Country-wide air raid warning issued; heavy fighting near Kreminna according to head of Luhansk regional military

• What we know on day 307 of the invasion

As we reported in the previous post, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, yesterday attended an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a Moscow-led group consisting of former Soviet states, in St Petersburg.

In footage posted by the Kremlin, Putin is seen welcoming the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

We have to admit, unfortunately, that disagreements also arise between the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The main thing, however, is that we are ready and will cooperate, and even if any problematic issues arise, we strive to solve them ourselves.

From terms to mock the Russian foe to those that mask the grim reality of war, new usages abound

It was once a superstition only among Ukrainian air crew: the word “last”, especially in the context of a last or final meeting, should be avoided as it denotes a premonition of death.

In its place air crew would say krajne, which translates very roughly to English as “on the edge”.

‘Every war ends in a diplomatic way,’ says Dmytro Kuleba

• At a glance: what we know on day 306 of the invasion

Christo Grozev, from the investigative journalism organisation Bellingcat, describes the announcement by Russia’s defence ministry that a Ukrainian drone attacked a base in Russia’s Saratov region as “mind boggling”.

Here are some of the latest images we have received from Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president says Ukrainians are creating their own ‘miracle’ in Christmas address as Russian president accuses Kyiv and western allies of ‘refusing to negotiate’

• What we know on day 305 of the invasion

At least 16 people were killed and 64 injured in Russia’s shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine on Saturday, the region’s governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said.

Russian forces “opened fire on the Kherson region 71 times” with artillery, multiple launch rocket systems and mortars, Yanushevych said in an update posted on social media this morning.

The enemy attacked the regional centre 41 times. Downtown Kherson came under extensive enemy fire: civilians were killed and buildings destroyed. The enemy shelling also affected industrial premises, health facilities, detached houses and apartment blocks.

City of Kherson suffers worst toll as Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemns killing ‘for intimidation and pleasure’

• Russian-Ukraine war: latest updates

Russia launched artillery barrages in southern and eastern Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least eight people and injuring dozens more.

The worst civilian toll was in the southern city of Kherson, which was liberated last month from Russian occupying forces. The office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general confirmed that eight people had been killed.

This live blog has now closed, you can read our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here

In early 2022, the Ukrainian photojournalist Evgeny Maloletka was covering violence in Kazakhstan when his attention turned back home: there were several reports signalling that Russia was preparing an invasion.

He didn’t have to think twice: he knew he had to be back in his home country. By mid-January, he was already working on assignment for the Associated Press in the city of Kharkiv and the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, where there was a growing tension among Russian proxies.

US announces fresh sanctions; North Korea denies supplying weapons to Russia; Moscow-installed official in Kherson reportedly killed in car blast

• See all our Ukraine war coverage

US intelligence official tells Reuters news agency Russian mercenary group received arms shipment from North Korea

A Christmas tree at Sofia Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 21 December.

In homes and schools around Bosnia, young people this December have been preparing gift boxes they hope will put a smile on the faces of their peers living through war in Ukraine – as such presents did for many of their parents a generation ago.

Responding to an appeal launched by a small Sarajevo museum, hundreds of Bosnian children have been filling small boxes with warm clothes, toys, candies and other simple gifts to be delivered to the children of Ukraine in time for the New Year.

For parents and educators who are helping them select what to send, the experience has awakened rare happy memories from the time when they were on the receiving end of the kindness of strangers while growing up in constant fear of death.