Ukraine-Russia war latest: Three killed in cross-border attacks as 1,700 of Kyiv’s troops desert army
Around 1,700 soldiers of a high-profile unit have reportedly deserted the army before deployment
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Your support makes all the difference.At least three people have been killed on both sides of the Russia-Ukrainian border on Friday, local officials said, as the grinding war nears its third anniversary.
One person was killed in an attack on a residential building in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, which injured five others.
A man was killed while walking down a road in Russia’s Kursk region, which Ukraine has controlled since a mass incursion in August, the regional governor said.
The governor of Russia's western Bryansk region said one person had been killed in mortar fire on a village near the border.
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 300 attack drones and nearly 20 missiles on Ukrainian targets in the first three days of 2025. Most of the drones and missiles had been downed or intercepted, Mr Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, around 1,700 soldiers from the 155th Mechanised Brigade have reportedly deserted the army before the unit’s first deployment in eastern Ukraine, the Telegraph reported.
The brigade was part of a high-profile initiative by Mr Zelensky and French president Emmanual Macron, aimed to showcase western support. It has reportedly suffered from equipment shortages and inadequate training.
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Zelensky says Trump can be decisive in helping stop Putin
President-elect Donald Trump could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month-old war with Russia and help stop Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Mr Zelensky, facing advances by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, said in an interview with Ukrainian television that Mr Trump had told him he would be one of the first to visit Washington after the presidential inauguration this month.
The Ukrainian president also said a priority was to stabilise the frontline early in the new year. Mr Putin, he said, feared negotiations as they would be tantamount to a defeat for Russia.
“He’s very strong and unpredictable, and I would really like to see President Trump’s unpredictability apply to Russia. I believe he really wants to end the war,” he said. “Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” he said in a televised interview.
“His qualities are indeed there,” Mr Zelensky said of Mr Trump. “He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin. He is able to do this.”
Oil spill in Black Sea smaller than first thought, Russia says
Russian investigators have determined that an oil spill from two tankers in the Black Sea last month was smaller than initially thought, the transport ministry said.
The oil leaked from two ageing tankers that were hit by a storm on 15 December. One sank and the other ran aground.
More than 10,000 people have been working to shovel up viscous, foul-smelling fuel oil from sandy beaches in and around Anapa, a popular summer resort. Environmental groups have reported deaths of dolphins, porpoises and sea birds.
The ministry said experts had established that approximately 2,400 metric tons of oil products had spilled into the sea.
“This is significantly less than the initial estimate, which was based on the account of one of the tanker captains,” it said.
When the disaster struck, state media reported that the stricken tankers, both more than 50 years old, were carrying some 9,200 metric tons (62,000 barrels) of oil products in total.
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