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officials say there is no timetable for slowing the pounding of gaza, a war cabinet member comes to washington where pressure is growing to end it soon. also tonight, does he think it is festive or something? the former president aired his grievances, makes a list, and tells the people on it what to do and where to do it. plus, alexei navalny missing and feared that in russia's. prison system, he resurfaces. bringing a christmas message of courage, hope, and good cheer, from one of the coldldest cornes of the modern-day--. good evening everyone, john berman here for anderson, we begin with he was officials. trying to steer israel towards. a new lesson tense of less. destructive phase of its. campaign in gaza and israeli officials signaling they are in no hurry. one of those officials in washington to night meeting with secretary of state anthony blinken and national security adviser jake sullivan. we're going to have the latest on those meetings which wrapped

up about six minutes ago. first, the finding itself which included more than 100 airstrikes on hamas targets in gaza. that's according to the idf. 241 killed on the ground according to unverified claims by hamas-controlled health ministry there. cnn's will ripley has the latest. >> the terrifying sound of ongoing bombardment, israeli shells hitting targets. closer and closer to this u. n. run school, in central gaza. for thousands sheltering here, it's time to move, again. families, forced to flee for their lives. and this is not the first, or even second time for many. once again, they carry the war torn pieces of their lives, in pursuit of elusive safety. just days earlier, many here vowed they would never move again, never. a vow they are now willing to break, only because they know their children's lives are at stake. >> there is no safety in this school.

we are looking for a safer place. i am leaving because of the intensity of the airstrikes, and the suffering. >> everywhere else is crowded, there is no guarantee they'll find a spot. but what else can they do? even if they have nowhere else to go, they can't stay here, they don't want to die here. the scene, a grim reminder of what their parents and grandparents endured. in 1948, when zionist militias force them out of their hometowns. in the cold winter, blankets and mattresses are precious commodities. >> cars and the fuel that run them are scarce. those who can't afford it hire donkey carts. for the rest, it's a long track on foot. >> it's a very tough back there, he says. bombs are falling on people everywhere. people were injured there, we don't know where we are heading,

everywhere is under threat, we are just moving with the rest of the people. >> the destination for many, relatives homes, a roof over their heads even if they are in neighborhoods already devastated by israeli airstrikes. [sound of artillery] >> street battles, raging across gaza. turning areas north and south of the strip into ghost towns. the scars of battle, raw. [speaking in a non-english language] >> translator: >> we are in a multi-arena war. we are being attacked from seven different sectors. gaza, lebanon, syria, today, and some area. iraq, yemen, and iran. anyone who acts against us is a potential target. there is no immunity for anyone. [sound o of artillery]y] >> iran's allies in the region, engaging in low level hostilities in response, they say, to israel's war in gaza. yemen's houthi, attacking ships, ships they claim are israeli

affiliated, turning the red sea into a dangerous route for world trade. iran's vow to avenge the killing of an iranian commander in syria, sparking renewed concerns of expanding the conflict. especially on the lebanese israeli border, artillery fire with the iran-backed hezbollah, keeping both countries on edge since october 8th. [sound of artillery] in gaza, a race for survival between a routine of airstrikes. >> [speaking in a non-english language] >> rushing to hospitals and burials, and the ongoing search for food, and water, and a pursuit of shelter. for close to 2 million people, displaced. >> will ripley is with us now. well, what is the prime minister saying currently about the war? >> he is saying that it is going to be a very long fight ahead after making his second visit to the northern part of the gaza strip. and, meeting with troops there he said that they are going to

have to sacrifice more. he wrote an op-ed for the wall street journal, john, where he talked about the deradicalization and the palestinian people, the demilitarization of gaza and destruction of hamas. he says, those are the t requisites for peace. that's a very lofty goal and for me it's going to take quite a long time experts say, especially considering the fact that now, you have a lot of the displaced population, 2 million people or so, most of them packed into the central and southern parts of gaza, which is exactly where israel is now focusing its intensifying military operations, john. >> will ripley, thank you so much for your reporting. now, the visit to washington by one of prime minister benjamin netanyahu's closest confidence, -- former israeli ambassador to the united states. priscilla alvarez is at the white house who talks to administration officials. priscilla just wrapped up what you can tell us about what took place? >> john, that's right. this was an hours long meeting. it ended moments ago. it came at a critical time as though moving question over

