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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,406

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,406

These are the key developments from day 1,406 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Published On 31 Dec 202531 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is where things stand on Wednesday, December 31: Fighting Russian forces shelled the town of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, killing one person, an official said. The deadly attack came a day after an attack in Druzhkivka killed another person and wounded four, according to the Ukrinform news agency. Russian forces also launched waves of attacks on the Black Sea ports of Pivdennyi and Chornomorsk in Ukraine’s Odesa region, hitting two Panama-flagged civilian vessels – Emmakris III and Captain Karam – as they approached to load wheat, the Ukrainian navy said. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said that oil storage tanks were also hit in the port attacks. Authorities in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region introduced a mandatory evacuation order for the residents of 14 border villages in four districts. The order will affect some 300 people who still live in the Novhorod-Siverskyi, Semenivka, Snovsk, and Horodnya communities, which have been experiencing daily shelling, an official said. Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Energy Olha Yukhymchuk said that 75,000 households in Chernihiv remain without electricity following Russian attacks on energy infrastructure in the region. There were also settlements in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions that were fully or partially without electricity, she said. Yukhymchuk also said that repair work had been completed on transmission lines near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to ensure “stable and reliable power supply to the station in the event of damage or shutdown of the Dniprovska overhead line due to” Russian shelling. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it had taken control of two more settlements in eastern Ukraine. It identified them as the village ⁠of Lukianivske in the Zaporizhia region and ​the ‌settlement of Bohuslavka in the ‌Kharkiv ‌region. Russian authorities said that a Ukrainian ‍drone attack on the Russian Black Sea port of Tuapse ‍damaged port infrastructure and a gas pipeline in a residential area there. The regional administration said no ⁠injuries were reported. Other Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region killed a woman and wounded four other people, local authorities said. Advertisement Alleged attack on Putin’s residence Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia will “toughen” its negotiating position in talks on a deal to end the war in Ukraine as a “diplomatic consequence” of an alleged attempted drone attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northwestern Russia’s Novgorod on Sunday. Peskov said the attack, which Ukraine denies, was aimed at collapsing the peace talks and accused Western media of playing along with Kyiv’s denial. Ukraine has dismissed the Russian claim as lies aimed at justifying additional attacks against Kyiv and prolonging the war. Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Russia had not provided any plausible evidence of its accusations. “And they won’t. Because there’s none. No such attack happened,” Sybiha said on X. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed countries, including India and the United Arab Emirates, that have condemned the alleged attack, which he said “didn’t even happen”. He called the moves “confusing and unpleasant”. China said “dialogue and negotiation” remain the only “viable way out of the Ukraine crisis”, when asked for a comment on the alleged attack on Putin’s residence. Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also called on “relevant parties to follow the principles of no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting and no provocation by any party”, to work towards the de-escalation of the situation, and to “accumulate conditions for the political settlement of the crisis”. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, DC-based think tank, said that its analysts found that the “circumstances” of the alleged attack did not fit the “pattern of observed evidence” usually seen “when Ukrainian forces conduct strikes into Russia”. The US ‌ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, cast doubt on Russia’s accusation, saying he wants to see US intelligence on the incident. “It is unclear whether it actually happened,” Whitaker told Fox Business’s Varney & Co. The ‍German ‍government also said it shares Ukraine’s concern that Russian ⁠allegations of the attack could be used as a pretext for ‍further ⁠escalation of Moscow’s war. Diplomacy Zelenskyy said ‍that Ukraine and the Coalition of the Willing group of nations ⁠backing Kyiv plan to ​hold their next meetings at ‍the start of January. Zelenskyy said that the countries’ national ‍security advisers would ⁠meet in Ukraine on January 3, and with the leaders in France on January 6. He also told reporters that Kyiv was discussing with US President Donald Trump the possible ⁠presence of ​US troops in Ukraine ‍as part of security guarantees. “Of course, we are discussing this with President Trump and with representatives of the [Western] coalition [supporting Kyiv]. We want this. We would like this. This would be a ‍strong position of the security ⁠guarantees,” the Ukrainian president said. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told officials that there is reason to hope for peace in Ukraine quite soon. “Peace ⁠is on the horizon; there is no doubt that things ​have happened ‌that give grounds for hope that this war ‌can end, ‌and quite quickly, ⁠but it is still a hope, far ‌from 100 percent certain,” he said. Tusk said security guarantees offered to Kyiv ‌by the US were a reason to hope the conflict could end soon, but that Kyiv would need to compromise on territorial issues. The US removed sanctions on Alexandra Buriko, the former chief ⁠financial officer ​of Russia’s state-owned ‍Sberbank, according to the US Treasury Department. Buriko was among ​a ‌group of senior executives and board members who ‌resigned from Western-sanctioned ‌Sberbank shortly after ⁠Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She sued the Treasury Department in a Washington federal court in December 2024, arguing she had severed ‌ties with Sberbank days after it was sanctioned and that her continued inclusion on ‌the sanctioned list was unlawful. Advertisement Weapons

