For Ukraine, regaining control of the plant is not just about undoing an illegal seizure. It is central to the country’s postwar energy independence. Before the war, the plant supplied roughly a quarter of the country’s electricity needs. Its generation capacity would be vital for powering reconstruction efforts, energy experts say.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his New Year address to the nation, said late Wednesday that Kyiv wanted the war to end, but not at any cost, adding he would not sign a "weak" peace agreement that would only prolong the war.

The CIA has assessed Ukraine was not targeting a residence used by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a recent drone attack in the north of his country, according to US officials, undercutting an assertion the Russian president had made to Trump in a Monday phone call.

Defense experts questioned Russia's drone attack claims against President Vladimir Putin's residence after Moscow provides conflicting accounts of intercepted Ukrainian drones.

Russia invaded Ukraine to restore it to Moscow’s orbit, but President Donald Trump’s peace plan would increase Kyiv’s security, economic and other ties with the West.

After a year of Russian advances, the goal for 2026 is simply to survive, said one officer in eastern Ukraine. “It’s hard to make any plans,” he said.

For a brief moment, the Kremlin thought it had won a small but satisfying victory. One of its most wanted enemies, one of the most prominent anti-Putin Russians fighting alongside Ukraine, was supposedly dead,

Russia launched about 52,000 drones in overnight attacks on Ukraine in 2025, according to data aggregated by Kyle Glen of the U.K.-based Centre for Information Resilience, compared with around 14,000 launched between 2022 and 2024. Odesa is becoming a major target.