Ukraine's military reportedly struck oil depots in the various Russian and Russian-occupied regions late on Dec. 30, Russian Telegram media channels reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Dec. 29 that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him Ukraine had tried to attack Putin's residence, an allegation Kyiv has denied. "I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it," Trump said.

The single most important development that will unfold during 2026 are the U.S. midterm elections that will take place in November. The world has seen a dramatic regression of liberal democracies worldwide over the past decade.  Two large authoritarian powers, Russia and China, have tightened repression at home and projected their influence around the world. But critically, their rise has been abetted by the growth of populist nationalist parties in many developed democracies.  The most import

"Where is their condemnation of the fact that our children are being bombed and people are being killed all this time? I don't hear India, frankly, nor the United Arab Emirates," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 30.

Today's top story: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed new decrees launching year-round military conscription starting in 2026 and authorizing the use of reservists to protect critical infrastructure, signaling a deeper militarization of Russian society. The new conscription decree calls up 261,000 people ages 18 to 30 for mandatory military service in 2026, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. Recruitment events will take place throughout the year, but conscripts will st

National security advisers from the Coalition of the Willing countries, led by the U.K. and France, have agreed to meet in Ukraine on Jan. 3, according to Zelensky. The meeting will be followed by another meeting among state leaders, planned for Jan. 6 in France.

"Each restoration requires significant time and resources, as the level of damage varies across regions," Deputy Energy Minister Olha Yukhymchuk said.

Ukraine struck a Russian drone storage facility at Donetsk Airport in occupied Donetsk Oblast, Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi said on Dec. 30.

Donald Trump’s peace negotiations have seemingly made a full circle. After U.S. pressuring Ukraine to accept an unfavorable peace settlement, Kyiv spent over a month renegotiating the offer and getting close to receiving Trump's blessing on a revised proposal. Then Vladimir Putin called. Twice. A few hours before the second call, on Dec. 29, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Ukrainian drones had allegedly attempted to strike Putin's state residence with 91 drones in Russia's No

Ukraine's top commander said a battalion commander will face a legal review after Ukrainian troops abandoned a command post in the Huliaipole sector, leaving behind equipment and potentially sensitive materials.

Zelensky tells Fox News' Bret Baier that Ukraine has demonstrated concrete steps toward peace over the past month and raised the possibility of a referendum on the peace plan. At the same time, a referendum would not legitimize withdrawing from Ukrainian territory, given the current security realities.

Zelensky dismissed Russian claims that Ukrainian drones targeted Putin’s residence as “another lie,” warning Moscow is using the allegation as a pretext for possible strikes on Kyiv and government buildings.

In Netflix's House of Dynamite, a ballistic missile hurtles toward the United States, the nightmare scenario that keeps defense planners awake at night. Yet the West's Russia policies, over the past decade, have done more to increase the odds of such a catastrophe than prevent it. Washington's unwitting effort to teach Moscow that nuclear threats work and aggression pays has culminated in a 28-point dictator’s wishlist, bizarrely presented as a "peace plan." The United States, the world’s most

Kyiv failed to implement nine indicators in the last three months of 2025, the highest number missed in any quarter since the Ukraine Facility began in 2024, according to a Dec. 29 assessment by RRR4U.

"President Trump has concluded a positive call with President Putin concerning Ukraine," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Hello, this is Yuliia Taradiuk reporting from Ukraine on day 1,405 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today's top story: A new poll published Dec. 29 found 76% of Ukrainians consider it unacceptable to recognize Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories as part of Russia in exchange for ending the war. The opinion poll, conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF), found that 76% of the 2,000 adults surveyed nationwide consider it unacceptable to recognize occu

A day before President Volodymyr Zelensky met U.S. President Donald Trump, European leaders privately warned the Ukrainian president that the talks could go badly and urged him to "be careful," according to detailed notes from the call shared with the Kyiv Independent by a senior diplomatic source. The caution came ahead of Zelensky's Dec. 28 meeting with Trump at the U.S. president's Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago — a high-stakes encounter focused on Washington's latest push to broker a peace f

Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command says Huliaipole is now a gray zone, with no clear front line anymore, according to spokesperson Vladyslav Voloshyn.

"I told (Trump) that we would like to consider guarantees for 30, 40, or even 50 years, and that would be a historic decision by president Trump. The president said he would think about it," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Russian troops shot dead two unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war on Dec. 27 in the village of Shakhove near Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Dec. 29, in what appeared to be at least the third reported case this month of captured Ukrainian soldiers being killed after being taken prisoner.

In Ukraine's cemeteries, some graves are more than symbols of memory. They hold the truth about the country's enduring place in European culture, testifying to centuries of creative achievement and innovation — and to the lengths Russia has gone to obscure and even try to steal that legacy. "The Invisible Gallery," a new cultural initiative that highlights the lives of eight Ukrainian artists, seeks to bring greater attention to Ukraine’s historical contributions to the art world. Through a gui

Explosions reportedly rocked the Khanskaya military airfield near the southern Russian city of Maykop as air defenses were engaged late on Dec. 29.

"They're going to be helping. Russia is going to be helping," U.S. President Donald Trump said when asked if Moscow would hold any responsibility for Ukraine's reconstruction.

Key developments on Dec. 28-29: * Trump holds call with Putin just before scheduled meeting with Zelensky * 'I have no deadlines' — Zelensky, Trump hold talks in Florida to discuss an end to Russia's war * 'It was horrifying, like an earthquake' – Kyiv recovering from mass Russian attack that left 2 killed, 32 injured, ahead of peace talks * Top anti-Putin Russian commander killed fighting for Ukraine * Russia aims to recruit over 400,000 soldiers in 2026, Ukraine's military intelligence c

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Dec. 28 that he held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his scheduled meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

About the author: Yaroslav Yurchyshyn is a Ukrainian MP and chair of the parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech. For Ukraine's media environment, 2026 is set to be an intense year — no less demanding than 2025. In December, the president signed the law opening parliamentary committees to the public, which significantly eases the work of journalists and civil society actors by introducing online broadcasts, open meetings, and advance access to agendas. These changes also apply to local se

Russian troops opened artillery fire against the Kherson Thermal Power Plant (TPP), causing significant damage, head of Ukraine's Naftogaz said on Dec. 28.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi thanked "both sides" for agreeing to a temporary "window of silence," which is "part of ongoing efforts to prevent a nuclear accident during military conflict."

In this year-end wrap-up of Ukraine This Week, the Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur looks back at the moments that defined 2025, the fourth year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine — from stalled peace efforts and escalating Russian attacks to mass anti-corruption protests and political upheaval at home.

The refinery was attacked multiple times in the night, residents claimed. An electrical substation in Syzran was also hit, causing blackouts in the city.

Ukrainian and Russian troops have been publishing conflicting claims and videos about who controls the front-line town of Myrnohrad, located just northeast of the embattled town of Pokrovsk.

Russia has lost around 1,204,510 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Dec. 28.