Russo-Ukrainian War

In the early hours of 2025, Europe will receive its last Russian natural gas via Ukraine’s pipelines, while the region prepares for a cold wave that could accelerate the depletion of reserves.

Around 3,985 square kilometers of Russian forces advanced in 2024 in Ukraine, nearly 7 times the 584 square kilometers in 2023, according to a French Agency analysis of data from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) as of December 30.

Local residents take shelter in a metro station during an air strike alarm in Kiev on Dec. 31, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia launched an aerial attack on Ukraine Tuesday, striking the capital and other regions with multiple missiles and drones.

Russia and Ukraine on Dec. 30 swapped 300 prisoners of war, the Russian Defense Ministry announced.

A statement by the ministry said that 150 Russian servicemen have been returned by Kiev, and all of them are being provided with psychological and medical assistance in neighboring Belarus.

South Korea's spy agency said Friday it had confirmed that a North Korean soldier sent to back Russia's war against Ukraine had been captured by Ukrainian forces.

Pyongyang has deployed thousands of troops to reinforce Russia's military, including in the Kursk border region where Ukraine mounted a shock border incursion in August.

More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Russia's war with Ukraine, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Monday.

The new figure follows a report by Seoul's spy agency to MPs last week, which said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since entering combat in December.

TOPSHOT - This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Dec. 20, 2024 shows a building damaged as a result of a missile attack in Kiev, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russian missiles targeted the Ukrainian capital Kiev at sunrise on Dec. 20, killing at least one person and cutting heating to hundreds of buildings in cold temperatures.

Keith Kellogg, appointed by US President-elect Donald Trump as the special representative for Ukraine and Russia, plans to visit Kyiv and other European capitals in January 2025. According to Reuters, Kellogg's European tour is still being finalized, but it is expected to include meetings with Ukrainian leaders in Kyiv, as well as with officials in Rome and Paris.

BELGRADE - US Ambassador to Belgrade Christopher Hill said on Monday he was unable to confirm whether the US would impose sanctions on Serbia's majority-Russian owned oil company NIS, and noted that, if imposed, the sanctions should not harm the Serbian economy in any way.

The European Union has adopted a 15th package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, including tougher measures against Chinese entities and more vessels from Moscow's so-called shadow fleet, the EU Commission said in a statement on Monday.