For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.
The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EST.
10:06 p.m.: The EU Council said Saturday that it reached an agreement on a "legislative package that will enable the EU to help Ukraine financially throughout 2023 with 18 billion euros.” The proposal will be submitted to the European Parliament “for possible adoption” next week, The Kyiv Independent reported.
To assist Ukraine with paying for essential public services, maintaining macroeconomic stability, and restoring critical infrastructure destroyed by Russian attacks, the European Commission proposed an 18 billion euro support package earlier on Nov. 9.
Hungary didn't support the aid package at an EU ambassadors' meeting on the same day, according to three officials cited by Politico media outlet.
On Tuesday, Hungarian Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said that “Hungary doesn't support changes to the financial regulation.” The EU can only allocate the money with the backing of all 27 union countries, as the budget rules require unanimity.
However, Czech Finance Minister and EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council President (ECOFIN) Zbynek Stanjura said that the EU was looking for another mechanism to start allocating funds to Ukraine.
9:10 p.m.:
8 p.m.: Australia's foreign minister said on Saturday the government would place targeted sanctions on Russia and Iran in response to what it called "egregious" human rights violations, Reuters reported.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement Australia was imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions on 13 individuals and two entities, including Iran’s Morality Police and Basij Resistance Force, and six Iranians involved in the crackdown on protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody in September.
Seven Russians involved in what Australia's Wong said was the attempted assassination of former opposition leader Alexey Navalny would also have human rights sanctions imposed on them, according to the statement.
In addition to human rights sanctions, Wong said Australia was placing further targeted financial sanctions on three Iranians and one Iranian business for supplying drones to Russia for use against Ukraine.
7:10 p.m.:
6:29 p.m.: Romania's navy carried out a controlled explosion on Saturday of a naval mine that had drifted close to the country's Black Sea shore, the defense ministry said, according to Reuters.
Mines began floating in the Black Sea after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, and Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish military diving teams have been defusing those that drift into their waters.
The ministry said the navy was alerted by a Turkish cargo ship about a mine drifting about 4.6 kilometers north of the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta.
The Black Sea is crucial for shipment of grain, oil and oil products. Its waters are shared by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey, as well as Ukraine and Russia.
The mine defused on Saturday was the fourth handled by the Romanian military since March. Since the war started, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine have destroyed roughly 40 mines in western waters of the Black Sea.
5:55 p.m.:
5:10 p.m.: All non-critical infrastructure in Odesa was without power after Russia used Iranian-made drones to hit two energy facilities, officials said on Saturday, adding it could take months to repair the damage, Reuters reported.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 1.5 million people in the southern port city and surrounding region had no electricity.
The regional administration said people who relied solely on electricity to power their homes should consider leaving. Officials said Russian strikes hit key transmission lines and equipment in the early hours of Saturday.
"According to preliminary forecasts, it will take much more time to restore energy facilities in the Odesa region than after previous attacks," the administration said.
"We are talking not about days, but even weeks and possibly even two to three months," it said in a Facebook post.
4:30 p.m.: Freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was swapped in a prisoner exchange with U.S. professional basketball player Brittney Griner, said on Saturday he “wholeheartedly” supports Moscow’s so-called “military operation” in Ukraine and that if he had the opportunity and necessary skills, he would “certainly go as a volunteer.”
Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death” by his accusers, was released Thursday from U.S. detention in a prisoner swap for Griner.
CNN reports Bout made the remarks in a video interview with Kremlin-controlled TV network RT. He was interviewed by Maria Butina, a Russian gun-rights enthusiast-turned TV personality who now works for the network.
4 p.m.: Belarus told the United Nation that it would allow the transit of grain from Ukraine through its territory for export from Lithuanian ports, a U.N. spokesman said Saturday.
Belarus also asked to be allowed to export its fertilizer products currently under Western sanctions. Ukraine did not agree to the proposal.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda wrote on Twitter Saturday that Belarus' offer to transport Ukrainian grain through its territory to Lithuania is just another attempt to escape sanctions because Ukrainian grain already travels through Poland and other countries to Baltic ports.
