Kiev to receive French Rafale fighter jets over a timeframe of 10 years The agreement to send 100 French-built Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine is set to span over 10 years, AFP agency reported citing the Elysee Palace. "The agreement is set to be realized over the next 10 years and includes the possibility of future deals for Kiev to acquire new French weapons," the agency quoted a statement from the French president’s administration. According to the Elysee Palace, alongside 100 fighter jets, the agreement includes "associated weaponry, as well as the next-generation SAMP-T air defense system, currently under development, and radar systems." Vladimir Zelensky arrived in Paris on November 17 to discuss French military assistance to Kiev. Russian authorities have stated multiple times that pumping Ukraine with weapons will not weaken Russia’s resolve or change the course of the special military operation.

Melania Trump sent letter to Putin via her husband US President Donald #Trump handed Russian leader Vladimir #Putin a letter from his wife, #Melania, during their meeting in Alaska, Reuters reported, citing two White House officials. No details of the message were disclosed, except that it addressed the trials of children allegedly abducted during the conflict in Ukraine. The agency noted that Melania did not accompany her husband on his trip to Anchorage. Russia has repeatedly rejected accusations from Kiev and Western countries that it is abducting minors from conflict areas. According to Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Moscow’s actions are aimed at rescuing children and moving them out of the special military operation zone, not at abduction or deportation, as the Kiev regime asserts.

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.

Ukraine’s Syrsky approves admission of French instructors to military training centers Commander-in-Chief of #Ukraine’s armed forces Alexander #Syrsky has signed documents that will allow #French instructors to visit #training centers. "I welcome France's initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian servicemen. I have already signed documents that will allow the first French instructors to visit our training centers soon and familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and personnel," he wrote on his Telegram channel following online talks with French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also took part in the negotiations. Syrsky expressed hope that Kiev's other Western partners would join Paris' initiative. Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out the possibility of sending Western countries’ ground troops to the zone of the special military operation. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky supported this idea, admitting that he could not publicly ask Western partners to send troops to the country, but would like them to do so and would never refuse. The chief of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, said that according to Moscow's sources, this contingent could reach 2,000 men. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that French instructors along with other representatives of military and special services of European countries were already functioning in Ukraine. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the appearance of foreign military contingents in Ukraine would be fraught with extremely negative consequences, including irreparable ones.

Russia calls invasion of Ukraine a ‘war’ for the first time Shift from ‘special military operation’ blamed by Kremlin on west’s support for Kyiv. The #Kremlin has admitted for the first time that Russia is in a “state of #war” amid a push to increase domestic support for President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine after previously calling it a “special military operation”. Russia has used the Kremlin-mandated euphemism since the full-scale invasion more than two years ago, in an apparent attempt to convey the impression to the Russian public that the fighting was minor and distant, with little effect on daily life. “Yes, it started as a special military operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, published on Friday. “But as soon as this gang developed and the collective west started participating in the conflict on the side of Ukraine, for us it became a war,” Peskov said. Speaking to reporters after the interview was published, Peskov clarified that Moscow’s legal definition of the conflict had not changed, “but de facto, in reality, for us it has transformed into a war”, Peskov said.

Munition components production soaring by 22 times, says Russian Defense Minister Production of components to artillery munitions for supplies to the special military operation zone has skyrocketed by almost 2.5 times, Russian Defense Minister Sergey #Shoigu said at a working meeting with chief executives of Nizhny Novgorod defense plants. The #Defense Minister inspected performance of the state defense order at plants in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the defense ministry said. "Speaking about manufacturing of artillery munitions, the volume of production of components to such ammunition was increased by almost 22 times. Seventy-five percent of components are restored, making it possible for us to maintain supplies of munitions to the zone of the special military operation at a sufficient level. That is, the tasks we set a year ago were accomplished. New shops were built and they started working in full swing," the minister said.

Russian forces eliminated 147 French mercenaries in Ukraine, Defense Ministry says The Russian armed forces eliminated 147 out of 256 #French #mercenaries that arrived in Ukraine during the special military operation, the Russian Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel. Overall, the Russian forces eliminated 5,962 foreign mercenaries, most of them from Poland: out of 2,960, 1,497 were eliminated, the Defense Ministry reported. According to the provided statistics, Georgia occupies the second place in terms of eliminated mercenaries (561 militants eliminated out of 1,042). Out of the 1,113 mercenaries from the US, 491 were eliminated, as well as 422 out of the 1,005 Canadian mercenaries and 360 out of the 822 mercenaries that arrived from the UK. In January, Russian Ambassador to Paris Alexey Meshkov relayed the Russian State Duma’s address to the National Assembly of France regarding the French mercenaries in Ukraine. The Russian lawmakers pointed out that, despite Paris’ claims, the objective information regarding the membership of Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces reliably indicates that French mercenaries take part in the conflict. Previously, the Russian Defense Ministry said that, on January 16, the Russian Armed Forces carried out a precision strike on the temporary deployment location of foreign mercenaries in Kharkov, with the French comprising the majority of the mercenaries. The strike resulted in over 60 militants eliminated and over 20 injured. After that, French Ambassador to Moscow Pierre Levy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry; he was told that the death of the French lies entirely with the official Paris.

#Pentagon registers rising number of #Russian vessels going through #Bering Strait The U.S. Department of Defense registers a serious increase in the number of Russian vessels going through the Bering Strait, which the Pentagon believes is connected with sanctions against Moscow, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier told a conference. Since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine the U.S. military "has seen a wholesale change in Russian shipping from counterclockwise usually going West through the northern sea route around Europe and then to other ports, because of the sanctions," he said. "It is now reversed and is going clockwise East then down through the Bering and we're seeing more and increasing traffic that goes through the Bering Strait, which obviously has implications in terms of safety security as we are a border nation with Russia," Gautier noted without specifying details.