Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington trade outrage over alleged attack on Putin’s Valdai residence navalny.com Putin’s residence in Valdai According to Russia: Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, claims that Ukraine launched drones at President Vladimir Putin’s residence in Valdai, in Russia’s Novgorod region. Lavrov offered no evidence to support this claim, and there is currently no independent confirmation that the incident actually occurred.

Latvia has built a 280-kilometer fence on its border with Russia, installing a continuous barrier where technical conditions allowed, the state-owned company Valsts Nekustamie Ipasumi (VNI), which was responsible for the work, said on December 29. According to Interior Minister Richards Kozlovskis, high-tech equipment continues to be installed at the border. “Our main goal is to create a modern border guard on the eastern border of the European Union,” the minister said.

navalny.com Putin's residence in Valdai What they said in Russia Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claims that Ukraine attacked the residence of President Vladimir Putin in Valdai in the Novgorod region with drones. Lavrov did not provide any evidence. There is no independent confirmation of this information.

Main Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee for Moscow Ekaterina Kirsanova A Moscow court has sentenced Ekaterina Kirsanova, a 45-year-old former vocal instructor, to 13 years in prison for violent sexual acts against a minor under 14. The Moscow division of Russia’s Investigative Committee said in an official Telegram post that the verdict was delivered on December 19, though media reports appeared only a week later.

On December 28, Russian occupation authorities held a reopening ceremony for the Mariupol Drama Theater, a landmark cultural institution in the occupied Ukrainian city that was destroyed by a Russian airstrike in the spring of 2022. Attendees included Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic”; St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov; and Russian presidential envoy Igor Rudenya.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office said it had declared the activities of George Washington University, a private research university in the United States, “undesirable” in Russia.

The teacher was arrested after the film Baza, in which she was accused of seducing girls Main Directorate of the RF Investigative Committee for Moscow Ekaterina Kirsanova A court in Moscow sentenced former vocal teacher, 45-year-old Ekaterina Kirsanova, to 13 years in a general regime colony. She was found guilty of sexual assault against a person under 14 years of age (point “b”, part 4 of article 132 of the Criminal Code).

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on military conscription in 2026, Interfax reported on December 29. According to the decree, conscription will last the entire year - from January 1 to December 31. 261 thousand people aged 18 to 30 who are not in the reserves and are subject to conscription are going to be drafted into the army. The Russian Ministry of Defense, in turn, stated that recruits will be sent to the troops, as before, twice a year.

Summing up the military results of the year with Dmitry Kuznets Subscribe to the Meduza YouTube channel Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky, after a meeting in Florida, said that the plan to end the Russian-Ukrainian war had been agreed upon by “90–95%.” At the same time, the issue of Donbass, according to Zelensky, remains unresolved. Zelensky also asked Trump to provide Ukraine with security guarantees for 30–50 years. What conditions for ending the war can Putin agree to?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said without evidence on Monday that Ukrainian drones had carried out an attack on Vladimir Putin’s Valdai residence in Russia’s Novgorod region. According to Lavrov, Russian air defense forces shot down 91 drones. He did not indicate whether the purported attack caused any damage or casualties, but he said Moscow would carry out retaliatory strikes and revise its negotiating position in talks on ending its war against Ukraine.

Vladimir Zelensky called the statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about an attack by Ukrainian drones on Vladimir Putin’s residence in Valdai another lie. According to the President of Ukraine, in this way Russia is preparing the ground for striking Ukrainian government buildings in Kyiv. “Another lie from the Russian Federation.

On the night of December 29, Ukrainian drones launched an attack on the state residence of the Russian President in the Novgorod region, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. According to him, 91 drones were destroyed. There were no reports of casualties or damage. Lavrov did not provide evidence that the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to attack the residence. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow would launch retaliatory strikes and also reconsider its negotiating position.

American pop singer Beyoncé Knowles-Carter became the fifth musician whose fortune exceeded one billion dollars, Forbes magazine calculated. In addition to her, dollar billionaires include her husband, rapper Jay-Z, singers Taylor Swift and Rihanna, and Bruce Springsteen. In total, there are 22 entertainment artists on the Forbes list of billionaires. According to the publication's calculations, Beyoncé's 2023 world tour in support of her Renaissance album has grossed nearly $600 million.

There will be even less left in 2026, analysts say Dozens of brands faced a crisis and left the Russian market in 2025. Some are optimizing their business, closing retail outlets and going online, others are suspending their activities and initiating their own bankruptcy.

Military analyst Michael Kofman talks about the situation at the front, peace negotiations and the prospects of war. The main thing from his interview with Ukrainskaya Pravda Pierre Crom / Getty Images Military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donetsk region. August 20, 2025 Michael Kofman is an American military analyst originally from Ukraine, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and an expert on the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces.