How Ukraine's military intelligence faked the death of Denis Kapustin, a Russian commander fighting for Kyiv

The news comes a few hours after Zelensky announced he would appoint Kyrylo Budanov, head of the military intelligence, to take charge of the President’s Office.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko will soon give the president a list of possible candidates to replace Serhii Deineko as head of Ukraine's State Border Guard Service.

HUR has published video footage of Kapustin's staged "death," which the agency used to collect a $500,000 bounty. The video shows a drone strike on a minibus shortly after Kapustin is seen entering the vehicle.

Six of the wounded were hospitalized, including a woman in serious condition, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

Along the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, the front line has remained largely static, but fighting continues every day. The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko embedded with Ukraine’s forces in Kherson Oblast, following FPV drone and night bomber teams tasked with defending river islands.

The poll also revealed that 69% of Ukrainians support a peace plan that would freeze the war with security guarantees, as long as Ukraine is not forced to officially recognize Russian-occupied territories as part of Russia, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology said.

Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service warned on Jan. 2 that Russia may be preparing a provocation as part of its efforts to disrupt the U.S.-mediated peace talks.

Earlier on Jan. 1, Volodymyr Saldo, a Ukrainian politician turned top Russian proxy head of Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast, accused Kyiv of launching three drones at a hotel and a cafe on the Black Sea coast. Saldo claimed that the alleged New Year drone strike on the village of Khorly killed 24 people, including a child, and wounded more than 50.

The number includes 910 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day, the General Staff said.

Russian forces occupied 4,336 square kilometers (1,674 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in 2025, accounting for less than 1% of the country, the Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState reported in an year-end assessment published on Jan. 1.

The report confirms Ukraine's original denial and undercuts claims made by the Kremlin.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, over 100 animals and five people, including employees and volunteers, have been killed by Russian forces on the eco-park's grounds.

Ukraine is preparing to host a new round of high-level security discussions with Western partners in early January, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Dec. 30, signaling an effort to maintain diplomatic momentum.