Government dismisses Ternopil Oblast Governor

"I think they want to do it now, and I think that Russia wants to do it. But every time one wants to do it, the other doesn’t," Trump told the New York Post in a Dec. 26 phone call.

Several waves of explosions were heard across the capital, according to Kyiv Independent reporters on the ground, as well as in Kyiv Oblast, where power outages were reported in the town of Brovary and surrounding areas following the strikes.

Timur Mindich, a close associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky and suspect in a major corruption investigation, gave his first media interview since leaving Ukraine in November, speaking with Ukrainska Pravda in an interview published Dec. 26.

Russia is continuing to systematically recruit foreign nationals for its war against Ukraine, said Oleh Ivashchenko, head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, on Dec. 26.

Kharkiv Oblast was struck with with three KAB guided bombs, one of which targeted the city of Kharkiv, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.

President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 28 as part of the latest peace efforts to end Russia's nearly four-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a source in Ukraine's Presidential Office said.

Russia overnight on Dec. 26 launched drone attacks at Ukraine's sea port and energy infrastructure in Odesa and Mykolaiv oblasts, as well as railway infrastructure in Volyn Oblast, authorities reported.

Russia launched 99 drones and one Iskander ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said.

The number includes 840 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

President Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone call with U.S. President Trump’s Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Christmas Day to discuss "several substantive details" of ongoing peace talks, the president said.

Ukrainian forces struck multiple targets inside Russia overnight Dec. 24-25, hitting oil refining facility, a port, and a military airfield, the Ukrainian General Staff and a source from the the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said.

Ukraine is marking its fourth Christmas under a full-scale Russian invasion.