A building set ablaze by Russian strikes on the Odesa region in southern Ukraine, December 20, 2025
UPDATE 0900 GMT:
Ukraine air defenses downed 31 of 51 drones launched by Russia overnight. The other 20 hit 15 locations.
UPDATE 0853 GMT:
Ukrainian drones struck a Russian patrol ship and an oil platform in the Caspian Sea on Friday.
The patrol ship is one of the Rubin class of Russian Coast Guard vessels combatting surface and airborne threats.
The Caspian platform, owned by Russian State company Lukoil, is in the Filanovsky field with estimated reserves of 129 million tons of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas.
UPDATE 0738 GMT:
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that he may join talks between Donald Trump’s envoys and top Ukrainian officials on Saturday.
Rustem Umerov, the Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, and other Kyiv officials met the envoys, real estate developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, on Friday near Miami. Officials from the UK, France, and Germany were also present.
Umerov said he is “acting clearly in line with the priorities defined by the President [Volodymyr Zelensky]: security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term.”
A Russian official confirmed that Vladimir Putin’s top economic advisor Kirill Dmitriev is also heading to Miami to meet Witkoff and Kushner.
In late October, Dmitriev collaborated with the two envoys on a 28-point ultimatum to Kyiv to surrender territory and accept political and military weakness. Ukraine’s European partners pushed back the demands with a counter-proposal.
The Russian officials said there will be no meeting between Dmitriev and the Ukrainian negotiators.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: At least eight civilians were murdered and 27 wounded by Russian attacks on the Odesa region in southern Ukraine late Friday.
The Russians struck the Black Sea port of Pivdennyi in their latest assault on infrastructure in the region. The explosions began around 9 p.m., minutes after the Ukraine Air Force warned of incoming ballistic missiles.
Some of the victims were on a bus that was hit. Cargo trucks in a parking lot were destroyed, and cars were set afire.
On Thursday and early Friday, power was cut to more than 73,000 residents because of damage to energy facilities. A woman was killed and her three children wounded by a drone strike on their car.
Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said officials are conferring with Moldova’s authorities to find alternative routes so trucks and passengers can cross the border safely. Temporary camps have been set up in Moldova at border crossings to provide shelter and food for travellers en route to Ukraine.