these meetings were what does the next phase of the israeli hamas conflict look like, especially the ground operation that israel is engaged in in gaza. now, as you mentioned, ron dermer is a close confidant to the confidant to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. he's a member of the war cabinet. he was also israel's ambassador to the u.s., previously under netanyahu as well. so, is you're up to this point has assured the u.s. that it plans to move towards a low intensity war. this means more precise military operations targeting hamas leadership. but, they have not offered a timeline as to what this looks like and. when, now u.s. officials have said that they have anticipated that localized operations would happen sometime in january. but, again, u.s. fiddles have not been able to offer much more in detail beyond that. so, going into these meeting, senior u.s. officials including secretary of state anthony blinken and national security

adviser jake sullivan were going into this wanting to see results. what does it look like, especially as the death toll grows in gaza? now, over the course of the day, senior israeli officials expressed confidence that their conversations between the u.s. and israel have been good and that there is no daylight because they are both on the same side. >> so, that's how they went in. any sense of how they feel coming out? >> we still do not know, john, i'm waiting on a readout from my sources. but, the question going into this again was when the war transitions to the slow and cancel these days, and now we wait to see as a u.s. got the answers that they wanted, especially as the pressure goes on president biden. domestically and on the world stage over that growing death toll. >> priscilla alvarez, working the at the white house where these key meetings just wrapped up. priscilla, thank you very much. in iraq, just south of baghdad, hezbollah fighters killed in u.s. airstrikes overnight. central command says they use three facilities you are the

groups and other, xerox government though, none to plea calling the strikes hostile acts. we also learned late today that the u.s. navy warship have once again been busy intercepting anti-ship missiles and drones in the red sea. that's a lot for cnn's oren liebermann who joins us now from the pentagon with the latest. let's start with the strikes in the red sea and what they mean, oren. >> john, this is very much a barrage of missiles and drones who intercepted by u.s. forces in the red sea. the u.s. -- destroyer as well as every team fighter jets from the strike group carrying out the shoot downs on interceptions of what was a large carried out over a large period of ten hours from earlier this morning, into the early afternoon. u.s. navy says the intercepted 12 one-way attack drones or suicide drones free anti ship

ballistic missiles and to land attack cruise missiles. so, incredible display of firepower they're coming from houthi forces in yemen, a spokesperson for the houthi armed forces says they were firing at a ship that did not identify itself and did not respond to houthi naval forces, as was carrying out attacks in solidarity with the palestinian people. but, you get the sense very clearly of why the u.s. set up a national essentially coalition in the red sea to try to fight back or push against these houthi attacks and try to make shipping safe through the red sea, one of the most critical waterways in the world. yet, you still see major shipping companies avoiding the red sea. the u.s. has tried to keep the conflict centered on or focus on gaza without having its right to the rest of the region, and even if we have not seen a regional war, we have seen conflict in many of the places that stems back to gaza, even as u.s. who is trying to avoid that. >> the barrage units -- no other shipping companies are trying to avoid the red sea altogether. talk to us about this strike in iraq. more significant piece of military action we see from the u.s. in that region. what are you learning? >> absolutely.

we'll draw the connection. the houthis are iranian-backed proxies in yemen, and this kataib hezbollah, an iranian proxy in high rock. the u.s. targeted. that's because you are says they struck with one-way attack drones, u.s. forces in iraq causing injury to three u.s. service members, including one who sustained or one who remains in critical condition. president joe biden was briefed about that attack and given options for how to respond. you are seeing on your screen here the result of the u.s. response a top from three facility the u.s. says is used by kataib hezbollah and qatari. groups operating its drones. so, the u.s. drawing us into a very forceful message, but calibrating that message which she strikes that try to avoid or try to avoid a regional conflict or even a localized escalation. this, however, is very sensitive. the u.s. -- does not carry out strikes in iraq, normally carries out strikes in syria.

