Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had targeted Moscow with drones every day of 2026 so far. What we know on day 1,412

Russia’s defence ministry claimed that Ukraine has targeted Moscow with drones every day of 2026 so far, in what would mark an escalation from earlier, more sporadic attacks on the Russian capital. By midnight on Sunday alone, Russian air defence systems had destroyed 57 drones over the Moscow region out of 437 downed over Russia, the ministry said. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, but Kyiv has increasingly used long range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia. Ukraine says such attacks aim to disrupt military logistics and energy infrastructure, raise costs for Moscow’s war effort and respond to repeated Russian missile and drone attacks in the war that Russia launched nearly four years ago.

Three out of four of Moscow’s airports shut to air traffic on Sunday after Ukraine launched dozens of drones, authorities said. The attacks led to multiple flight delays, including at Moscow’s second-busiest airport of Vnukovo, Russian media reported. The disruption comes during Russia’s extended New Year and Orthodox Christmas break, when many Russians take vacations and travel domestically and abroad, making it one of the country’s busiest periods for transport and tourism.

Two people were killed in Ukrainian drone strikes in Russian border regions, local officials said on Sunday. Belgorod’s governor said one person died and two others, including a young child, were wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a car. Another person was killed in a drone strike on a village in the Kursk region, the region’s governor said.

Russia launched overnight strikes on Kyiv province killed two people, Ukrainian authorities said Monday, after a countrywide air alert was issued. One person was killed in the capital, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the city’s military administration. And in the neighbouring city of Fastiv, a man in his 70s also died, Mykola Kalashnyk, the Kyiv regional governor, said.

In Ukraine, three people were wounded in the Kharkiv region in drone strikes from Saturday into Sunday, the country’s state emergency service said. Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian missile attack on the city of Kharkiv on Friday increased to five when body parts were found under the rubble of a building, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire in an industrial zone in the town of Yelets in Russia’s Lipetsk region, the regional governor said. There were no casualties reported. Yelets is home to the Energiya battery plant, a major producer of batteries and accumulators for Russia’s defence industry, which Ukraine said it has hit in the past.

• Rodgers leads Steelers to first AFC North title in five years

• Panthers win NFC South after Falcons beat Saints 19–17

• Jags rout Titans to clinch AFC South, extend hot streak

• Garrett gets sack No 23 to set NFL single-season record

Aaron Rodgers threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III with 55 seconds left, and the Steelers beat the Ravens 26-24 on Sunday night when Baltimore’s Tyler Loop missed a 44-yard field goal as time expired, giving Pittsburgh the AFC North title.

Pittsburgh (10-7) will host Houston (12-5) in the opening round of the playoffs on Monday 12 January, following an electric fourth quarter that saw four lead changes, including three in the final four minutes.

• Britcher rallies in Sigulda for second win of season

• American leads World Cup singles despite missing race

• USA Luge star can capture historic overall crown

USA Luge’s Summer Britcher is flying into the Olympics.

Britcher got her second women’s singles luge win of the season on Sunday, moving her atop the World Cup standings and further cementing her status as a medal contender for the Milan Cortina Olympics next month.

Hundreds of people join silent procession in Swiss town, with youngest known victim just 14-years-old

• Visual guide: what happened in Crans-Montana?

Investigators have identified the last 16 people who died in the New Year’s Eve bar fire at the Swiss mountain resort of Crans-Montana, police said on Sunday.

Officers in Valais canton said they had managed to identify the last of the 40 bodies from the blaze, one of the worst disasters in recent Swiss history, with forensic work particularly slow-going due to the horrific burns sustained by most of the victims.

• Striker steps in for injured Mbappé in 5-1 victory

• Paris Saint-Germain beat city rivals Paris FC 2-1

Gonzalo García bagged a hat-trick to lead Real Madrid to a 5-1 victory over Real Betis at the Bernabéu on Sunday, cutting Barcelona’s La Liga lead back to four points.

The 21-year-old forward, who scored four goals at last summer’s Club World Cup, stepped up in the absence of La Liga’s top scorer, Kylian Mbappé, sidelined by a knee injury. García was left unmarked at the far post to head in Rodrygo’s precise cross for a deserved 20th-minute lead.

