NEW details from a senior administration official:
- This is a "full pause in military operations throughout Gaza," and the US hopes it will lead to a pause along the Lebanon border as well.
- The deal is expected to come with a "surge" in humanitarian supplies into Gaza. - The intention of the first round was to release _all_ women and children, but Hamas indicated it could only deliver 50. Official said the deal is structured to "incentivize" Hamas to release all 90 or so women and children.

Senior Administration official gave wide ranging briefing to reporters almost 4 weeks after #October7. Highlights:

Future of Gaza:
- “We want to see unified governance between West Bank and Gaza." Clearest reference yet to desire for Palestinian Authority to take over Gaza Expectations for the next week:
- The @IDF air campaign will get less intense, IDF will focus more on the ground operation.

NSC Spokesman John Kirby just delivered an unusually specific warning about possible Serbian military action into Kosovo: Kirby said this week's attack on police in northern Kosovo had "high level of sophistication and training" with “military grade” cache of weapons. “Not the kind of attack carried out randomly, or ad hoc… These kind of arms represent a threat to Kosovo, international personnel."

.@JakeSullivan46 met China's top diplomat in Vienna for 8 hours over 2 days, the highest level bilateral conversations since @SecBlinken canceled Beijing visit over the spy balloon incident. Senior administration official just briefed. Highlights: The meeting was “really candid, substantive and constructive.”

On the balloon, official said, “We’re seeking to move beyond that.” Asked again, the official repeated the point: “We’re clear on the breach of sovereignty… but we are trying to look forward.”

Significant @ZelenskyyUa: Ukraine doesn't have enough armored vehicles to launch counteroffensive yet.
“In terms of how motivated our military are, we’re ready. In terms of enough personnel in our brigades, we’re ready. In terms of our equipment, not everything has arrived yet… "We’re still expecting some things. They will reinforce our counteroffensive. And most importantly, they will protect our people. We’re expecting armored vehicles. They arrive in batches...

NEW: Director @CIA Bill Burns tells @JudyWoodruff @TikTok is a threat to national security. "The parent company of TikTok is a Chinese company, the Chinese government is able to insist upon extracting the private data of a lot of TikTok users in this country... "and also to shape the content of what goes on to TikTok, as well, to suit the interests of the Chinese leadership. I think those are real challenges and a source of real concern."

Our interview with @INDOPACOM commander Adm. John Aquilino:
"This is about two incompatible visions for the future: free and open and a legacy of liberty, or authoritarian, closed, opaque, and a tradition of tyranny. That's the choice nations might have to make in the future." On whether there is a sense of urgency on Taiwan: "We at @INDOPACOM need to move faster. We, the U.S. government, need to move faster."

NEW @G7 statement: "The G7 and Australia, as current members of the Price Cap Coalition, on 2 December 2022 reached consensus on a maximum price of 60 U.S. dollars per barrel for seaborne Russian-origin crude oil." Which means the @G7, EU and Australia have agreed to something that has never been tried before: a cap on the price oil. Europe is putting energy on the table for the first time, and willing to play with a core commodity at the start of winter.

Ahead of @DOD_Policy's discussion at @BrookingsInst today, our @newshour interview:
"For many of our adversaries, the salience of nuclear weapons is going up, not going down." Why Admin failed to gain support for No First Use or Sole Purpose: "Our allies and partners that fall under the US nuclear umbrella worry about a host of strategic threats. They see the US nuclear commitment as fundamental to the extended deterrence commitment we have made...

Our @newshour interview with @DmytroKuleba: "I have to be ready to talk even with the devil... But I'm also a human being... After everything Russia has done... I have a strong feeling the best negotiating table with Russia is the battlefield." Kuleba tells me Kyiv would view any diplomacy initiated by Russia skeptically:

"The moment we will hear from Putin or someone from his entourage that they want to engage in talks, we shouldn't rush to respond positively to it...

NEW: In an interview at @yes_ukraine, @oleksiireznikov tells me Ukrainian forces have not yet entered Izium, "but our troops are very close." Says Ukrainian forces have liberated 1200 square kilometers / 460 square miles in Kharkiv. .@oleksiireznikov vows the offensive will continue: "We can move down on the map in the direction in Luhansk Oblast also, so it can help us to liberate the next territory."