DHS reviews citizenship cases from Somalia, other high risk countries for possible fraud

DHS reviews citizenship cases from Somalia, other high risk countries for possible fraud

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reviewing immigration and naturalization cases involving migrants from 19 countries of concern, including Somalia, to determine whether any individuals obtained American citizenship through fraud that could warrant denaturalization, DHS confirmed to Fox News. “Under U.S. law, if an individual procures citizenship on a fraudulent basis, that is grounds for denaturalization,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Fox News. The review focuses on whether fraud occurred during the immigration or naturalization process, such as marriage fraud or false statements made to obtain legal status or citizenship. The confirmation comes as Republican lawmakers have called for tougher consequences following Minnesota’s ongoing child care fraud scandal, which has involved millions of dollars in alleged misuse of federal funds. HHS PROBES MINNESOTA’S USE OF BILLIONS IN FEDERAL SOCIAL SERVICE FUNDS AMID FRAUD CONCERNS: REPORT DHS emphasized that denaturalization, or stripping of citizenship, is governed by strict legal standards and applies only under limited circumstances. The review includes cases tied to 19 countries that DHS considers countries of concern, including Somalia. DHS did not specify how many cases are currently under review or whether any individuals have been referred for denaturalization proceedings. Denaturalization is a rare and intense legal process. Historically, the federal government has pursued only between a dozen and a few dozen cases per year, dating back to the 1990s. COMER SUMMONS MINNESOTA OFFICIALS AS HOUSE PROBES MASSIVE SOCIAL SERVICES FRAUD Prosecutors must prove that citizenship was obtained illegally, and denaturalization convictions require a high burden of proof that can often take years to litigate. The scrutiny also comes as the Department of Health and Human Services moved Tuesday to freeze child care payments to Minnesota, citing alleged fraud involving daycare providers across the state. HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said the state had “funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares” over the past decade, prompting the agency to halt payments while the matter is reviewed. DHS did not provide a timeline for the review or indicate whether any denaturalization cases are expected to move forward in the near future. Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this reporting.

SEE IT: Daycare center at heart of Minnesota fraud investigation fixes sign after viral mockery

SEE IT: Daycare center at heart of Minnesota fraud investigation fixes sign after viral mockery

