TRUCE RUSE: As of the morning, the unilateral Orthodox Christmas ceasefire ordered for front-line troops in Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin is in effect until midnight tomorrow Moscow time.
But outside of Russia, nobody’s taking Putin’s gesture at face value. “He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches on the 25th and New Year’s,” said President Joe Biden. “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who claimed the number of Russian combat deaths in Ukraine jumped from 95,000 to 110,000 since Dec. 12, accused Putin of using tomorrow’s Orthodox Christmas “as a cover to at least briefly stop the advance of our guys in Donbas and bring equipment, ammunition, and mobilized men closer to our positions.”
“Everyone in the world knows how the Kremlin uses respites at war to continue the war with renewed vigor,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“President Putin seeks to fool the world,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price. “It appears to be a bid to continue to do what it has inflicted upon the Ukrainian people for nearly a year now as it seeks to rest, refit, regroup, and ultimately reattack.”
OPINION: RUSSIA’S CEASEFIRE STUNT DESERVES UKRAINE’S DISREGARD
SENDING MORE ARMOR: “Right now, the war in Ukraine is at a critical point,” said Biden at yesterday afternoon’s Cabinet meeting at the White House. “We have to do everything we can to help the Ukrainians resist Russian aggression, and Russia is not attempting to slow up. The actions they’re taking are as barbaric as they were a year ago, and they’re not letting up at all.”
To that end, Biden announced that the next round of military assistance to Ukraine from the U.S. would include Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and in a joint statement, Germany said it would send similar Marder vehicles, along with an additional Patriot missile battery.
The contribution of the Patriots and some 100 Marders marks a new phase of German assistance as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has for months resisted sending sophisticated weapons to Ukraine. It follows a decision by French President Emmanuel Macron to contribute AMX-10 RC light tanks to the war effort.
PUTIN TELLS ERDOGAN UKRAINE MUST ACCEPT TERRITORIAL LOSSES FOR DIALOGUE TO OCCUR
NOT A TANK, A ‘TANK KILLER’: At the Pentagon, spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder echoed the description of the Bradley tweeted yesterday by retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a former Bradley commander.
“It’s not a tank, but it’s a tank killer,” said Ryder. “A Bradley is an armored vehicle that has a firepower capability that can deliver troops into combat. So, again, it will provide a significant boost to Ukraine’s already impressive armor capabilities. And we’re confident that it will aid them on the battlefield.”
The U.S. has thousands of Bradleys, which have been in production by BAE Systems Land & Armaments for more than 30 years, and U.S. officials said the next $2.8 billion will include 50 of them.
While often mistaken for a tank because it runs on treads and has a rotating turret, the Bradley is armed with a 25-millimeter gun and notably TOW anti-tank missiles. The U.S. has already sent 1,500 TOW missiles to Ukraine.
“If I were a Ukrainian Commander, I’d be exceedingly happy to field any or all of these, especially in the southern theater,” tweeted Hertling about the new contributions from the U.S., Germany, and France. “They’ll be easy to incorporate on the battlefield. They are all deadly against RU equipment.”
THE LONG WAR: WHY PEACE IS UNLIKELY TO COME TO UKRAINE THIS YEAR
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HAPPENING TODAY: President Joe Biden will mark the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in remarks scheduled for 2 p.m. in the East Room of the White House.
In a ceremony, Biden will bestow the Presidential Citizens Medal on 12 people involved in defending the Capitol and “safeguarding the will of American voters in the 2020 presidential election.”
Among the honorees are seven members of law enforcement, including a posthumous award to Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, as well as Officer Eugene Goodman, who was seen on video luring rioters away from the Senate chamber, where lawmakers had gathered to affirm Biden’s 2020 victory.
BIDEN TO AWARD 12 PRESIDENTIAL CITIZENS MEDALS ON JAN. 6
HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: Biden is scheduled to make his first trip to the southern border as president when he stops in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday en route to the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City.
“The President will assess border enforcement operations and meet with local elected officials and community leaders who have been important partners in managing the historic number of migrants fleeing political oppression and gang violence in Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba,” the White House said in a statement.
Biden, who has been accused of ignoring the border crisis by Republicans, announced a series of “new enforcement measures” the White House said would “increase security at the border and reduce the number of individuals crossing unlawfully between ports of entry.”
In remarks yesterday, Biden said the U.S. would begin immediately turning away Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans who cross the border illegally. “My administration is taking several steps to stiffen enforcement for those who try to come without a legal right to stay and to put in place a faster process — I emphasize a ‘faster process’ — to decide a claim of asylum, someone who says, ‘I’m coming because I’m escaping oppression.’”
“Do not, do not just show up at the border,” Biden said. “Stay where you are and apply legally from there.”
BIDEN ANNOUNCES NEW LEGAL PATHWAYS AND ENFORCEMENT MEASURES AHEAD OF BORDER VISIT
MEDVEDEV’S LATEST NUCLEAR THREAT: Dmitry Medvedev is at it again. Once seen as a more moderate leader than Putin, the former Russian president has been taking to his Telegram and Twitter feeds to make a series of unhinged predictions about the demise of the U.S.
Just after Christmas, Medvedev predicted on Twitter, “Civil war will break out in the US, California. and Texas becoming independent states as a result. Texas and Mexico will form an allied state. Elon Musk’ll win the presidential election in a number of states which, after the new Civil War’s end, will have been given to the GOP.”
[Note: Since Musk was not born in the U.S. and is not “a natural born citizen,” he cannot run for president.]
