🇺🇦Ukraine has said it will deploy another 8,500 troops and 15 helicopters, to guard its border with Belarus, aiming to prevent possible attempts by migrants to breach the frontier.
The United States has warned European allies that Russia could be plotting to invade Ukraine in a repeat of the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
US officials have privately briefed their EU counterparts on a possible military operation as tens of thousands of Russian troops amass near the border.
Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the Government was concerned about the reports and that there was "twitchiness" and "anxiety" among officials.
It came amid heightened tensions, with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, accused of orchestrating a migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland to destabilise Europe.
On Thursday, the Kremlin claimed it had scrambled a fighter jet to intercept a British spy plane operating in the Black Sea region.
Russian forces, including elite units, are gathering near the Ukraine border, with some deployed covertly at night. The invasion assessments are believed to be based on US intelligence not yet shared with Europe, multiple sources told Bloomberg
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Defense official reportedly says, if the Oklahoma National Guard doesn't comply with COVID vaccine requirements, they will no longer be "maintaining national recognition," thus, state will no longer have a Nat Guard, but rather a militia - VOA's Pentagon correspondent.
Defense official says if the Oklahoma National Guard doesn’t comply with COVID vaccine requirements, they will no longer be “maintaining national recognition,” thus, state will no longer have a National Guard, but rather a state militia – VOA Pentagon correspondent.
Just 4 days after Oklahoma changed Vaccine policy for the National Guard.
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OSHA announces it will comply with the 5th Circuit's court order. The agency says it has suspended implementation and enforcement of its vaccine mandate.
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The U.S. Navy has begun the process of separating sailors who missed the Sunday, November 14 deadline to get their second COVID-19 vaccine shot. The Navy also announced service members who have applied for but are denied vaccine exemptions will have just five days to begin the vaccination process before the Navy begins the separation process.
On Monday, the service issued a naval administrative (NAVADMIN) messagereiterating that active-duty sailors have until November 28 to meet the vaccination requirement. In order to meet that deadline, sailors had to get their second shot by Sunday to leave enough time for the two-week period before they’re considered fully vaccinated. Reserve sailors have until December 28 to be fully vaccinated.
The Monday NAVADMIN message states, “In order to ensure a fully vaccinated force, U.S. Navy policy is to process for separation all Navy service members who refuse the lawful order to receive the COVID-19 vaccination and do not have an approved exemption.”
The NAVADMIN does acknowledge some vaccine exemption requests, for both religious and medical reasons, are still pending. The NAVADMIN states that if an exemption is granted, sailors “shall not be processed for separation,” however, sailors who are denied their exemption must begin the vaccine process within five days of being notified their exemption request was denied.
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Vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Hyten has warned that Communist China could launch a surprise attack on the U.S. with their hypersonic space weapons.Hyten noted that China's hypersonic weapons test sent a missile around the world at more than five times the speed of sound.Hyten told CBS news:"They launched a long-range missile. "It went around the world, dropped off a hypersonic glide vehicle that glided all the way back to China, that impacted a target in China."
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The People's Liberation Army, China's name for its military, is capable of landing at least 25,000 troops on the island nation to establish an initial beachhead, according to the newly released annual report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally appointed agency designed to provide specific and nonpartisan national security and economic advice to Congress and the president.
"They're giving all the signs this is an option they're considering to be viable," former Republican Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri, now a member of the commission, told reporters Wednesday morning following the release of this year's report.
Further complicating existing U.S. efforts to deter China from seizing control of Taiwan by force are new tactics the PLA has employed that offset some of the U.S. military's potency in the region. The report documents that the Chinese military has trained with barges, ferries and other civilian vessels to transport military troops across the Taiwan Straits or elsewhere – in addition to more conventional military transports.
