President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday he sympathized with the Russian position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO, and he lamented that he will not meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before his inauguration.

Russia's advances in Ukraine over the past week plummeted to levels last seen in July, according to an analysis by an independent investigative Russian news outlet. Newsweek has contacted the Russian government for comment via email.

Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that his troops were ‘actively destroying Russian military potential’ in the Kursk region of Russia

Ukraine has launched a counterattack in the southern Russian border region of Kursk, warning that Russia is “getting what it deserves.”

Ukrainian drones struck deep inside Russia overnight and attacked the Saratov region, causing a major fire in the city of Engels, the local governor said on Wednesday.

US President-elect Donald Trump has said he can "understand the Russians' feelings" about Joe Biden allegedly breaking a "deal" to deny Ukraine NATO membership. Source: Trump at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on 7 January,

Ukraine has largely been driven out of Kurakhove, a battered but strategic town in the Donbas, Russia said. Kyiv’s forces were pressing a renewed offensive in southern Russia.

It comes as Ukraine's president says only the US can provide security guarantees leading to an end to the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that some 38,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded fighting in Russia's western Kursk region since August.

Russian forces continue to make costly but consistent gains in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. They are steadily grinding down a pocket of resistance around the town of Kurakhove and are also fighting to envelop the larger nearby city of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian soldiers and officials said.

Lukashenko's spokesperson denied on Monday that any apology took place, but confirmed that a call between both leaders soon after the war began.