Throughout the past year, correspondents for The Times have travelled the length and breadth of Ukraine to report on the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion. With a new president in the White House, shifts on the battlefield and political crises in Kyiv, it has been perhaps the most consequential year since 2022. Here are some reflections from our writers on moments that stayed with them from the past year and what they may mean for the future.
A battlefield encounter between a Ukrainian drone and a Russian soldier on horseback ended in victory for modern weaponry over centuries-old tactics.
Russia’s invasion has seen technological advances that have changed the nature of warfare, from the ubiquitous use of drones to hypersonic missiles.
Yet Russia’s shortage of military vehicles means that some of President Putin’s troops are trying to use horses to avoid getting stuck in the mud as they launch assaults on Ukrainian lines.
Related …
Absolute must watch for the crowd saying taxpayers billions to Ukraine and sanctions have Russia backed into a corner. Watch this reality check from Niall Ferguson
"Russian real wages have risen 22% since the war began. Unemployment simply doesn't exist. Disposable income is up… pic.twitter.com/AIwsRiQGsf
— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) December 30, 2025
Russia, the US and Ukraine agree that a deal on ending almost four years of full-scale war is edging closer but, in the words of President Donald Trump, “one or two very thorny, very tough issues” remain.
Two of the trickiest issues in Washington’s 20-point plan involve territory and the fate of Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, which is currently occupied by Russia.
The Kremlin agrees with Trump that negotiations are “at a final stage”, and Zelensky’s next step is to meet European leaders in France on 6 January, but any one of the sticking points could jeopardise a deal.
IT IS the season of peace on earth and goodwill to all. The Holy Land is indeed more tranquil than it’s been for a while, although it’s just one murderous outrage from yet another battle in the series of wars that have continued since the United Nations created the State of Israel.
Then there is Ukraine, now approaching the fifth year of its war with Russia, another conflict where an irresistible force has encountered an immovable object. The search for a solution is as elusive as it is in the Middle East. Until one can be found the body count, destruction and hatred continue to rise.
The US has offered Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years, Volodymyr Zelensky has said, during talks on a revised peace plan with Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday.
The US president said an agreement on this point was “close to 95%” done, but Ukraine’s leader has since said he would like guarantees for up to 50 years.
President Zelensky outlined territorial issues and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as the last unresolved matters, with little said on the future of Ukraine’s contested Donbas region.
Oops …
Zelensky makes PERFECTLY choreographed entrance in Canada
Meeting PM Carney before Trump
Staff shouting ‘READY? READY?’
All smiles for the cameras pic.twitter.com/KeL6Ntol97
— RT (@RT_com) December 27, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday insisted Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever before” to a peace deal as he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort, but he acknowledged that negotiations could still break down and leave the war dragging on for years.
The president’s statements came after the two leaders met for a discussion that took place after what Trump described as an “excellent,” two-and-a-half-hour phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine launched the war four years ago. Trump insisted he believed Putin still wants peace, even as Russia launched another round of attacks on Ukraine while Zelenskyy flew to the United States for the latest round of negotiations.
“Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed,” Trump said during a late afternoon news conference following a meeting with Zelenskyy, whom he repeatedly praised as “brave.”
Trump says he offered to speak to Ukraine’s parliament to get the war ended:
Zelensky: “You are welcome”
Trump: “Yeah… I know.” 🤣pic.twitter.com/MceyKtTgWf
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) December 28, 2025
Trump says "very close" to Russia Ukraine peace deal after Zelensky meeting
"Some say we are 95% there, probably 🅱️iggest since WW2"
Called European leaders, commissioner and UK PM during Mar-a-Lago talks
Discussed security guarantees, territorial issues and economic recovery pic.twitter.com/CB48SHtLgi
— Boi Agent One (@boiagentone) December 28, 2025
Canada to provide $2.5 billion in economic aid for Ukraine, prime minister says
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saturday announced an additional $2.5 billion of economic aid for Ukraine.
