Pope Francis has called for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end the war triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In his traditional Christmas Day address, the Pope said "boldness [was] needed to open the door" to dialogue "in order to achieve a just and lasting peace" between the two sides.

Russia continues to insist that negotiations with Ukraine must be based solely on the demands it presented during the Istanbul talks in 2022. The aggressor refuses any compromises even though Ukraine has liberated a significant amount of its territory from Russian occupation since then,

A passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia with 67 people on board crashed in Kazakhstan Wednesday, authorities said.

Flight was operating in an area where Moscow’s air defenses have battled Ukrainian drones in recent weeks.

An Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 62 passengers and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying that 27 people had survived.