General Staff: Russian troops retreat from Svatove, Luhansk Oblast.

The Trump administration on Dec. 4 extended a waiver that lets Lukoil-branded gas stations abroad stay in business, softening elements of the sanctions imposed on the firm in October.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency, HUR, said its drones hit a Russian Su-24 tactical bomber as past of a series of eight "accurate strikes" on military targets inside Russian-occupied Crimea on Dec. 5.

The Prosecutor General's Office said that the wounded soldier tried to take cover, but the Russian soldier "finished him off with a shot from an assault rifle."

Ukrainska Pravda, citing law enforcement sources, reported that Anna Skorokhod, a lawmaker from the For the Future party, is suspected of taking a large bribe.

A group of Ukrainian children ages 2 to 17 returned to Ukraine from Russian-occupied territories in southern Kherson Oblast, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Dec. 5.

European leaders privately insisted they alone should control decisions over immobilized Russian assets, even as the US reportedly lobbied European countries to block plans to lend the cash to Ukraine.

A fire caused damage to facilities at the Temryuk port in Krasnodar Krai, a major Russian hub and oil export terminal. Locals also reported explosions at the Syzran Oil Refinery in Samara Oblast.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia would continue supplying fuel to India's "rapidly growing economy," calling Moscow a reliable energy partner.

The More in Common survey shows strong international objections to key parts of the latest peace proposals being put forward by the White House.

The document says that it is in the U.S. interest to "negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine" to enable the country's post-war recovery, stabilization of European economies, and to "reestablish strategic stability with Russia."

The visit comes amid a surge of diplomatic efforts after the U.S. backed a 28-point plan that many viewed as effectively pushing Ukraine toward capitulation in Russia's all-out war.