The White House seized a rare chance to undermine Russia and build up regional allies as it built a coalition to support the Ukrainians.

Ukrainian drones struck deep inside Russia in an overnight attack targeting an oil facility serving a military airfield in the city of Engels, nearly 400 miles from the border, Ukraine’s military said Wednesday.

If Ukraine falls, it will be hard to spin as anything but a debacle for the United States, and for its president.

The U.S. is set to provide Ukraine an additional $500 million in weapons quickly pulled from its existing stockpiles as the Biden administration works to get Kyiv in a stronger negotiating position before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of the European leaders closest to Donald Trump, said on Thursday she believed the U.S. president-elect would defend Western interests once he took office and would not abandon Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military says it struck a fuel storage depot deep inside Russia. The strike caused a huge blaze at the facility that supplies an important Russian air base.

Ukraine's air force command said one of its F-16 pilots took out six Russian cruise missiles during one attack in December — a record.

North Korea is learning valuable lessons from fighting against Ukraine, making it an increased threat to its neighbors, a US official said. In recent months, North Korea has sent around 12,000 troops to fight for Russia against Ukraine as part of a new security pact between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Russia has introduced a new long-range kamikaze drone, the Kub-10E, which has made its combat debut in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This latest military innovation is designed to enhance Russia's strike capabilities and is being hailed as a potential game-changer in aerial warfare.