem.

🇺🇦👸Ukraine’s soft power
Don’t miss this exciting piece by Politico showcasing somewhat a desperate attempt to find ways to criticise European leaders who (as Kyiv or rather its Big Brother in arms believe) do not support Ukraine as much as they should.

Politico goes back to 11th century to dig out a story which reveals how (quoting) “Kyiv has long shaped Europe, and should not be kept on the sidelines”.

“It’s time to resurrect Anna of Kyiv, the highly accomplished and undeservedly forgotten 11th-century queen of the Franks. She would have stern words for her successor running France, President Emmanuel Macron.,” the piece reads. Enjoy!

👉 Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

Italian volunteer fighting for Donbass

‘These are the textbooks the children were taught by. Shelling again. Here are the textbooks they studied with. They are all in Ukrainian. There is nothing in Russian anymore, only in Ukrainian. They have rewritten Ukrainian history’.

An Italian volunteer with the callsign Spartacus showed the school destroyed by the Armed Forces of Ukrainiane. According to him, the Ukrainian soldiers used the local Russian-speaking population as a human shield: ‘They said to them: ‘Stay in cellars and be still’. They didn’t give them any water, the people weren’t allowed to go out for food or something to drink’.

Spartacus has been fighting for the Donbass for eight years. He sais, that Ukrainian nationalist battalions ‘don’t give a damn about the local residents’. Watch the video to learn more about Spartacus.

🌊 Join Military Wave

The Armed Forces of Ukraine constantly abandon their comrades

❗️Exclusive❗️

Vladimir Razin, correspondent of @anna_news spoke about the situation on the front line on the TV channel "Crimea 24" @tvcrimea24.

According to our correspondent, the fighters of the DPR People's Militia provide assistance to the wounded soldiers of the enemy, who are abandoned by their comrades during the retreat. One of these cases happened in the recently recaptured fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"They understood the fact that he was a captured soldier, he was unarmed, wounded, was in the enemy positions that they occupied.
That means, people have a clear understanding that a person is wounded, without a weapon and a person does not pose any threat. They take him with them, they take him away from the battlefield, they provide him with medical care," our correspondent said.

▪️According to Vladimir Razin, the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine repeatedly passed by the wounded man, but none of them offered him any help.

▪️At the same time, the soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine laid in his trenches for almost two days and miraculously survived.

💥Source: ANNA-NEWS
💥Our channel: Node of Time EN

⚡️⚡️Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on December 27

🔴Lavrov’s ultimatum
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave Ukraine an ultimatum on Monday to fulfil Moscow's proposals, including surrendering territory Russia controls, or its army would decide the issue, a day after President Vladimir Putin said he was open to talks.

Russia’s proposals on demilitarization and denazification of Kiev-controlled lands and on the elimination of security threats should be accepted in an ‘amicable way’ or the Russian Army will deal with this issue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with TASS. "There is a little left to do - to accept these proposals in an amicable way. Otherwise, the Russian Army will deal with this issue," Lavrov stated. "As for the possible continuance of the conflict, then the ball is on the court’s side of the [Kiev] regime and Washington, which stands behind it. They can put an end at any time to this senseless resistance," the Russian foreign minister added.

Lavrov also said that Washington is threatening to physically eliminate Vladimir Putin. According to him, Ukraine is trying to draw the United States and other NATO members into an armed conflict, counting on their "head-on collision" with Russia.

⚠️Kuleba’s plan
Ukraine’s foreign minister, on his part, said Monday in the interview with AP that Kyiv wants a “peace” summit within two months at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as mediator ‚ without Russia taking part in it. Kuleba said Russia must “face a war-crimes tribunal before his country directly talks with Moscow”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is ready to become a mediator in the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, if all parties, including Russia, agree to it, office of Guterres told TASS, commenting on the initiative announced by Kuleba.

📊Economic forecasts
Russia’s Central Bank estimates country’s economy could be revived to the 2021 level by 2025. "If the economy grows in the upper range of our October baseline forecast, then we will return to the level of 2021 sometime in 2025”, said Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Alexey Zabotkin said in an interview with RBC.

“If we compare the consequences of a structural shift and a cyclical recession, then it is noticeably more difficult for the economy to overcome a structural decline in potential than to recover after a cyclical recession. We had a cyclical decline in 2020. With a very active countercyclical policy this decline was fully compensated - even more than compensated — in 2021. Structural adaptation is a longer process, so it will take longer," Zabotkin added.

