Ukraine’s accession to NATO remains on the agenda but is not a top priority for diplomatic efforts, Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine’s new permanent representative to the U.N., told Berliner Morgenpost on Dec. 27.
Overnight, Russia launched 10 drones from Crimea and six S-300/S-400 missiles from Russia's Belgorod Oblast, targeting the Kursk and Sumy oblasts, Ukraine’s Air Force reported.
"If a peace agreement is reached and Ukraine needs security guarantees, we can only discuss this if there is a clear mandate under international law. I don’t see it at the moment. I would like such a mandate to be given in consensus with Russia, not in conflict," Friedrich Merz said.
This number includes 1,730 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
The domestic drone industry "reached unprecedented production volumes" in 2024, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on Dec. 28.
Russia's updated anti-extremism strategy names Ukraine among the "main sources of extremism" and enshrines the concept of "Russophobia" for the first time.
"Despite Russia's attempts to destroy our energy system during the war, we have won another victory on the energy front," Andriy Yermak, head of the Presidential Office, said on Dec. 28.
The wounded victims, including a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, have been hospitalized, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
"We are preparing several important personnel decisions," President Volodymyr Zelensky said via his official Telegram channel the evening of Dec. 28. "The decrees will be announced soon."
Sea Sparrows are U.S.-made short-range missiles that can be launched from the sea or ground to intercept cruise missiles or aircraft.
IVANO-FRANKIVSK OBLAST — Father Vasyl Diychuk, 41, shows the spot near the river where his village used to build an ice town on Epiphany, celebrated in January. A line of parked cars would stretch for several kilometers — people from all over Ukraine and abroad came to Sokolivka to see the chapels,
The Dec. 25 Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, likely caused by Russian air defense, shines light on a glaring issue the Kremlin has long swept under the rug. By unleashing its war against Ukraine, Russia has made its airspace a dangerous place. While Ukraine banned civilian flights over its territory hours
A video published on TikTok by Yuriy Boyko, a pro-Russian lawmaker and former head of the banned Opposition Platform — For Life, was met with public outrage in Ukraine. In his Dec. 14 video, Boyko repeated long-standing Russian propaganda points of radicals controlling Ukrainian streets. Sitting in his office and looking
Zelensky said this was "the only possible meaning" of Fico's threats to cut off Ukraine's emergency power supply in the winter, given Russian attacks on power plants and the distribution network.
The statement did not address the claims that a Russian air defense missile may have downed the Azerbaijani Airlines plane.
The figure includes both dead and wounded and is part of the total losses of approximately 785,000 Russian troops since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022.
Russia claimed that the detained man was acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence.
Ukraine's General Staff said this combat operation "significantly reduced the enemy's ability to carry out airstrikes using kamikaze drones against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure."
Operations at the airport were suspended at 6 a.m. amid a Ukrainian drone attack allegedly targeting the Russian regions of Voronezh, Rostov, and Belgorod.
This number includes 1,690 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
There are currently 79 underground education facilities under active construction, Deputy Education Minister Nadiia Kuzmychova said.
"It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses," National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby said on Dec. 27.
"From what we can tell — it's no longer a secret — Ukrainian long-range unmanned aerial vehicles can hypothetically operate up to 2,000 kilometers," military intelligence spokesperson Andrii Yusov said.
The upcoming aid package is expected to include a substantial supply of air defense munitions, along with Stinger missiles and artillery rounds, according to U.S. officials.
Two senior U.S. officials said that when Biden gave Kyiv permission to launch ATACMS into Russian territory, Ukraine likely had only about 50 of the missiles left in its arsenal.
Key developments on Dec. 27: * Russia's new Oreshnik missile relies on Western manufacturing technology, FT reports * 3 senior Russian officers killed in HIMARS, drone attack, Ukraine's military intelligence says * Ukraine working to extend basic training to 2 months, Syrskyi says * Russia ramps up production of Shahed drones, decoys at Tatarstan
U.S. officials told Bloomberg on Dec. 27 that they believe Ukraine may only have a few months left in its incursion into Kursk Oblast until Ukraine's military is forced to retreat from the region or risk being encircled by Russian forces.
The year 2024 was brutal for Ukraine. Last winter saw the fall of Avdiivka when, after several months of brutal fighting, the Russian army captured the city leveled to the ground. Ukraine struggled to hold the front line with limited resources as political infighting in the U.S. Congress had
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in coordination with the World Bank under the PEACE in Ukraine program, has delivered $485 million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Dec. 27.
The collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria following a lightning rebel offensive in November has shaken Assad-ally Russia’s near-decade of influence in the country. It has also had one other lesser-known consequence: disrupting Moscow’s ability to recruit Syrian fighters for its war in Ukraine. The Kyiv
Ukraine has been building heavy fortifications near the city of Zaporizhzhia in preparations for a potential Russian offensive in the region.
Editor’s note: This is issue 6 of Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak’s weekly "Ukraine Reforms Tracker" covering events from Dec. 16-Dec. 22, 2024. This newsletter was until recently titled “Ukrainian Economy in Brief." The digest highlights steps taken in the Ukrainian parliament related to business, economics, and international financial
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