News The Insider 19 December 2025 For the first time, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has attacked a tanker belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” in the Mediterranean Sea, anonymous sources in the SBU told RBC-Ukraine . The incident occurred in international waters. According to the report, the special operation was carried out more than 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) from Ukraine and was unprecedented in scale.

Until now, frozen Russian funds were considered the only likely source of financing for Ukraine's large and well-equipped army. Apparently, memorandums of intent ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) were concluded with them in mind for the supply of expensive weapons: 150 Swedish Gripen fighters and 100 French Rafale fighters, American combat helicopters.

Vladimir Putin, during the Direct Line on December 19, described Chinese President Xi Jinping as “a reliable friend, stable partner and ally of Russia.” The President of the Russian Federation highly appreciated the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership and spoke about military cooperation between the two countries.

News The Insider 19 December 2025 A series of Ukrainian drone strikes on infrastructure belonging to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, or CPC, has become a serious test for Kazakhstan’s key oil export route. Damage to one of the CPC’s offshore loading terminals has taken the facility offline , with production cuts reaching 480,000 metric tons a day.

Politics Karina Olikova December 19, 2025 The more than dubious list of wars allegedly ended by US President Donald Trump may soon be supplemented by an interreligious conflict in Nigeria. Trump has already threatened the African state to intervene directly if Nigerian authorities fail to stop violence by jihadist groups, which often targets Christians. Then the American president was distracted by much closer geographically Venezuela, but it is unlikely that he completely forgot about Nigeria.

Stanislav Orlov, the commander and founder of the Russian military unit known as Espanola, has died at the age of 44. The group announced funeral arrangements on its Telegram channel earlier today, with the farewell ceremony to be held at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The cause and circumstances of Orlov’s death were not disclosed. Espanola said Russia’s central investigative authorities are working to determine the exact place and cause of death, as well as any potential suspects.

Andrei Shved, who has served as the republic’s Prosecutor General since September 2020, was appointed Chairman of the Supreme Court of Belarus, reports the Telegram channel “Pul First”. He rejected an amnesty for political prisoners and headed the “Commission for the Return” of political emigrants who left the country after the 2020 protests. Human rights activists and the opposition press call him the “architect of repression” in Belarus.

During the Direct Line, Vladimir Putin commented on the problem of Internet shutdowns in Russian regions. In response to a proposal from a journalist from Belgorod to include medical applications for people with diabetes in the so-called white lists during shutdowns, he advised sick citizens to switch to domestic software. We are talking about mobile applications for monitoring blood glucose. They allow you to receive data on your sugar levels in real time when connected to a mobile network.

The Ukrainian Headquarters noted that investigators, together with expert institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will conduct an examination and identification of the returned bodies. It is noted that the process of identifying the dead is complicated by the fact that the bodies may be in “extremely poor condition,” and the Russian side destroys things by which they could be identified.

The Yakut City Court extended shaman Alexander Gabyshev’s compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital for another six months, his lawyer Alexey Pryanishnikov said . The staff of the institution considered his communication with his roommates to be a reason for continuing to keep the shaman in the hospital. “As I expected, the Yakut City Court extended the compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital for the shaman Alexander Gabyshev.

In Bulgaria, at the request of the United States, two Russian citizens were arrested - Oleg Olshansky and Sergei Ivin. This was reported by Russian government agencies with reference to the Russian Embassy in Sofia. According to the diplomatic mission, the Russians were detained at Sofia airport and then placed in a pre-trial detention center.

A series of Ukrainian drone strikes on infrastructure belonging to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, or CPC, has become a serious test for Kazakhstan’s key oil export route. Damage to one of the CPC’s offshore loading terminals has taken the facility offline , with production cuts reaching 480,000 metric tons a day.

News The Insider 19 December 2025 Tankers belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” have changed their routes when transiting the Black Sea following a series of recent attacks on vessels carrying Russian commodities, The Insider has found. Instead of crossing the Black Sea directly when sailing between the Russian port of Novorossiysk and the Bosphorus, the tankers are now staying closer to Turkey’s coastline, at times even entering Turkish territorial waters.

The Ukrainian Security Service has hit Russia's third oil production platform in the Caspian Sea. This was reported by RBC-Ukraine and Ukrayinska Pravda ( 1 , 2 ) with reference to sources. According to the publication’s interlocutors, long-range drones of the Alpha Special Operations Center of the SBU in recent weeks struck another Russian oil platform on the Caspian Sea shelf, owned by the Lukoil company.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki, during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Warsaw, confirmed that Poland will receive anti-drone technology from Ukraine in exchange for MiG-29 fighters. Reuters reports this. “Ukraine offers Poland consultations on defense against drones. We know how to defend against all existing types of Russian drones that could be used against our neighbors, against Poland or other countries,” Zelensky said.