Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv strikes Russian skyscrapers in major drone attack 1,000km from frontline
Putin says he is open to talks with Donald Trump, saying ‘we will have things to discuss’
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Your support makes all the difference.The Russian city of Kazan suffered a major drone attack from Ukrainian forces on Saturday, despite being 1,000km (620 miles) from the frontline
Residential buildings were damaged and the airport was temporarily shut down, after the drone smashed into a high-rise building and damaged a skyscraper.
Videos posted on Russian social media networks showed the damage and a fireball emerging from the building, while local authorities said there were no casualties.
Ukraine’s air defences downed 52 of the 103 Russian drones launched overnight, the Ukrainian military said on Sunday. The military said on Telegram that it had lost track of 44 drones, and another had left the territory of Ukraine to Belarus.
Meanwhile, Putin’s forces have captured the village of Kostiantynopolske in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, just six miles from the city of Kurakhove, which they have stormed and are threatening to encircle.
Earlier this week, Russian president Vladimir Putin has said he should have invaded Ukraine earlier as he used an end-of-year press conference to double down on his decision to start the war.
Vladimir Putin: Russia is ready to compromise with Trump on Ukraine war
Kim Jong Un ‘personally overseeing’ North Korean training for Ukraine amid reports of heavy losses
The huge spike in gun range openings in a country that borders Russia
Warning North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia ‘in months’
Zelensky admits Ukraine does not have military strength to reclaim lost territories from Russia
Ukraine lacks the military capability to retake all the territories occupied by Russia since 2014, president Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged, as he urged the West to take stronger action to confront Moscow.
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Parisien, Mr Zelensky made it clear that Kyiv would not formally recognise Russian control over any Ukrainian territory.
“Legally, we cannot give up our territories. This is prohibited by the constitution,” the Ukrainian president said. “But let’s not use such big words. Russia actually controls part of our territory today.”
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Zelensky admits Ukraine does not have military strength to reclaim lost territories
Ukrainian president rules out conceding land to Russia but calls for stronger Western intervention
Government criticises Russia’s ‘gangster threat’ against Times journalists
The Government has criticised Moscow’s “desperate rhetoric” after a senior ally of Vladimir Putin threatened The Times newspaper over its coverage of the assassination of a Russian general.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current deputy security council chair, said journalists at The Times were “legitimate military targets” and should “be careful” as “anything goes in London”.
His comments followed a Times editorial in which the newspaper described the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov as “a legitimate act of defence” by Ukraine, which has claimed responsibility for the killing.
Read the full article here:
Government criticises Russia’s ‘gangster threat’ against Times journalists
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev described journalists at the newspaper as ‘legitimate military targets’.
Russian opposition figure says fears of his mother's poisoning in Berlin proved false
Russian opposition figure says fears of his mother's poisoning in Berlin proved false
A prominent Russian opposition politician freed as part of the largest East-West civilian prisoner swap since the Cold War says that fears of his mother’s poisoning in Berlin have proven false
Warning North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia ‘in months’
North Korea has demonstrated that it could produce ballistic missiles and supply them to Russia for use against Ukraine in a matter of months, an expert said on Wednesday.
Jonah Leff told the U.N. Security Council that researchers on the ground examined remnants of four missiles from North Korea recovered in Ukraine in July and August, including one that had marks indicating it was produced in 2024.
“This is the first public evidence of missiles having been produced in North Korea and then used in Ukraine within a matter of months, not years,” he said.
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Warning North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia ‘in months’
Kim Jong Un vowed his country would ‘invariably support’ Russia’s war in Ukraine
UK announces new funding for Ukraine amid ‘critical’ situation
The UK has pledged a new £225 million package of support for Ukraine after the Defence Secretary said the situation in the country is “critical”.
On a trip to Kyiv, John Healey said that the UK will “step up” on international leadership on Ukraine in 2025, after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urged allies to maintain their support.
The package announced on Thursday involves £186 million for military equipment through the International Fund for Ukraine, including £92 million for Ukraine’s navy and £68 million for air defence equipment.
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UK announces new funding for Ukraine amid ‘critical’ situation
The package involves £186 million for military equipment through the International Fund for Ukraine.
Ukrainian missile attack disrupts gas network in Russia
Ukraine’s missile attack in Kursk has disrupted heating and gas networks, region’s governor Alexander Khinshtein wrote on Telegram.
The attack that killed six people, including a child, also disrupted the work under way to restore supplies to more than 80 residences.
Mr Khinshtein accused Kyiv of deliberating targeting civilians in the strike.
US spending millions of dollars maintaining seized $230m yacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch
The U.S. has spent tens of millions of dollars over more than two years maintaining a $230 million mega-yacht it seized as part of efforts to crack down on oligarchs linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the war in Ukraine, newly unearthed documents reveal.
Ever since U.S. authorities captured the Amadea in May 2022 in Fiji, American taxpayer funds have gone to payments like $52,717.08 on food and groceries for crewmembers, $277,200 for fuel, $1,000 on iPhone 11s for the bridge captains, and $1,216.24 for special toilet brushes, among other expenses uncovered by The Washington Post, which sued the federal government to release information about the seizure.
Authorities believe the yacht, which has a pool, wine cellar, and outdoor cinema, belongs to Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2018 and has been accused of money laundering.
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US spending tens of millions of dollars maintaining seized Russian mega-yacht
U.S. must maintain yacht until the end of judicial dispute over seizure
Two AP journalists in Ukraine and the Mideast break down the wars they covered in 2024
For the world, 2024 was riven by — and in some ways defined by — conflict on two fronts.
The ripples after the previous year’s Hamas attacks in Israel left Gaza a shambles and tens of thousands dead, and an adjacent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is playing out across the Lebanon landscape as the year ends.
A continent away, the Russia-Ukraine war, which began with Russia’s invasion in early 2022, rages on and evolves, claiming more casualties as it goes.
Read the full article here:
Two AP journalists in Ukraine and the Mideast break down the wars they covered in 2024
For the world, 2024 was riven by conflict on two fronts
Government criticises Russia’s ‘gangster threat’ against Times journalists
The Government has criticised Moscow’s “desperate rhetoric” after a senior ally of Vladimir Putin threatened The Times newspaper over its coverage of the assassination of a Russian general.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current deputy security council chair, said journalists at The Times were “legitimate military targets” and should “be careful” as “anything goes in London”.
His comments followed a Times editorial in which the newspaper described the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov as “a legitimate act of defence” by Ukraine, which has claimed responsibility for the killing.
Read the full article here:
Government criticises Russia’s ‘gangster threat’ against Times journalists
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev described journalists at the newspaper as ‘legitimate military targets’.
UK may send British troops to Ukraine to train soldiers, defence secretary suggests
British troops may be sent to Ukraine to train up soldiers in its war against Russia, the defence secretary has hinted.
John Healey has said Britain needs to “make the training a better fit for what the Ukrainians need” and left the door open to it taking place in the war-torn country.
Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources have previously told The Independent discussions are ongoing about whether to send troops to the country to support it amid Russia’s invasion.
Read the full article here:
UK may send British troops to Ukraine to train soldiers, defence secretary suggests
John Healey has said Britain needs to ‘make the training a better fit for what the Ukrainians need’ and left the door open to it taking place in the war-torn country
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