Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Rustem Umérov, and with the Chief of the Ukrainian General Staff, Andriy Hnatov, after the latest negotiations with the United States for peace in Ukraine.Zelensky via Telegram
Russian anti-aircraft forces shot down 77 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight in seven regions of Russia and the Black and Azov Seas, as reported today by the Russian Ministry of Defense. "During the night, the anti-aircraft defense systems intercepted 77 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones," said the Russian military command on Telegram.
The most affected regions by the attacks were Volgograd (34) and Rostov (23). Drones were also shot down over the regions of Kaluga, Moscow, Belgorod, and Voronezh. Three aerial devices were neutralized over the Black Sea and one over the Sea of Azov.
Additionally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday that a meeting with US President Donald Trump could take place "in the near future" and hinted that much could be decided before New Year's regarding diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
"We do not waste a single day. We have agreed on a high-level meeting with President Trump in the near future," communicated the Ukrainian leader. "Much can be decided before New Year's," Zelensky concluded in his brief message.
Ukrainian defenses neutralize 73 out of 99 Russian drones, damaging three foreign ships
Ukrainian defenses neutralized 73 out of a total of 99 Russian drones overnight, as reported by the Air Force, while the unmanned aircraft that were not stopped caused damage to infrastructure and three foreign ships on the Black Sea coast.
"On the night of December 26 (from 6:00 p.m. on December 25), the enemy attacked with an Iskander-M ballistic missile from the temporarily occupied zone of Crimea, as well as with 99 attack drones Shahed, Gerbera, and other types," announced the military institution in its daily report on social media.
The unmanned vehicles took off from the Russian regions of Bryansk, Kursk, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk, as well as from the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
According to preliminary data from the Air Force, by 9:00 a.m. on December 26, 73 Shahed, Gerbera, and other types of drones had been intercepted or neutralized in northern, southern, and eastern Ukraine.
Putin suggests Russia could consider territorial exchange as part of a deal with Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin told some of Russia's top businessmen that he might be willing to exchange part of the territory controlled by Russian forces in Ukraine, but he wants the entirety of Donbas, as reported by the newspaper Kommersant.
Andrei Kolesnikov, Kremlin correspondent for Kommersant, one of Russia's leading newspapers, stated that Putin informed prominent businessmen about the details of the plan during a late-night meeting held at the Kremlin on December 24.
"Vladimir Putin stated that the Russian side remains willing to make the concessions it already made in Anchorage. That is, 'Donbas is ours'," Kommersant reported.
In essence, Putin wants all of Donbas, but outside of that area, "a partial exchange of territories by the Russian side is not ruled out," Kolesnikov wrote in the newspaper.
Russia foils an attack on a Russian military member in the Stavropol region
Russian authorities today arrested a woman in the Stavropol region, in the North Caucasus, who attempted to place a bomb in a parked car near a military unit at the behest of Ukrainian intelligence services, as reported by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
The Russian citizen, 18 years old, received from Ukrainian intelligence a homemade explosive device of 400 grams of trinitrotoluene and "was caught red-handed by FSB agents while trying to carry out the criminal attack," the agency stated.
The FSB indicated that the young woman "fell under the influence of telephone scammers last December, who convinced her to commit the terrorist attack with false threats of criminal prosecution." The Investigative Committee of the Stavropol region initiated criminal proceedings against her for attempted terrorist attack, illegal manufacture and storage of explosives and explosive devices.
Ukrainian President Zelensky plans to meet with Trump in the near future
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday that a meeting with US President Donald Trump could take place "in the near future" and hinted that much could be decided before New Year's regarding diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
In Telegram, Zelensky wrote that he was informed by his chief negotiator, Rustem Umérov, about the regular contacts he maintains with American envoys. "We do not waste a single day. We have agreed on a high-level meeting with President Trump in the near future," communicated the Ukrainian leader. "Much can be decided before New Year's," Zelensky concluded in his brief message.
Fear of a new disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant site
In an abandoned control room at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, an employee with an orange helmet keeps his eyes fixed on a gray wall of indicators, screens, and meters that seem endless. It was there where nearly forty years ago the worst nuclear accident ever occurred on the planet. And since the Russian invasion began in 2022, Kiev fears that another disaster may be just a matter of time.
Last February, a Russian drone hit and left a large hole in the New Safe Confinement (NSC). This is a modern and high-tech external enclosure designed to prevent the release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere, replacing a hastily built "sarcophagus" to cover the destroyed core of reactor number four, which had an accident in April 1986.
Ten months after that attack, repair work is still ongoing, and perhaps between three and four years may be needed before the outer dome fully resumes its security function, stated the site director, Sergey Tarakanov, in an interview with AFP from Kiev.
Russian court sentences leader of far-left party to six years in prison
Russian justice sentenced Sergei Udaltsov, leader of a far-left party, to six years in prison for "justifying terrorism," as reported by local media on Thursday.
Moscow has intensified repression against opposition and freedom of expression since launching its offensive in Ukraine in 2022 and regularly accuses anyone it deems to not follow the official line of that crime.
In pre-trial detention since January 2024, Udaltsov will appeal the sentence and announced that he will start a hunger strike, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
sentenced to six years in prison," announced the judge, according to the same agency. The 48-year-old politician will serve his sentence in a high-security penitentiary.
Russia shoots down 77 Ukrainian drones over seven Russian regions and the Black and Azov Seas
Russian anti-aircraft forces shot down 77 fixed-wing drones over seven regions of Russia and the Black and Azov Seas overnight, as reported today by the Russian Ministry of Defense. "During the night, the anti-aircraft defense systems intercepted 77 Ukrainian drones," said the Russian military command on Telegram.