Australian Russell Allan Wilson was killed on December 12 during combat operations in the Donetsk region, fighting for Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. He was supposed to get married a week after his last mission.
As of January 1, an updated procedure for military training of reserve officers, stipulated by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1612, is in force in Ukraine. The program allows citizens to obtain an officer rank and prepare for contract or conscription service.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces' Unmanned Systems Forces confirmed the defeat of 10 military and infrastructure targets deep within enemy territory and in temporarily occupied territories on New Year's Eve. Among the targets were Russian oil refineries, an oil depot, a KASTA-2E2 radar, and a TOR air defense system.
In 2025, Russian occupiers lost 418,170 killed and wounded. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also reported significant equipment losses, including 1,816 tanks and 3,806 armored combat vehicles.
Veteran Ruslana Danilkina and Pavlo Simakin became the winners of "Dancing with the Stars" after their performance on December 28. The couple scored a maximum of 40 points from the jury for their rumba.
In 2025, Russians used over 60,000 guided aerial bombs, about 2,400 missiles, and over 100,000 drones. Air raid alerts sounded at least 19,033 times across Ukraine.
The "Impulse" system has started to be implemented in the units of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to automate accounting and increase work efficiency.
The prosecutor's office secured a guilty verdict for the organizer and accomplices of an underground production of counterfeit coffee, who caused damages exceeding UAH 500,000. The perpetrators received 5 years of imprisonment with a probationary period, and six cars were transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Two Ukrainian citizens have been sentenced to life imprisonment for treason. They provided the enemy with coordinates of Ukrainian Armed Forces units and military facilities for air strikes on Zhytomyr, Donetsk, and Odesa regions.
Soldiers of the Kodatska Territorial Defense Brigade captured a group of Russian occupiers with the help of drones, escorting them to the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Defense Forces of Ukraine called on Russian servicemen to surrender, guaranteeing compliance with the Geneva Conventions.
The SBU detained a Kyiv resident who distributed videos of the capital's air defense system on social networks. The man filmed the deployment of Ukrainian air defense and published it on Telegram and Instagram.
Russia does not change its intentions to seize Ukraine and plunge cities into "blackouts. " Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky announced increased countermeasures against enemy "Shaheds" and the formation of divisions of unmanned air defense systems.
Fighters of the SBS of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a massive attack on storage, equipment, and launch preparation sites for "Shahed", "Gerbera", and "Geran" drones on the territory of Donetsk Airport.
Fighting continues near the settlements of Yunakivka, Andriivka, Yablunivka, Varachyne, Kindrativka. The settlement of Khotyn in Sumy region remains under the control of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
Mykola Shevchenko, an officer of the Ukrainian Defense Forces and a public figure from Dnipro, died in battles with the Russian occupiers. He joined the defense of his homeland in 2022.
Over the past day, December 29, the Russian army lost 1220 servicemen and dozens of pieces of enemy equipment. The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02.22 to 30.12.25 amounted to approximately over 1.2 million personnel.
An interactive installation "Heart in an Ice Block" has been installed on Sofia Square in Kyiv, which will be open until January 6, 2026. It symbolizes the importance of emotional support and human warmth during the war, allowing visitors to melt the ice with their touches.
The Prosecutor General's Office has launched an investigation into the execution of two Ukrainian prisoners of war by representatives of the Russian Armed Forces on December 27, 2025, in the village of Shakhove, Pokrovsk district. The occupiers forced them to undress and then shot them, which is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Oleksandr Pivnenko showed a video of the combat work of the "Typhoon" unit during the assaults on Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad. The unmanned systems unit destroys Russian armored vehicles used in mechanized assaults.
Ukrainian marines eliminated enemy armored vehicles in the Pokrovsk direction. Pilots of the 88th separate battalion of the 35th separate marine brigade detected and destroyed the targets.
As of December 29, 2025, the Defense Forces of Ukraine have eliminated 1,205,690 Russian occupiers. The enemy has also lost over 11,000 tanks and 23,000 armored combat vehicles.
Russian air defense allegedly shot down two targets. Relevant videos appeared online.
On the night of December 29, residents of Maykop, the capital of the Republic of Adygea, heard explosions. The Khanskaya military airfield, where air defense operations were recorded, came under attack.
Fierce fighting continues in Huliaipole, with part of the city under the control of Russian troops. The occupiers are actively storming positions, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine are holding a significant part of the city, inflicting tangible losses on the enemy.
Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesman for the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine, denied the Russian command's statements about the capture of Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian units are in the city and its western outskirts, despite intense enemy attacks.
The Drone Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the defeat of the Russian GRU special forces in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region. More than 120 servicemen of the 14th Special Forces Brigade of the Russian GRU were eliminated or wounded.
The Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the destruction of a number of enemy military targets in temporarily occupied Crimea. Among the hit targets is the enemy "Valdai" radar station.
Since the beginning of December 27, 62 combat engagements have been recorded, with Russian occupiers storming the positions of Ukrainian defenders. Border settlements of Sumy Oblast are suffering from artillery shelling from the territory of the Russian Federation.
The Russian Ministry of Defense once again disseminated information about the alleged transfer of Kupyansk under the control of Russian troops. This happened after Russian military bloggers and Z-channels reported the loss of positions.
On December 26, 258 combat engagements took place on the Russian-Ukrainian front. The Ukrainian Defense Forces stopped 63 assault actions of the aggressor in the Pokrovsk direction.
