News from Ukraine, Eastern Europe

Explosions were reported at an oil depot near Simferopol in occupied Crimea, a chemical plant in the Russian city of Veliky Novgorod, and several energy sites, media reported late on Dec. 13.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Dec. 13 announced he will meet "with envoys" of U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming days as discussions on the U.S.-proposed peace framework aimed at ending Russia's war continue.

The U.S. lifted sanctions on Belarusian potash in exchange for the release of over 100 political prisoners in Belarus, many of whom were transferred to Ukraine.

A Russian airstrike on Odesa on Dec. 12 damaged infrastructure and left parts of the city without electricity and water, the head of the Odesa Military Administration, Serhiy Lysak, reported.

On Nov. 28, a Russian attack lasting more than 10 hours struck Ukrainian cities, with Kyiv as the main target. The Kyiv Independent’s Nick Allard and Tania Myronyshena spent the night with a Kyiv family sheltering in a parking garage with their three children.

Russian missile and drone strikes on energy infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv oblasts disrupted electricity supplies.

Ukrainian troops continue to employ "active defense tactics," seeking to improve positions and dislodge Russian forces in some areas, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.

The number includes 1,300 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Explosions were reported in Russia's Saratov Oblast overnight on Dec. 13 as officials warned of a possible drone attack, with unverified local reports indicating the Saratov oil refinery had been targeted.

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) carried out a second drone strike this week on Russia's Vladimir Filanovsky oil production platform in the Caspian Sea, also hitting the nearby Korchagin platform, an SBU source said Dec. 12.