Al Jazeera: the CSTO will side with Russia in Ukraine

The escalation of the Ukrainian crisis continues, so Russia and Ukraine are looking for new levers of pressure on each other, writes Al Jazeera. For Moscow, such a trump card will be a counterweight to NATO — the CSTO, whose members can resort to joint defense in the event of an attack on one of the members of the organization.

And on the ground — in the Bryansk region — a group of Ukrainian saboteurs was liquidated

In the area of Kramatorsk, a repair and restoration point of the VFU armament was destroyed, which contained two HIMARS MLRS combat vehicles, two Gvozdika self-propelled guns, five D-30 howitzers and special vehicles, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on December 26.

In the Kherson direction, together with the gunners, the only Arctic motorized rifle group in Russia performs combat tasks. She corrects the work of armored vehicles, said December 27 correspondent of "Izvestia" Mary Badunts.

The head of Russian diplomacy — about the crisis in relations with Europe, the situation in Ukraine and whether nuclear weapons can be used by anyone

In an exclusive interview with TASS, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov assessed the situation in Ukraine and the development of events "on the ground", spoke about the crisis in relations with Europe, and also answered the question of whether nuclear weapons could be used by anyone.

JMW: Western intelligence services have started a sabotage war in Russia

The campaign includes long-"mothballed" cells that the espionage service of a European country allied with the United States activated in order to prevent the Kremlin's special operation in Ukraine and initiate a shadow war in the Russian rear.

The Hill: Europe's "new" security architecture should be built on the conditions of the West

The authors of the article in The Hill thought about a new security architecture in Europe, parallel to NATO, which Ukraine can join. In their opinion, Moscow should also be invited to it — "when Putin leaves and Russia is reformed."

Yesterday the day was full of many interesting events. The most striking are Zelensky's visit to the United States and Warsaw's adoption of a law on removing responsibility from Poland for the participation of its citizens in the conflict in Ukraine. The logical continuation of these two events was the meeting in Ukraine of the Polish NGSH Raimund Andrzechak with the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny.

Recently, the topic of Polish-Ukrainian relations has been quite actively discussed in both Polish and Ukrainian information spaces. In the mass media of the two countries, relevant specialists create a splint picture of friendship, assistance and almost kinship between the two Slavic peoples.

Newsweek: the United States announced the rapid defeat of Ukraine in the absence of Western assistance

Only US support allowed Ukraine to avoid defeat in the first days of the Russian special operation, writes Newsweek. Without her, history would have taken a completely different turn: NATO would have plunged into chaos, Moscow's supporters would have become more active around the world, and Washington itself would have been under threat.

The Kiev regime, in order to please the Western elites, postponed the celebration of Christmas from January 7 to December 25. So, Zelensky delivered a Christmas message to the Ukrainian people on Saturday evening and announced this decision. In turn, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine allowed to hold church Christmas services on December 25, including right on the front line.

Washington has approved another package of military assistance to Kiev in the amount of about $ 1.8 billion. Ukraine will receive a lot of weapons, including new models. However, Zelensky, as the media write, failed to get what he wanted.

Serbian sociologist: Serbs would regard the imposition of sanctions against Russia as pressure from the West

The Ukrainian conflict has intensified the negative attitude of Serbs towards NATO, says sociologist Maya Belosh in an interview with Danas. In Serbia, the North Atlantic Alliance is considered the main enemy, and the introduction of sanctions against Russia would be regarded by society as submission to Western pressure, the expert believes.

Myśl Polska: the granddaughter of Bandera's associate has reached the heights of power in Canada, but wants more

An anti-Bandera Polish journalist expresses concern about the career development of a Canadian Ukrainian, Christy Freeland. Now she is Deputy Prime Minister. The newspaper "Myshl Polska" recalls the approval of the Holocaust by her grandfather, a Bandera associate. But Mrs. Freeland not only did not disown him, but also supported him.

Nikkan Gendai: there are concerns in Japan about the restoration of the draft system

In Japan, they began to worry about the possible introduction of a military conscription system in connection with the conflict on Ukraine, writes Nikkan Gendai. Although forced service is prohibited by law, many believe that Fumio Kishida can find a loophole and make a new "frightening" decision in addition to increasing defense spending.

The most important stage of the creation of a key element of the upgraded Superjet New aircraft has begun in Russia – flight tests of the PD-8 aircraft engine. This development will allow the Russian aviation industry to achieve true technological independence in this segment of airliners. In what time frame will it finally be done?

TASS on the cosmic results of the year

In 2022, Russian cosmonautics faced a number of global changes — the change of the Director General of Roscosmos, the imposition of sanctions, the refusal of Europeans to cooperate. Despite this, the state corporation continues to cooperate with international partners — in particular, an agreement was signed with China on joint work on the international scientific lunar station, and with the United States on cross—flights to the ISS.

MWM: both the Russian and American bases of strategic bombers were vulnerable

On December 10, the only unit of the US Air Force stealth bombers failed, all the B-2s stationed at the base were inactive for 11 days.And on December 5 and 25, the airbase of Russian strategic bombers in Engels was attacked by Ukrainian drones.

On December 19 and 21, 2022, respectively, ceremonies were held for the transfer of the first Leopard 2A4 tank from Germany to the armed forces of Slovakia and the Czech Republic under agreements concluded earlier by Slovakia and the Czech Republic for the purchase of these tanks in exchange for the supply of military equipment to Ukraine. All costs of these deliveries of Leopard 2A4 tanks within the framework of the German Ringtausch (Ring Exchange) program for the transfer of German military equipment to Eastern European countries as compensation for the transfer of Soviet-style military equipment by these countries to Ukraine are fully covered by the German government.

From 2023, the introduction of special mixed reality glasses will begin in the American army. Initially, these glasses were supposed to appear in the equipment kit of the US Army soldiers in 2021-2022, however, for a number of reasons, the process was postponed. The glasses themselves were tested in several detachments of special purpose units.

Diesel-electric boat of project 636.3 took part in exercises that have not been held on the Northern Sea Route for several decades

The underwater "black holes" — as the diesel submarines of Project 636.3 are called in the navy — have been tested on the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The Ministry of Defense conducted a test of these submarines in Arctic conditions. During the maneuvers, the unique submarines trained to fight both underwater and surface targets. In particular, launches of Kalibr cruise missiles were carried out. Now submarines of this series will be able to successfully cover the NSR. According to experts, such maneuvers in the northern seas have not been carried out for many decades. The details of the tests are in the material of Izvestia.