The Ukrainian leader rejected the demand, making clear that territorial issues remain unresolved as Ukraine and Europe sent a counterproposal to the United States.

Ukraine said its long-range drones had struck a major offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea, as it seeks to cut off the Russian energy revenues funding its war.

Cyprus joined the EU in 2004 as a war-divided island and could offer Ukraine a blueprint for accession. The island will take over the EU’s rotating presidency from Denmark on Jan. 1 and has promised to continue work on Ukraine’s bid.

Russia's capture of Pokrovsk appears to be a matter of 'when' not 'if', and while its fall will not trigger a collapse in Ukraine's defences, it weakens Kyiv at a sensitive juncture in U.S.-led negotiations to end the war.

Kyiv resisted hitting tankers carrying Russian oil—until now.

Russia is pushing to take over all of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, where one resident tells NPR that she feels her "life depends on how our guys at the front hold on."

The drones are still in limited supply and are not always the ideal interception method, Ukrainian soldiers and an official told Business Insider.

Ukraine attacked Lukoil PJSC’s Filanovsky oil field in the Caspian Sea, according to a person familiar the matter, widening the scope of its strikes on Russian energy infrastructure just as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is under US pressure to agree to a peace deal largely on the Kremlin’s terms.