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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,405

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,405

These are the key developments from day 1,405 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Published On 30 Dec 202530 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is where things stand on Tuesday, December 30: Alleged attack on Putin’s residence Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said that an attack took place on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northwestern Russia’s Novgorod on Sunday, “practically immediately after” talks in Florida between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The strike “will not go unanswered”, Ushakov said in remarks reported by Russian media, following a call between Trump and Putin. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russian air defence systems shot down 91 long-range strike drones used in the attack and that no one was injured. Zelenskyy denied the claim, accusing Russia of trying to derail peace talks. However, Trump expressed anger over the alleged attack, telling reporters: “I was very angry about it.” When asked if the United States had evidence of the attack, Trump said, “We’ll find out.” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that “the response to Kyiv’s attacks will not be diplomatic” and that Russia would be revising its negotiating position in the attack’s wake. The United Arab Emirates’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it “strongly condemned” the “deplorable attack” and “the threat it poses to security and stability”. Diplomacy White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that a phone call between Putin and Trump on the issue of Ukraine on Monday was “positive”, without elaborating. Zelenskyy said he spoke by phone with the leaders of Germany, Latvia and Finland to update them on the outcomes of his meeting with Trump and where peace negotiations stood. Lavrov said in an interview with Russian news agency RIA Novosti that “Kyiv and its Western backers must recognise the new territorial realities that have emerged following the incorporation of Crimea, Sevastopol, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the  Luhansk People’s Republic, and the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions into the Russian Federation.” He was referring to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed, which include Donetsk and Luhansk, renamed by Russian-backed separatists as the DPR and LPR. A survey published by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF), a Ukrainian think tank, on Monday showed that recognising occupied Ukrainian territories “as part of the Russian Federation” remained deeply unpopular in Ukraine, with 76 percent of Ukrainians saying they considered it “unacceptable”. Advertisement Fighting Russian forces attacked the front-line town of Orikhiv in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, killing a 46-year-old man and wounding a 49-year-old woman, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram. Russian forces killed one person and injured five in attacks on Ukraine’s Donetsk region on Sunday, Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Facebook. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, said on Telegram that Russian forces killed seven civilians who had been hiding in a basement in the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said it had launched an investigation into reports that Russian soldiers shot dead two captured Ukrainian soldiers in the village of Shakhove, Pokrovsky, on Saturday. “The deliberate killing of prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a grave international crime,” the prosecutor general’s office said. Ukrainian attacks injured five civilians in Russia’s Belgorod region, according to Russia’s TASS state news agency, citing local officials. Ukrainian attacks also injured four civilians in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia, and three civilians in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Donetsk, TASS reported, citing local officials. In a televised address from the Kremlin, Putin made a wide range of claims about Moscow’s ongoing war on Ukraine, including that Russian troops were advancing towards the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s army chief, said during the same address that Russian forces had captured 6,460 square kilometres (2,494sq miles) of territory in Ukraine in 2025, including 334 villages. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) quoted its director general, Rafael Grossi, as saying that power line repairs near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant had been successfully completed. Adblock test (Why?)

Unearthed surveillance exposes how parents were allegedly involved in Minnesota’s daycare fraud scheme

Unearthed surveillance exposes how parents were allegedly involved in Minnesota’s daycare fraud scheme

As federal authorities investigate reports of massive fraud taking place in Minnesota daycares, an unearthed video from a 2018 fraud case shows parents and providers involved in a fraud scheme dating all the way back to 2015. The video, taken from a local Fox report from 2018, shows parents checking their children into a daycare center in Hennepin County, Minnesota, only to leave with their children minutes later. The video was taken from a surveillance camera as part of a case prosecuted by Hennepin County, according to the 2018 Fox 9 report. Under the scheme, low-income parents would sign in their children for daycare services so that providers could then claim reimbursement for services that were never truly provided, per Fox 9. The outlet said that, according to surveillance video, some days no families would show up, but that the daycares would claim reimbursements from the government nonetheless. The time stamp on the surveillance video shows March 2015. MAGNITUDE ‘CANNOT BE OVERSTATED’: FEDS SAY MINNESOTA FRAUD MAY BE MORE THAN $9B  Another video in the broadcast showed a man handing an envelope to a parent with an alleged kickback payment for participation in the scheme. This comes amid widespread outrage over a viral video posted by Nick Shirley on Friday showing visits to multiple childcare centers in Minnesota, including one that allegedly received millions of dollars in state funding despite appearing largely inactive. The video has sparked widespread backlash, drawing criticism of Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz throughout the weekend from several high-profile figures, including Vice President JD Vance, Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk. LABOR SECRETARY ANNOUNCES ‘STRIKE TEAM’ GOING TO MINNESOTA TO INVESTIGATE RAMPANT FRAUD The White House on Sunday reposted an X post from Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who called the alleged fraud a “breathtaking failure.” At the time of the video’s release, Walz was already under heavy fire amid the scandal enveloping his administration that notably included at least $1 billion lost to alleged social services fraud largely tied to Minneapolis’ Somali community. Commenting on the resurfaced video, conservative strategist Greg Price wrote on X, “Somali fraudsters have been stealing from taxpayers for years and it’s clear that the entire Somali community is in on it.” HHS PROBES MINNESOTA’S USE OF BILLIONS IN FEDERAL SOCIAL SERVICE FUNDS AMID FRAUD CONCERNS: REPORT A TIMELINE OF THE ‘LARGEST COVID-19 FRAUD SCHEME’ IN THE UNITED STATES FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency has surged additional personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota as part of an ongoing effort to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.” Patel said Sunday that the bureau moved resources into the state before recent online attention intensified, pointing to the Feeding Our Future investigation, which uncovered a $250 million scheme that siphoned federal food aid intended for children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case has already resulted in 78 indictments and 57 convictions, with prosecutors also charging defendants in a separate plot to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash, Patel said, adding that the investigation remains ongoing. “The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing,” he wrote on X. “Furthermore, many are also being referred to immigration officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings where eligible.”

