Russia

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also promised to provide artillery systems to Ukraine, amid renewed missile attacks by Moscow targeting Kyiv and a number of other Ukrainian cities.

Control of Soledar could allow Russia to cut off Ukrainian supply lines to nearby Bakhmut, another fiercely contested city seen as central to Russia's struggling efforts to control eastern Ukraine.

Catch up on key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces to observe the cease-fire for 36 hours starting Jan. 6. A Ukrainian official dismissed the move as "a cynical trap."

Russia will end 2022 in a weaker global standing than when the year began. Its struggles in Ukraine surprised the Kremlin, and the global punishments are starting to hamper the Russian economy.

Russian forces fired its largest air barrage into Ukraine in nearly two weeks Thursday as Ukrainian air defenses repelled several drones and missiles throughout the attack.

Ukraine's foreign minister told the AP that his government is aiming to have a summit, preferably at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as a possible mediator.

Germany is firing up coal plants and importing liquefied natural gas to shore up energy supplies. Activists are carrying out increasingly disruptive protests, gluing themselves to roads and runways.