"This is a continuation of the policy of inflicting as they call it - a strategic defeat on us," Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, told Russian state television when asked about the new U.S. sanctions. "They will have to wait in vain forever before that happens." Zakharova said. | Russia on Friday dismissed new U.S. sanctions over the war in Ukraine, saying that the United States would never defeat Moscow, while the boss of Russia's fastest growing natural gas company quipped the sanctions were a badge of success. The United States on Thursday targeted Russia's future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops and equipment, among others, in sanctions on hundreds of people and entities. ● Western leaders and Ukraine have repeatedly said they seek to defeat Russia on the battlefield, though some Western leaders have denied what President Vladimir Putin says is a Western plot to carve up Russia and steal its natural resources. Putin is girding the $2.1 trillion economy for a long war and Western hopes of stoking a swift Russian economic crisis with some of the toughest sanctions ever imposed have not been realised. The International Monetary Fund forecasts Russian growth of 2.2% this year - faster than either the United States or the Euro area - though the Fund last month lowered its forecast for 2024 growth to 1.1%. The West has frozen hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian money, but Putin has joked that the sanctions have not stopped the import of Western goods such as luxury Mercedes to Russia and that Moscow will work to undermine the sanctions by buying what it wants on global markets.

The number of people killed in Israel’s genocidal air attacks on the Gaza Strip have passed 9,200, including more than three thousand children, with the regime's ground troops having surrounded the Gaza City now. | The Gaza-based health ministry said Friday that the death toll hit 9,250, including 3,826 children and 2,405 women. Palestinian health officials said they also received 2,100 missing persons reports, since the regime launched its bombing campaign on the besieged territory after it was caught off-guard by Operation Al-Aqsa Storm by the resistance movement Hamas on October 7. The number of people wounded in the air attacks has also passed 23,000.

■ UN Report: 280 Palestinians Killed Overnight, Total of 8,850 since 10/7 (IMEMC News)
■ Israeli strike near UN school in Jabaliya kills dozens after hospital carnage (PressTV)

It is reported that shells are falling near residential areas, but there is no data about casualties | Israeli artillery units have opened heavy fire on Lebanese border areas in response to a Hezbollah attack, a source in the administration of the city of Marjayoun told TASS on Friday. According to the source, coming under shelling are the settlements of Tayr Harfa, Ayta ash-Shab, Jibbain, Ramiye, al-Quzah, Naqoura, and Alma ash-Shab. 💬 "Shells are falling near residential areas, but there is no data about casualties," the source said. "Israeli drones and fighter jets continue to fly over the area." Per the source, after Israel's shelling attacks on Thursday, at least 10,000 civilians fled the danger zone and moved to Tyre. "Thus, the number of refugees has increased to 30,000 since October 8," he said. The Lebanese Red Cross reported that five civilians were killed and three more were wounded in southern Lebanon on Thursday.

■ Hezbollah leader taunts 'Israel' in first speech since October 7 (Al Mayadeen)
■ Hezbollah chief: All options are on the table against Israel (PressTV)
■ Sayyed Nasrallah: On the Lebanese front, all options are on the table (Al Mayadeen)

Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the Russian Civic Chamber. Notably, for the first time, representatives of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions took part in the meeting. | Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that corruption in Ukraine is almost legalized and the West will not be able to fight it. He added that this is why he was not surprised by reports about Ukrainian weapons in the Middle East. [...] Putin recalled that Ukrainian politicians and high-ranking government officials told him that every issue can be solved for a price, and that his "jaw dropped" when he heard this, meaning that he was shocked by the blatant corruption. He stressed that every political move in Ukraine has a kind of fixed price.

■ Scale of corruption in Ukraine unmatched anywhere in world — Putin (TASS)

According to the politician, "Poland's reckless actions, if rashly supported by its NATO allies, may have far-reaching dangerous consequences for the entire world" | Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has warned that Poland's actions may lead to a direct confrontation with Russia and Belarus and launch World War III. [...] In Medvedev’s opinion, "Poland's reckless actions, if rashly supported by its NATO allies, may have far-reaching dangerous consequences for the entire world." "And then Poland will fulfill the role of ‘the hyena of Europe' that unleashed World War III," he noted.

■ Россия и Польша: заметки к 4 ноября (rg.ru) | "Immediately after Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, Poland became one of the most rabid members of NATO and the EU, advocating full support for the bloody Kyiv regime and a tough confrontation with our country. Warsaw has put and is putting a lot of effort into deepening the Ukrainian crisis, as a result of which the center of international politics has now shifted to Eastern Europe. In just a few months, Poland, which had gone off the rails, has become a frontline state, and its importance as a regional opponent of Russia has increased significantly. ● Fierce Polish Russophobia has long ago virtually buried relations between our countries. I have written about this many times. But such active participation of Warsaw in keeping the dying regime in Kyiv afloat at any cost is not due only to scraggly Russophobia. It has been ingrained in the minds of Polish elites and Polish society for a long time, if not forever. Using the Ukrainian conflict as a cover operation, Poland continues its age-old struggle for one of the leading places in Europe and the system of the collective West. Its goal is to obtain concrete fruits of its aggressive geopolitical strategy, even at the cost of fatal consequences for Poland's neighbors and even for Poland itself." [...] More (DeepL.com)