Ukraine-Russia war latest: Three dead including two police officers in Moscow car blast

Debris from a downed Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an industrial site in Russia’s Tula region, its governor Dmitry Milyaev said on his Telegram channel this morning.

Milyaev did not give details about the industrial facility.

He said that Russian air defence units destroyed at least 12 Ukrainian drones over the region.

Pope Leo said he feels “much sadness” that Russia did not agree to a Christmas ceasefire in its war on Ukraine.

“Among the things that cause me much sadness is that apparently Russia has refused a ceasefire request,” the pope told journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

“I will make an appeal one more time to people of good will to respect at least Christmas day as a day of peace,” he said.

“Maybe they will listen to us and there will be at least 24 hours, a day of peace, across the world.” the pope said.

Ukrainian forces have pulled out of the embattled eastern town of Siversk near Bakhmut, Kyiv’s military said.

“The invaders were able to advance due to a significant numerical advantage and constant pressure from small assault groups in difficult weather conditions,” Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement.

It said it had withdrawn soldiers to preserve lives and resources, adding that they had, however, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.

Russia said earlier this month it had captured Siversk, whose pre-war population was around 10,000, a claim Kyiv had denied.

At least three people were killed by a bomb today in Moscow after two police officers approached a man acting suspiciously.

The man was seen near the site where a senior general was killed two days ago by a car bomb that Russia said was planted by Ukrainian intelligence.

Russia’s State Investigative Committee said that when two police officers approached a man who was acting strangely, they were killed by an explosive device, adding that a third person was also killed. It did not specify who the third person was.

It said it opened criminal cases under clauses dealing with the murder of law enforcement officers and the illegal trafficking of bombs.

The bomber was one of those killed and he detonated the bomb when approached by the officers, according to Russian news channels.

The blast took place very close to where Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Russian General Staff’s army operational training directorate, was killed on Monday.

Russia said it suspected Ukraine was behind the killing. There was no official comment from Ukraine.

Myrotvorets, an unofficial Ukrainian website that provides a database of people described as war criminals or traitors, updated its entry on Sarvarov to say the 56-year-old general had been “liquidated”.

A string of Russian military figures and high-profile supporters of the war in Ukraine have been assassinated during the nearly four-year-old conflict; Ukrainian military intelligence has said it was responsible for a number of the attacks.

Ukraine’s military said its forces were keeping up pressure on Pokrovsk and would continue trying to sever logistics for Russian troops inside.

Fighting is still raging around the former eastern logistics hub, where Ukrainian forces said this month they had fended off an unusually large Russian mechanised attack.

The Ukrainian military’s Operation Task Force East unit, which reports regularly on its defence of Pokrovsk, said yesterday that Ukrainian forces remained in control of the northern part of the largely destroyed city.

Writing on Facebook, it said Ukrainian servicemen were blocking attempts by Russian forces to advance. In the nearby town of Myrnohrad, the unit said Ukrainian forces were holding defensive lines and eliminating Russian forces on the outskirts.

Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian forces had launched 29 attacks in the Pokrovsk sector in an attempt to advance near a string of villages.

At least two police officers and another person were killed in blast in southern Moscow, the Investigative Committee said this morning.

Several explosions were heard in southern Moscow today at the site where Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was killed by a car bomb on Monday, Baza and SHOT Telegram channels reported.

Witnesses told the channels, which have sources in Russia’s law enforcement agencies, that a car was detonated.

Volodymyr Zelensky said several draft documents, including on security guarantees, had been prepared after Ukrainian officials held talks in Miami with US counterparts on ending Russia’s war.

“They worked productively with envoys of President Trump and several draft documents have now been prepared,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X.

“In particular, these include documents on security guarantees for Ukraine, on recovery, and on a basic framework for ending this war.”

Three people were killed including a four-year-old child, Ukraine officials said, in a large-scale Russian drone attack on the country just two days before Christmas.

The latest barrage, involving more than 650 drones and three dozen missiles, comes as hopes of securing a US-brokered ceasefire before 25 December fade.

Initial reports from Ukrainian emergency services said the child died in Ukraine’s northwestern Zhytomyr region, while a drone killed a woman in the Kyiv region, and another civilian death was recorded in the western Khmelnytskyi region, according to reports.