Donetsk region. Since the start of 2025, two civilians have been killed by Russian attacks on Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk, according to regional governor Vadym Filashkin. Kherson region. On Jan. 1, Russian shelling killed one resident of the region’s eponymous capital city of Kherson, in the country’s south.

Overnight, the Russian military attacked Ukraine with two Kh-59 cruise missiles, as well as 128 Shahed-type drones and dummy drones, Ukraine's Air Force reported.

Ukrainian armed forces on Sunday night began a surprise offensive in Russia’s Kursk region. This was in an apparent attempt to regain the initiative on the battlefield before Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House,

Ukrainian forces started a surprising ground offense against Russia in August in the Kursk region but then began to lose ground after Russia deployed up to 12,000 North Korean troops in the region in its nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine.