Overview
- Russian senator Dmitry Rogozin denounced Keir Starmer as "illiterate" and "a fool" and implied Russia would strike the UK if British forces were stationed in Ukraine.
- Starmer said any deployment under the UK‑France‑Ukraine declaration would be put to a parliamentary vote, the size of the force remains undecided, and he has consulted President Trump on security guarantees.
- Vladimir Putin used an Orthodox Christmas service to claim Russian soldiers act "on the Lord's orders," casting the war in religious terms.
- Putin attended the service alongside GRU officers including Maj‑Gen Aleksei Galkin of unit 92154, which Polish investigators have linked to a railway sabotage case.
- Overnight strikes on Orthodox Christmas injured civilians in Dnipro and strained power supplies in western Ukraine, while an explosion at an oil site in Belgorod ignited storage tanks, officials said.