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Israel will continue to confront Iran on all fronts, including Lebanon and Syria, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz warned yesterday. "We have been seeing Iran's policies in terms of its nuclear programme and its armaments outside the country," said Gantz, "as well as its influence in Syria and Lebanon." He made his comments while visiting an army base with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. The Israeli official called on governments "to act against Iran" and stressed that his country is "prepared to do what is needed on all of these fronts and on the northern front in particular." Gantz's comments come amid a planned resumption of negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in Vienna later this month. Israel has described the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as "insufficient to deter Iran's ambitions to develop nuclear weapons." It has also said that it would prevent what it called the "Iranian military entrenchment in Syria and Lebanon." He added it also got 'close enough' to hitting its intended target.
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November 17./TASS/. A war for Crimea in the heads of Ukrainian politicians remains within the bounds of empty resolutions, since Kiev knows that hostile actions will be regarded as an attack against Russia, Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN Gennady Kuzmin told the United Nation’s General Assembly Third Committee on Wednesday. The committee was looking into a draft resolution on human rights in Crimea and Sevastopol put forward by Ukraine.
"It is simply impossible to seriously discuss the situation with human rights in Crimea based on this document. A heady brew of fantastic tales and thriller," the diplomat pointed out. "Meanwhile, life itself confirms the rightness of the Crimean people, who almost unanimously spoke in favor of the reunification with Russia in 2014," he said. "Unlike in today’s Ukraine, residential neighborhoods are not being shelled in Crimea, people are not being burned alive, journalists are not killed, no Nazi marches are held and the native language is not prohibited," Kuzmin stressed.
He said that as part of Ukraine, the residents of Crimea were doomed to "death, destruction and humiliation". "And thank God, the war for Crimea in the minds of Ukrainian politicians remains within the bounds of empty resolutions. Since an attack against Crimea is an attack against the Russian Federation. Ukraine knows this. And you know," the deputy ambassador stressed.
After the Western-backed coup of February 2014 in Ukraine, Crimea and Sevastopol held a referendum, in which 96.7% of all Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification deal on March 18, 2014, which the Federation Council (upper house of the Russian parliament) ratified on March 21, 2014. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has termed Poland's appeal to Nato for involvement in solving the migration crisis on its border with Belarus as "provocative and extremely dangerous".
Poland has been struggling to stem a wave of migrants trying to cross its eastern border from Belarus. EU members accuse the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, of instigating the crisis in order to destabilise the bloc.
"When it comes to Poland's appeal to Nato for involvement in solving the crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, it is generally provocative and extremely dangerous," Maria Zakharova said at a weekly press briefing in Moscow on Wednesday.
Zakharova added that "it may lead to an unnecessary escalation of the situation."
According to Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Poland is using "water cannons, batons and tear gas" against migrants who have come from countries devastated by the West.
She also said that attempts to make Moscow responsible for the migration crisis "are totally groundless."
Polish top officials have said on numerous occasions that the Kremlin is a force behind the crisis.
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war for Crimea in the heads of Ukrainian politicians remains within the bounds of empty resolutions, since Kiev knows that hostile actions will be regarded as an attack against Russia, Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN Gennady Kuzmin told the United Nation’s General Assembly Third Committee on Wednesday. The committee was looking into a draft resolution on human rights in Crimea and Sevastopol put forward by Ukraine.
"It is simply impossible to seriously discuss the situation with human rights in Crimea based on this document. A heady brew of fantastic tales and thriller," the diplomat pointed out. "Meanwhile, life itself confirms the rightness of the Crimean people, who almost unanimously spoke in favor of the reunification with Russia in 2014," he said. "Unlike in today’s Ukraine, residential neighborhoods are not being shelled in Crimea, people are not being burned alive, journalists are not killed, no Nazi marches are held and the native language is not prohibited," Kuzmin stressed.
He said that as part of Ukraine, the residents of Crimea were doomed to "death, destruction and humiliation". "And thank God, the war for Crimea in the minds of Ukrainian politicians remains within the bounds of empty resolutions. Since an attack against Crimea is an attack against the Russian Federation. Ukraine knows this. And you know," the deputy ambassador stressed.
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