3:30 p.m.: Ukrainian utility crews struggling to patch power lines during a two-month Russian military blitz targeting Ukrainian infrastructure are learning to adapt.
Technicians pivoting between routine work and emergency response are at the forefront of efforts to keep lights on, computers running, and space heaters warming as Russia is trying to weaponize the winter to force a Ukrainian capitulation.
Ukrainian electric companies have responded quickly to keep homes, hospitals, offices and schools functioning.
The foreman of a crew in Kyiv says it’s about getting the job done, “no matter what’s happening around us,” The Associated Press reports.
3 p.m.: All non-critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian port of Odesa was without power after Russia used Iranian-made drones to hit two energy facilities, officials said on Saturday, adding it could take months to repair the damage, Reuters reports.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 1.5 million people in the southern port city and surrounding region had no electricity, and he described the situation as very difficult. He said power engineers, repair crews, regional authorities are working non-stop to restore power.
“This is the true attitude of Russia towards Odesa, towards Odesa residents- deliberate bullying, deliberate attempt to bring disaster to the city,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
He added that Ukrainian soldiers downed 10 drones out of 15.
Since October, Moscow has been barraging Ukraine's energy infrastructure with massive missile and drone strikes.
"According to preliminary forecasts, it will take much more time to restore energy facilities in the Odesa region than after previous attacks," the administration said.
2:30 p.m.: Romania's navy carried out a controlled explosion on Saturday of a naval mine that had drifted close to the country's Black Sea shore, the defense ministry said.
Mines began floating in the Black Sea after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, and Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish military diving teams have been defusing those drifting in their waters.
The ministry said the navy was alerted by a Turkish cargo ship about a mine drifting some 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) north of the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta.
The Black Sea is crucial for shipment of grain, oil and oil products. Its waters are shared by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey, as well as Ukraine and Russia.
The mine defused on Saturday was the fourth handled by the Romanian military since March. Since the war started, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine have destroyed roughly 40 mines in western waters of the Black Sea, Reuters reports.
2:10 p.m.: Russia wants to turn Ukraine into a "dependent dictatorship" like Belarus, the wife of jailed Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski said on Saturday upon receiving the prize on his behalf, speaking his words, Reuters reported.
Byalyatski, Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize in October, amid the war in Ukraine that followed Russia's invasion of its neighbor.
Receiving the award on behalf of her husband at Oslo City Hall, Natallia Pinchuk said Byalyatski dedicated the prize to "millions of Belarusian citizens who stood up and took action in the streets and online to defend their civil rights."
1 p.m.:
11:20 a.m.: Oleksandra Matviichuk told RFE/RL in an interview on December 9, a day before the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo, that as her group collects evidence of an "unprecedented number" of Russian war crimes committed since Moscow sent its troops across the border in late February, the true cost of the war is what is being discovered. Full Interview.
11:10 a.m.: From a dank Kyiv bomb shelter to the bright stage lights of Europe’s theaters, a Ukrainian youth choir’s hymns in praise of freedom offer a kind of healing balm to its war-ravaged members.
The Shchedryk ensemble is described as Kyiv’s oldest professional children’s choir. The group was in the Danish capital this week for a performance as part of an international tour that also took them to New York’s famed Carnegie Hall. It was supposed to be part of a busy year to celebrate the choir’s 50th anniversary. But Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine changed all that, scattering the singers inside their homeland and abroad in search of safety.
10:30 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to conquer parts of Ukraine and shows no restraint in his brutality, but it is still important to keep contacts open in case a moment arrives to end the war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at an event in Potsdam near Berlin, Saturday.
"We are of completely different opinions. Nonetheless I will keep speaking with him because I want to experience the moment where it is possible to get out of this situation. And that's not possible without speaking with one another."
