For today, links to reports from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Tass, the Kyiv Post, the Kyiv Independent, and National Public Radio and to commentary from Scheer Post; other articles are accessible by clicking on their sources’ names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date, so far, is HERE.) — MCM
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Ukraine shoots downs 30 Russian drones over 11 regions — Air Force. From Reuters. KYIV — Ukraine’s air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters shot down 30 out of 31 Russian drones over 11 regions across the country today, the air force said. A series of explosions . . . READ MORE . . .
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NEWER Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-held village kills 2: Moscow’s occupational forces. From AFP. A Ukrainian missile attack on the Russian-held village of Nova Mayachka in southern Ukraine killed two civilians, Moscow’s occupying authorities in the Kherson region said today. Moscow’s forces said the missile hit the village on the Russian-occupied bank of the Dnipro river some . . . READ MORE . . .
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NEWER Russian Aerospace Forces down Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter in Zaporozhye Region. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russia’s Aerospace Forces downed a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter over the town of Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Also . . . READ MORE . . .
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Repaired Ukrainian Leopard 2 tanks ready to return to battle. From Kyiv Post. The press service of the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense said on Friday that an unspecified number of repaired Leopard 2 tanks were being prepared for shipment back to Ukraine. The tanks had been accepted for overhaul by Lithuaniafollowing damage during fighting in September and October. The tanks were fixed at . . . READ MORE . . .
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Putin exaggerates number of Russian troops in Ukraine, intelligence says. From the Kyiv Independent. There are around 450,000 Russian troops deployed in Ukraine, rather than 617,000 as Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed, the spokesperson of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR), Andrii Yusov, said on Friday. “The enemy is giving distorted data to increase information pressure on . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM DEC. 16 Ukraine has $52 billion EU aid package veoted by Hungary. Reported by Joanna Kakissis, Juana Summers, Gabriel J. Sánchez and Patrick Jarenwattananon | NPR At a summit this week, EU leaders voted to begin membership negotiations with Ukraine. But Hungary’s leader Viktor Organ vetoed a $52 billion aid package. Click HERE to listen and read.
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FROM DEC. 16 A controversial exchange frees Russian convicts if they agree to fight in Ukraine. Reported by Charles Maynes, Vincent Acovino, Christine Arrasmith and Claudette Lindsay Habermann | NPR Russia has freed violent convicts in exchange for their military service in Ukraine. Their victims’ families say justice has been denied. Click HERE to listen and read.
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That new Hunter Biden indictment, by Patrick Lawrence | Scheer Post Special Counsel David Weiss is the Department of Justice attorney in Delaware who has run the DoJ’s lengthy (as in slow-walked) investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged violations of tax and gun laws. Among much else, he appears to have connived with other Justice officials to cover up an FBI finding that Hunter and President Biden accepted bribes of $5 million each from Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company where . . . READ MORE . . .