The Colombian government has decided to purchase 16 Rafale fighters from Dassault Aviation, which will replace the fleet of obsolete Israeli-built Kfir, whose service life expires in 2023.

Military expert Knutov: integration of UAVs into a single network will take six months at the experimental level

Military expert Yuri Knutov on Wednesday, December 21, in an interview with Izvestia, explained the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin about the unification of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation into a single integrated network.

Business Insider: The APU is powerless before the missiles and radars of the Russian Aerospace Forces fighters

Ukrainian pilots confirm that the Russian Su-30SM and Su-35S are completely superior to the fighters of the Ukrainian Air Force, Business Insider reports with reference to the report of the Royal Institute of Defense Studies. Kiev can lose the war in the air without the help of the West, no matter how successfully its pilots act, the authors of the report believe.

Vasily Golovnin — about what changes the Japanese policy in the field of armaments has undergone and how it is treated in the country

The Japanese government seems to be solving a difficult task now — how not to pronounce out loud the overly aggressive term "preventive strike against a potential enemy" and at the same time make it clear to Beijing and Pyongyang that Tokyo is ready to use its armed forces without hesitation if it seriously suspects its neighbors of an imminent attack.

Macron proposed the principles of ensuring security in Europe

Macron said that Europe should reduce its dependence on NATO and develop its own defense potential, the WSJ reports. According to the President, the new security guarantees should be equally applicable to Russia, Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries.

Rebellion: Europe itself does not understand what troubles it is preparing for itself by shipping weapons to Ukraine

The EU countries have gradually overtaken the United States in the supply of weapons to the Kiev regime, writes the Spanish "Rebellion". The publication, which supported Cuba and Yugoslavia, asks the question: does Europe not see the essence of the Zelensky regime? After all, these weapons will then be turned against the EU itself.

Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the HSE Center for Integrated European and International Studies, noted that it would be "quite difficult for the Biden administration with such a ward"

The visit of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to the United States revealed serious strategic differences in the positions of Kiev and Washington on the issue of the Ukrainian crisis.

The publication believes that the goals of the negotiations of the two heads of state differed

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was unable to achieve the goal of his visit to the United States and obtain more modern weapons for offensive operations. This opinion is contained in an article published on Wednesday by The Washington Post (WP) on the results of the Ukrainian leader's trip.

Al Jazeera: Zelensky made his first foreign trip since the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine

The United States has put a lot of effort into organizing Zelensky's visit to Washington, Al Jazeera writes. The Congress gathered for the sake of "special attention to democracy," but this does not mean that the requests of the Ukrainian president will be satisfied. Biden will have to find weighty arguments why America should continue to fund the new "51st state."

The US leader also stressed that the US administration does not believe that the transfer of American Patriot air defense systems to Kiev leads to an escalation

The United States and other Western countries do not seek war with Russia or World War III by supplying weapons to Ukraine. This was stated on Wednesday by US President Joe Biden at a joint press conference with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky following talks at the White House.

Biden signed a memorandum on the allocation of a package of military assistance to Kiev in the amount of up to $1 billion

The United States has decided to allocate a new package of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $1.85 billion, which for the first time will include Patriot air defense systems. This is reported in a written statement issued on Wednesday by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Sabah: The West mercilessly sacrificed Ukraine for the sake of "the dream of a Russia without Putin"

The United States does not have the courage to engage in a direct armed clash with Russia, Sabah writes. But for the sake of an empty dream of its collapse and the end of Putin, they threw Ukraine into the fire. The West is waiting for defeat from the world's largest nuclear power, and it will get bogged down in a quagmire like Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, the author of the article believes.

Biden: The US does not want to provoke a Third World War

President Joe Biden explained his unwillingness to provide Ukraine with all the modern weapons it wants, saying that the provision of longer-range missiles and other sophisticated equipment could lead to tensions in US alliances in Europe, including NATO.

Former head of French intelligence Jouye: the conflict in Ukraine was provoked by America

The conflict in Ukraine was provoked by America, former French intelligence chief Alain Jouye told Mondafrique. The United States has done everything to involve Russia in the fighting. Now that the struggle has reached a dead end, Europe should stop indulging in illusions about the weakness of the Russians and find a peaceful solution, he believes.

GT: the turning point of the conflict in Ukraine will come in 2024

Conflict on Ukraine will undoubtedly drag on, and its outcome will be determined by political factors, Chinese experts told GT. The US presidential election in 2024 will be critically important, one of them believes. Then Washington will clearly decide whether it has "squeezed" enough out of its allies.

FT: The US ambassador to NATO is concerned about the strategies of Russia and China to confront the alliance

US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said that China and Russia are exchanging strategies aimed at weakening the bloc's member countries, the FT reports. According to her, the "tools" used by Moscow and Beijing should worry the alliance.

Western countries are increasing the volume of military assistance to Ukraine in order to prolong the conflict on the territory of the country, Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, First Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, said during a briefing to military attaches of foreign states on December 22.

The supply chain of foreign weapons to Ukraine is gradually breaking down, Sergei Shoigu said

The priority task in 2023 will be to continue the special military operation until the tasks are fully completed, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on December 21 at the final board of the department.

The current level of development of the Russian Federation does not require the authorities to militarize the country

The authorities will not engage in the militarization of Russia and its economy — the level of development of the country today simply does not require it. This was stated by President Vladimir Putin on December 21, speaking at the final meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Russians aged 21-30 will be called up for military service in the army

Against the background of the special operation, the Ministry of Defense decided to raise the draft age from 18 to 21 years, and the maximum age of conscription — from 27 to 30 years. Other changes are expected. How they will serve in 2023 and how the terms of service in the Russian army have changed — in the material of Izvestia.