On Tuesday, December 13, China sent a record 18 nuclear-capable H-6 bomber aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense zone, the island’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday, as Beijing continues to step-up pressure on the self-ruled island. The 18 bombers were part of 21 total Chinese warplanes sent into Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone – a buffer of airspace commonly referred to as an ADIZ – in the 24-hour span between Monday morning and Tuesday morning, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.

On Wednesday, December 14, Russian state-run media said that the nation's defense ministry readied a Yars nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile that can deliver a payload massively more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. The Yars missile entered the Russian military in 2010 and is an improved version of the Topol-M rocket. The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance said the Yars has a range of up to 12,000 kilometers and can carry up to 10 independently targeted warheads with a yield of up to 300 kilotons each.

On Thursday, December 15, The US is poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, finally agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles. The approval is likely to come later this week. Two of the officials said the Patriot will come from Pentagon stocks and be moved from another country overseas, reported AP. Manufactured by the US defence contractor Raytheon, the Patriot is in service with the US and allied countries including Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Poland, Sweden, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Romania, Spain, and Taiwan. The battery includes missiles and launching stations, a radar set that detects and tracks targets, and an engagement control station, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

On Friday, December 16, a fresh barrage of Russian missile attacks across Ukraine on Friday morning put the entire country under air-raid alarm and sent people scrambling for shelter as explosions sounded overhead, with strikes hitting critical infrastructure and knocking out power. Russia’s persistent and pervasive attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid have, at least temporarily, left millions of civilians without electricity, heat, water and other critical services in the freezing winter months. Repeated missile and drone attacks since October, which have damaged or destroyed civilian infrastructure, are part of a strategy by the Kremlin to terrorize Ukrainians and is in violation of the laws of war, according to experts.

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