Zelensky has said that he is open to creating a demilitarised zone in Ukraine’s east as a proposed peace deal edges forward

The staggering setback for the Kremlin occurred as fighting continued between both sides for nearly the fourth straight year and a US-brokered peace plan remained stalled.

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday (Dec 25) urged Russia and Ukraine to find the "courage" to hold direct talks and spoke of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza in his first Christmas message.The US pope, who was elected by fellow cardinals in May after the death of his predecessor Pope Francis,

Moscow has launched far more drones and missiles than in previous years, leaving energy supplies at a tipping point.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Christmas since his election by denouncing the suffering of people of Gaza – taking shelter in tents from the “rain, wind and cold” – and by calling for the guns to fall silent in Ukraine.

Pope Leo has urged Ukraine and Russia to find the "courage" to hold direct talks to end the war during his first Christmas remarks to crowds in St Peter's square.

The new pontiff’s usual Christmas remarks prompted unease from European media outlets, and they raised increasingly common questions about the delicate line between moral balance and political activism.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has hinted at progress on a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, following a “really good conversation” with President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Christmas Day.

Zelensky says Russia fired more than 600 drones and 30 missiles - footage on social media captured the moment a drone hit a block of flats in Kyiv.

In his first Christmas message, speaking to a crowd of some 26,000 people in St Peter's Square, Leo XIV also discussed the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.