Russia Ukraine War

"We do believe that countries like India, countries that have a relationship with Russia and with Ukraine may be in a position to help bring about dialogue and diplomacy that could one day put an end to this war," Price said on Friday while briefing foreign correspondents. "We have been in regular, close contact with India regarding what we can do to hold Russia accountable and to impose additional costs on Russia for its war."

"In 2022, the Ukrainian economy suffered its largest losses and damage in the entire history of independence," Xinhua news agency quoted Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko as saying. In December 2022, Ukraine's GDP declined 34 per cent due to a certain stabilisation of the situation with energy supply, after a fall of 37 per cent in November, the Ministry said.

In a social media post on Wednesday, the Russian military said the main cause of the attack that hit a college for conscripts in Makiivka shortly after midnight on January 1 was the presence and "mass use" of mobile phones by troops in range of Ukrainian weapons, despite this being banned, the BBC reported.

The Kiev City Military Administration said on Sunday in a statement that the air defence shot down all 32 air targets launched against the capital. Wreckage from aerial intercepts damaged a private car in the central Shevchenkivskiy district and fell onto subway tracks in the eastern Dniprovskiy district, disrupting the operation of the local subway, Xinhua news agency reported.

Zelensky switched to speaking Russian in his nightly address to send a message to the Kremlin and Russian citizens, as Moscow launched a series of deadly strikes that swept several regions of Ukraine ahead of New Year, CNN reported. "All this war that you are waging, you - Russia, it is not the war with NATO, as your propagandists lie," Zelensky said.

Ukrainian military said that all of Friday's drones were destroyed, the BBC reported. In Kiev, an air alert was announced after 2 a.m. on Friday and residents were urged to take shelter. Five of the drones were shot down in the air and two "on approach", the BBC quoted Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko as saying. No-one was reported injured in Kiev, but windows in two buildings were damaged, Klitschko added.

Thursday's strikes followed overnight attacks with kamikaze drones across the war-torn nation, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ukrainian Air Force Command as saying in a social media post. Ukraine's military said 69 missiles were launched, with air defences intercepting 54 of them. Earlier, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak had said more than 120 missiles had been launched at civilian infrastructure.

"A massive air raid. More than 100 missiles in several waves," presidential office adviser Oleksiy Arestovych wrote on Facebook, while another adviser Mykhailo Podolyak claimed more than 120 missiles had been fired at Ukraine, Daily Mail reported.

For months, he struggled to come to terms with what instead became a costly quagmire, and found himself isolated and distrustful at the pinnacle of a power structure designed to reinforce his belligerent worldview and shelter him from discouraging news, media reports said. Through the summer, delegations of military experts and arms manufacturers emerged from presidential meetings questioning whether Putin understood the reality on the battleground, according to people familiar with the situation, The Wall Street Journal reported.

At least 16 people were killed and 64 others were wounded in Russian strikes in Ukraine's Kherson Oblast. The Russian forces on Saturday shelled the city centre, industrial premises, medical institutions, private and apartment buildings with tubed artillery, MLRS and mortars, Ukrainska Pravda reported.