EU defense commissioner pushes back against Trump

The U.S. is lifting sanctions on Belarusian potash, U.S. presidential envoy to Minsk John Cole said on Dec. 13 following a meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, in exchange for the release of political prisoners in Belarus.

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.

The reported meeting involving Zelensky follows news that Kyiv and its European partners handed Washington their revisions to the U.S.-proposed peace framework, with territorial concessions dominating tensions between the parties.

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.

Russia’s Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl, one of the country’s five largest, is reportedly on fire after being struck in an overnight drone attack on Dec. 12, officials and local Telegram channels said.

"You don't need to hide; I will come after each of you personally," said Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, responding to a wave of anonymous posts alleging he had submitted a letter of resignation.