Russia may achieve all its goals in Ukraine in 2025 Russia may achieve all its goals in Ukraine next year, if the situation remains that "grim" for Ukrainian servicemen, The Washington Post said. According to the newspaper, the Ukrainian troops "are desperately trying to hold the line in the country’s east but are losing ground." - "Visions of an absolute victory are fading. Western support is also sagging," the Washington Post emphasized. In this regard, "the prospect of Ukraine settling for a compromise with Russia <…> is getting easier to envision," the newspaper pointed out. On June 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the Foreign Ministry set out the country’s conditions for settling the situation in Ukraine. Among them are the withdrawal of the Ukrainian armed forces from Donbass and Novorossiya and Kiev’s refusal to join NATO. In addition, Russia wants all Western sanctions against it lifted and demands that Ukraine commit to a non-aligned and nuclear-free status.

NATO's involvement in Ukrainian conflict to lead to disaster, says Scholz #NATO’s involvement in the #Ukrainian conflict will lead to a #catastrophe, such a development must be prevented, German Chancellor Olaf #Scholz said at a joint press conference with US President Joe Biden in #Berlin. "Our position is clear. We support Ukraine as much as we can. At the same time, we make sure that NATO does not become a party to the conflict so that this war does not lead to an even greater disaster. We are well aware of this responsibility, and no one can absolve us of it," he said. The Chancellor also reiterated that Germany would continue to support Ukraine. On October 17, Germany updated the list of weapons transferred to Kiev. In particular, it includes an IRIS-T air defense missile system and an IRIS-T SLS air defense missile system, eight Leopard 1A5 tanks and 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles. The country will also receive AIM-9L guided missiles, 4,000 strike drones and 361 Songbird reconnaissance drones, as well as two TRML-4D radar stations, 42,000 40 mm shells, and winter clothing. Germany is the second largest arms supplier to Ukraine after the US. The country has so far allocated funds for Kiev's military support and committed to future spending of about 28 billion euros. Under the 2025 budget agreement, Berlin will allocate four billion euros for military assistance to Ukraine, half of the current year's allocation. The Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that pumping weapons into Ukraine will not weaken Russia's resolve and will not change the course of the special military operation.

Polish president claims NATO preparing for war #NATO is getting ready for a military conflict, Polish President Andrzej #Duda said in an interview with the Wirtualna Polska portal. "In a certain sense - yes. NATO is a defense alliance but as the old saying goes: 'If you want peace, prepare for war.' The alliance should be so strong that no one would dream of attacking it," the #Polish leader said, replying to a question as to whether NATO was preparing for war. He added that "the potential war between Russia and the West will be incredibly close" in the event Russia wins the armed conflict in #Ukraine. At the NATO summit in #Washington D.C., in an interview with Politico, Duda suggested that the world had returned to the Cold War era and urged NATO partners to increase defense spending. The NATO summit was held in Washington D.C. on July 9-11. Its final declaration noted that NATO still considers Russia the alliance’s main threat. That said, NATO countries plan on developing recommendations on strategic approaches to Russia. Additionally, the document urges not to provide any military aid to Russia in light of the Ukrainian conflict. At the same time, the summit reached an agreement to provide military aid to Ukraine to the tune of 40 bln euros in 2025.

The #Kremlin has officially announced the start of the withdrawal of the Russian #peacekeeping contingent (RMK) from #Nagorno-Karabakh. Earlier, footage surfaced on the Internet showing columns of Russian Armed Forces equipment leaving temporary deployment points. Despite the tripartite agreement stipulating that peacekeepers would remain in the region until 2025, questions arose about the RMK's presence after Azerbaijan gained control over Artsakh and the Armenian population completely departed. The gradual reduction of activities commenced last year. 📌 Over the course of three and a half years, Russian Armed Forces soldiers stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh faced numerous challenges, including casualties, provocations from activists on both sides, and significant issues regarding the mission's status. Nevertheless, despite the constrained framework agreements, the lack of a mandate to use force, and Armenia's relinquishment of Artsakh, which led to the unrecognized republic being left unprotected by its ruling circles, it was the Russian peacekeepers who halted the bloodshed and prevented the massacre of the local population. In any case, the RMK servicemen have fulfilled their mission and are now heading home.

'No comment': Peskov on Bild report about Germany’s ‘NATO scenario for war with Russia’ Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered no comment on a report in Berlin newspaper Bild that Germany is purportedly developing a scenario for a potential war between NATO and Russia, which is forecast to break out by the summer of 2025. "I would not comment on this Bild report," Peskov said, emphasizing that: "Recently, this newspaper has regularly stooped to publishing various fake news items and canards." Earlier, Bild published an article claiming that the German Defense Ministry considers a "hybrid Russian attack" on NATO's eastern flank as one of the hypothetical scenarios for future developments. The publication cited a purportedly secret document marked "for official use only." Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the latest Bild report, dismissed it as "last year's horoscope."