Congratulations and this festive eight-hour playlist. It is suitable for any stage of celebration Sefa Karacan / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images Well, it's time to set the table, give each other gifts and play light, relaxed music. Especially for those who are tired and don’t want to think about the musical accompaniment of the evening, Meduza has put together its own playlist.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree according to which prisoners who signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense will not be able to count on one-time payments. The resolution was published on the legal information portal.

The Russian military has prepared a list of 160 objects in Japan and South Korea in case of a potential war with the two countries. This was reported by the Financial Times newspaper, which received secret documents of the Russian military for 2013-2014 from Western sources. The list of targets that Russian troops planned to attack during a direct confrontation included roads, bridges and factories, as well as nuclear power plants and other civilian infrastructure.

The Russian company Gazprom reported that on December 31 it began to reduce the volume of gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine, Reuters writes, citing a company statement. Gazprom announced this a day before the deal to transit Russian gas through Ukraine expires. If a transit agreement is not concluded at the last minute, gas supplies will be reduced to zero on January 1.

The family tree service MyHeritage announced that it will leave Russia. This is stated in a letter sent to Russian users, the Dozhd TV channel reported on December 31. The letter states that the data of Russian users will be deleted from the servers on February 1, 2025. MyHeritage “is forced to suspend its services in Russia due to local legislation,” Radio Liberty clarifies . Currently, the service’s website in Russia can only be opened with a VPN, service clients told Meduza.

One thousand forty-second day. Russia dealt a massive blow to Ukraine. Naval drone of the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit a Russian helicopter with a missile Miguel Candela / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images Ukrainian soldier in Kupyansk, Kharkov region. December 24, 2024 Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war.

These photos impressed them most in 2024 Since the first day of the war, Meduza has published daily photographs from the front, from bombed Ukrainian cities, from the Russian border area where fighting is taking place, as well as footage of people - civilians and military personnel - who found themselves at the epicenter of historical events. Every day, dozens and sometimes hundreds of photographs go through our photo service - yes, this is a large-scale job, and no, you can’t get used to it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a New Year's address. On the afternoon of December 31, Moscow time, it was shown on Russian television channels in the Far East. “Our country, independent, free and strong, was able to respond to the most difficult challenges. And now, on the threshold of the New Year, we are thinking about the future. We are sure that everything will be fine. We will only move forward,” Putin said, delivering an address against the backdrop of the Kremlin.

It’s impossible to believe: our readers in Russia have fulfilled more than 70 wishes of those who cannot get home. The kindest material of 2024 2024 is finally ending. There must be a tired joke here that he really turned out to be difficult. But 2024 was not an easy year—for many, 2024 was a terrible year. The third year of the war, the murder of Navalny, depression. You yourself know everything. Now, December 31, I want to believe that 2025 will be better and easier.

As The New York Times found out, Elon Musk has been living on the Trump estate since the day of the US presidential election. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP/Scanpix/ Businessman Elon Musk has settled on the estate of US President-elect Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. He rented one of the cottages there in November 2024, The New York Times reported on December 30, citing sources. According to the publication, Musk settled “several hundred feet ” from the main house where Trump lives.

Photos Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war on December 30, as a result of which the Russian side returned 150 people, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. This is the largest prisoner exchange in the last 11 months: in January 2024, 195 Russian military personnel were exchanged for 195 Ukrainian ones. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Russian soldiers are now on the territory of Belarus.

The US Treasury Department notified Congress that hackers acting on behalf of China broke into the department's computer system and gained access to work computers and unclassified documents. Reuters reports this, citing a letter that the ministry sent to Congress on December 30.

Three Russian citizens injured in the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan have been discharged from Russian hospitals due to improvement in their condition. As Interfax writes, this was stated by Assistant to the Head of the Russian Ministry of Health Alexey Kuznetsov on December 31. Six victims of the plane crash remain in hospitals. The condition of three of them remains serious, while three more, including a child, are in moderate condition, Kuznetsov said.

Russian grandmaster Daniil Dubov received a technical defeat at the World Blitz Championship in New York due to the fact that he missed the preliminary round game against American Hans Niemann, who was previously accused of cheating. Dubov told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he slept through the match. “I went to my hotel room to quickly get ready and then fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already too late. I was unlucky,” Dubov said.

The Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported that the Magura V5 naval drone, equipped with missile weapons, hit an aerial target for the first time in history. The GUR statement said that a naval drone hit a Russian Mi-8 helicopter on December 31 during a battle in the Black Sea near Cape Tarkhankut in western Crimea. Ukrainian intelligence claims that the drone attacked the helicopter with missiles. The statement mentions their name - P-73 "SeeDragon".