In an hourlong televised meeting with his top military brass, Vladimir Putin left Syria unmentioned and made it clear that winning in Ukraine was his top priority.

Vladimir Putin has been conspicuously silent about Syria since the end of Bashir Assad's rule. Analysts say it points to weakness and a need for a win.

Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad says he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him from their base in western Syria after it came under attack.

After failing to boost Russia’s fertility rate via pronatalist policies and to extend life expectancies, Putin “seems to have concluded that the only way to achieve a sizable increase in his population is by annexing and subordinating ethnically and culturally related neighbors, by force if necessary.”

US President-elect Donald Trump has criticised President Joe Biden's decision to permit Ukraine to strike Russian territory and hinted that he might withdraw that authorisation. Source: Trump during a press conference in Palm Beach,

The PM will meet troops from the UK-led Nato battlegroup in Estonia as he warns Russia is the "most acute threat" the UK faces