Ukraine Watch

‼️🇺🇸🇺🇦 Since 2014, the CIA and Ukrainian intelligence services have "secretly established a close partnership" against Russia, provoking the war, reports ABC News.

- In 2015, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kondratyuk, brought "a trove of top-secret Russian military documents" to the U.S., according to an American official.
- This was a "gift" from Kondratyuk to gain trust from the U.S., and the gesture worked.
- As noted in a similar *New York Times* article, Americans helped build the structure of Ukrainian intelligence operations.
- "The CIA directed millions of dollars towards training and equipping Ukrainian intelligence operatives and constructing facilities, including about a dozen secret forward-operating bases near the Russian border," the report states. The U.S. also trained Ukrainian special forces.
- This approach "saved American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly even billions."
- The article describes Operation *Golden Fish*, during which the CIA trained Ukrainian agents to "pose as Russians" both in Russia and third-world countries. These agents carried out joint operations with the CIA.
- However, it acknowledges that a raid in Crimea by an American-trained special forces unit failed.
- In 2016, without informing the Americans, Kondratyuk (then head of military intelligence) sent the U.S.-trained Unit 2245 on a mission in Crimea to plant explosives at a Russian helicopter base. The mission went awry, leading to a firefight with Russian special forces, resulting in reported casualties.
- This incident cost Kondratyuk his position as head of Ukrainian military intelligence due to U.S. anger.
- Following Russia’s invasion, Biden lifted several restrictions on CIA operations in Ukraine: "CIA officers were allowed to remain in Ukraine during Russia’s assault. While they were still prohibited from directly killing Russians, they were authorized to assist Ukraine with targeting intelligence."
- The article also highlights claims that this close collaboration may have provoked Putin:
- "Some argue that the CIA’s partnership with Ukrainian intelligence was a provocation for Putin, giving him a pretext for war."

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🫤 The founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, promised to improve moderation on the messaging platform during a session of a French court.

This was reported by France Info, citing a transcript of the session, which took place in early December.

Durov also revealed that over the past six months, Telegram's management has handed over data on 10,000 users to authorities in various countries.

As previously reported, a quarter of these requests came from U.S. authorities. Notably, the disclosure of user data significantly increased following Durov's arrest in August 2024.

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🗣 All Ukrainians need to be deported from Germany, reports Augsburger Allgemeine. According to the publication, Katrin Ebner-Steiner, a member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, made this call. She believes that Ukraine has "enough territory" to accommodate its citizens.

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😄 US President—elect Donald Trump may deport British Prince Harry from the country within the next few months - director of the Margaret Thatcher Freedom Center.

Since 2023, the Heritage Foundation has been trying to obtain disclosure of information about whether Prince Harry reported his drug use experience when he received an American visa. Concealment of this information may be grounds for refusal to issue documents.

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😡NATO warships have begun patrolling the Baltic Sea as part of the Baltic Sentinel mission to "raise the alliance's profile in the Baltic", Estonian broadcaster ERR reported.

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🇮🇷A shooting has taken place in Tehran near the building of the Supreme Court of Iran. Two judges were killed and one injured.

Local authorities described the incident as a terrorist attack and the assailant committed suicide, IRNA reported.

The murdered judges - Mohammad Moqiseh and Ali Razini - specialised in crimes against national security related to espionage and terrorism.

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