Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has hinted at progress on a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, following a “really good conversation” with President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Christmas Day.

The total combat losses of Russian troops in manpower from February 24, 2022, to December 23, 2025, reached about 1,199,280 people, 1,420 of whom were eliminated in the last 24 hours. — Ukrinform.

Russia has ordered a winter troop surge to break the stalemate in Ukraine, but Ukrainian drone attacks on logistics and resupply channels will undermine this offensive.

Representatives of the combatants are currently engaged in U.S.-sponsored shuttle diplomacy that the White House hopes will secure an end to Europe’s largest conflict since World War II and a war that U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to end within 24 hours of his return to the Oval Office.

Widespread aerial attacks marked Christmas 2025 in the Russia-Ukraine war, as Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged drone and missile strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure in border regions. The escalation followed renewed international peace talks, with negotiators struggling to overcome divides between Moscow and Kyiv.

Ukrainian troops from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade reported detecting a group of Russian soldiers advancing toward their positions on horseback. Video footage released by the brigade shows the mounted troops being identified and struck by Ukrainian drone operators shortly after detection.

Russian missile and drone attacks killed at least three Ukrainians including a child on Tuesday, triggering widespread emergency power cuts and prompting neighbouring Poland to scramble jets.

The Ukrainian military has said that its forces had retaken five villages in the Dnipropetrovsk region following a counteroffensive that lasted more than 100 days.

At least seven people were killed and 39 injured in Ukraine after Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of long-range drone strikes Wednesday night into Thursday morning, according to Ukrainian officials.