Air raid alerts sound across Ukraine

"Rustem Umerov, the head of the delegation, who has no other job but to negotiate with American and European allies, will land in the U.S. tomorrow to meet with the delegation again," Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., told reporters on Dec. 3.

"12-year-old Misha from the occupied Donetsk region and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol were sent to Songdowon camp in North Korea, 9,000 km from home," Rashevska testified. "Children there were taught to ‘destroy Japanese militarists’ and met Korean veterans who, in 1968, attacked the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, killing and wounding nine American soldiers."

The budget foresees Hr 4.8 trillion ($115 billion) in expenditures and Hr 2.9 trillion ($70 billion) in revenues — meaning a deficit of 18.5% of GDP, according to Kyiv-based think tank Center for Economic Strategy (CES).

A fire broke out overnight Dec. 3 at an oil depot in Russia's Tambov region after an alleged Ukrainian drone strike.

Russia has centralized volunteer drone units like Rubikon into a professional system that is eroding Ukraine’s early edge in UAV warfare and threatening its front lines.

"Today we have finally restored historical justice and turned the page on years of distortions that were used for political pressure and to legitimize Russification. We have demonstrated our maturity as a European state," Language Ombudsman Olena Ivanovska said on Dec. 3.

In Russia, publicly criticizing the war can lead to criminal charges with prison sentences of up to 15 years.

The Kyiv Appeals Court ordered on Dec. 3 the release of Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, a detective with Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), who had been investigating the country's largest corruption case involving the state-run nuclear power monopoly Energoatom.