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France and Poland have signed a deal for the sale of two French observation satellites to Poland, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Twitter,
"This major contract reflects Poland's trust in our technology and industry," Lecornu said after meeting with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw.
The Polish Armament Agency said the net value of the deal is around $611.69 million and that the launch into space of the Polish satellites produced by Airbus Defense & Space is to be completed by 2027.
Roughly 1,000 Crimean Tatars, the indigenous population of occupied Crimea, fled to Turkey, escaping Russia’s mobilization drive for its war against Ukraine, according to Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Yasin Serim.
This is according to Tamila Tasheva, Ukraine’s presidential representative in Crimea after a business visit to Turkey,
Mobilization by the occupying state into its army in occupied territories is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Earlier, Tasheva reported that Crimean Tatars, who stood up against Russian occupation in 2014, were being disproportionately drafted into the Russian Army amid accusations that Russia is purposefully targeting national minorities.
In eastern and southern Ukraine, Russian forces again shelled and bombed towns and cities on Tuesday. After a number of dramatic Ukrainian gains in the autumn, the war has entered a slow, grinding phase as bitter winter weather has set in at the front, Reuters reported.
The heaviest fighting has been around the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Russia has been trying for months to storm at huge cost in lives, and further north in the cities of Svatove and Kreminna, where Ukraine is trying to break Russian defensive lines.
In Bakhmut, home to 70,000 people before the war and now mostly a bomb-wracked ghost town, Reuters reporters saw fires burning in a large residential building, while debris littered the streets and the windows of most buildings were blown out.
Britain's Ministry of Defense said in an update: "Russia continues to initiate frequent small-scale assaults in these areas (of Bakhmut and Svatove), although little territory has changed hands."
Lost status and a desperate existence in Iran are driving thousands of former Afghan troops — many of them elite commandos trained by the United States — to consider fighting as mercenaries in Ukraine and other battlefields, .
Many ex-Afghan security personnel accuse the United States of abandoning them after the Taliban regained power last year. They also say poverty and security concerns are factoring into their decisions to take a private Russian mercenary group up on its recruitment offers.
It marks a major turnaround for the former members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and its elite commando force, which were trained by the United States and Western allies and formed the backbone of the former Afghan government's efforts to defend the country and combat the Taliban and the Islamic State extremist group.
Fostering a recovery in consumer demand and helping the corporate sector become profitable are the biggest tasks for the Russian government to address in 2023, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Russia's economy is set to contract for the second year running in 2023, with sweeping Western sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine and a "partial mobilization" of mostly working-age men adding to longer-term issues such as falling disposable incomes.
"The consumer market is recovering very slowly," Belousov said in an interview on state television. He referred to the situation as something "close to stagnation."
"This is above all because our real wage growth is recovering very slowly, and in turn is the flip side of a low unemployment rate," Belousov said. Consumer lending, a powerful tool in supporting demand, is down as well, he said.
On the corporate side, companies' profits are down about 8-10% year on year, Belousov said, creating problems with investment.
"More than 50% of our investment funding is from a company's own funds. If profits sag, that means investment will also sag," he said.
Russia will be forced to reduce its oil production because of Western sanctions, while mature fields, which do not enjoy tax breaks, will likely bear the brunt of the contraction to cushion producers' losses, analysts said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Russia may cut oil output by 5%-7% in early 2023, as it responds to Western price caps, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday. Russia produces 10% of the world's total oil output.