At least five people were killed Friday in a series of Russian and Ukrainian attacks, including an afternoon Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. Officials said at least one person was killed and a residential area was damaged.. “Several houses were seriously damaged. There are also injured people,” regional governor Vyacheslav Chaus said. “Search and rescue operations are underway.” A loud explosion was heard in the city north of the capital Kiev, about 75 kilometers (46 miles) from the Russian border. According to initial reports, city officials said four people were injured in the attack. Separate Russian shelling on Friday killed a truck driver near Kiev and a pensioner in the southern Zaporizhzhya region, local officials said. Officials said four people were injured in the shelling of the city of Sloviask near the front lines in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram that Russia launched 300 attack drones and nearly 20 missiles at Ukrainian targets in the first three days of 2025. He said most were shot down or intercepted.
Two people killed in Ukrainian attack on Russian border area, local governor announces. One person was killed in a mortar attack on a village in the Bryansk region, officials said. A man was killed in a drone attack while walking on the road near the front lines in the Kursk region, where Ukraine launched its offensive in August last year, the region's governor said. Moscow and Kiev have escalated their air campaign throughout the first weeks of winter, seen as trying to gain the upper hand ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in late January.
US expected to announce additional security assistance to Ukraine in coming days, White House Press Secretary John Kirby said Friday. He made the announcement after Washington last week announced $5.9 billion in additional military and budget aid to Ukraine and announced a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group to be held in Germany on January 9, with no further details available. Although he did not specify the details, he said that future announcements are expected.
The independent region of Moldova in Transnistria ordered rolling blackouts on Friday. The self-proclaimed state was thrown into crisis after Russia's gas supplies were cut off earlier this week. Residents in the breakaway region bordering Ukraine have been without heating and hot water since Wednesday, when Moscow cut off gas supplies to Moldova, citing a financial dispute. “Today, January 3, rolling blackouts will be implemented in the Republic of Transnistria. This is because the population of the Republic currently consumes more electricity than the energy system generates.” Transnistria's Ministry of Economy said on Telegram. Parts of Transnistria's largest city, Tiraspol, including a nearby maternity hospital, as well as smaller towns and villages, will also be without power, the report said.
Crude oil was detected on Friday in two old and damaged Russian tankers off the coast of Sevastopol., It is the largest city in Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow, local officials said. Last month, Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 were hit by a storm in the Kerch Strait, which connects Crimea and Russia's southern Krasnodar region, about 250 kilometers from Sevastopol. According to Russia's Ministry of Transport, one ship sank and the other ran aground, spilling about 2,400 tons of heavy oil known as Mazut into surrounding waters. “Today, a small oil slick arrived in Sevastopol,” Moscow Mayor Mikhail Razvozyaev said on Telegram, publishing a video of the oil. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the tanker spill an “ecological disaster.”