that's because the u.s. has good relations with the iraqi government. u.s. president in iraq relies on those relations. still, here the iraqi government responding and calling these hostile acts that infringed upon iraq's sovereignty. it's also worth noting here, john, u.s. center of command says there are no civilians affected by the u.s. strikes, the iraqi governments, however, says there were civilians injured in the u.s. attacks you see quite a bit of tension there, as u.s. trying to keep everything as stable as it can. you can see the difficulty of that in the current. >> oren liebermann at the pentagon. oren, please keep us posted, thank you. protecting them from cnn political foreign policy analyst barak ravid who was also reported for axios, we spoke shortly before. >> brock, you are the first to report on ambassador wrong drummers visit to the white house in the state department. what have you learned about those meetings? >> minister dermer was in the white house meeting with national security adviser jake sullivan and with secretary of state blinken. earlier today, and this is interesting for several reasons.

first, dermer i think is bbs last confidence. his entire government, he is the only person that netanyahu really trust, and therefore he is the person that netanyahu sent messages with him to washington. i think he had three interesting messages. first, about the day after in gaza, second about the next phase in the ground operation in gaza, and another interesting message, there is really concern about the amount of munitions the idf still has. >> on the issue of the day after military operations in gaza, you reported on this new vocabulary that apparently is being used about a reformed palestinian authority. what does that mean and why is unfortunate? >> you know, that is a funny story because netanyahu in public says he does not want the palestinian authorities to have any rule in the governance of gaza, in post hamas reality. well, dermer in private sort of talking about what he calls rpa, reform palestinian authority really vamp passing 40, revitalize passing authority, you pick how you want to use

this are. so, when u.s. officials said, well, if that is the case then you do agree to the palestinian authority having a role in gaza, so than the israelis say, well, maybe. this is where israel's right now and it is interesting because there is a big gap in what internet who says in public and what he says in private, because he is concerned that if he starts talking in public about palestinian authority having a role in gaza, he will lose the right flank of his coalition, which could make the government 's collapse and lead to a new election. >> maybe though, maybe in private, represents something of a shift. is there any ground shifting when it comes to how israel is conducting the war and whether it might be approaching some kind of -- >> i think what the is really realize and unfortunately they

realize it too late, is that the day after is not six months from now. it is not a year from now. it is 4 to 6 weeks from now. when this operation was scaled down from this high intensity phase were into a low intensity phase, the idf will pull out from the center of the palestinian -- central gaza city, and then the question will come, okay, who is running things in gaza now when hamas is in the bunkers? are we allowing come us to come back, or, do we have to find another entity that could run gaza? there are no answers to this question at the moment. >> so, there are proposals out there being discussed amongst some neighboring nations, including one from egypt. what is known at this point

about what's egypt is proposing and how viable a possibility is? >> well, i think the egyptians are looking or trying to look at it in some sort of a holistic way, meaning trying to get some sort of a package that will include a cease-fire, release of hostages, and some sort of a post hamas government in gaza. this is an interesting idea. the only problem is that at the moment, other than egypt, nobody is buying it. these rallies do not like it, hamas is not like it, so, i think at the moment, it is done arrival. >> they are reporting that hamas and the palestinians islamic jihad rejected this idea. why? >> because part of this idea is for them to give up much of

their powers in gaza and they are not interested to do this, especially not to the palestinian authorities which is their biggest political rival, which they ousted in 2007 in the military coup and kick the passing authorities from gaza. so, they have no willingness at the moment to turn back the clock on this. one >> barak ravid, your reporting is always in the leading edge. thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thank you, john. >> next, why hallmark will not be using the former presidents profane christmas wishes anytime soon. what it says about the current -- political season. later, what ukraine's bold strike another russian warship says about the state of a war that has brought preciouss littttle hope fofor them recece. the quesestion now, , could thae about to c change?