Now Medvedev is warning that hypersonic missiles would soon be close to NATO’s shores, in apparent response to a video supporting Russians who oppose the war in Ukraine posted by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
“The main gift of the New Year was the arsenal of Zircon missiles that went yesterday to the shores of NATO countries,” said Medvedev in a Thursday Telegram post. “1000 km range with hypersonic Mach 9 and the ability to use any payload with a guarantee overcome any missile defense. … Let it stand somewhere 100 miles from the coast, closer to the Potomac River.
EPIC THREAD’: ELON MUSK TOUTS BIZARRE 2023 PREDICTIONS BY PUTIN STOOGE MEDVEDEV
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: The long war: Why peace is unlikely to come to Ukraine this year
Washington Examiner: Biden says US will send armored combat vehicles to Ukraine
Washington Examiner: Putin tells Erdogan Ukraine must accept territorial losses for dialogue to occur
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Russia’s ceasefire stunt deserves Ukraine’s disregard
Washington Examiner: State Department offers $10 million reward for terrorists who attacked US personnel
Washington Examiner: Russia announces temporary ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas
Washington Examiner: Pentagon pauses actions ‘related to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate’ following NDAA
Washington Examiner: Dan Crenshaw: Subpoena Biden transition team for truth on border crisis origin
Washington Examiner: China and NATO agree: Dangerous to depend on each other
Washington Examiner: Chinese company signs oil extraction deal with Taliban
Washington Examiner: El Paso clears downtown of expansive migrant camps ahead of Biden visit
Washington Examiner: Border Patrol agent shot ahead of Biden border visit to El Paso
Washington Examiner: Mayorkas claims border ‘not open’ ahead of Biden visit to El Paso
New York Times: More Than 60 Percent Of Bakhmut Has Been Destroyed, A Ukrainian Official Says.
Foreign Policy: Iran and Russia Are Closer Than Ever Before
Reuters: Japan Minister Calls For New World Order To Counter Rise Of Authoritarian Regimes
Defense News: Senate Makes Headway On Pentagon Nominees After Hawley’s TikTok Deal
Breaking Defense: Marines Greenlight Mobile Iron Dome Launcher Development, Seek 2025 Prototype Fielding
Roll Call: Appropriators Puzzled by Air Force Cuts to ‘Critical’ Programs
Breaking Defense: Reed, Inhofe Warn Biden AUKUS Risks Becoming ‘Zero Sum Game’ For US Navy
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Retention Returns to Pre-COVID Levels as More Airmen Depart
Stars and Stripes: Pentagon Begins Work To Strip DOD Of Confederate-Linked Names And Items, Rename 9 Army Posts
Stars and Stripes: IG Finds Lapses In Vetting Of Foreign Military Personnel Who Come To U.S. For Instruction
Air & Space Forces Magazine: F-15EX Fires Missiles from New Underwing Stations in Successful Tests
Air & Space Forces Magazine: No Speaker of the House? No Oversight of Defense, Warn Reps on Both Sides
Reuters: U.S. Warship Sails Through Sensitive Taiwan Strait; China Angered
19fortyfive.com: Numbers Game: 2023 Could Be a Decisive Year for Ukraine
19fortyfive.com: 5% of U.S. Defense Budget Destroyed 50% of Russia’s Military in Ukraine
19fortyfive.com: Russia’s T-14 Armata: The ‘Super’ Tank That Flopped in Ukraine?
19fortyfive.com: Columbia: The Navy’s New Nuclear Missiles Submarines Are Coming
19fortyfive.com: HIMARS: The Rocket Weapon Putin Fears in Ukraine
Calendar
FRIDAY | JANUARY 6
12 p.m. Union Square, 3rd St. SW — Progressive Democrats of America, the Not Above the Law Coalition, and the Declaration for American Democracy hold an “Our Freedoms, Our Vote” Jan. 6 rally “to remember what happened two years ago,” with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD); Martin Luther King III, activist and son of the late Martin Luther King Jr.; and Andrea Waters King, president of the Drum Major Institute and wife of Martin Luther King III https://www.mobilize.us/jan6hearings/event
3:30 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW— Wilson Center’s Canada Institute and Mexico Institute discussion: “North American Leaders’ Summit 2023,” with Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A. Nichols and National Security Council Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs Juan Sebastian Gonzalez https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/north-american-leaders-summit
MONDAY | JANUARY 8
2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies report launch: “The First Battle of the Next War: Wargaming a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan,” with co-authors Mark Cancian, Matthew Cancian, and Eric Heginbotham, along with a panel discussion with retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula; Becca Wasser, senior fellow, Center for a New American Security; and William Murray, professor, U.S. Naval War College https://www.csis.org/events/report-launch
WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 11
9:30 a.m — Stimson Center event: “Voices from Japan: Japan’s Security Policy Transformation,” with Itsunori Onodera, the 12th, 17th, and 18th minister of defense of Japan https://www.stimson.org/event/voices-from-japan
4 p.m. — 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW — Brookings Institution Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology conversation: “Reflections on U.S. defense policy from Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA),” with Michael O’Hanlon, Philip H. Knight chair in defense and strategy, senior fellow and director, Strobe Talbott Center for Security; and Melanie Sisson, fellow, Strobe Talbott Center https://www.brookings.edu/events/reflections
FRIDAY | JANUARY 13
TBA — President Joe Biden hosts Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for meetings at the White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Things I should be getting briefed on: DOD not extending vaccine mandate repeal to the National Guard. Chinese space activities. Terrorist threats. But we haven’t elected a speaker.”
Tweet by Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL)
