The Kremlin has welcomed a meeting with US president-elect Donald Trump just days after he claimed Vladimir Putin wanted to sit down with him.Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there could be progress on setting up the meeting after Trump is sworn in as US president on 20 January.

Ukraine sees tactical advances in Russia’s Kursk, while Moscow claims to have secured front line town in Donbas.

Tensions with Russia continue to escalate as the Ukrainian president shifts tactics and asks allies for help on the ground.

Russia has been battling Ukraine in Kursk since August 2024, when Kyiv launched a surprise cross-border incursion into Russian soil. Ukraine still controls roughly half of the territory it seized in the late summer, although Moscow has been battling to peel back Kyiv's grip across the border.

On peace negotiations, Meloni said that Ukraine would need security guarantees to avoid another invasion from Moscow. She also said that Russia was becoming "bogged down" in Ukraine. 15:15:01

"The whole [Trump] team is obsessed with strength and looking strong, so they’re recalibrating the Ukraine approach," one European official told the Financial Times.

Ukraine confirmed responsibility for a strike against a Russian oil base in the city of Engels. Meanwhile, Donald Trump said he hoped to end the war in Ukraine before he reached six months in office.

Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev is demanding answers, saying Vladimir Putin's latest apology "isn't enough" and that Moscow must take responsibility.

The United States warned on Wednesday that North Korea is benefiting from its troops fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine, gaining experience that makes Pyongyang "more capable of waging war against its neighbors.