The Pentagon believes that Ukrainian forces may have killed or wounded "hundreds" of soldiers sent by North Korea to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The Pentagon has suggested that the current administration of US President Joe Biden will not have time to spend all the remaining funds under the PDA programme (about US$5.6 billion) that Congress has allocated to send weapons and other military assistance to Ukraine.

The US has had no confirmation regarding the deployment of new North Korean units to Russia but does not rule out such a possibility.

The current US administration is confident that the military assistance already provided or planned to be provided to Kyiv by the end of Joe Biden's presidency will suffice for Ukraine until the end of 2025.

The United Kingdom will not mourn the death of Russian General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, who was killed in a Ukrainian operation in Moscow.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) countries to carry out agreements on the provision of air defence systems in the wake of large-scale Russian strikes.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that the United Kingdom wants to ensure Ukraine is in the strongest possible position in 2025.

The US Department of State has said that there have been casualties among North Korea's military in Kursk Oblast and warned that the potential deployment of North Korean soldiers to Ukraine to take part in hostilities would be regarded as an escalation.

US President-elect Donald Trump has stated that his team is working on "ending the war" in Ukraine and has made "a little progress".

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has criticised his EU counterparts for their lack of support for Viktor Orbán's Christmas truce proposal at a foreign ministers' meeting on 16 December.

Jens Gieseke, a German Member of the European Parliament, has cycled 600 km (nearly 400 miles) in five days to raise funds for Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reiterated that as long as he is in charge of the government, Berlin will not supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles and will not allow German soldiers to participate in the war.

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to Slovak President Peter Pellegrini's statement, in which he suggested that Ukraine may need to make territorial concessions for peace, reminding him of the fate of Slovak territories when they were surrendered to the aggressor.

The Council of the European Union adopted the 15th package of economic and individual restrictive measures on Monday, 16 December, which included North Korean officials and Chinese suppliers of drone kits.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp has said that it was too early to speculate on a potential peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.

Norway is allocating another NOK 2.7 billion (about US$242.38 million) to strengthen Ukraine's maritime capabilities.

Dmytro Kuleba, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister, has said that UK Prime Minister Starmer has reduced the UK's support for Ukraine.

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has stated that peace must first be achieved before talking about sending peacekeepers to Ukraine, emphasising that Russia is not ready for such a development.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has called on the ministers of EU member states to jointly appeal to the European Commission and urge it to adopt a strategy for countering Russia's hybrid actions. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has discussed the need to strengthen military support for Ukraine with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

The Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre has noted in its weekly report the advance of Russian forces on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts in Donetsk Oblast and the successful actions of Ukrainian troops on the Kupiansk front in Kharkiv Oblast.

Hungary "did everything it could" when it initiated a Christmas ceasefire and a large-scale prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said.

Andrius Kubilius, the new EU Defence Commissioner, who is on a visit to Kyiv, had to spend the morning of Friday, 13 December, in a shelter due to a large-scale combined attack by Russia.

Nate Fick, US Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy, and Doug Beck, Director of the Defence Innovation Unit, have arrived in Kyiv to meet with representatives of Ukraine's defence and technology sector.

Because of a new Russian large-scale attack on energy infrastructure, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reminded partners about Ukraine's request for at least 20 additional medium-range air defence systems.

Czechia has organised a campaign to raise money for a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk combat helicopter to be supplied to Ukrainian military intelligence.

Poland scrambled its aircraft because of a Russian large-scale combined strike on Ukrainian regions on the morning of 13 December.

Following a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, French President Emmanuel Macron praised Poland's role in supporting Ukraine since the Kremlin unleashed its full-scale war against Kyiv.

Estonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs will allocate an additional €200,000 from the 2024 budget to help the people of Ukraine.