The assistance will help Ukraine unlock financing from the International Monetary Fund, Carney said during an appearance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also spoke briefly to reporters.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has given a positive assessment of a conversation he had with US envoys on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Zelensky said Thursday’s call with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, which lasted nearly an hour, had yielded “new ideas in terms of formats, meetings, and… timing on how to bring a real peace closer”. He added later that he would hold another meeting with President Donald Trump “in the near future”.
Earlier this week Zelensky gave details of an updated 20-point peace plan, agreed by US and Ukrainian envoys in Florida.
President Putin wished President Trump a merry Christmas on Thursday, the Kremlin has said, hours after President Zelensky appeared to wish death upon the Russian leader in his Christmas Eve address.
Putin sent Trump a congratulatory message, according to the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, but the leaders are not expected to speak on Christmas Day.
On Christmas Eve, Zelensky said: “Today we all share one dream. And we make one wish — for all of us: ‘May he perish.’” It is widely understood to be a reference to Putin. Beforehand, Zelensky hinted at a plan for demilitarised zones in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky wishing for Putin’s death on his Christmas message:
My dear people, since ancient times, Ukrainians believed that on Christmas night, the heavens open.
And if you tell them your dream, it will surely come true.
Today, we all have one dream. And we have one wish for… pic.twitter.com/spaWEIsyoz
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 24, 2025
As the coffin is carried through the cobbled streets of Lviv, a hush descends and passersby drop to their knees. Traffic comes to a standstill, a lone bugler sounds his tune and Stepan Telychko, the latest of the city’s fallen warriors, is sent to his final rest.
The mourners will gather at the graveside not in Lviv’s storied Lychakiv Cemetery, known as Ukraine’s Père Lachaise, nor in the adjacent military cemetery known as the “Field of Mars”. After almost four years of war, on December 10 it ran out of burial plots.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has given details of an updated peace plan that offers Russia the potential withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the east that Moscow has demanded.
Giving details of the 20-point plan agreed by US and Ukrainian negotiators in Florida at the weekend, Zelensky said the Russians would give their response once the Americans had spoken to them.
Describing the plan as “the main framework for ending the war” Zelensky said it proposed security guarantees from the US, Nato and Europeans for a co-ordinated military response if Russia invaded Ukraine again.
The latest haggling over ending the war in Ukraine appears to be focused on three elements, two of which could be labeled “promissory” and one “instant delivery.”
The instant delivery bit concerns an agreement to let Russia keep the chunk of Donbas it has conquered. That is what US President Donald Trump calls “territorial concession” by Ukraine.
In his latest meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seemed to have accepted such an outcome with the caveat that it be regarded as de facto rather than de jure.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said there will be no more wars after Ukraine if Russia is treated with respect – and claims that Moscow is planning to attack European countries are “nonsense”.
In a marathon televised event lasting almost four and a half hours, he was asked by the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg whether there would be new “special military operations” – Putin’s term for the full-scale war.
“There won’t be any operations if you treat us with respect, if you respect our interests just as we’ve always tried to respect yours,” he asserted.
The arrest of a Canadian Armed Forces intelligence operator on espionage charges appears to have its origins in another murky episode that has vexed the country’s military establishment for more than a year.
The operator, Master Warrant Officer Matthew Shawn Robar, was arrested and charged Dec. 10 with multiple offences related to passing highly sensitive government secrets to what court documents released this week refer to as a “foreign entity.” He was released from custody Monday under strict conditions.
Accusations of espionage on behalf of both Ukraine and Russia.
I wonder if Freeland is involved in some way!
Volodymyr Zelensky is urging European Union leaders gathered at a crunch summit in Brussels to loan billions of euros in frozen Russian money to fund Ukraine’s military and economic needs.
Most of Russia’s €210bn (£185bn; $245bn) worth of assets in the EU are held by Belgium-based organisation Euroclear, and so far Belgium and some other members of the bloc have said they are opposed to using the cash as a “reparations loan”.
Russia has warned the EU not to use its money, but without a boost in funding Ukraine’s finances are set to run dry in a matter of months.
“I hope we will be able to get a positive decision,” Zelensky told reporters. “Without this there will be a big problem for Ukraine”.
