RUSSIA AND UKRAINE UPDATE

Russia-Ukraine war live update: Putin shows off new weapons, says Western response could kill millions

Russia is showing off its most powerful weapons amid the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, Russian president Vladimir Putin said. The weapons, which were not heard in Ukraine for 25 years, will cause the Western nations to pay for their "crime" of supporting Kiev, Putin said. The weapons include the new Sarmat ballistic missile, which can carry a warhead to multiple targets and evade anti-missile systems.

Putin said the West's response to this would be a "catastrophe," which is why they chose to do nothing instead. The war in Ukraine started in 2014 when pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region launched a pro-Russian insurgency after the Ukrainian government said that they planned to make the region part of the country. The conflict has since claimed nearly 10,000 lives, displaced more than half a million people, and has resulted in the most serious crisis in Russia-West ties since the fall of the Soviet Union.

On Sunday, Russia on Sunday showed off the latest weapons systems it has brought back from Syria, including a new cruise missile and a nuclear-powered cruise missile, which it said has a shorter range than the world’s nuclear weapons.

Turkey’s economy impacted by S-400 contract with Russia

Turkey's agreement to purchase Russia's most advanced air defence system has hit a snag, Bloomberg reported. The purchase has been held up by Turkey's top NATO ally the US, which is uncomfortable with Ankara buying weaponry from Russia after having done so for years. The US feels that the S-400 is a "missile defence weapon."

Reuters adds that the S-400 is an upgrade to Russia's ageing Soviet-era S-300 and more powerful than the US Patriot system, which is used by NATO countries to guard against missiles.

Reuters added that Turkey’s relations with the US, its largest trade partner and NATO member, are under unprecedented strain. Washington imposed sanctions against two Turkish ministers after the detention of an American pastor, and President Donald Trump doubled steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey, drawing a sharp response from Ankara.

This is how the war in Syria is going:

Syria news: Trump to announce Syria troop pullout in 48-hours

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that US troops in Syria would soon leave, but he offered no timetable, and opposition fighters said they had been beaten by Russian-backed government forces in major fighting near the capital Damascus.

A decision to withdraw the 2,000 US troops serving in Syria was made before the al Qaeda-linked group said it had changed tack in a major new offensive that has brought the Syrian army close to recapturing all of southwest Syria.

Russia has called for all foreign troops to leave Syria, and says it is attacking terrorist groups. The Syrian army, backed by Russian jets and Iran-backed Shi'ite militias, has made rapid gains against rebel factions in the area this month, threatening rebel supply routes to the south and effectively strangling rebel-held swathes of the northwest.

However, with the territory the groups hold shrinking, some groups have chosen to dissolve themselves in deal to relocate to other insurgent-held parts of the country.

The al Qaeda-linked group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, now calls itself the Levant Liberation Committee. Reuters reports:

In another sign that the government may be willing to negotiate, state television said a Syrian military officer had accepted an invitation from the internationally recognised Kurdish YPG militia to discuss the fate of Kurdish fighters who Turkey says have been allied with the group. The development was reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.

Opposition fighters from Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions take their positions at Ain al-Fijeh on the southern outskirts of Deraa province, Syria on Dec 15, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Opposition fighters from Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions take their positions at Ain al-Fijeh on the southern outskirts of Deraa province, Syria on Dec 15