Key developments on Dec. 6-7: * Ukrainian drones score 'successful hit' on Russia's Ryazan Oil Refinery, General Staff says * Chornobyl protective shield 'lost its primary safety functions' after Russian drone strike, UN nuclear agency warns * Ukraine reports frontline gain in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast as Russia advances in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts * Ukraine braces for 'critical damage' after Russian strike on Kharkiv Oblast dam threatens water supply * 'Happy Ukrainian Armed Forces Da

Russia attacked the Pechenihy dam on Dec. 7, threatening the reservoir that supplies water to Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

The year 2025 brought us more books about and from Ukraine that carry an inescapable heaviness, with war present on almost every page. Lives once shaped by literary ambitions continue to be cut short on the battlefield or under bombardment. Yet, thanks to the devotion of translators, publishers, and a growing audience of readers who refuse to look away, these voices keep traveling outward. They insist on being heard. From the first days of the full-scale invasion, one imperative has remained co

China says recent joint anti-missile drills with Russia on Russian territory were routine and not aimed at any third party.

Czech President Petr Pavel warned that repeated Russian airspace violations may eventually force Europe to shoot down Russian aircraft and drones, and said European countries must be ready to fight and win a war on their own if the U.S. is tied up elsewhere.

Amid an ongoing Russian offensive, Ukraine has liberated a village in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState and Ukraine's military reported.

Russia launched five ballistic missiles and 241 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force reported.

In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, the Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur reports on another failed round of U.S.-Russia diplomacy over a controversial peace plan, as Moscow presses ahead on the battlefield and advances in and near Pokrovsk.

Trump envoy Keith Kellogg says a Ukraine peace deal is in its “final stretch” as talks focus on territorial concessions and security guarantees.

Locals reported explosions near the Engels airfield and an oil depot amid overnight drone attacks in Russia’s Saratov and Rostov oblasts.

Russian forces launched a large-scale attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk overnight on Dec. 6, officials reported.

The number includes 1,080 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

The incident marks the third such disruption in Lithuania this week, with Vilnius facing repeated flight interruptions over the past months.

Three people have been injured in a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv Oblast overnight on Dec. 6, local officials reported.

It's the ninth time this year that the facility has been struck.

About the author: Chris Hennemeyer is a longtime humanitarian worker who spent nearly 40 years in crisis zones across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Balkans, Haiti, and briefly Ukraine. Since retiring in 2022, he has spent half of each year volunteering in Ukraine. I wake in the early morning here in Odesa, dark and still, the kind of quiet that means the power is out and the noisy belching generators haven’t yet started up. A look at my phone reveals that the Russians fired 705 air-borne

“There are no pauses, no delays in (Russia's) operations. They keep pushing their troops forward to seize as much of our territory as possible under the cover of negotiations," Syrskyi said.

Territorial concessions and security guarantees were among the most sensitive issues in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent call with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, sources told Axios.

Russia’s drone strike caused a fire that burned the outer cladding of the shelter.

Russia failed to break Ukraine’s army on the battlefield, and now it’s trying to do it through a peace plan that would cap Ukraine’s forces at 600,000. Some argue that Ukraine would shrink its army — currently estimated at about 800,000 — after the war anyway.

Zelensky will also meet with the leaders of France and Germany in the British capital on Monday.

The cyberattack took down over 700 computers and servers and deleted accounts of more than 1,000 Eltrans+ users, HUR claimed.

The Kyiv Independent's first live event in New York City will be available to stream live. The Kyiv Independent will also present a curated photo exhibition

If the ban goes through, Russia would likely have to expand its shadow fleet to transport crude oil instead.

Over the course of 2025, Ukraine has repeatedly agreed to ceasefire proposals put forward by the White House. Russia has refused to agree to a single one.

The number includes 1,180 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces said on Dec. 5 that neither Pokrovsk nor its sister city Myrnohrad is encircled, stressing that defense units are expanding logistics routes and maintaining control over key positions in the area.

The Trump administration on Dec. 4 extended a waiver that lets Lukoil-branded gas stations abroad stay in business, softening elements of the sanctions imposed on the firm in October.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency, HUR, said its drones hit a Russian Su-24 tactical bomber as past of a series of eight "accurate strikes" on military targets inside Russian-occupied Crimea on Dec. 5.

The Prosecutor General's Office said that the wounded soldier tried to take cover, but the Russian soldier "finished him off with a shot from an assault rifle."

Editor’s note: To mark the fourth birthday of the Kyiv Independent, the War Notes newsletter team decided to pass one edition of the newsletter to a special guest writer, who could capture the time and place we are at in Russia's war against Ukraine from a new perspective. You can subscribe to War Notes and the Kyiv Independent’s other newsletters here. About the author: Dimko Zhluktenko is a drone operator in Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces and co-founder of military aid volunteer organizati

Editor's note: This article is a shortened on-site version of KI Insights' public newsletter, The Week Ahead, covering events from December 8-14. Sign up here to start your week with an agenda of Ukraine-related events delivered directly to your inbox every week. The European Union is pressing ahead with efforts to secure a reparations loan backed by frozen Russian assets. Today, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz are holding an emergency