Football clubs are forced to pay outstanding transfer fees even if doing so runs the risk of violating banking restrictions and sanctions against 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.

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.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Dec. 4 fined New York-based property manager Gracetown Inc. more than $7 million for accepting payments linked to a company owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The discussion reflected growing concern in European capitals over Washington's posture as the latest peace push moves forward.

Irish outlet The Journal reported on Dec. 4 that four unidentified, “military-style” drones were seen breaching a no-fly zone near the expected flight path of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plane as it arrived in Ireland earlier in the week, according to unnamed security sources.

About the author: Gregory P. Wilson is a consultant, author, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Oct. 24 is not a memorable date, but it was an important moment for Ukraine in the United States. As the latest round of so-called “peace” negotiations flounders due to Russia’s intransigence, Kyiv is facing a significant financing gap to bolster its economy and defend its land from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal aggression and nightly terror ca

The Kyiv Appeals Court ordered on Dec. 3 the release of Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, a detective with Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), who had been investigating the country's largest corruption case involving the state-run nuclear power monopoly Energoatom.

Ukraine’s lethal and non-lethal military equipment procurement agencies will merge into one under the Defense Ministry from Jan. 1, going against NATO’s recommendations last year and raising eyebrows among anti-corruption activists.

Ukrainians say that Belgium's Prime Minister Bart de Wever holds the key to Russia's defeat, after he said that Russia's loss in Ukraine was a "total illusion." De Wever was speaking in an interview with Belgian newspaper La Libre on Dec. 2, the day before the European Commission announced a "reparations loan," a plan that could lend up to 210 billion euros in immobilized Russian central bank reserves to Kyiv. "But who really believes that Russia will lose in Ukraine? It's a fairy tale, a tota

Seven more Ukrainian children taken to Russia have been returned to their families, U.S. first lady Melania Trump said.

Successful strikes by Ukraine's military intelligence agency destroyed a Russian MiG-29 fighter jet and an Irtysh radar system in Russian-occupied Crimea, the agency said.

The visit comes as Cyprus is about to take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in January, with Nicosia viewing enlargement as a "key priority," a Cypriot government spokesperson said.

The closure came after several days of sustained attacks by drones and artillery, targeting the halls and equipment of the plant, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

Dan Driscoll, the U.S. army secretary known as an ardent advocate of military modernization, was thrust into an unexpected role as Washington's leading negotiator in Ukraine. His trip to Kyiv last month, which was expected to focus on technology cooperation, instead saw him present Ukraine with a U.S.-Russia-drafted peace plan that imposed punishing conditions on Kyiv. Despite having no prior diplomatic experience, the 39-year-old Pentagon official remains a key figure in the ongoing talks as

Hello, this is Tania Myronyshena reporting from Kyiv on day 1,380 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today's top story so far: Ukraine's Armed Forces struck more than 50 fuel and military-industrial infrastructure sites in Russia over the course of this autumn, marking an unprecedented rate of successful attacks, according to Ukraine's General Staff and experts cited by Schemes, an investigative project by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Using satellite imagery from Planet Labs, jou

According to the military, the man refused to present his documents, acted aggressively, and eventually stabbed the officer in the groin, causing a critical bleed.

Russia, Belarus and Iran have voted against the resolution. Fifty-seven countries, including China, India and Brazil, abstained from voting.

Russia has centralized volunteer drone units like Rubikon into a professional system that is eroding Ukraine’s early edge in UAV warfare and threatening its front lines.

Ukraine's great fortress city of Pokrovsk has officially fallen — as far as Moscow is concerned. More than five weeks after Russian troops first started to swarm into the southern outskirts of the Donetsk Oblast city, Pokrovsk has been decisively overrun, although Kyiv still claims a presence inside the urban area. In a nod to the political significance of taking the city, the claim was first made by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Dec. 1, after receiving a report on the latest battlefield

Tran's case is just the latest case of Russian prosecution of a captured foreign fighter as a mercenary, which, in Moscow's interpretation of international law, deprives them of the rights traditionally held by prisoners of war (POWs).

Putin’s trip to India tests how far New Delhi will go to protect its ties with Moscow while pressure mounts from Ukraine, Europe and the U.S.

"He did tell me, in our meetings, that he would help me in some way, but I didn't imagine he would do it like this," Dominican nun Lucia Caram said.

"Rustem Umerov, the head of the delegation, who has no other job but to negotiate with American and European allies, will land in the U.S. tomorrow to meet with the delegation again," Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., told reporters on Dec. 3.

"12-year-old Misha from the occupied Donetsk region and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol were sent to Songdowon camp in North Korea, 9,000 km from home," Rashevska testified. "Children there were taught to ‘destroy Japanese militarists’ and met Korean veterans who, in 1968, attacked the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, killing and wounding nine American soldiers."

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky has come to occupy a singular place in the global imagination: not merely as Ukraine’s president, but as the voice through which the country’s courage and endurance are made legible to the world. While an ongoing political scandal in Ukraine has involved some in Zelensky’s own inner circle, for many at home and abroad, it is in his public presence that the war’s meaning, its stakes, and its moral contours are most cle

About the author: Mariya Chukhnova is an international security and stability expert at The Critical Mass, an international security think tank based in Alexandria, Virginia. Nearly four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its military-industrial complex continues to function almost undisturbed. Despite multiple rounds of sanctions and export controls, Moscow’s defense factories are running at full tilt, producing missiles, tanks, drones, and ammunition at growing rates. The ga

Hello, this is Kateryna Hodunova reporting from Kyiv on day 1,379 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today's top story so far: Russian missile struck the city of Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on Dec. 3, injuring at least five people, including a child, Ukraine's Emergency Service reported. The 3-year-old girl and a 28-year-old victim will receive outpatient treatment, while an 87-year-old woman was hospitalized in a condition of moderate severity, according to Governor Vladysla

The budget foresees Hr 4.8 trillion ($115 billion) in expenditures and Hr 2.9 trillion ($70 billion) in revenues — meaning a deficit of 18.5% of GDP, according to Kyiv-based think tank Center for Economic Strategy (CES).

Young people are quitting their jobs en masse following Kyiv’s decision to allow men aged 18-22 to leave Ukraine, according to a new survey from Robota.ua, a Ukrainian recruitment platform. Ukraine had banned men aged 18-60 from leaving the country at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, unless they had an exemption, like fathers with three or more children, and disabled men and their carers. That changed in August 2025 when the government partially lifted the ban for 18-22-year-

A fire broke out overnight Dec. 3 at an oil depot in Russia's Tambov region after an alleged Ukrainian drone strike.

Key findings: * After Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, China decided to purchase Russian aircraft, combat vehicles, ammunition, and equipment to enhance its paratroopers. * Chinese officers and representatives of defense manufacturers have repeatedly visited Russia to inspect examples of weaponry and negotiate deals. * In 2023 and 2024, Beijing entered into several confidential contracts with Moscow to acquire Russian armaments, with the funds intended for Russian arms man