Progress reported in talks on NATO accession by Finland, Sweden.

The prices dropped to just over $40 per barrel on average for Russian crude shipped from the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Kozmino port in the Far East, Bloomberg reported.

As the U.S. increases pressure in peace talks, Russia's demand for a Ukrainian withdrawal from Ukraine-controlled parts of Donbas has sparked debate — including over whether such a decision could be made through a referendum during the war.

The funds will be used to purchase "thousands of air defense systems, missiles, and automated turrets to shoot down drones," U.K. Defense Minister John Healey said.

The Ukrainian military said on Dec. 16 that Russian troops are launching their fiercest attacks on the western outskirts of Pokrovsk while also ramping up pressure on Myrnohrad, its sister city nearby.

Russia rejects Christmas truce over concerns that it could give Ukraine a temporary respite in the war, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Dec. 16.

"Neither de jure nor de facto will we recognize Donbas as Russian," Zelensky told reporters on Dec. 15 following the second round of talks in Germany.

Russia's central bank has filed a lawsuit seeking 18.2 trillion rubles ($229 billion) in damages from Euroclear, escalating Moscow's dispute with the Belgium-based securities depository as the EU considers how to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.

In a joint statement issued Dec. 15, European leaders outlined a six-point security and recovery framework for Ukraine, committing to long-term military support, a European-led and U.S.-supported multinational force operating inside Ukraine, and legally binding measures to respond to any future attack.

Ukrainian forces hit the Astrakhan gas processing plant on Dec. 15, targeting what Kyiv described as a "key enterprise in Russia's oil and gas industry," the General Staff reported.