US judge temporarily halts dismantling of Voice of America

The $900 billion spending package upholds many of U.S. President Donald Trump's national security policies but places limits on his ability to reduce American troops in Europe and withhold support to Ukraine.

At least 31 drones have been shot down over the Russian capital, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. All four airports in the region have suspended operations.

Trump did not discuss specific conditions of the peace deal but said Zelensky needs to be "realistic" and asked when Ukraine would hold presidential elections.

"We discussed key elements for recovery, various mechanisms, and visions for reconstruction," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Ukraine’s Security Service used Sea Baby naval drones to hit the sanctioned tanker Dashan in the Black Sea, the latest strike in a campaign targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet,” a source told the Kyiv Independent.

As Ukraine negotiates a peace agreement with the U.S., soldiers on the ground face a different reality: holding the line with shrinking infantry numbers and almost no rotation. For nearly six months, two Ukrainian soldiers, Oleksandr Tishaiev and Oleksandr Aliksieienko, were trapped in the same battered position on the Zaporizhzhia front, unable to rotate as Russian drones monitored every path in and out.

Thirteen children were illegally sent abroad and placed with foreign families for adoption, while law enforcemented intercepted the transfer of another 12.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Hooley died after a "tragic accident" away from the frontline.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained Russia's "shadow fleet" ship, which illegally transported agricultural products from the Russian-occupied Crimea, SBU said on Dec. 10.

Ukrainian troops in Myrnohrad are using a narrow “gray zone” corridor for rotations and supplies as frontline accounts of near-encirclement clash with official assurances.

Ukraine has recaptured 13 square kilometers (5 square miles) of territory in Pokrovsk after previously having no troops left in the city, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said during a Dec. 9 press briefing.