Scholz said it was not clear how many Russian soldiers had died so far in the invasion, but the number could be as high as 100,000.
"We have seen the brutality the Russian president is capable of. In Chechnya where he basically eradicated the whole country. Or in Syria. There is no restraint there, it's as simple as that," Scholz said.
According to Reuters, Scholz also defended the government's aim to raise defense spending to NATO's goal of 2% of gross domestic output. He said NATO countries needed to be strong enough that nobody would dare to attack them.
10:15 a.m.: Russia wants to turn Ukraine into a "dependent dictatorship" like Belarus, the wife of jailed Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski said on Saturday at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo.
The Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski is in prison and hasn't been allowed by Belarus authorities to hand over his speech for the award ceremony. In an interview with the Associated Press, his wife, Natalia Pinchuk, who delivered a speech on Byalyatski's behalf said it conveyed her husband's thoughts and statements.
Byalyatski, received the Nobel Peace Prize along with Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties.
Receiving the award on behalf of her husband at Oslo City Hall, Natallia Pinchuk said Byalyatski dedicated the prize to "millions of Belarusian citizens who stood up and took action in the streets and online to defend their civil rights."
10:05 a.m.: Russian human rights activist Yan Rachinsky has told the BBC that he was ordered to turn down the Nobel Peace Prize by the Russian authorities.
Rachinsky is from Russian human rights organization Memorial Memorial, one of three joint winners of this year's accolade, alongside the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties, and Ales Bialiatski, who is in prison in Belarus.
Mr Rachinsky chose to accept the award and told Stephen Sackur of BBC's HARDtalk "In today's Russia no-one's personal safety is guaranteed".
For more than 30 years, Memorial worked on uncovering the fates of the victims of Soviet political repression. It also exposed human rights abuses in present-day Russia, before being forced to close.
9:35 a.m.: In her acceptance speech at the award ceremony Saturday in Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, Oleksandra Matviichuk, made an impassioned plea that peace, progress and human rights, “the values of modern civilization must be protected.”
“People of Ukraine want peace more than anyone else in the world,” she said. “But peace cannot be reached by a country under attack laying down its arms. This would not be peace, but occupation,” she added.
Matviichuk’s organization, and the other laureates — Memorial, a Russian organization, and Ales Bialiatski, a jailed Belarusian activist — have become symbols of resistance and accountability during the largest ground war in Europe since World War II, set off by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They also have emerged as some of the starkest challengers to the widespread misinformation and harmful myths disseminated by authoritarian leaders, The New York Times reports.
9:05 a.m.: The Ukrainian military General Staff reported about 20 airstrikes and more than 60 rocket attacks across Ukraine between Friday and Saturday, The Associated Press reported.
Spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said the most active fighting was in the Bakhmut district, where more than 20 populated places came under fire. Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks in Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation “remains very difficult” in several frontline cities in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
“Bakhmut, Soledar, Maryinka, Kreminna. For a long time, there is no living place left on the land of these areas that have not been damaged by shells and fire," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, naming cities that have again found themselves in the crosshairs. "The occupiers actually destroyed Bakhmut, another Donbas city that the Russian army turned into burnt ruins,” he said.
Zelenskyy didn’t specify what he meant by “destroyed.” Some buildings remain standing, and residents still go about in city streets.
8:30 a.m.: European Union countries remain divided over EU’s plan to cap gas prices. EU countries have wrangled for months over whether to cap gas prices but have so far failed to bridge the gap between their divergent views.
A dozen countries including Belgium, Italy, Poland and Slovenia want a "significantly" lower cap than the one planned by European Union. The bloc struggled to strike a deal on the measure.
EU countries are holding emergency negotiations on Saturday, trying to strike an agreement to cap gas prices at a Dec. 13 meeting of their energy ministers, but states remain split over the plan.
Twelve of the EU's 27 member states have circulated a paper demanding that the price cap be "significantly" lower than the latest compromise being negotiated by countries.
Reuters reported that the paper was put forward by Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.
