Australia to reopen embassy in Ukraine as its total support for country surpasses $1.5bn

Foreign minister Penny Wong says ambassador to Ukraine to return to Kyiv in January, and said Russia war impacts security of Indo-Pacific

Putin claims Ukraine war has made Russia ‘much stronger’

Russian leader largely upbeat in year-end phone-in, calling Zelenskyy ‘illegitimate’ and suggesting US missile ‘duel’

Russia bombards Kyiv with ballistic missiles, with debris falling in several districts

Mayor accuses Moscow of ‘genocide’, saying latest strike shows Putin’s indifference to women and children

Ukraine faces difficult decisions over acute shortage of frontline troops

Depleted army is increasingly made up of older men, but Zelenskyy is reluctant to lower mobilisation age from 25

Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells Ukraine’s diplomats to fight for Nato membership

Comments come after Vladimir Putin threatens ‘more destruction’ in response to Kazan drone attack

Russian video appears to show Australian man captured and interrogated in Ukraine

PM confirms DFAT making enquiries after video circulates showing man who identifies himself as Oscar Jenkins being questioned

More than 1,000 North Korean military casualties in Ukraine war, says South Korea

Claims underline risks posed to North’s untested armed forces amid reports regime could send reinforcements

‘I stood on a mine’: government urged to repatriate Australian seriously injured fighting in Ukraine war

Dfat confirms consular assistance for 38-year-old as PM warns Australians against ‘travelling to areas of conflict’

Russia launches major Christmas Day attack on Ukraine’s energy system

Zelenskyy describes cruise and ballistic missile strikes, which caused blackouts in several regions, as ‘inhuman’

Russian scientists criticise cleanup efforts after oil spill in Black Sea

Experts decry lack of required equipment to clean up about 4,300 tonnes of oil after two tankers hit by storm in the Kerch Strait

Russia criticises Canberra’s ‘hostile stance’ as it looks into reports Australian fighter captured in Ukraine

Family and friends hold grave fears for man identified as Oscar Jenkins who was reportedly captured by Russian soldiers in Donbas region

Support for Ukraine ‘until it wins’ falls sharply in western Europe, poll finds

YouGov survey finds negotiated end to war with Russia is preferred option in four out of seven countries

Russia seeks to play down speculation over Azerbaijan Airlines crash

Kazakhstan also stresses that the cause remains unknown after claims Russian air defence fire led to fatal crash

Injured North Korean soldier captured by Ukraine forces, says South Korea

Spy agency says one soldier detained after reports emerge in Ukrainian media of possible first such capture, in Kursk region

‘Why should I study Russian?’ Ukraine lobbies UK to introduce Ukrainian GCSE

About 34,000 Ukrainian children have fled to UK since Russian invasion – yet are unable to study their mother tongue

Biden administration pledges additional military aid to Ukraine amid Russia war

Security assistance package in works as North Korean troops are deployed in Kursk after Putin-Kim agreement

Almost one in five children live in conflict zones, says Unicef

UN humanitarian body warns that dramatic increase in harm to children should not become the ‘new normal’

‘I don’t want flowers, I want my Ukraine:’ women’s acts of resistance against Russian occupation

Zla Mavka movement – meaning ‘wicked forest spirit’ – drops fake rouble notes bearing pro-Ukrainian images and shares messages of solidarity

Russia and Ukraine swap at least 300 prisoners in exchange deal

Some of Ukrainians had been held since early days of war, while Russians were captured in Ukraine’s Kursk offensive

Russia winds down gas supply to Europe via Ukraine as transit deal expires

Last exports due on New Year’s Day as Europe faces cold snap and higher than usual fall in reserves since September