Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov as the new head of the presidential office. Who is the new chief of staff?

Meanwhile, Russia's battlefield gains in Ukraine last year were the highest since 2022, an analysis by the AFP news agency showed. View on euronews

After a year of Russian advances, the goal for 2026 is simply to survive, said one officer in eastern Ukraine. “It’s hard to make any plans,” he said.

"I had a meeting with Kyrylo Budanov and offered him the role of the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said

Ukrainian forces are under growing pressure in the south of the country, where less well-equipped units are vastly outnumbered by Russian brigades that have taken hundreds of square kilometers of territory in recent weeks.

Both Russia and Ukraine are innovating methods to deploy ground robots for assault missions, engineering tasks, and coordination with air-based drones.

Off the battlefield, each side is trying to influence President Trump’s perception of the military conflict as they look to negotiate a peace settlement in their favor.

Moscow reported a deadly strike on a hotel in territory it occupies in southern Ukraine while Kyiv said Russia attacked its power supplies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed the head of the country's military intelligence as his new chief of staff

Russian authorities have claimed that they have handed over alleged "evidence" to the US purporting to show that Ukrainian forces attempted to strike the Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's residence in Russia's Novgorod Oblast with drones.

MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday told his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine after a Russian commander said Moscow's forces were 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) from its biggest city.