Ukraine to lose third of territory, get no invitation to #NATO, says Slovak PM

Ukraine will lose 30% of its territory due to the conflict with Russia, but will never receive an invitation to NATO from the United States and its allies, #Slovak Prime Minister Robert #Fico said.

"I think #Ukraine will lose a third of its territory, but it will be offered security guarantees, such as the presence of foreign troops. If this is considered the happiness for Ukraine that everyone talks about, I believe that Ukrainians will be betrayed," he said in an interview with Brazil's Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. According to Fico, the solution to the Ukraine conflict lies in achieving a ceasefire and initiating negotiations. "Ukraine <...> has allowed itself to be drawn into a situation that cannot end well for the country. It will lose territory and will not be invited to join NATO," he remarked. The prime minister also emphasized that the conflict's repercussions would significantly impact Ukraine's internal stability.

On December 8, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Moscow was open to talks on Ukraine, while in order to get on the peace track, it would be enough for Ukraine’s Zelensky to cancel his decree banning any talks with Russia and give instructions to resume dialogue based on the Istanbul agreements, while taking into account the actual situation on the ground.

Meanwhile, Zelensky has rejected the #Christmas truce and prisoner exchange proposed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Nevertheless, he continues to express hope that Donald Trump could establish a fair and lasting peace in Ukraine.

Trump announces Ukraine’s readiness for talks with Russia

President Trump has said that #Ukraine would like to conclude an agreement on settlement of the conflict with #Russia and urged an immediate #ceasefire and the beginning of peace negotiations, Trump wrote on his Truth Social page.

"#Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal [with Russia] and stop the madness. <…> There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin," he said, adding that "China can help" in the negotiations process. "If it [conflict] keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse," Trump noted.
#TRUMP2024

Has Hamas left Qatar?
In the last few weeks, we have heard reports that #Qatar is forcing #Hamas out...
Sky News channel in Arabic has just reported: "All senior Hamas officials left Qatar with their families for different places," an unnamed source said.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said on November 9 that his country’s authorities had decided to suspend their mediatory efforts toward a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip because they didn’t see a desire to end the conflict on the part of the parties. On November 19, he said that the Hamas leaders representing the movement in the negotiating group on Gaza were no longer in Doha. While the Hamas office in the Qatari capital city was set up to maintain open lines of communication, once Qatar's mediation efforts stalled, it saw no reason to force the movement's representatives to stay in the country.

Ceasefire in Ukraine in Europe's interests, says Orban's adviser

A quick ceasefire and the end of the conflict in #Ukraine is in Europe's interests, said Balazs Orban, political adviser of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor #Orban.

"We (Hungary) are 100% sure of that, everybody is 100% sure on that," he said in an interview with the Euractiv website, referring to the need to end the conflict in Ukraine. "The question is only the time, and we think that for Europe, the sooner it comes, the better," the prime minister's advisor said. The EU, he said, needs to maintain communication with Russia, because if a future peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev is concluded without taking into account the interests of the EU, Europe will suffer. The adviser also pointed out that Viktor Orban did not aim at influencing the parties to the conflict or obtaining any guarantees from them during his visits to Russia and Ukraine. The purpose of the visits was "to collect information and <...> see a possibility of the potential ceasefire," Balazs Orban explained.

The Hungarian prime minister visited Kiev and Moscow on July 2 and 5. He proposed first to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and then to Russian leader Vladimir Putin to consider the prospect of a ceasefire and preparations for peace talks. At a press conference following the meeting, Putin emphasized that Russia was not in favor of a ceasefire, as Kiev could use this to its advantage. Instead, he advocated for a complete end to the conflict in Ukraine. The Russian leader recalled that he had earlier outlined the conditions for this in his speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

A day of fighting in Yemen
While the world looks at Yemen and sees "#Houthis" who attack in the Red Sea, a lot more is happening in #Yemen that no one (yet) is reporting on.

- Saudi Arabia continues to fire artillery at the Houthis on the border with Yemen in the Shada region (northwest Yemen). Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Saudis killed a Yemeni citizen and wounded seven others.

- An exchange of fire took place between the Yemeni army and the Houthis in the western region. The Yemeni army reports 19 dead and wounded among its soldiers, but no numbers were available for the Houthi side.

A map done by Eran Malka is attached showing the areas of control in Yemen that will help in understanding the chaos going on there.
'In short, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE fought the Houthis for 7 years, there is now a "ceasefire". How much longer this will last before war breaks out - we will have to wait and see.'