Trucker slapped with charges in fatal driving incident previously immigrated to US illegally: source

Trucker slapped with charges in fatal driving incident previously immigrated to US illegally: source

A trucker who allegedly killed three in a reckless driving incident in Virginia immigrated to the U.S. illegally in the nineties, according to a federal law enforcement source. El Hadji Karamoko Ouattara, a 58-year-old immigrant from Africa, is being charged in connection with the fatal crash after running his tractor-trailer off the side of Interstate 81 and striking a minivan, killing three individuals, including a two-year-old child, and injuring three others, according to local outlet WFXR. The outlet reported that the victims were transported to a nearby hospital. 65-year-old Lorraine Renee Williams, 49-year-old Ebony Latasha Williams and 2-year-old Shazziyah Lesley died of their injuries. A 63-year-old male, a 73-year-old male and a 10-year-old female were also injured but survived, according to the outlet. WFXR reported that Ouattara was originally charged with reckless driving. DHS REVEALS ILLEGAL ALIEN BEHIND FATAL CRASH WAS GIVEN LICENSE BY DEEP BLUE STATE However, according to the Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office, Outtara is now being charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter as a result of the incident, which took place on Dec. 22. The office said he is a resident of Montgomery Village, Maryland. A federal law enforcement source told Fox News that Ouattara is a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Ivory Coast. The source stated that, despite originally entering the United States illegally in the 1990s, Ouattara was eventually able to obtain a green card and become a naturalized citizen. This comes amid heightened awareness and national concern about untrained, unqualified illegal immigrant drivers on U.S. roads. DAVID MARCUS: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKERS ARE AN INSULT TO AMERICANS WHO PLAY BY THE RULES Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy offered an update on his agency’s work alongside the Department of Homeland Security in cracking down on an influx of illegal immigrants given a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license (CDL) without proper vetting, which has led to several deaths on America’s highways. Duffy sprang into action earlier this year after an Indian national named Harjinder Singh, who authorities said was issued a CDL by California, allegedly killed a carload of people after he attempted an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike. Duffy said that DOT has pressed for compliance from problem states offering illegals CDLs, sharing that California has since revoked 17,000 problematic non-domiciled CDL licenses.  CONVICTED MURDERER, CHILD PREDATORS ROUNDED UP IN CHRISTMAS WEEKEND ICE CRACKDOWN: ‘GREATEST GIFT’ “We are going to use every resource, every tool that we have at DOT, to make sure that we have the right people on our road that are well qualified, well licensed. That are proficient in the English language to make sure we’re maximizing safety,” Duffy said.

Zelenskyy says peace deal is close after Trump meeting but territory remains sticking point

Zelenskyy says peace deal is close after Trump meeting but territory remains sticking point

The dispute over occupied territories in Ukraine continues to be a sticking point amid negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow as President Donald Trump seeks to help bring an end to the war between the neighboring countries.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News’ Bret Baier that a peace deal with Moscow could be close following his Sunday meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. “Even with one question today, we’ve been very close,” Zelenskyy told Baier on “Special Report.” “I think we have a problem with one question: It’s about territories.” PUTIN DERIDES EUROPEAN LEADERS AS HE INSISTS RUSSIA’S WAR GOALS IN UKRAINE WILL BE MET BY FORCE OR DIPLOMACY Key issues about territory remain unresolved in talks that have taken place over months. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently said that the West must acknowledge the fact that Russia holds the advantage on the battlefield. Zelenskyy has been reluctant to cede territory held by Russian forces since the war began in 2022 over to Moscow.  Zelenskyy has suggested that Ukraine might be open to withdrawing from the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which Russia wants to annex, only if Ukrainian voters give their approval in a referendum.  TRUMP TOUTS ‘TREMENDOUS PROGRESS’ BUT SAYS HE’LL MEET PUTIN AND ZELENSKYY ‘ONLY WHEN’ PEACE DEAL IS FINAL “I think the compromise, if we do a free economic zone that we have, and we have to move some kilometers back. It means that Russia has to make minor steps some kilometers back,” Zelenskyy said. “This free economic zone will have specific rules. Something like this referendum is the way how to accept it or not accept it.” Putin doesn’t want peace, Zelenskyy said, despite the mounting death toll for Russian forces.  “I don’t trust Putin. He doesn’t want success for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “I believe he can say such words to President Trump… but it’s not true really.” Following his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy said they were 90% agreed on a draft 20-point plan, despite Moscow showing no signs of budging on its territorial demands.  The meeting came after Trump spoke with Putin over the phone where they both agreed that a deal must be reached to end Europe’s longest war in 80 years.  It also came a day after Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv a day earlier. Moscow also claimed that Putin’s home in the Novgorod region was the target of a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, which Ukraine denies.