NEW: Our @NewsHour interview with Ashraf Ghani:
On why he left:
"It was not a situation where sacrificing myself would have saved the Republic. On the contrary, it would have created another trauma. And we have had enough of trauma in our history." Ghani acknowledges his passport was prepared earlier in the day, but "because my wife was leaving. The passport as an eventuality had been prepared, but I didn't have plans to leave. If I had plans to leave I would've left with something other than Afghan clothes I was wearing"

Senior Administration Official:
Drone strike
•618 am Kabul time
•2 hellfire missiles hit patio of safehouse where Zawahiri was standing
•“We are confident that we killed Zawahiri and no other individual.” “Family members were purposely not targeted, and unharmed.” Zawahiri’s role/impact of death
•“Continued to pose an active threat to US persons and security.”
•“Used his authority to provide strategic direction on AQ worldwide, including on attacks in the US.” “I want to emphasize the current nature of that guidance… to target us.”

NEW from Senior U.S. Defense Official on the war in #Ukraine:

Russia has committed nearly 85% of its military to the war in Ukraine… It has removed military coverage from other areas on their border and around the world. Russia is presently launching tens of thousands artillery rounds per day. “They can’t keep it up forever,” the official said. “They have expended a lot of their smarter munitions... Their capabilities are getting dumber.”

BREAKING: @Potus announces new US military deployments to Europe:
1. Create permanent HQ for US 5th Army Corps in Poland
2. Deploy additional rotational brigade to Romania
3. Deploy 2 additional F-35 squadrons to the UK
4. "Enhance" rotational deployments in Baltics 5. Deploy 2 additional Navy destroyers to Spain, bringing total from 4 to 6
6. Deploy "additional" air defense to Germany, Italy
“At a moment Putin has shattered peace in Europe... US and allies are stepping up, proving NATO is more needed than ever, and more important than ever"

Senior Administration Official provides unusually specific previews of sanctions and other steps to be announced tomorrow by the @G7, only some of which had been made public before: 1. Ban on Russian gold
2. Cap on the price of Russian oil bought by G7
3. Blocking sanctions on major state-owned defense enterprises, defense research organizations, other defense-related entities and individuals to “limit Russia’s ability to replace military equipment."

500,000 Ukrainians have been coerced to leave their home and move to Russia. In a rare interview, we speak to one who is still in Russia: "I haven't been issued any documents, and I don't want them. I don't want documents from a country that destroyed your city and your life." "Andrei" is from Mariupol and just two days before the invasion, looked to the future with hope. He was a successful entrepreneur who'd created Star Wars themed clubs for children with UN grants. "We loved doing this. When you do what you love, it gives you joy."

Outside Kyiv, there was so much death, only now are they planning for its permanence. Volodymyr Stefiyenko measures out a future fence and headstone to replace his brother Dmitro's temporary grave. Russian forces shot Dmitro in the head and dumped him in a mass grave 6 weeks ago. Down the road @VenediktovaIV concluded her initial war crimes investigation in Irpin and accused Russia of using banned weapons to target civilians indiscriminately, execute seven civilians, fire on civilians as they fled, and starved other civilians to death.

For the first time in 6 weeks, the top US diplomat to Ukraine returned to the country. And in her first interview @USEmbassyKyiv Chargé Kristina Kvien tells us from Lviv why she's not in Kyiv, why sanctions on Russia should remain, and why it's "up to Ukraine to define victory" "My security professionals determined it's safe to come. And we wanted to come as soon as we could... And what we very much hope is that it's signaling a return first to Lviv, then ultimately to Kyiv. So we're working hard to get there and hope to do that by the end of the month"

We have been speaking to Sergey Orlov, deputy mayor or #Mariupol, since the invasion of #Ukraine. For weeks, he couldn't reach his own family. Tonight, he told us that his father died while being forcibly repatriated to Russia. Today Russia prevented the 100 people evacuated from the #Avostal plant from reaching Ukrainian-held territory. On @newshour Orlov tells us 30% of the city is still trapped: "130,000 citizens that are still in Mariupol, all of them are hostages."

BREAKING: Embargo lifted: @SecBlinken and @SecDef conclude trip to #Ukraine. Senior officials announce US diplomats will return to Ukraine “as early as this week,” with day trips to Lviv. And @USAmbSlovakia will be nominated as next US Ambassador to Kyiv Bridget Brink’s name was given to Kyiv before the invasion, so this means Kyiv has signed off on her.

Blinken and Austin will hold a press conference at 0130 eastern.