Valery Gerasimov

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

London: Russia uses paratroopers as rapid reaction units in Ukraine

Russian commanders in southern and eastern Ukraine are using airborne forces as "elite rapid reaction units", according to a British Ministry of Defense briefing.

The fate of a devastated salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine hung in the balance Wednesday in one of the bloodiest battles of Russia's invasion, while Ukraine's unflagging resistance and other challenges prompted Moscow to shake up its military leadership again.

Russian forces used jets, mortars and rockets to bombard Soledar in an unrelenting assault.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Russia announced a Christmas truce in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a Christmas truce across the entire front in Ukraine from noon tomorrow until midnight on January 7.

In Ukraine, conflicts continue along the entire front line in the east and south of the country.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called on the EU to supply his country with more weapons and equipment.

China's Defence Ministry has announced that its People's Liberation Army will participate in the strategic command and staff exercise Vostok-2022 in Russia in which India, Belarus, Tajikistan and Mongolia are also participants.

During a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, Vladimir Putin ordered the nuclear deterrent forces to be put on special alert, Reuters and RIA Novosti reported.

The top U.S. military officers from United States and Russia held six hours of talks in Helsinki on Wednesday, in the first face-to-face meeting between them since 2019 as both nations adjust to the U.S. pullout and Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden have begun to hold talks in an expanded format.

The Turkish and Russian military chiefs had a discussion of developments in Syria's Idlib province on the phone, the Turkish army said on Jan. 30.

Turkish Chief of General Staff Yaşar Güler and his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov discussed the latest developments in Idlib, a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, the Turkish Armed Forces said on Twitter

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the United States was manipulating facts in order to falsely accuse Russia of violating the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces arms control treaty and create a pretext to leave it, reported Haaretz.