War in Ukraine

North Korean troops are being treated as “expendable” and ordered to take on “hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses,” National Security Council official John Kirby said.

The region is already on high alert over the war in Ukraine, with NATO vowing to enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea.

“To ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights, temporary restrictions have been introduced on the operation of Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Zhukovsky and Kaluga airports,” Russia’s aviation authority said.

“Russian evil will not break Ukraine and will not distort Christmas,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed after the strikes targeting his country's energy system.

“A person went missing 12 years ago, we understand what situation was there back then,” Putin said in response to a question from NBC News' Keir Simmons.

Authorities said they had arrested an Uzbek national born in 1995 for working with Ukrainian special services to plant a bomb on a scooter outside the general's residence.

Trump’s advisers and Cabinet nominees have yet to present any specifics of a plan to Ukraine, sources said. 

The president-elect made the remarks in an interview with Time magazine, which has named him its person of the year.

Around 32.5% of the budget posted on a government website Sunday has been allocated for national defense, up from a reported 28.3% this year.

“Everything that is happening now is awful," said Elena Bondarenko, who endured a scary and sleepless night.

Putin said that he was ready to resume contacts with the incoming Trump administration and that the president-elect's remarks about Russia and Ukraine deserved attention.