A road sign marks the entrance to Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast on Dec. 3, 2023. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Yurii Stefanyak/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Russian attacks on April 12 in the Donetsk Oblast towns of Niu-York and Krasnohorivka killed two people, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported. Another eight people were injured across the oblast, he added.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
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.
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.
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.
Ukraine formally joined the European Union's single roaming zone on Jan. 1, allowing Ukrainian citizens to use their mobile phone service across the European bloc without incurring additional charges.
Patriot is one of the world's most advanced air defense systems, capable of intercepting aircraft as well as cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles.
Undeclared nuclear reactor components bound for North Korea were allegedly aboard the Ursa Major when it sank off Spain in 2024, with damage consistent with a torpedo strike, according to Spain’s La Verdad.
