Ukraine can make Russia seek peace, commander says

Ukrainian forces have regained control over 16 square kilometers (6.2 square miles) in the northern part of Pokrovsk, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Dec. 17 following his participation in the 32nd Ramstein-format Defense Contact Group meeting.

Russia attacked the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia with KAB bombs the morning of Dec. 17, injuring at least 26 people, including a child, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.

"The lesson will be that European solidarity ends where fear of action begins, even in self-defense,” Iryna Mudra, Zelensky’s top legal advisor, told the Kyiv Independent.

The U.S. is planning new sanctions on Russia’s energy sector to ramp up pressure on Moscow if President Vladimir Putin rejects a peace deal with Ukraine, Bloomberg reported citing sources familiar with the situation.

"We would secure a demilitarized zone between the belligerent parties and, to be specific, we would also move against corresponding Russian violations and attacks," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.

Explosions rocked an oil refinery in the Russian city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban amid a Ukrainian drone attack overnight on Dec. 17, media reported.

The bill would impose targeted sanctions on anyone dealing in Russian oil, effectively barring them from the U.S. financial system.

Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko reported at the time of the attack that air defenses were operating in the Obolonskyi district.

Alexander Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor originally from Ukraine, and a 10-year-old girl named Matilda, whose parents immigrated to Australia from Ukraine, were both killed in the terrorist attack on Dec. 14.

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