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it ends with, may they rot in hell. again, merry christmas. that is in all caps. that is the 45th impossibly the 47 president of united states telling the 46th to rot in hell, all caps. the message comes less than three weeks before the iowa caucuses in just days after another immunity claim by his lawyers in the january 6th case. cnn's kristen holmes is in washington for us tonight. christian, what else is the former president have to say this christmas, and i imagine it is not silver bells or walking in a winter wonderland? >> john, it is not spreading so much christmas cheer, but that's not really for president donald trump's style. he continued his ranting against special counsel even today after christmas, essentially playing off that last message saying the guidance flunking deranged jack smith should go to hell. what this really is is a

preview of the next year as donald trump tries to win back the white house, particularly if donald trump is the republican nominee. as you noted, yes, he could be the 47th president, and right now he is leading the gop primary field. the reason that is notable is because we have seen him ramp up his rhetoric. it is not just these attacks on joe biden and jack smith. it is the aggressive anti-immigration language. it is going after the judges in the colorado supreme court for a ruling against him. we are unlikely to see any sort of turning it down. the reason being that when we talk to his advisers and his allies, they believe what he is doing is working. they say they have the proof to

back it up by showing the holes particularly out of iowa as we have seen him ramp up this language and rhetoric. he is actually gained points in that state. now, obviously the ballot has not been cast, and we wait to see exactly what happens in those first caucuses. but, right now, he feels like what he is doing is working and he has these polls that he is looking at that say the way. this >> it's the feature of the campaign. what about the latest immunity claim from the trump legal team christmas? >> right, the falls in jack smith's. court over the weekend, we saw trump's team argued they want an appeals court to rule that trump cannot be criminally prosecuted because he has immunity. now, smith's team has until midnight saturday to respond. we expect to see him respond at any moment. now, the thing to really keep in mind is that he is coming, jack smith, off of a relatively big loss. this was bringing that immunity claim, asking for an exit that it process to the supreme court, and then essentially saying, no, it has to go through the appeals court. this could not be more significant win for donald trump, when i talk to his legal team, when i talk to his advisers, the one case that they were sure was not going to be pushed back until after the

election was the january 6th insurrection case, excusing the election interference case. they believe that that was going to be a hard-line starting in march, maybe a few days, but not get pushed back after the election. right now, there is a chance that this could get pushed back, because the judge in that case has basically paused all proceedings until the ruling is done in this immunity case. this means that even if the appeals court which is going to hear in early january here is this right away, it is still going to be pushing all of those processes back, making it more and more likely that the court date will be moved. so, again, that is a big win for donald trump. >> kristen holmes, jay great to see you, happy holidays to you and yours. >> happy holidays. >> for more on politics legal tactics on social media linguistics, joined by axios senior -- margaret talev, former illinois congressman joe walsh, the host of the white flag podcast, and elliot williams, deputy assistant attorney general. morgan, i want to start with you. president trump has said all these things on social media he's called his political adversaries quote, vermin, he said that immigrants will poison the blood of u.s., the u.s. echoing rhetoric. now he's told president biden

to rot in. what does he get out of saying these, and it's quickly deliberate. >> john, i am often looking out a strategy behind the former presidents tactical moves. but, i do not actually see a great one here. i think i bet his job as you might be that people have tuned out over christmas. they're like oh did you hear trump said? but, i looked at polling after christmas, and it shows that at least for a brief window of time, americans really want to be happy and uplifted. this shows out of ten americans say they were on santa's night list, and then out of ten americans, or -- christmas music. so, this is not a conventional approach to the christmas season, and i think it does raise new concerns about normalizing this kind of language, hoping your adversaries or others brought

