Alexander Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Australia from Ukraine with his wife Larisa, was one of 16 killed in a terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community in Sydney.

Ukraine requires its partners to cover half of its projected $120 billion of defense spending to stay in the fight against Russia in 2026, Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Dec. 16.

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.

European leaders will decide on Dec. 18–19 whether to proceed with a "reparations loan," a plan to lend up to 210 billion euros in frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.

The incident comes as Ankara rebukes both Kyiv and Moscow over escalating hostilities in the Black Sea amid Russia's all-out war against Ukraine.

Bakhmutka River emerges as Siversk’s last line of defense as Russia presses assault

Since early December, the Russian ruble has continued to strengthen against global currencies: on Dec. 7, it reached a value of only 76 rubles for one U.S. dollar, a figure unseen since May 2023. It soon dropped to 79 rubles per U.S. dollar, an exchange rate close to one seen on the eve of Russia's full-scale war. Ruble's strength came despite increasing sanction pressure by the Trump administration, which began targeting Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft in October. The measures, which f

President Volodymyr Zelensky, together with 35 leaders, signed off Tuesday, Dec. 16 on the creation of an international body that would decide on compensation claims tied to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but left unanswered the question of how the organization will be funded. During a meeting in The Hague, leaders from the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and Japan gave the formal go-ahead to establish the International Claims Commission, which aims to reimburse Ukrainians for financial damage c

About the author: Jacqueline Mahon is the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative to Ukraine. After the start of the full-scale invasion, Olha (name changed due to safety concerns) and her husband took in his mother to live with them. When her husband left for the front line, Olha stayed in the apartment alone with her mother-in-law. The relationship between the two women deteriorated and became violent. After repeated assaults by her mother-in-law, Olha was forced to leave the a

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.

"Warning! Mandatory Evacuation." Those words were posted just two weeks ago on the website of Mezhivska hromada in Ukraine's central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. By June, the small region of 15,000 found itself around 20 kilometers away from the front line, but in recent months, the fighting has edged closer. Back in the summer, the hromada's council communicated with residents about the risks and offered guidance on the various support pathways available. Now, the council says, everyone is

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russian negotiations position "has not changed yet," and that "they want our Donbas. And we do not want to give away our Donbas." Zelensky's comments to journalists late on Dec. 15 came following yet another round of discussions with the American negotiators, who continue to insist on the Russia-leaning peace offer. A delegation led by Zelensky held two rounds of discussions with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on a plan for ending the Rus

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.

As U.S. pressure on Kyiv grows, Ukrainians oppose Russian demands. If concessions are put up for a vote, those who spoke with the Kyiv Independent said they would flat out deny the terms. Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that any territorial concessions to end Russia's all-out war, mentioned in a U.S.-backed peace plan, should be decided by the Ukrainian people, including through a referendum. This idea had been floated before. But like elections, holding a referendum is prohibited

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.

Few decision makers are interested in making the High Anti-Corruption Court actually work, Vira Mykhailenko, the court's head, said in an interview with the Kyiv Independent. Set up in 2019 as part of a Western-backed reform, the court was designed to rule on cases brought by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO). The three institutions were created from scratch to fight top-level corruption instead of traditional courts and l

Quantum Systems and Frontline Robotics announced on Dec. 15 a joint Ukrainian-German venture to launch the first "industrial-scale" foreign-based production of drones for Ukraine's military.

Encircled Russian troops in Kupiansk are still getting limited drone drops — and a Ukrainian official says some included flags, not food.

At the initiative of the Ukrainian Institute, the Kyiv Independent announces the launch of "The Hidden Canon: Ukraine's Literary Iconoclasts," a new series celebrating Ukrainian classic literature with the goal of bringing it to a wider international audience. For many readers outside Ukraine, the country's classic literature remains largely untranslated and therefore unfamiliar, often overlooked due to historical and imperial pressures. Yet Ukrainian literature is defined not by silence, but b

For the first time, Ukrainian underwater drones have successfully attacked a Russian submarine, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported on Dec. 15.

Nadya Tolokonnikova, a co-founder of the group, said the verdict aims "to erase Pussy Riot's very existence from the Russian consciousness."

A KIIS poll found 75% of Ukrainians rejected a Donbas pullback plan without security guarantees, while most supported freezing the front line with strong protections.

"It’s an interesting feeling during an air attack. Danger, danger, and again danger," says Yurii, a Ukrainian energy worker, from the control center of a war-scarred thermal power plant. Yurii works for DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, as a shift supervisor of the turbine boiler department. His last name, like the name of the plant and its location, cannot be disclosed for security reasons. The company has suffered six mass Russian attacks since October, including on the thermal po

Ukraine’s Security Service said its long-range drones struck Russian offshore oil platforms in the Caspian Sea for the third time in a week, halting operations at one site.

Less than one-tenth of Ukrainians support holding immediate elections, even in the absence of a ceasefire with Russia, according to a recent poll.

A thermal power plant in Belgorod, known as "Luch", was damaged during a wave of drone attacks on Russian territory overnight on Dec. 15, Astra reported, citing local residents.

Editor's note: This article is a shortened on-site version of KI Insights' public newsletter, The Week Ahead, covering events from December 15-21. Sign up here to start your week with an agenda of Ukraine-related events delivered directly to your inbox every week. The European Council meeting on 18-19 December will prove decisive for the fate of the reparations loan backed by frozen Russian assets. The Council must reach a decision that will secure Ukraine's financing for the next two years. Wi

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz floated the idea of transferring Warsaw's remaining Soviet-designed MiG-29s to Kyiv in exchange for Ukraine's drone and anti-drone technology.