Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Russia was preparing to wage a new "year of war" on his country in 2026, after his counterpart Vladimir Putin said Moscow would "certainly" achieve its war objectives, with or without a peace deal. Zelensky will be in Brussels on Thursday to convince European partners to use frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv, a senior Ukrainian official said. Follow our liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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At least 32 wounded in attack on Zaporizhzhia
Russian air strikes on and around the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday wounded at least 32 people, according to local authorities.
The head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on Telegram that all of those wounded were from the city and its surrounding areas.
Rescue services earlier said five children were among the casualties in a provisional toll of 30, after strikes hit a block of flats, a house and an educational establishment.
AFP journalists at the scene saw firefighters battling a blaze in a multi-storey housing block, with black smoke billowing into the sky.
Fedorov added that two people were also wounded in a Russian drone strike on a civilian car in Kushuhum, south of Zaporizhzhia.
US approves new defence bill with provisions for Ukraine military support
Trump released a National Security Strategy this month, which has been viewed as friendly to Russia and a reassessment of the US relationship with Europe. However, lawmakers have included several provisions in the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) that aim to bolster Europe's security.
The bill provides $800 million for Ukraine — $400 million for each of the next two years — as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. This initiative pays US companies to supply weapons to Ukraine's military. It also authorises the Baltic Security Initiative and allocates $175 million to support the defence of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Additionally, the bill limits the Defence Department's ability to reduce the number of US forces in Europe to fewer than 76,000 and prohibits the US European Command from relinquishing the title of NATO Supreme Commander.
Three Russia-themed anti-war films shortlisted for Oscars
Three films about Russian anti-Kremlin journalists and activists under President Vladimir Putin have been shortlisted for the Oscars.
David Borenstein's "Mr Nobody Against Putin", based on footage smuggled out of Russia, and "My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 - Last Air in Moscow", by US filmmaker Julia Loktev, have been shortlisted in the Documentary Feature Film category.
Borenstein's film documents the abrupt militarisation of a secondary school in Russia's Ural mountains, using footage shot by the school's event coordinator and videographer, Pavel Talankin.
Russian-born Loktev's documentary -- which entertainment news site Vulture said felt like a "5.5-hour-long panic attack" -- tells the story of independent Russian woman journalists in the winter of 2021-2022, in the build-up to Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Exiled Russian filmmaker Alexander Molochnikov's "Extremist", for which Hollywood's Ben Stiller acted as executive producer, has been shortlisted in the Live Action Short Film category.
The film was inspired by the story of 35-year-old Sasha Skochilenko, an artist and musician sentenced to seven years in prison in 2023 for swapping supermarket price tags for messages opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russia preparing for another 'year of war', says Zelensky
More from the Ukrainian president, who says Russia is preparing to wage a new "year of war" on his country in 2026.
His comments come after Russia's Vladimir Putin said earlier today that Moscow would "certainly" achieve its war objectives, including seizing Ukrainian territories it claims as its own.
"Today, we heard yet another signal from Moscow that they are preparing to make next year a year of war," Zelensky said in his regular evening address.
Zelensky asks allies to show Russia that continuing war is 'pointless'
President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Ukraine's allies to secure support for Kyiv and show Russia that continuing its war is "pointless," ahead of a crucial European Union summit on Moscow's frozen assets.
"The outcome of these meetings – the outcome for Europe – must be such that Russia feels that its desire to continue fighting next year will be pointless, because Ukraine will have support," Zelensky said in his evening address.
US 'pressuring' EU not to use frozen Russian assets for Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be in Brussels tomorrow to convince European partners to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, despite Washington pressuring EU countries against the plan, a senior Ukrainian official has told AFP.
"The US administration is pressuring European countries to abandon the idea of using Russian assets to support Ukraine," the source said, adding that Zelensky "is going to Brussels to motivate European countries to adopt this decision".
Russia estimates Ukraine war spending at 5.1% of GDP in 2025
Russia spent 5.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on the war in Ukraine this year, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov has said, providing the first official estimate of how much the conflict will have cost the state budget this year.
Belousov said the defence ministry's total spending in 2025, including non-war-related items, amounted to 7.3% of GDP.
The Russian state budget allocated 6.2% of GDP to "national defence" in 2025 and another 1.8% to "national security", with the total amount for defence and security set at 17 trillion roubles.
Belousov, an economist appointed by President Vladimir Putin to replace Sergei Shoigu in 2024 amid battlefield failures and corruption scandals, said that the ministry had faced severe budget restrictions in 2025 and had to cut costs.
"Conducting combat operations led to an increase in military spending. All this required strict optimization and prioritisation of the defence budget," Belousov told an annual gathering of the ministry's staff, attended by Putin.
France probes 'foreign interference' after remote control malware found on passenger ferry
France's counterespionage agency is investigating a suspected cyberattack plot targeting an international passenger ferry, authorities said Wednesday.
A Latvian crew member is in custody facing charges of having acted for an unidentified foreign power, French officials said.
But Interior Minister Laurent Nunez appeared to hint that Russia is suspected, saying: “At the moment, foreign interference very often comes from same country."
France and other European allies of Ukraine allege that Russia is waging “hybrid warfare” against them, using sabotage, assassinations, cyberattacks, disinformation and other hostile acts that are often hard to quickly trace back to Moscow.