in hell at the presidential level. i do not know if it'll hurt and coming into iowa, i do not see how it will help him. i think it does show how very focused he is on to people right now. and jacques, with that prosecutor and on joe biden. >> rotten hell is not one of the 12 days of christmas. five golden rings, very different than that. joe walsh, i think you have a different take on this. let me show you this before you weigh in here. this is something that donald trump reposted on his social media. it is a word cloud that was put in a british newspaper and inside this word cloud describing donald trump, it has words associated with him including revenge and dictatorship here. again, trump reposted this indicating that he is leaning

into this embracing it, rather than running away from it. why do you think that is? >> he loves it, john. he is proud of it. donald trump wants to be a dictator but, to what margaret said, this is not the story. trump is a bad guy. he is a horrible guy and the bully and a jerk. the story for america in 2024 is that this is what republican voters want. donald trump wants to be a dictator. he wants to have unlimited power. but, the scary thing, ron -- they want him to be a dictator. they want him to have unlimited power. they want revenge. this is what in 2024 america has to wake up to. this is way bigger than donald trump, and i actually think that he is going to lean into this because i think this place with people beyond this base. i think biden and democrats better wake up to the. >> this is a feature if not the future of his messaging. >> i think he's going to run this, john. i think donald trump is going to tell all of america i'm going to be a dictator. sure, his base is going to eat

that up, but there are a lot of voters in america john that launch a president to do so about the border, do something about the crime, and they won't say publicly but they do not care if he has to be a strong man to do. it i think trump and his people believe that this is a very syllable message, sadly. >> elliott let's talk about the legal issues here. let's start with the filing from the trump team saturday night. they asked the d. c. circuit court of appeal to throw out the entire election subversion case. anything in that filing? >> i think what is most raking in the filing is this idea of an official act. the former president entire argument is based on the fact that everything he did was an official act of the presidency. he says that because these were official acts, he cannot be prosecuted for them. notably, what they say is that even setting up, quote, alternate slaves of electors or even calling state officials to pressure them to overturn the results of the election, our official acts. that is their arguments. they cannot win if the court does not buy that argument. so, it's a little bit of a stretch for that argument, the idea that anything the

president does can fall under this umbrella of being an official act. so, we will see what the court does with that, but, that's sort of what they have got here and what they are basing their entire case. on >> a bunch of different courts both criminal and civil have waited on different aspects of that question, not as pertaining to the president but other government officials. they have all said, no, they are not official acts, in some form or function.

we'll see what the appeal court says here. the more interesting question might be, when we hear with the appeals court says here. they are going to hear arguments on january 9th. christian holmes reporting about the dancing on the jumping up and down inside trump world or the fact that supreme court did not hear the courts quickly, but this still could go quickly, right? >> it still could go relatively quickly. i do not want anybody to get excited, but in the grand scheme of federal appeals, getting a taste briefed and argued by january 9th is great neck speed in terms of how our chorus moves.

the appeals court could rule on the case within a matter of days or weeks. then it is up to the supreme court after that to decide number one, if they even want to take the case in the first place. remember, the supreme court does not have to take its place and they can just let it go and let the lower opinion stand. now, this can rule quickly or as people know, it can take months and months. so, it really is an open question as to when the trial does perceive, whether it is march, that is probably not likely, or sometime thereafter or even beyond the election. but, it is moving quickly in the grand scheme of the federal cases. we ought to just sit tight for at least next week and see when these filings come in and see when the court rules and feuded with. if >> the supreme court will do this quickly if they do it all? >> i mean, they might extradite. it they certainly may put it on after the one year -- typically would, but, in terms of resolving in a couple of days that may not. happen >> so, marvin, obviously donald trump has leaned into his legal issues. it may have been the very thing that boost of his campaign or the last 12 months. does that continue to be the case through next november? at what point might that be a strategy that could backfire? >> well, it certainly appears to be the strategy that will prevail through primary season. you can argue there isn't still a primary season. it's already the outcome that's known.