The Minneapolis-area daycare, whose misspelled sign “Quality Learing Center” went viral after being reported on by YouTube journalist Nick Shirley in his investigation into rampant fraud in Minnesota, has now corrected the infamous sign. Shirley and another man approached a building labeled the Quality Learing Center (sic) in Minneapolis, with Shirley noting that “Learning” was misspelled on the daycare’s sign outside. The business appeared inactive during the visit despite receiving state childcare assistance funds. This led to allegations that the center is one of several participating in a widespread fraud scheme taking place in certain segments of Minnesota’s Somali community. To many critics, the misspelled sign was an illustration of the fraud openly taking place in Minnesota. Among the center’s critics was U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who wrote on X that “One fraudulent business in Minnesota that misspelled ‘learning’ on its building received $1.9M this year while masquerading as a daycare.” ICE PROBES SUSPECTED MINNESOTA FRAUD SITES AS OFFICIALS FOLLOW POTENTIAL $9B MONEY TRAIL McMahon wrote, “There are not enough words to describe the breathtaking failure that has happened under the watch of [Gov. Tim Walz].” The center, however, has since pushed back on the allegations, saying it is innocent of any wrongdoing. Fox News photographed several individuals correcting the misspelled sign late on Monday night. Earlier on Monday, Ibrahim Ali, a man who identified himself as a manager at the Quality Learning Center, strongly denied any allegations of fraud at the facility. He told Fox News that the center is currently open and has never closed, contradicting statements made earlier today by officials with the Department of Children, Youth and Families that the center had closed earlier this month. UNEARTHED SURVEILLANCE EXPOSES HOW PARENTS WERE ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN MINNESOTA’S DAYCARE FRAUD SCHEME Ali also accused Shirley of visiting the facility before operating hours, which he says run from 2 to 10 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Thursday. He criticized Shirley, saying, “Are you trying to record that we’re doing fraud, or are you trying to put the Somali name and the fraud in the same sentence? That’s what really hurt us the last couple of days.” The manager blamed the misspelling on the individual who installed it, saying, “We mess up the sign, we pay somebody to do our sign, he incorrectly did it, we’re having him work on it. We paid him to correct the sign. He said it’ll be done by this week, so by the end of this week our sign will be fine.” WHISTLEBLOWER WARNS MASSIVE FRAUD IS HAPPENING IN OHIO SOMALI COMMUNITY, MINNESOTA ‘JUST TIP OF THE SPEAR’ The Quality Learning Center also recently made news for collecting 95 violations from the state human services agency between 2019 and 2023, according to St. Paul’s ABC affiliate. Such violations range from failure to keep hazardous items away from kids to the daycare not having any records for more than a dozen listed children, according to the outlet. Documentation reviewed by Fox News Digital showed the site’s current license does not expire until the end of 2026.

Shirley associate in viral video says he filed criminal complaint against Walz over daycare fraud allegations

Shirley associate in viral video says he filed criminal complaint against Walz over daycare fraud allegations

Independent journalist Nick Shirley and his researcher “David” returned to the Quality Learning Center in Minneapolis on Tuesday dressed in a sweatshirt emblazoned with “1-800 FRAUD,” following the release of his viral video alleging fraud at state-funded childcare facilities in Minnesota. At the site, David also told reporters he had filed a criminal complaint against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz related to the alleged widespread fraud. In a post shared on X, Shirley and David are also shown during the visit standing outside the facility in matching sweatshirts. Shirley captioned the post, “WE OUT HERE LEARIN AND STOPPING FRAUD.” HHS CUTS OFF MINNESOTA CHILD CARE PAYMENTS OVER ALLEGED DAYCARE FRAUD SCHEME Both men’s sweatshirts also read “Quality ‘Learing’ Center,” a misspelling that mirrored the signage associated with the Minneapolis site central to fraud allegations. Shirley’s return visit came after the facility’s manager claimed his original video misrepresented the business by filming outside posted hours and falsely suggesting the center was inactive. State officials and a daycare manager on Monday denied allegations of fraud, disputing claims that the location was closed or improperly collecting taxpayer funds. VP DEBATE FOOTAGE OF WALZ TOUTING STATE SUPPORT FOR DAYCARES GOES VIRAL AMID MINNESOTA FRAUD ALLEGATIONS The allegations stem from Shirley’s viral video showing visits to multiple state daycare facilities. The Quality Learning Center appeared inactive at the time of Shirley’s filming despite receiving state childcare assistance money. Shirley’s video sparked widespread attention online as officials such as Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk praised Shirley’s reporting, while others, including Walz, pushed back against it. Walz was already facing criticism as the scandal involved at least $1 billion lost to alleged social services fraud mostly tied to Minneapolis’ Somali community. STATE OFFICIALS AND DAYCARE MANAGER PUSH BACK ON VIRAL VIDEO FRAUD ALLEGATIONS IN MINNESOTA During Tuesday’s visit, David confirmed to reporters he had filed a criminal complaint against Walz related to the alleged fraud. “I filed a formal criminal complaint against Tim Walz for violating Minnesota Statute 3.971, Subdivision 9,” David said before confirming he had filed the complaint three to four weeks ago. “So there’s an investigation ongoing, and I think Tim’s going to have a bad day, and he deserves it, because he allowed this fraud.” “Because he wanted the voting block that the Somalis represent, because they all vote in a block, and it’s 100,000 150,000,” he added. “Who knows how many, but it’s so bad now that when we go to a facility, they’re already screaming, Nick Shirley, Nick Shirley, Nick Shirley!” Fox News Digital has reached out to Walz’s office for comment.