Majority of France opposes confrontation with Russia, explains Analyst

Most of the French population, despite the influence of Western propaganda, considers military and financial support to #Ukraine wrong and opposes confrontation with #Russia, Laurent Briard, a #French military correspondent of the International Reporters Agency working in Donbass, said.

"Many French citizens, especially those who have lived in Russia or Ukraine, have long been against the conflict with Russia," he said. The expert said that the French people were being bombarded by propaganda on television and from the country's leading media, and the elderly were especially susceptible. He called it zombification, noting that the U.S. media had a hand in this.

According to the reporter, this is why some of the French support the government in decisions like supplying weapons to Ukraine. But Briard believes that French President Emmanuel Macron crossed a line when he announced he was considering sending French troops to Ukraine. "People saw that this is no longer just about transferring money and weapons, but about sending a large number of young men to die at the front," the expert added.

He said that #Macron, despite declaring his desire to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Olympics, intends to use the Games in Paris to influence the public for further military and financial support to that country. Briard emphasized that during the #Olympics, the country may decide on new financial and military aid that hurts its own citizens.

No ceasefire deal ‘on the horizon’ Hamas claims

🔶️ Hamas representative tells Al Jazeera: negotiations for hostage deal in Cairo have seen no advancement

🔶️ Israel's Channel 12 reports an Israeli official saying 'we still do not see a deal on the horizon'

Russian Envoy issues warning to Russian tourists planning to go to Paris for Olympics

Moscow’s Ambassador to France Alexey Meshkov has warned Russian tourists planning to attend the Paris Olympics of the risks they may face.

"Our athletes and tourists who plan to visit Paris for the Olympic Games must understand one simple thing: they aren’t traveling to the flowery paradise that [top EU diplomat Josep] Borrell mentioned but to a dangerous Western jungle where they will have to fend for themselves because of what the French authorities are doing," the envoy told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

"If any unexpected situations emerge, they will have to find a way out on their own because not only have the authorities fully barred our institutions, namely the embassy, from attending and participating in events related to the Olympic Games, but even despite numerous requests, they are unwilling to provide us with guarantees that we will get basic passes to move around downtown Paris, which will be locked down, while this is where all our offices are," the diplomat added.

According to Meshkov, the prosecutor’s office has told Russian diplomats to ask the French Interior Ministry to issue them passes. "The Interior Ministry has been ignoring all our requests. That said, it’s not just that they have banned our athletes from the Olympic Games but they have also kicked Russia in general out of all events related to the competition that will take place in France in the summer," he noted.

"It’s very strange to hear statements about talks of an Olympic ceasefire when we have no dialogue at all with France on the matter at the government level," the Russian ambassador concluded.

Journalist warns of ‘political liability’ in Biden’s campaign against Trump

U.S. President Joe #Biden’s stance on #Ukraine and the #Middle_East conflict will become a political liability in his campaign against President Donald #Trump, U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote on his blog on Substack.

"This is the world the Biden administration fostered. Its refusal to seek a middle ground in the Ukraine war, along with its inability to check Israel’s continued assault in Gaza, will become a political liability in Biden’s campaign against Donald Trump, who warns of unending violence if he loses the presidential election in November," he pointed out.

"The best that Biden has come up with is continued, if so far empty, talk about a ceasefire in Gaza, and a commitment that no American soldiers will be sent to the front in Ukraine. The president also promises that the United States will keep on paying for Ukrainians to fight and die in a proxy war that could be ended," #Hersh emphasized.

Macron plans to stop fighting in Ukraine during the Olympics in Paris - 'Stop sending weapons to Ukraine,' Russian diplomat responds to Macron’s ceasefire plan

Emmanuel #Macron should stop sending weapons to #Kyv and propose a ceasefire agreement to parties to the Middle East conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Commenting on the latest initiative by the French leader who said he would ask Russia to observe a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Paris Olympics, the Russian diplomat said: "I come forward with a proposal in response to Macron’s: stop supplying weapons being used to kill [civilians] and also stop sponsoring terrorism." "I also suggest that Macron come up with a similar proposal to the parties to the Middle East conflict. A lot probably depends on what France says there," #Zakharova maintained.

Earlier, Macron told an interviewer during a Ukrainian telethon that he will be able to temporarily stop the fighting; he plans to propose to #Russia a #ceasefire during the #Olympic Games, which will be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11. When asked to comment on the potential participation of Russian athletes as neutrals, he said that, as the host country, France is sending a message of peace as it follows decisions made by the International Olympic Committee.