it's not known until it happens. so, i think we got to get through iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. but, clearly he's going to lean into it when the vote is competing for are the republican base plus movable independent who are able to vote in a republican primary. so, i think to elliott's point, sometime around march, between march and june were going to know whether this thing is going to happen this year or not. and, at that point, donald trump has two considerations. one is legal on the other is political. when he is competing in a general election, it is going to become a question of can he actually appeal to voters who do not think of themselves as

republicans based on a grievance message. but, i think it is much too early to look now and say what is going to work for him, what's going to work from him between january and february? this is a strategy and he's going to run it all the way. >> joe, very quickly, conviction. if it were to happen, with that help or hurt donald trump? >> i think it's a wash. what a terrible answer, john. he is going to lean into, i'm going to be an authoritarian, and he's going to lean into look at all of these people trying to prevent me from getting elected. he's going to lean into his legal stuff as well. >> joe walsh, margaret talev, elliott williams, thank you want to know. all up next, more on what christian holmes mentioned earlier, the former president's language about the colorado supreme court. disqualifying trump from the states primary ballot. now, law enforcement officials are signaling that the justices safety could be on the line.

>> louis got to the colorado supreme court unprecedented for three decision kicking former president trump off the stage, presidential primary ballot. the fbi is now joined forces with colorado law enforcement officials after reports of violent threats against the justices. it comes with officials and non government research groups closely watching rhetoric on extremist online forums for any sized threat could become real. cnn chief law enforcement and -- john miller here with us. now, john, what we know about what exactly the fbi is looking

into? >> what the fbi is doing primarily right now, john, is assisting local law enforcement, because otherwise they have to find the federal violation. under colorado law, making a threats against a judge or an elected member of the assembly is considered an act of retaliation, it's a class six felony. but, it's also spells out that it has to be a credible threat. here is a difficulty for law enforcement. first, identifying these people with their handles and screen names. that campy done. the fbi is really good at that. second, doing the threat assessment which is is just threat real, is this person -- is what they said although a real threat, is it a credible threat through means to carry out? but, the hard part is that we've learned again and again that you can pick your case. judge esther salas whose son was murdered at her home in new jersey, who passed a lot of protective, the nancy pelosi case with the home invasion were her and her husband were assaulted from an individual who said he and some to wait there for her and kidnapped her. it is not always the people making the threats in these form and these message boards and these chat rooms who are the ones who act. sometimes they're the workers

who decide i don't have much of a voice here but i'm going to go out and do something. so, a lot of this has been about increasing protections. >> so, these threats are somewhat similar to other violent posts that we have seen when donald trump has faced indictments or other legal issues. so, how concerned is law enforcement about this repeat type performance? >> to the extent they have seen this before, and most of it is blowing off the, we saw this with the first criminal indictment in manhattan the threats against southern bride did district turn where they had to increase security, the threats against the judge. but, now we see the threats against the judge in the civil case. the threats against a judge in the washington d. c. and election interference case, but not so much the judge in miami where he's had some -- the point is, donald trump has the ability to pour gasoline on this environments by making distinct and specific, very personal attacks and saying, we cannot stand for this and that gets the followers going in the chat rooms. >> when the rhetoric does get to a dangerous level, perhaps a criminal level, how hard is it for law enforcement to track the people down who are making some of the threats? >> that can be done. the nypd's intelligence bureau when i was there we had a threat assessment unit, a very

good team, and we did a couple of things. one, we would issue subpoenas, preservation orders, and legal processes from the providers to say, we need that ip address, we need to trace that to a machine to an address to a person. we can do all that. in many cases. the more difficult part is going out there in a case where somebody has said those things and seeing them down and getting him to talk about it, and then assessing can we say this person is a real threat or not a real threat. is this a person who is in need of medical help? it is a person who we need to do a search warrant on for weapons? did the threat to rise to the level of violating the law? this is a very layered and complicated process in prosecutors and first amendment based society are pretty worry about taking on a case where they think the threat is either not specific enough or not credible enough. and, of course, as we were talking about before, you never

know if the it is going to be the hitter. >> john miller, great to have you here. thank you so much. all right, just ahead, take a look at this. [sound of artillery] ukraine today carrying out another major strike against russian forces in what could be its third such success in less than a week. we have details, ahead.

