💔 Soldiers of Ukraine’s 116th Separate Mechanized Brigade, defending Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, shared footage of shattered residential buildings after Russian strikes and street fighting. It’s a stark look at what was once a vibrant town now reduced to ruins by Russia’s war. 📷 116ombr/Facebook

💔 Vyshhorod, just north of Kyiv, has been without electricity, water, and heating for four days. Russia continues to target civilians by striking power infrastructure in the midst of a cold winter. 📷 DSNS/Telegram

💥 Explosion heard in Kharkiv. Russia has just attacked the city with kamikaze drones.

⚡️ President Zelenskyy dismissed Lavrov’s claim that Ukraine attacked Putin’s residence as “another Russian lie.” He said Moscow is looking for a pretext after his meeting with Trump showed progress – and warned Russia may be preparing strikes on Kyiv and government buildings.

✍🇺🇸🇺🇦 Summing up the meeting between U.S. President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago, I'd like to note that we have not come any closer to peace. The most controversial issues, both before the meeting and now, remain Donetsk Oblast and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

⚡️ Analysts with the Goriushko project, which tracks Russian losses using open-source data such as obituaries and social media posts, have identified 170,195 Russian service members killed in Ukraine during the invasion as of Dec. 29, 2025.

Here are the key takeaways from 🇺🇦 President Zelenskyy’s WhatsApp briefing with journalists after his meeting with 🇺🇸 President Donald Trump – summarized in main points: ▪️ U.S. security guarantees: agreed in principle, set for 15 years in draft documents, with an option to extend;

🤬 Russian troops shot two unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) on Dec. 27 in the village of Shakhove, Donetsk Oblast, Prosecutor's General Office said.

I don't even know how to comment on "Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed…"

⚡️ Here are the key takeaways from the press conference between 🇺🇦 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and 🇺🇸 President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. ▪️ They presented the meeting as a major step forward and said the process is now “very close,” though not finalized.

🤬 Russian occupation authorities have cynically reopened the renovated drama theater in Mariupol – the same building where a Russian airstrike on March 16, 2022 killed an estimated 600 people, mostly women and children sheltering from the bombardment.

🇺🇸🇺🇦 The meeting between the presidents of the United States and Ukraine at Mar-a-Lago is still underway. A joint statement is expected afterward. President Zelenskyy will also brief journalists separately via a WhatsApp group chat once the meeting ends. I’ll share updates as soon as they come in.

🕯 Denis White rex Kapustin, commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), which was fighting against Russian troops, was killed in a drone attack in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The RDK, which is fighting alongside Ukraine against Russia, said this via Telegram.

⚡️ Russia used 519 kamikaze/decoy drones and 40 missiles (30 cruise Kalibr/Iskander-K/X-101/X-22 and 10 ballistic Iskander-M/Kinzhal ALBM) to attack Ukrainian cities on Dec. 27, Air Force said. Russian forces mostly targeted energy facilities in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast.

⚡️ 1 killed, 28 people injured in Russia’s massive attack against Kyiv, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. There may be people trapped under the rubble of buildings. 📷 DSNS/Telegram

💥 Repeated explosions heard in Kyiv. Russia attacks Ukrainian capital with Kinzhal aeroballistic (ALBM) and ballistic missiles. A bunch of Kalibr cruise missiles are also heading towards Kyiv.

💥 Explosions heard in Kyiv. Russia is attacking Ukraine’s capital with ballistic missiles.

🤬 2 killed, 4 injured in Russia’s bomb strike against Kharkiv on Dec. 26, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. A 9-month-old baby girl is among those injured The blast wave damaged residential and private buildings near the strike site.

⚡️ 1 killed, 3 injured in a Russian airstrike on Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. According to him, Russians attacked one of the busiest roads in the city – windows in nearby buildings have been smashed. There are people inside the burning cars.

💥 Russia has just attacked Kharkiv/suburbs with guided bombs. Earlier, Air Force had warned of the threat.

💥 Series of explosions heard in Kharkiv, probably outside the city, local media said.

⚡️ 6 people (including 2 children) were injured in a Russian missile attack on residential area in Uman, Cherkasy Oblast, National Police reported. 📷 UA_National_Police/Telegram

🎄 Tonight, hundreds of people gathered on Sofiiska Square in Kyiv to celebrate Christmas. The celebration is smaller now, without the big fair we used to have, but it’s still good to see that at least some of the holiday spirit remains in Ukraine.

🕯💔 Russians killed Kharkiv volunteer Vyacheslav Ilchenko, head of the Nezlamna charity foundation, with an FPV drone in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, on the morning of Dec 25, while he was on an evacuation mission. Vyacheslav is survived by his wife and two daughters.

