Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed who is in the running to become his new chief of staff. The previous head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, resigned in late November, marking a stunning fall for someone widely considered the second most powerful figure in Ukraine. Yermak’s ouster came amid the biggest political scandal of Zelensky’s presidency: a $100-million kickback scheme that anti-corruption investigators uncovered in the country’s energy sector.

The Ukrainian authorities have conveyed to the US presidential administration their response to the latest draft of the US peace plan to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, Axios reports, citing American and Ukrainian officials. A source from RBC-Ukraine reported that Kiev handed over to Washington an “updated peace plan.” According to Axios, Ukraine gave the Trump administration a detailed response to the US proposals after consulting with its European allies.

US President Donald Trump announced that American authorities have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, “the largest ever seized,” reported Axios journalist Barak Ravid. According to Trump, “there are other things happening” that will be announced later. What we are talking about is unknown. Bloomberg and Reuters reported that the US Coast Guard seized a tanker that is under sanctions and sailing without a flag, citing sources. Against this background, the price of oil increased.

The TNT television channel left scenes with singer Larisa Dolina in its New Year’s film “Shurik’s Incredible Adventures,” reported journalist Ilona Egiazarova, who attended the film’s premiere at the Oktyabr cinema in Moscow on December 10. Dolina plays the role of a bank manager in the film. In one scene, she sings the song “For money - yes!”, throws stacks of banknotes several times and dances against the backdrop of falling money, according to a recording published by The Insider.

In Voronezh, as a result of an air attack, the windows and facades of several apartment buildings were damaged, and a staircase in one of them collapsed, said Voronezh Region Governor Alexander Gusev. According to him, there were no injuries. 80 people were evacuated from the building where the stairs collapsed. “A temporary accommodation center has been organized for residents at an educational institution, buses have already arrived at the site,” Gusev said.

Former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and now senator from the Astrakhan region, Andrei Derkach received the title of Hero of Russia. This became known at a meeting of the Federation Council on December 10, where all senators with this title were congratulated, Kommersant writes. Previously, it was not reported that Derkach had the highest state award of the Russian Federation. Under what circumstances and for what merits he was awarded is unknown.

Hollywood actor Johnny Depp will become the producer of the English-language film adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita,” writes Variety. The project was announced at a film festival in Saudi Arabia. The film will be produced by Depp's own film studio IN.2 Film. The actor can play in the film himself, the article says. What role exactly is not specified.

Alexander Reka/TASS via ZUMA Press / Scanpix / LETA Russian soldiers take part in a military exercise in Ukraine’s occupied Luhansk region. December 5, 2025. In October 2025, speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior NATO official told journalists that Moscow was “taking a professional approach to learning the lessons” of the war in Ukraine.

Marine drones of the Ukrainian Security Service Sea Baby hit the oil tanker Dashan in the Black Sea, a source in the SBU told the publications Ukrayinska Pravda and Hromadske . According to him, the ship was sailing under the flag of the Comoros with the transponder turned off in the exclusive economic zone of Ukraine in the direction of the Novorossiysk port terminal. Ukrainian and Western journalists also distributed a video of the attack, which was provided by a source in the SBU.

A package of anti-corruption bills has been submitted to the State Duma, providing, among other things, for the abolition of mandatory annual declarations for officials. As Vasily Piskarev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, explained, the innovations are aimed at “improving anti-corruption activities.” He announced a “transition to a higher level of anti-corruption”: in particular, through the digitalization of the anti-corruption control system.

The Danish Foreign and Military Intelligence Service for the first time called the United States a potential threat to the country's security, Bloomberg reports , citing the department's report ( .pdf ) for 2025. The document says that the United States is increasingly prioritizing its own interests, and also “using its economic and technological strength as an instrument of power,” including in relations with allies and partners.

Two witnesses in the case of Meduza publisher Galina Timchenko, who is accused of leading an “undesirable” organization, gave identical testimony. This was reported by a Mediazona correspondent present at a meeting of the Cheryomushkinsky court in Moscow. The first witness, 24-year-old Kamilla Abramova, stated that in the summer of 2024, “somewhere in the center,” a plainclothes police officer approached her and asked her to testify.

At first it was postponed because drivers of trucks with drones celebrated the May holidays. Then one of them found drones Security Service of Ukraine The Wall Street Journal published a large article about how the Security Service of Ukraine prepared Operation Web. The targets of Ukrainian sabotage in the summer of 2025 were Russian strategic and long-range aviation bases. They were attacked by drones. The drones were hidden in frame houses, which were transported across Russia on trucks.

A court in the Moscow region sentenced blogger and founder of a chain of clothing stores Nikita Efremov to three years of suspended imprisonment for donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the Moscow region prosecutor's office reports. Efremov was found guilty under the article on financing extremism (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, provides for up to eight years in prison).

These ideas were in the US national security strategy, but they were not included in its final version. Сhip Somodevilla / Getty Images On December 4, the Donald Trump administration presented a new US national security strategy. This document underwent significant changes during the work on it. The American publication Defense One talked about an earlier - and expanded - version of it.