with a ground war in ukraine as frozen as the winter

battlefield, there is some progress for kyiv to report in the, air and on the water. most recently, the air strike that ukraine officials say destroyed a russian navy landing ship in crimea. ukraine also claims to have downed five russian combat aircraft since friday. yet, as we mentioned with the war nearing its two year mark, ukraine has struggled in recent months, fighting on the ground. with me now is retired army major general james spider marks, a cnn military analyst. general, thanks for being with us. how significant is this ukrainian strike on the russian warship? >> well, any strike that can decrease the amount of capability and capacity to conduct offensive operations, that the ukrainians can do against the russians, is a plus. it goes into the plus side of the column. the challenge is, it isn't fabius landing craft, pretty significant you. can see from the explosion that it was loaded with ammunition. a lot of those were secondary explosions, i mean that's quite significant. that ship is out of commission now, obviously. that's a good thing, russia still has the large numbers,

john. and we've talked about this for, while they can continue to bring capacity to the fight, where the ukrainians have limited capacity to do that. and that is where we are right now. >> is, this in some way compensating? like a spectacle, and it is very visual, and it is a spectacular demonstration of what ukraine is capable of. but they've struggled on the ground. >> well they have. i mean, absolutely. morale is incredibly important. if you were to list the top three factors in combat, morale would be at the top. if you feel good about what you can accomplish, if you trust your leadership, if you trust the individual to your right and your left, there's almost any obstacle you can overcome. this is incredibly important for the ukrainians. the russians, on the other hand, have a limited capacity to resist this coming from

ukraine. yet, russia can take a blow like this, and then can continue to show up. it doesn't mean they're very effective, it doesn't mean they have good leadership. what that means is that they can just keep bringing good money after bad -- . those young men can come forward, and they can have a fight like this. >> what about the warplanes, the aircraft that ukraine says it's been able to shoot down? five russian fighter jets, they say, in just three days. >> yeah, that's significant, because those aircrafts can put themselves in a pattern over the black sea, essentially out of some range of air defense that the ukrainians might have, and they can launch cruise missiles to get out and go after very precise targets. that's a significant blow against the russians. but again, they are this in mind. look at the overall inventory, and you realize ukraine must continue to maintain a pace, or pick up this pace, to really start to turn the table, in terms of what the potential outcome looks like. you just said it, frozen war fight, frozen terrain, this becomes very very difficult unless you can turn the tide on this. >> yeah, and where it's not frozen, there are some setbacks for ukraine, including in the eastern city of moraga, after months of the fighting there, russia has retaken that city, or taken that city from ukraine.

how significant is that, if ukraine is actually you losing territory? >> these are tactical engagements, john. they are significant to the commanders that are on the ground. i would never say, you cannot overestimate the sense of loss, when you lose a tactical fight. in the aggregate, what does it mean, operationally, in terms of the risk of the ukrainians in terms of their strategic objectives. is trying to achieve. i would suggest that russia loses more greatly, if they do not include connecting those tactical fights. if ukraine can hold, this is a significant victory for them, even though it's a tactical loss. >> understood, if ukraine could

hold, which may depend much more on what happens in congress next month, that would have on the ground in russia and ukraine this month. general spider marks, great to see you, happy holidays. >> thank you, john you as well. >> so now the latest on what has been at times a desperate search for russian dissident elect zenith colony, who has survived an assassination attempt, survive russian prisons, and now survive 20 days in a kind of limbo, where no one knew where he was, all with his bravery and defiance still intact. not a beshear has the details. >> >> one of president putin's most famous adversaries. relieved, exhausted, but most importantly, a live. >> we filed a 680 request indifferent russian prisons trying to locate alexei. >> for weeks, kremlin critic alexei navalny's whereabouts were unknown. now, his team has located him at a remote penal colony north of the arctic circle. after a journey navalny says took almost three weeks. they brought me here on saturday night. messages posted on social media by his aides say. i didn't expect anyone to finally here, before mid january. navalny's team raised the alarm weeks ago, after he failed to show for a recent court hearing. at the time, kremlin stated it had neither the capacity nor willingness to monitor

