These are important developments since the 1,400th day of Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Published December 25, 2025
Here’s what happened on Thursday, December 25th.
finding
An explosion in Moscow killed three people, including two police officers, days after a car bomb killed a senior Russian official. An official with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as GUR, told The Associated Press that the attack was part of Operation Ukraine and that the two police officers were targeted for their participation in Russia’s war in Ukraine. The capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said Russian air defense forces shot down 16 Ukrainian drones on their way to Moscow throughout Wednesday. Sobyanin said the drone was fought off for about 17 hours and that emergency workers were examining debris where it hit the ground, but no damage was reported. Russia’s civil aviation authority said on Telegram that two of the four main airports serving Moscow were forced to temporarily restrict operations due to drone attacks. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defense forces destroyed 172 Ukrainian-made drones overnight, nearly half of them over areas bordering Ukraine. Ukraine said drones struck the Efremov synthetic rubber factory in Russia’s Tula region south of Moscow and a marine drone storage facility in Russian-occupied Crimea. Dmitry Milyaev, governor of the Tula region, said debris from the downed Ukrainian drone caused a fire at an industrial site, and Russian air defense forces destroyed 12 Ukrainian drones over the region. A sunflower oil spill caused by a Russian airstrike has contaminated the coastline around the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, killing wildlife and raising alarm from conservationists, AFP news agency reported. “The cause was a large-scale enemy attack on the port infrastructure, which damaged the sunflower oil tank and caused some of the oil to spill,” Odesa governor Ole Kipel said in a statement. The region’s Pivdenyi port was temporarily closed on Wednesday to assist in the cleanup. A Russian-backed court in occupied Ukraine has sentenced a Colombian man who fought for Kiev’s forces to 19 years in prison. The Supreme Court of the Russian-controlled region of Ukraine’s Donetsk region has sentenced Oscar Mauricio Blanco López, 42, to 19 years in prison, Russia’s Prosecutor General announced. The Colombian arrived in Ukraine in May 2024 to join the Ukrainian army and was “taken prisoner by Russian military personnel” in December 2025.
ceasefire negotiations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy revealed for the first time details of an agreement between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators to end the war with Russia. The 20-point plan agreed upon by U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators after marathon negotiations is currently being reviewed by the Russian government. As part of the plan, President Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland if Russia also withdrew and the area became a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces. Zelenskiy said a similar arrangement could be possible in the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is currently under Russian control. The Ukrainian leader said any peace plan must be put to a referendum in Ukraine. Asked about the latest developments in ceasefire negotiations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin’s position would be determined based on information received from Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who met with US envoys in Florida over the weekend. Russia has shown no signs of agreeing to any withdrawal from the land it occupied in Ukraine. The Russian government also insists that Ukraine renounce the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas archipelago. Russia occupied most of Luhansk and about 70 percent of Donetsk, the two regions that make up Donbass.
politics and diplomacy
Russia’s state pollster VTsIOM said a majority of Russians expect the war in Ukraine to end in 2026, suggesting the Kremlin may be testing public reaction to a potential peace deal as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict intensify. In the polling agency’s year-end presentation, VTsIOM deputy director Mikhail Mamonov said 70 percent of the 1,600 respondents considered 2026 to be a more “successful” year for Russia than 2025, while 55 percent tied their hopes to Russia’s possible end to the war in Ukraine. A Russian court has scheduled the first hearing in the criminal case against German sculptor Jack Tilly, who is accused of discrediting the Russian military with a satirical carnival float depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Moscow court announced that the trial will begin on December 30 and will be heard in absentia because Tilly, who faces up to 10 years in prison or a fine, is not in Russia. President Zelenskiy said in his Christmas speech on Wednesday that national unity remained intact despite the “difficult” times the holiday marked. “The people of Ukraine are gathered together tonight,” Zelensky said, adding that the country had “undoubtedly” been changed by the war. “It almost doesn’t matter what food is on the table. What matters is who is at the table,” he said.
regional security
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had met with NATO chief Mark Rutte to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the work being undertaken by the “coalition of the willing.” “Starting with Paris in January, we will continue the work begun within this framework to provide Ukraine with solid security, a precondition for a strong and lasting peace,” President Macron said on social media. Democratic U.S. senators have called on President Donald Trump to reverse the recall of nearly 30 career ambassadors, warning that the move would leave a dangerous leadership vacuum and allow adversaries such as Russia and China to expand their influence. In recent days, the Trump administration has ordered career diplomats working in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America back to Washington to ensure U.S. diplomatic missions reflect “America First” priorities.
economy
Exports of Kazakhstan’s main oil CPC blend are expected to fall to a 14-month low in December as bad weather after last month’s drone attack by Ukraine delayed repairs to Russia’s loading infrastructure, two sources told Reuters. On November 29, Ukrainian drones attacked the Caspian Sea Pipeline Consortium’s terminal near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, leaving only one of the three piers operational and prolonging export delays. Bad weather made it more difficult to carry out the maintenance work needed to restore exports. The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine announced that it has completed the settlement of an agreement to restructure $2.6 billion of growth-related debt.
