Russian overnight attacks on Ukraine fell in December, Ukrainian data shows
Ukrainian air force data showed a slight fall in overnight Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in December, despite strikes on energy infrastructure cutting power to hundreds of thousands of people, an AFP analysis showed.
Russia fired at least 5,134 drones in overnight attacks in the final month of 2025, six percent less than the month before, while the number of missiles fell by 18 percent in the same period, according to the data.
Russian-installed Kherson governor accuses Ukraine of killing 24 in New Year drone strike
The Russian-installed governor of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on Thursday accused Ukraine of killing at least 24 people in a drone strike on a hotel and cafe where New Year celebrations were being held.
The governor, Vladimir Saldo, made the allegation in a statement on the Telegram messaging service.
Ukraine’s military did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment, and Saldo did not provide visuals or other evidence that would allow the allegation to be verified.
Saldo alleged in his post that three Ukrainian drones had struck the site of new New Year celebrations in Khorly, a coastal village, in what he said was a “deliberate strike”.
Russian state news agencies reported that at least 24 people had been killed and 29 more injured, citing the local branch of Russia’s emergencies ministry.
Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine which Russia claimed as its own in 2022.
Kim Jong-un hails North Korea’s ‘invincible alliance’ with Russia in New Year’s letter
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has praised his troops fighting abroad as forging an “invincible alliance” with Russia in a new year’s message, state media said.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies.
At least 600 have died and thousands more have sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates that could not be independently confirmed.
On Thursday Kim praised his men fighting in an “alien land”, congratulating their “heroic” defence of the nation’s honour and instructing them to “be brave”, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
“As the whole country is enveloped in a festive atmosphere of greeting the new year, I all the more miss you, who are fighting bravely on the battlefields in the alien land even at this moment,” he said.
Kim hinted that more overseas action could take place this year, highlighting “remarkable feats you will perform on the overseas battlefields”.
Russian air defences down five Moscow-bound drones, mayor says
Russian air defence units downed five Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow on New Year’s Eve, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Sobyanin, in a series of posts on Telegram over a little more than three hours into early on Thursday morning, said specialist crews were examining fragments from the drones at the sites where they had hit the ground.
Sobyanin made no mention of casualties or damage.
Restrictions were placed on Moscow’s Domodedovo airport for a time. Other airports in southern and central Russia were also subject to temporary restrictions.
Zelensky says deal to end Ukraine war ’10 percent’ away
Speaking in his New Year address to the nation, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine wanted the war to end, but not at any cost. He added that he would not sign a “weak” peace agreement that would only prolong the war.
Zelensky said Ukrainians were exhausted from nearly four years of war.
“What does Ukraine want? Peace? Yes. At any cost? No. We want an end to the war but not the end of Ukraine,” Zelensky, wearing a dark green embroidered Ukrainian shirt, said in the 21-minute address issued just before midnight.
“Are we tired? Very. Does this mean we are ready to surrender? Anyone who thinks so is deeply mistaken.”
Zelensky said any signature “placed on weak agreements only fuel the war”.
“My signature will be placed on a strong agreement. And that is exactly what every meeting, every phone call, every decision is about now,” he said. “To secure a strong peace for everyone, not for a day, a week or two months, but peace for years.”
Zelensky said weeks of US-led diplomacy, including his talks last weekend with US President Donald Trump in Florida, had produced a peace deal that was nearly ready.
“A peace agreement is 90 percent ready, 10 percent remains,” he said. “That 10 percent contains everything, it is the 10 percent that will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe and how people will live.”