prisoners whereabouts. >> according to russian law after the prisoner is being transferred to another colony, they have to notify hiss relatives. but we know very well there is no law that applies to alexei, and they will never notify anyone about his whereabouts. >> in a statement on monday, the director of navalny's anti-corruption foundation said the colony in northwestern siberia, known as the polar wolf colony, is infamous for its remote location and harsh conditions. >> navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison in august, after he was found guilty of extremism related charges. which he and his legal representatives have consistently denied. . this in addition to a previous 11 and a half year sentence for fraud and other crimes. [crowd chanting] known for organizing anti government street protests and using his blog and social media to expose alleged corruption in the kremlin, navalny has posed

one of the most serious threats to putin's legitimacy during his rule. [speaking in a non-english language] his disappearance coming to light just days after putin announced he would run for reelection in march 2024. >> it is no coincidence that navalny disappeared exactly at the moment when the so-called sham presidential elections were announced. and putin announced that he's gonna be running again for, sorry i lost count, which term already. >> more news of his whereabouts has brought some reassurance to supporters. there is deep concern over the conditions the opposition figure now faces at polar wolf.

>> and john, according to a local government media outlet in siberia, the focus at this particular penal colony is reeducation through occupational therapy, but the conditions there are of course that to be harsh, and there is concern over what electing the valley may face during his time in detention. important to underscore that in a valley, his legal, team and his supporters have consistently denied the charges laid against him. they say but they believe this is a politically motivated attempt to stifle criticism of president putin. john? >> not a much, era thank you very much. still to come tonight, apple, taking it on the chin, and customers on the wrist. why their latest, greatest, and priced smart watches have been banned, from important to united states.

the latest, greatest versions of the most popular smart watches made by america's most iconic tech company, are now banned from entering united states. apple appealed to the government's decision today,

after the white house refused to overturn the ban. in october, the international trade commission said apple violated a patent of a medical tech company. and, so as of this morning, in apple stores across the country, you cannot find the latest version of the apple watch, nor any version of its pricier cousin, the apple watch ultra. and once websites like amazon are sold out, that's it, no more new watches until a solution is reached. our senior data reporter, harry enten is here now, with much more. >> so, how popular are the apple watches? >> i mean look, they sold nearly 50 million of them. there you go, right there. they sold nearly 50 million of them last year. and i think people, to give you a baseline understanding. watch, as swiss, the swiss export the most watches, historically speaking. they only exported about a third of that number in 2022, almost all -- across all swiss watchmakers. and, yeah that's your --

>> that's here alexis. but there are a lot of lower brands as well. so the fact is, the apple watch, for all intensive purposes, is the new -- . >> -- felipe, i never thought i'd hear you say those words, harry. >> for people who don't know, what magical powers do these watches have? >> well perhaps most importantly, it does tell time john. i just want to note, that it tells time. but it doesn't only tell time. you can get your email on, that you can get texts on their. but most importantly, you keep track of your sleeping patterns, your fitness patterns. that was one of the things that was going on, in terms of the infringement, was the idea that some of that fitness stuff might not have been quite on the level. and, so the apple watch can do a lot. to me, it's almost like a real world tracy watch. remember tracey, walkie talkie, hello, hello, hello. my father loved tracy, perhaps i could recreated if i in fact got an apple watch which you sort of have right over, there. john >> i let you look in mind, not to touch it though. >> so without apple watches, harry, are kids still going to be able to tell time? >> you know, this is one of the more interesting things, which is there have been a number of studies, that i've kind of averaged across the. you know how many kids at this point can actually tell time from the analog? watch >> how many?