The head of the ACRA rating agency, former deputy chairman of the Central Bank Mikhail Sukhov, earlier told the media outlet that the deadline for the economy to reach the pre-pandemic level (that is, the 2019 year and not 2021-22) "is beyond the five-year forecast." He noted that during this period the economy will be seeing a fundamental transformation to counter the sanctions impact.

🇺🇦🇪🇺Ukraine’s EU bid
With the EU set to issue reports on Kyiv’s progress on sweeping out corruption and fixing the judiciary in line with EU convergence criteria, Ukraine’s advances on rule of law are swifter than expected, but it’s a case of two steps forward and one (very worrying) step back, Politico writes.

“For Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has declared that his country’s “future is in the EU,” it is vital to maintain momentum, when he knows Kyiv’s membership faces resistance from traditional EU members, whose powers would be diluted by such a big new member”, the publication notes, recalling French leader Emmanuel Macron saying in May that Kyiv was “in all likelihood decades” from EU membership.

👉 Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

On French TV, they call for the destruction of the Russian Cultural Center and call Russians "cockroaches."

An expert Alla Poedi Naiditsch made these remarks in a program dedicated to Russophobia.

💥Source: Fox News Russia
💥Our channel: Node of Time EN

⚡️⚡️Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on December 28

🔴Oil price cap response
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered Russia's long-awaited response to a Western price cap, signing a decree that bans the supply of crude oil and oil products from Feb. 1 for five months to nations that abide by the cap.

Moscow banned exports of Russian crude oil and refined products to foreign buyers that adhere to a price cap. The restriction on Russian crude exports will begin on Feb. 1 and last until at least July 2023, according to the decree published Tuesday. The ban on oil products will start at a date to be determined by the Russian government, but not earlier than Feb. 1. 

However, Bloomberg notes, the general guidelines avoid extreme measures that the market feared would further upend trade, such as designating a minimum price for its crude or bans on specific countries from buying Russian oil. 

🧮Credit holidays for 50% mobilized
The volume of restructuring of loans to the mobilized men and their family members was two times lower than the Central Bank had initially estimated in September, Elizaveta Danilova, Director of the Financial Stability Department of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia newspaper. In total, 155,000 loans worth 58.8 billion rubles were restricted. According to the regulator, the level of restructuring is now "significantly lower than during the pandemic."

A law allowing mobilized citizens and their family members to apply for credit holidays was adopted in October. By end of October, the support measure was used by 101,500 loans worth 45.4 billion rubles, the official data states.

🗓Sakhalin-2 bid
Russian government may postpone the deadline for bidding for Shell’s 27.5% stake in the Sakhalin-2 LNG project, Kommersant reported citing sources. The reason could be that the government has not yet assessed the damage that Shell could have caused to the project, in addition, there are no firm agreements with the main shareholder of the project — Gazprom, the report stated.

Shell's share in the Sakhalin-2 project was estimated by the government at 94.8 billion rubles (Shell had already written off the $1.6 billion earlier this year). The stake can only be sold to a Russian entity, according to Russian government’s new rule. Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi said it will retain its 12.5% stake in Sakhalin-2.

NOVATEK, Russian LNG major who was keen on bidding for Shell’s stake, is not yet ready to make a commercial offer, the paper claimed. The Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) will collect applications until December 30, but the deadline for determining the buyer will be postponed approximately to the end of the first quarter of 2023.

💆‍♀️Battling anxiety
The need for psychologists increased by 62% in Russia throughout 2022, and the number of new clients grew by 46%, according to the study conducted by Psychodemia online school in cooperation with Alter psychologist recruitment service and HeadHunter, Kommersant reports.

The head of the working group on the psychological wellbeing under the State Duma Committee Alexey Bogachev predicts that the demand for psychological assistance will grow "three to five times". About 80% of customer requests are related to anxiety, nervousness and apathy, confirms Elena Burdelova, psychiatrist of the telemedicine service Doktis.

👉 Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

🇺 Texas Senator Chip Roy has confirmed that Zelensky was invited to the US as an actor to make sure Congress passes Biden's proposed budget.

"Zelensky's arrival in Washington was a theatrical performance set up by the Biden administration, to jam through their draft budget."

💥Source: ЭТО ДРУГОЕ
💥Our channel: Node of Time EN