⚡️ 1 killed, 5 injured in Russian strike on a residential building and an energy facility in Chernihiv, according to city military administration head Dmytro Bryzhynskyi. 📹 Suspilne Chernihiv

🇩🇪🇫🇷🇬🇧🇺🇦 Staff from the embassies of Germany , France and the UK joined Ukrainian artists in Kyiv to sing Shchedryk (Carol of the Bells) together as a sign of support and solidarity. 📹 german_embassy_ukraine/Instagram

⚡️💥 Russia is attacking Kharkiv with drones. Explosions heard in the city.

⚡️ 1 killed, 13 injured in Russian attack against power plant near Kharkiv, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. According to local officials, the attack caused public transport to stop running and left homes in the city without water and electricity.

⚡️ 4 people injured in Russia's nighttime airstrike against residential area in Zaporizhzhia, State Emergency Service said. No deaths were reported. 📷 DSNS/Telegram

🎄☃️ Across Kyiv, cafés are decorating their facades for Christmas. No matter how hard things get, despite bombardments and blackouts, people still want to hold on to something bright and joyful – and this holiday is one of the few chances to do so.

🤬 Witnesses caught on camera a Russian drone hitting the roof of a residential building in Kyiv. Russia attacked 13 regions of Ukraine with 635 drones and 38 missiles. The strikes caused deaths and injuries.

⚡️ Two days before Christmas, in the middle of supposed peace efforts, Russia again launches massive strikes on Ukrainian cities and energy facilities, killing a 4-year-old girl and trying to leave people without heat and power. Is this a search for peace, or just stalling and pretending to talk?

⚡️ Russia used 635 kamikaze/decoy drones and 38 missiles (35 cruise Iskander-K/X-101 and 3 Kinzhal ALBM) to attack Ukrainian cities on Dec. 23, Air Force said. Russian forces mostly targeted energy facilities in Kyiv, Odesa, Khmelnytskyi and Ternopil regions.

⚡️ More than 100 Russian drones are flying in the skies above at least 10 regions of Ukraine. 🧭 war_monitor/Telegram

⚡️ I’ve changed my name here from “Denys from Kharkiv” to “Denys from Ukraine.” The stories, data and reports I share have long gone beyond Kharkiv – they’re about the whole country: from Odesa to Kherson, from Donetsk to Kyiv and Lviv, from the frontline to our diplomacy and economy.

💪 These photos show Denys and Dmytro, infantrymen of the 93rd Brigade, who held their position on the Kostiantynivka axis for more than 130 days. 📷 iryna_rybakova/X

A few days ago, President Zelenskyy said Ukraine has run out of missiles for some foreign air-defense systems. Given that Russian missiles keep destroying Ukraine’s energy and civilian infrastructure – earlier in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Kharkiv, and in recent days in Odesa...

⚡️ 2 killed, 1 wounded in Russia’s bomb attack on Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, State Emergency Service said. Death toll rose after rescuers pulled the bodies of two victims – a 42-year-old woman and her 47-year-old husband from the rubble of their home. 🎥 DSNS/Telegram

⚡️ 1 killed, 1 injured in Russia’s glide bomb attack against Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, Regional Governor Oleh Symiehubov said.

🤬 Ukraine investigates execution of at least 337 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs), Prosecutor General's Office reported on Dec. 17 in a response to my request.

🤬 8 killed, 27 injured in Russia’s massive drone and missile attack against port infrastructure in Odesa region on Dec. 19, State Emergency Service said. Some of the victims were inside a bus that stood right at the epicenter of the strike.

💔🕸 This video shows how war is changing: you can now measure the intensity of fighting not by ruins, but by the number of fiber-optic lines. Recon pilots of the 63rd brigade show Lyman, Donetsk Oblast slowly wrapped in this “spider web” of drones. 📹 63ombr/Instagram

🛡🕯🇺🇦 Ukraine has repatriated the bodies of 1,003 soldiers killed in the war with Russia, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs said on Dec. 19. The Geneva Conventions require that people who lose their lives in war have the right to a dignified burial.

🎙🇺🇦 Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded via WhatsApp to journalists’ questions on the morning of Dec. 18, while en route to 🇧🇪. I've collected the main points from the President's answers.

⚡️ 26 injured in Russia's glide bomb attack against Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said. The Russians launched guided aerial bombs, destroying residential buildings and damaging infrastructure and an educational institution.

🤬 Russian army is massively attacking Zaporizhzhia with guided bombs and drones. One of the bombs hit a residential building, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said. 📹 ivan_fedorov_zp/Telegram

⚡️ Russians struck rescuers in Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, with an FPV drone as they were driving to extinguish a fire caused by another Russian strike, State Emergency Service said. 📷 DSNS/Telegram

💥 Explosions heard in Kyiv. Russia attacks Ukrainian capital or suburbs with kamikaze drones.

🇺🇦🕯 314 MPs voted in favor of introducing a nationwide minute of silence as a daily event, according to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak. The law establishes a nationwide minute of silence for those killed by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, held every day at 9:00 a.m.

❓ I've just asked 🇺🇦 President Zelenskyy about 🇩🇪 Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s proposal for a Christmas truce with Russia and a temporary ceasefire over Christmas and New Year.