Moscow and Kyiv have failed to agree on a deal brokered by Azerbaijan to continue Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine, a senior source at the Azeri energy company SOCAR told Reuters on Friday.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with Donald Trump on ending the war and that Russian forces were moving towards achieving their primary goals on the battlefield.

Ukrainian pensioner Oleksandr Sopov barely reacts to the boom of artillery outside Pokrovsk, the eastern city where fierce battles are raging between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

US President-elect Donald Trump has said he’ll quickly negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. This has got NATO allies wondering if he’ll withdraw US support for the government in Kyiv and force it to accept a permanent Russian occupation of Ukrainian land.

Russia should have launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a year-end news conference Thursday.

Reclaiming Kursk is high on Moscow's agenda but comments by Valery Gerasimov failed to address the continuing presence of Ukrainian troops on Russian soil.

NATO’s secretary-general says he wants to discuss ways to put Ukraine in a position of strength for any future peace talks with Russia during a meeting Wednesday with Ukraine’s president and a small number of European leaders.

Russia and Ukraine have not reached an agreement on the continuation of Russian gas transit through Ukraine to Europe, despite Azerbaijan's mediation efforts. Source: Reuters, citing a senior source in the Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR Details: The EU and Ukraine are said to have asked Azerbaijan to facilitate negotiations with Russia on a gas transit agreement,

Americans’ desire to speed up the end of the Russia-Ukraine war has ticked up, a new Gallup survey found. The poll revealed that half of American respondents now desire a quick end to the

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said Moscow will control the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions next year.

The United States has accused China of supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine, highlighting that Beijing's actions contradict its claims of pursuing peace. Source: US Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood during the UN Security Council meeting on 20 Details: Wood emphasised that China's support for Russia goes against the principles of the UN Charter.