Ukraine's Zelensky to attend EU summit in Brussels on Thursday
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the European Union's council held on Thursday in Brussels in person, an EU official has said.
Poland to start producing anti-personnel mines to lay along eastern border
Poland has decided to start producing anti‑personnel mines for the first time since the Cold War and plans to deploy them along its eastern border, the deputy defence minister has told Reuters.
Warsaw wants to use anti-personnel mines to beef up its borders with Belarus and Russia, and may export them to Ukraine, Deputy Defence Minister Pawel Zalewski said.
The move follows a broader regional shift that has seen almost all European countries bordering Russia announce plans to quit a global treaty banning such weapons.
German MPs approve 50 billion euros in military purchases
German lawmakers have approved about 50 billion euros ($59 billion) in military purchases as Berlin accelerates a defence spending ramp-up to face the threat posed by Russia.
The extensive list of procurement projects ranged from missiles for air defence systems to armoured medical vehicles, satellite systems and new uniforms.
"We are sending a signal to the (NATO) alliance and our partners: Germany is leading the way," the defence ministry said in a statement.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany dropped a long-standing pacifist tradition and started ramping up spending to overhaul its long underfunded armed forces.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who took office in May, has moved to exempt defence spending from strict debt rules to accelerate the build-up.
Merz and Meloni at odds over use of frozen Russian assets
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said the EU must use Russian frozen assets to raise "pressure on Putin" as European countries continue to wrangle on the issue.
Moments earlier, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni cautioned against doing so without a solid legal basis, arguing that such a move would hand Moscow "the first victory since the start of the war".
Click on the story below for more insight on why Russian assets are proving so divisive.
UK tells Abramovich to give Chelsea sale cash to Ukraine or face court
Britain is giving Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich a final chance to give Ukraine 2.5 billion pounds ($3.33 billion) from the sale of Chelsea Football Club or face potential legal action.
The UK sanctioned Abramovich in a crackdown on Russian oligarchs after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, triggering a rushed sale of the Premier League soccer club and freezing of the proceeds.
Should the Russian businessman fail to free the funds quickly, the government said in a statement that it was fully prepared to take him to court if necessary to enforce a 2022 agreement with him.
Britain wants the funds spent only on humanitarian causes in Ukraine, in line with a wider European push for Moscow to foot the bill for deaths and destruction triggered by its invasion.
Abramovich has previously sought more flexibility and said he wants the money to go to all victims.
In Ukraine, Kyiv residents haunted by nightly Russian attacks
About once a week on average, Russia stages a massive combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine, usually targeting multiple cities. In the capital Kyiv alone, these attacks have killed more than 330 civilians since 2022.
FRANCE 24's Correspondent Gulliver Cragg reports on what has become normal life in the Ukrainian capital.
EU Parliament approves phase out of Russian gas imports
The European Parliament on Wednesday approved the EU's plan to phase out Russian gas imports by late 2027, clearing the penultimate legal hurdle before the ban becomes law.
The EU agreed earlier this month on legislation to cut ties with Europe's former top gas supplier Russia, having vowed to do so after Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The ban still requires formal approval by EU ministers, expected early next year. Officials expect countries to endorse the deal without changes.
Under the agreement, the EU will halt Russian liquefied natural gas imports by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas by the end of September 2027.
As of October, Russia accounted for 12 percent of EU gas imports, down from 45 percent before its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Hungary, France and Belgium are among the countries still receiving supplies.
The European Commission has said it will also propose legislation in early 2026 to phase out Russian oil imports.
Russian attack on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia wounds 26, governor says
Russian glide bomb attacks in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region wounded 26 people, including a child, according to the regional governor.
"The Russians launched guided aerial bombs, destroying residential buildings and damaging infrastructure and an educational institution," governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
Three strikes hit the regional capital and its outskirts, he added.
Ukraine's state emergencies service said work to clear the rubble was still ongoing.
The city of Zaporizhzhia, whose southern edge is less than 25 kilometres from the frontline, has been bombed regularly by Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia will liberate its land by military means if Ukraine abandons dialogue, Putin says
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia will take the lands it claims in Ukraine by military means if Kyiv and the West abandon peace talks.
He added that there were some calls in the West to prepare for a major war with Russia, which he described as "hysteria" and "a lie".
Russia making 'unreasonable' demands in Ukraine peace discussions, Italy's Meloni says
Russia is making "unreasonable" demands in a US-brokered push for peace with Ukraine, Italian
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said ahead of a summit of EU leaders.
Meloni also told the Italian parliament that finding a legal way to use frozen Russian assets to help finance Ukraine remained "far from easy".
She reaffirmed Italy's support for Kyiv, insisting Moscow must pay for war damages, while stressing that any move by the European Union needed a solid legal basis.
Europe launched an International Claims Commission to compensate Kyiv for hundreds of billions of dollars in damage from Russian attacks and alleged war crimes.
France demanded "robust" guarantees for Ukraine before any discussions on Kyiv ceding territory to Moscow.
Russia ruled out territorial concessions in talks on Ukraine, state media reported
Britain pledged $805 million in air-defence capabilities to support Ukraine, including advanced turret systems designed to shoot down Russian drones.
