These are important developments since day 1,385 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Published December 10, 2025
Here’s what happened on Wednesday, December 10th.
finding
Ukraine’s military, which controls parts of the besieged city of Pokrovsk, was ordered to withdraw from difficult-to-defend positions last week, said top Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Silsky.
Silsky said the situation in Pokrovsk remained difficult for Ukrainian forces, with Russia massing an estimated 156,000 troops in the area under cover of recent rain and fog.
Russian military commander-in-chief Valery Gerasimov said Russian forces were advancing along all of Ukraine’s lines and were also concentrating on Ukrainian forces in the besieged city of Mirnohrad. Russia said its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 121 Ukrainian drones throughout Tuesday. The British Ministry of Defense has announced that a member of the British military has died while inspecting a test of new defense capabilities for the Ukrainian military. The ministry said the British soldier was killed away from the front line with Russian troops.
Ukraine’s state-run gas and oil company Naftogaz said a Russian drone damaged gas infrastructure facilities, but there were no casualties.
Russia’s Syzran refinery on the Volga River ceased oil processing on December 5 after being damaged by a Ukrainian drone attack, Reuters reported, citing two industry sources.
Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said Ukraine would introduce further restrictions on electricity use and allow additional energy imports as it struggles to repair infrastructure that was the target of Russian attacks.
ceasefire
Ukraine and its European partners Germany, France and Britain will submit a “sophisticated document” to the United States on a peace plan to end the war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. Finland’s President Alexander Stubbe said Ukraine’s allies are working on three separate documents, including a 20-point framework for peace, a set of security and post-war reconstruction plans. At a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, US Deputy Ambassador Jennifer Rossetta said the US is working to bridge the gap in peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. He said the aim was to secure a permanent ceasefire and “a mutually agreed peace deal that leaves Ukraine with sovereignty and independence and an opportunity for real prosperity.” “What we are considering is a fairly realistic proposal for a long-term and durable solution to the conflict in Ukraine, to which our American colleagues are enthusiastically working,” Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Neventsia said. Pope Leo said Europe must play a central role in efforts to end the war in Ukraine, warning that any peace plan that sidelines the continent was “unrealistic” but called on leaders to seize what he described as a unique opportunity to work together towards a just peace.
politics and diplomacy
President Zelenskyy said he was ready to hold an election within three months if the United States and Kiev’s European allies could ensure the security of the vote. Ukraine’s law prohibits wartime elections, but Zelensky, whose term expired last year, is under renewed pressure from US President Donald Trump to hold a vote. The Kremlin said European claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union are false and claims that Putin is planning an invasion of NATO member states are complete nonsense. European Council President António Costa said the European Union is very close to a solution for funding Ukraine in 2026 and 2027 that can be supported by at least a qualified majority of EU countries. Japan has denied media reports that it has rejected an EU request to join a plan to use frozen Russian state assets to finance Ukraine.
regional security
Three men are on trial in Germany for tailing a former Ukrainian soldier on behalf of Russian intelligence as part of an assassination plot.
sanctions
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he has discussed U.S. sanctions on Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft with Ukrainian Prime Minister Sviridenko.
