Russian President Vladimir Putin's defiant New Year's message contrasts sharply with President Donald Trump's diplomatic push as Ukraine-Russia war approaches fourth year.

The Kremlin leader kept his speech short, spoke only briefly about the fighting in Ukraine, and did not mention U.S.-mediated talks on ending the war.

January, President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine will have dragged on longer than the war on the Eastern Front that ended with the fall of Berlin in May 1945.

Over the course of Trump’s first year in office, Zelensky and other European leaders have repeatedly worked to convince Trump that Russia’s President Putin is, in fact, an aggressor opposed to peace, responsible for an unprovoked invasion that launched the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

President Donald Trump shared a New York Post op-ed on his Truth Social account Wednesday that lambasted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "dictator" whose "lies" and "hatred" were "standing in the way" of a peace deal in Ukraine.

The C.I.A. has determined that Ukraine did not target President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia or one of his residences in an attack this week, according to U.S. officials, rebutting an assertion Mr. Putin made in a phone call to President Trump on Monday.

Between January and November, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured, the United Nations said earlier in December. That was 26% higher than in the same period in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023,

MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday told his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine after a Russian commander said Moscow's forces were 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) from its biggest city.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Moscow’s troops are advancing across the battlefield in Ukraine, voicing confidence that the Kremlin’s military goals will be achieved