Russia's economy will be under major strain in 2025, economists told BI. One said stagnation was similar to the USSR at the start of the 1980s.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he had asked the Defense Department to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, after condemning Russia's Christmas Day attack on Ukraine's energy system and some of its cities.

Russia launches a Christmas Day missile attack on Ukraine as the war enters its third year. NBC News’ Erin McLaughlin reports on the shifting battleground there and in Washington, D.C.

Russia attacked Ukraine's energy system and some cities in an "inhuman" Christmas Day assault, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Russia has held several rounds of tactical nuclear weapons drills this year, and regularly carries out military exercises for its strategic nuclear forces.

Ukrainian officials say Russia has launched a massive missile barrage targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

A Russian court case involving a compensation claim against Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) will continue in the second half of January, judicial authorities and the lender said on Wednesday.

A passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia with 67 people on board crashed in Kazakhstan Wednesday, authorities said.

Pope Francis has called for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end the war triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In his traditional Christmas Day address, the Pope said "boldness [was] needed to open the door" to dialogue "in order to achieve a just and lasting peace" between the two sides.

An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Christmas Day has prompted speculation the plane was shot down by Russia after it took a detour of hundreds of miles in the wrong direction and crash-landed with holes in the fuselage.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded fighting for Moscow in Russia's western Kursk region.