8:15 a.m.: The southern Ukrainian city of Odesa was left without power on Saturday following a night-time attack by "kamikaze drones" launched by Russia, authorities said, according to Agence France-Presse.
"As of now, the city is without electricity," Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential administration, said on messaging app Telegram.
Only critical infrastructure including hospitals and maternity wards had access to electricity.
7:28 a.m.:
6:59 a.m.: The Russian-installed administration of Ukraine's Kherson region said on Saturday that it had begun changing locally circulated Ukrainian hryvnia currency into Russian roubles, with hryvnia circulation in Moscow-controlled areas of the region to end on Jan. 1, Reuters reported.
In a video published on Telegram by the region's Moscow-appointed administration, Andrei Peretonkin, head of the Russian central bank's local branch, said: "For the sake of the convenience of residents and to allow for a smoother integration of the region into the Russian economic space, this week banks in Kherson region began currency exchange operations."
Previously, the Russian-installed administration had said that both the rouble and hryvnia would be accepted in Kherson region.
Russian forces took control of most of Kherson region in the early days of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine, and declared it annexed to Russia in September after a referendum condemned by Ukraine and Western countries.
Less than two months later, Russian forces withdrew from Kherson city under pressure from a Ukrainian counteroffensive, while continuing to hold most of the region's territory.
5:26 a.m.: The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said in its latest Ukraine assessment that Russian forces established defensive lines near Svatove, and Russian and Ukrainian forces conducted ground attacks near Kreminna.
Russian forces continued ground attacks near Bakhmut and Avdiivka and may have established positions on an island west of Kherson City in the Dnipro River, the update said.
4:14 a.m.: President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Russia could amend its military doctrine by introducing the possibility of a preemptive strike to disarm an enemy, in an apparent reference to a nuclear attack, Agence France-Presse reported.
He spoke in response to a question from a reporter who asked him to clarify his statement from earlier this week on the use of nuclear weapons.
Speaking to reporters just days after warning that the risk of nuclear war was rising but Russia would not strike first, Putin said Moscow was considering whether to adopt what he called Washington's concept of a preemptive strike.
"First of all, the United States has the concept of a preemptive strike. Second, it is developing a disarming strike system," Putin told reporters in Kyrgyzstan.
"If a potential adversary believes that it is possible to use the concept of a preemptive strike, but we do not, then nevertheless this makes us think about the threats that such ideas pose to us," he said.
"We're just thinking about it," he added.
3:12 a.m.: Belarus told the United Nations on Friday that it would allow, without preconditions, the transit of grain from Ukraine through its territory for export from Lithuanian ports, a U.N. spokesperson said, according to Reuters.
Belarus, used by its ally Russia as a staging ground for Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, said in June that it would let Ukrainian grain go via the country to Baltic Sea ports, if Belarus was allowed to ship its goods from the ports as well. Ukraine did not agree to the proposal.
Belarus, a major global potash producer, has been hit by harsh Western sanctions in 2021-22 that disrupted its exports of the fertilizer via the Baltic Sea ports.
2:05 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said Russia and Iran's relationship will continue to evolve over the course of the conflict in Ukraine. Russia is counting on Iran to supply certain weapons, including hundreds of ballistic missiles. Russia will respond with technical and military support for Iran, the update said.
1:12 a.m.: Russia is banning 200 prominent Canadians from entering the country in a direct response to personal sanctions announced by Ottawa, the foreign ministry in Moscow said on Friday, according to Reuters.
Canada earlier announced sanctions against 33 current or former Russian officials and six entities involved in alleged "systematic human rights violations" against citizens who protested against the invasion of Ukraine.
Since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, Canada has imposed sanctions on more than 1,500 individuals and entities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
Earlier Friday, the Russian ministry said it had summoned Canada's ambassador in Moscow.
In a statement, it said Alison LeClaire, had been told Ottawa was "fomenting an atmosphere of Russophobia."
12:02 a.m.:
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
