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Berlin supplied Ukraine with 15 Leopard 1A5 tanks, one short-range and one medium-range IRIS-T air defense system with missiles, two Patriot air defense launchers, and other aid in the latest delivery, the German government said on Dec. 23.
Around half of the respondents said they would support the development of nuclear weapons even at the price of losing Western aid and coming under sanctions.
Zelensky called Fico's pro-Russian energy policy "a big security issue" for Slovakia and Europe, asking: "Why is this leader so dependent on Moscow? What is being paid to him, and what does he pay with?"
The Czech government’s decision to wean itself off from Russian energy ensured that "we don't have to grovel before a mass murderer," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Dec. 22, referring to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s visit to Moscow.
Hackers could have used phishing or bribed employees to break into Justice Ministry registries during a Russian cyberattack last week, Oleksandr Fedienko, head of the parliamentary subcommittee on cybersecurity, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on Dec. 23.
The funds come as already the sixth tranche disbursed to Ukraine under the IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, raising the amount provided so far to $9.8 billion.
Concurrently, marine traffic monitors show a Vladivostok-bound cargo ship, Ursa Major, previously registered as Sparta III and visually matching the picture published by HUR, moving at a very low speed of little over 1 knot in the open sea between Spain and Algeria.
In the interview, Rutte said that Scholz's contributions to Ukraine are commendable. The chancellor ensured that Germany ranks second after the U.S. in military support for Ukraine, something Kyiv could express its gratitude for, Rutte noted.
The press service of the Abkhaz energy company Chernomorenergo reported that a schedule from Nov. 1, under which electricity will be unavailable for four hours per day, is in effect.
The Russian military attacked Ukraine with 72 Shahed-type drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles overnight on Dec. 23, Ukraine's Air Force reported on Telegram.
The man, who identifies himself as 32-year-old Australian citizen Oscar Jenkins, is seen in military fatigues, apparently tied up, and violently interrogated in a video shared on Russian Telegram channels.
"It's about our democracy, it's about influencing our public opinion, it's about what happens in Africa, it's about raw materials, it's about the instrumentalization of migration. We need to know it's a very wide idea of security," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.
A large-scale fire broke out at a Shahed drone warehouse at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia's Tatarstan, destroying drone parts worth $16 million, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) said on Dec. 23.
North Korea is preparing to deploy additional troops and weapons, including kamikaze drones, to aid Russia in its full-scale war against Ukraine, the South Korean military said on Dec. 23.
Trump's picks include Elbridge Colby, who opposes Ukraine's NATO membership but supports tougher sanctions on Moscow, and Michael Duffey, who froze military aid to Kyiv in 2019.
"Whoever, and however much they try to destroy, they will face many times more destruction themselves and will regret what they are trying to do in our country," Putin said on Dec. 22.
"In a long conversation ... Putin and I exchanged views on the military situation in Ukraine, the possibilities of an early peaceful end to the war, and on mutual relations between the Slovak Republic and the Russian Federation, which I intend to standardize."
Over a thousand applications have been submitted to the Ukrainian Legion in Poland, Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar said in an interview with Suspilne on Dec. 22.