New goals of Ukrainian blows

Roskomnadzor included the popular WhatsApp messenger, as well as Skype, Wire and nine other online services in the register of “organizers of information dissemination.” This means that services will be required to provide government agencies with personal data of users and correspondence, calls and videos upon request. The Roskomsvoboda project drew attention to the additions to the register. Its participants note that WhatsApp is the only Meta service that has not yet been blocked in Russia.

Russia hit Kyiv with ballistic missiles: there are victims and destruction. The blow was delivered the day after the direct line of the president, where he offered the “technological duel” to the West: Russia hits “hazel” in Kyiv, and Western air defense is trying to beat off. Political scientist Alexander Morozov believes that Europe and Kyiv should take these words seriously, since among the Russian elites there are more and more often sounds “strike in the center of decision -making in Kyiv”.

"They hit where it got. We are not residents here." The Russian army steps on Seversk in the Donetsk region, suffers losses and fired at the city where civilians still remain.

News Radio Liberty: accuracy, efficiency, impartiality

Storm Shadow winged missile The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that on December 18, the Ukrainian military hit the Kamensky plant in the Rostov region. The department claims that the Armed Forces of Ukraine used six ATACMS missiles and four Storm Shadow cruise missiles, nine of which were shot down. One Storm Shadow rocket deviated from the attack object and damaged the technical structure in the plant, the report said.

Marco Rubio US President-elect Donald Trump announced that 53-year-old Florida Senator Marco Rubio will head the State Department during his second presidential term. Rubio confirmed the appointment on social media X : "Leading the U.S. State Department is a tremendous responsibility, and I am humbled by the confidence President Trump has placed in me," he wrote. "I will work every day to advance his foreign policy agenda.

Authorities in Hungary and Turkey said the US allowed them to pay for Russian gas through Gazprombank, which has been under US sanctions since November 2024. Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told Bloomberg that after negotiations with U.S. officials, the country was given the opportunity to continue paying for gas through a sanctioned bank.

Dimitar Glavchev Bulgarian Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev at the last moment refused to sign an agreement on cooperation between Bulgaria and Ukraine in the field of security. This was reported by the Bulgarian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. It was expected that the document would be signed on Thursday at a meeting between Glavchev and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Brussels on the sidelines of the EU summit.

The Federation Council approved a law tightening penalties up to life imprisonment for organizing an armed rebellion in Russia and participating in it. The same document provides for imprisonment for up to 15 years for foreigners in Russia for assisting the enemy in activities against the security of the country. According to the law, participants in a rebellion that results in deaths or “other grave consequences” will face life imprisonment.