Overview
- Russia-installed authorities in Khorly, occupied Kherson, say three drones hit a hotel and café during New Year festivities, killing at least 20–24 people and injuring dozens, a claim not independently verified and not addressed by Kyiv.
- Ukraine reports Russia launched more than 200 attack drones overnight targeting power infrastructure, with widespread outages in regions including Volyn and Odesa as air defenses downed or suppressed most of the incoming drones.
- Ukraine’s military says it struck energy facilities inside Russia, including the Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar and an oil site in Tatarstan, with results under assessment.
- Russia’s defense ministry says it decoded navigation data from a downed Ukrainian drone allegedly bound for a presidential residence in Novgorod and will share it with the United States, while a Wall Street Journal report cites a CIA view that such an attempt did not occur.
- Moscow’s recent activation of nuclear-capable Oreshnik missiles in Belarus underscores a harder strategic line as diplomats pursue a framework for talks in early January.