Ukraine and US near finalizing 20-point security framework as Zelenskyy reports 90% agreement on guarantees while Russia pushback, signals changes needed.

Russia launched a "massive" attack on several Ukrainian cities overnight on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, a day after he warned of strikes over the Christmas period.

Ukrainian military says ‘numerous explosions’ at Novoshakhtinsk refinery; Zelenskyy says ‘very good’ talks held with Trump envoys. What we know on day 1,402

A majority of Russians expect the war in Ukraine to end in 2026, state pollster VTsIOM said on Wednesday, in a sign that the Kremlin could be testing public reaction to a possible peace settlement as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict intensify.

Air raid alerts were issued across the country, including in Kyiv, where one person was killed. Others were killed in Khmelnytskyy, western Ukraine, and the central Zhytomyr region.

The blueprint covers a broad range of issues, including territory, security guarantees and postwar reconstruction. But Russia has indicated little willingness to end the war.

In his first Christmas homily, Pope Leo lamented conditions for Palestinians in Gaza and urged Ukraine and Russia to engage in direct talks to end their wr.

Zelensky explained that if Ukraine was prepared to pull its heavy forces back by five, 10 or 40km in the 25% of Donetsk it still held to create an economic zone, making it virtually demilitarised, then Russia would have to do the same "accordingly by five, 10, or 40km".