Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky signs up top spy an arch strategist Budanov as his political enforcer - putting the man Putin fears most of all at the very top of the Kyiv government

Putin makes jarring claims about Russian soldiers acting 'as if at the Lord's behest' during speech at Orthodox Christmas service

Russian commanders told Putin during an inspection visit that Moscow's forces had captured towns in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk.

The agent had been watching for weeks, carefully observing the movements of Russian patrols, surveillance blind spots and the irregular arrival of the cargo trains.

The CIA has assessed Ukraine was not targeting a residence used by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a recent drone attack in the north of his country, according to US officials, undercutting an assertion the Russian president had made to Trump in a Monday phone call.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual televised New Year's address to rally his troops fighting in Ukraine, saying he believed in them and in victory in a war

Seven years before US President Donald Trump invaded Venezuela to oust Nicolas Maduro, his former top adviser Fiona Hill said Russian leader Vladimir Putin was signalling a deal: he would hand Venezuela to the United States in exchange for Trump allowing Russia to take Ukraine.