Top places to visit

1:30 PM

Scholz ready to talk to Putin again despite 'frustrating' phone call.

"I will do it again. But we must not have any illusions about it," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, according to Zeit.

1:13 PM

Russian snipers use Western rifles, ammunition despite sanctions, media investigation says.

Russia uses Western sniper rifles and ammunition despite sanctions, obtaining the arms via third-party countries, according to a joint media investigation published by The Insider on Dec. 11.

12:40 PM

NATO members mull raising defense spending benchmark to 3% GDP, FT reports.

European NATO foreign ministers began discussing a plan to gradually increase the alliance’s defense spending target from 2% of their GDP to 3% by 2030, the Financial Times reported on Dec. 12, citing undisclosed sources.

12:16 PM

Russia has built only 7 out of 108 planned airliners since 2022, BBC reports.

Russia's Comprehensive Program for the Development of the Air Transport Industry until 2030 envisioned producing 1,032 passenger aircraft between 2022 and the end of the decade.

11:18 AM

Macron, Tusk to discuss deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine after ceasefire, Bloomberg reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Warsaw on Dec. 12 to brief the Polish prime minister on his meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump last week and to discuss Europe's support for Ukraine and ways to end Russia's war.

10:46 AM

Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 1, injure 11 over past day.

Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least one civilian and injured at least 11 over the past day, regional authorities reported early on Dec. 12.

9:41 AM

US lawmakers ask for intelligence report on impact of cutting Ukraine aid.

Lawmakers from both chambers of the U.S. legislature requested the director of national intelligence, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to compile a report on different policy impacts on Ukraine and U.S. security, according to The Hill.

9:24 AM

US House passes 2025 defense budget without Ukraine lend-lease extension.

The $895 billion U.S. defense budget passed by the House of Representatives did not include a provision to extend the lend-lease act for Ukraine despite the efforts of Ukrainian diplomats, Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, said on Dec. 12.

8:25 AM

General Staff: Russia has lost 758,730 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022.

This number includes 1,390 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

7:13 AM

Russia advises its citizens to avoid travel to US, Western nations.

Russian citizens are at risk of being "hunted" by Western authorities when traveling, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed.

4:37 PM  (Updated:  December 12, 2024 6:32 am)

UPDATED: Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia kills 10, injures 22, destroys clinic.

The death toll in the Dec. 10 attack rose to 10 on Dec. 12, after rescuers pulled a woman's body from the rubble of a building destroyed by a Russian missile.

6:04 AM

Trump invites Xi to inauguration, CBS News reports.

Trump's team is also considering inviting other world leaders, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

5:04 AM

Drones attack Chechnya, hitting police building, Kadyrov claims.

The attack damaged the roof of the building, shattered windows, and lightly injured four men on guard duty, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov claimed. This marks the third reported drone strike against Chechnya during Russia's war against Ukraine.

3:48 AM

Tough battles, lost positions in Pokrovsk demand 'non-standard decisions,' Syrskyi says.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that "non-standard decisions" are needed near the embattled city of Pokrovsk, after the military reported that Russia had destroyed two Ukrainian positions in the area.

1:42 AM

Tsikhanouskaya says Ukraine maintains relations with Belarusian opposition leaders.

Svitlana Tsikhanouskaya, the most prominent Belarusian opposition leader, discussed efforts to maintain relations with Ukrainian authorities in a European Pravda interview on Dec. 10.

12:57 AM

Austrian OMV company terminates contract with Gazprom Export.

Austrian oil and gas company OMV has terminated its long-term gas supply contract with Russia's Gazprom Export, the OMV website reported on Dec. 11.

11:21 PM

EU to allocate 170 million euros to six countries bordering Russia and Belarus.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced 170 million euros ($178 million) in financial support for six European countries bordering Russia and Belarus to bolster their border protection efforts.

10:03 PM

Interview

'Russian colonialism is not reformable,' says historian Botakoz Kassymbekova

9:49 PM

Syria

What Russia’s army in Syria stands to lose after fall of Assad

9:25 PM

'We hope that at least he won't call Assad' — Zelensky slams Orban for phone call with Putin.

President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Dec. 11 following his hour-long call to Russian President Vladimir Putin during which the two discussed the war in Ukraine.

9:10 PM

War update

Ukraine war latest: Russia continues to suffer record losses in December, Zelensky says

8:34 PM

Russia may launch new Oreshnik missile against Ukraine in 'coming days,' US intelligence says.

Washington still sees the experimental Oreshnik missile more as "an attempt at intimidation than a game-changer on the battlefield in Ukraine," a U.S. official said.

7:55 PM

Ukrainian airline SkyUp launches flights from Moldova in April 2025.

SkyUp chose the Chisinau Airport in Moldova as it is the closest international hub to Ukraine.

7:43 PM

Culture

The Kyiv Independent’s picks for best Ukraine-related books of 2024

7:05 PM

Video

How the downfall of Russia-backed Assad in Syria may affect Ukraine war.

The Kyiv Independent’s Natalia Yermak sat down with Neil Quilliam, a Middle East expert at Chatham House, to talk about what it means for Russia’s war in Ukraine and how it might put Kyiv and the West in a more favorable position in the potential peace negotiations with Moscow.