Ukraine’s top allies hold security talks in Kyiv; Russia condemns US attack on Venezuela. What we know on day 1,411

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says he hopes for a leaders’ summit in the US by the end of January to discuss proposals on how to end the war with Russia. Security advisers from Ukraine’s top allies met in Kyiv on Saturday for talks on a US-brokered plan to end the war, days after Kyiv announced a deal was “90%” ready. Officials from 15 countries including the UK, France and Germany as well as representatives from Nato and the EU joined the meeting. The US special envoy Steve Witkoff also joined virtually, a Ukrainian official said, although the US military attack on Venezuela earlier in the day overshadowed proceedings.

Next week, the talks will continue during a European leaders’ meeting in Paris and then with US negotiators. “And after that … we will be preparing for a meeting in the United States at the leadership level. We would like all of this to happen in January, by the end of January,” Zelenskyy said.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war have gained pace in recent weeks, although both Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory. Russia, which occupies about 20% of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal. But Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow and said it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday evening, Zelenskyy said that if diplomacy to end the war failed, his country would continue to defend itself. “If Russia blocks all of this – and as I said, it depends on our partners – if our partners do not compel Russia to stop the war, there will be another path: to defend ourselves,” he said.

While the US may be making positive noises about a peace deal, exhausted Ukrainians remain wary after nearly four years of war, the Guardian’s Shaun Walker reports.

Saturday’s meeting capped a week marked by deadly strikes, as well as a Russian claim – denied by Ukraine – that Kyiv had launched drones at a residence of Vladimir Putin in an unsuccessful attack. Russia accused Kyiv of firing drones at a hotel and cafe in the Moscow-held part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region early on Thursday, killing what it said were 28 people celebrating the new year. Ukraine says it was a military gathering.

A woman and three-year-old child died in a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv late on Friday, according to the region’s governor. And early Saturday, Russian bombardment of a Kyiv-held part of the southern Kherson region left two people dead, according to the region’s governor.

Russia on Saturday condemned the US attack on Venezuela and called for the release of its leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was grabbed during an audacious military operation in Caracas. “We strongly urge the American leadership to reconsider its position and release the legally elected president of the sovereign country and his wife,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

In a series of statements, the ministry called for dialogue between Washington and Venezuela’s government and expressed “solidarity” with Venezuela’s people. It stopped short, however, of offering immediate military or financial assistance to its ally.

“This morning, the United States committed an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. This is deeply concerning and condemnable,” the ministry said in a statement. “The pretexts used to justify such actions are untenable. Ideological hostility has triumphed over businesslike pragmatism.”

Moscow is one of only a handful of countries to congratulate Maduro on his disputed re-election in 2024. Venezuela is Russia’s closest partner in South America and a major buyer of Russian military hardware.

• Seahawks shut down 49ers to secure NFC top seed

• Seattle ride defense and run game in 13-3 win

• Buccaneers survive Panthers, await NFC South fate

Zach Charbonnet scored on a 27-yard run in the first quarter and Seattle shut down the high-powered San Francisco offense in a 13-3 victory over the 49ers on Saturday night that secured the No 1 seed for the Seahawks in the NFC playoffs.

Seattle (14-3) won their first division title since 2020 and are now two home wins away from returning to Levi’s Stadium for the Super Bowl next month after besting San Francisco (12-5) in just the fourth season-ending game ever where the winner was guaranteed the No 1 seed in the playoffs.

South Korea’s military reports projectile launch hours before Lee Jae Myung was due to head to Beijing

North Korea launched ballistic missiles towards the sea on Sunday, its neighbours said, just hours before South Korea’s president was due to leave for talks in China expected to cover North Korea’s nuclear programme.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that they detected several ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s capital region at about 7.50am local time. They said the missiles flew about 560 miles (900km) and that South Korea and US authorities were analysing details of the launches.

• David’s failed Panenka costs Juventus against Lecce

• Chelsea target Rosenior’s Strasbourg draw at Nice

The Barcelona manager Hansi Flick hailed Joan García as one of the best goalkeepers in the world after the former Espanyol player delivered a decisive performance against his old club in the Catalan derby on Saturday.

García was instrumental in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory, producing a series of outstanding saves, with the league leaders extending their lead at the top of the La Liga standings to seven points.

Suspected offences include homicide by negligence, causing bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence

The two managers of a bar where a blaze on New Year’s Day killed at least 40 people have been placed under criminal investigation, Swiss prosecutors have said.

French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti owned and managed the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, which was crammed with young new year’s revellers when a blaze began at about 1.30am local time (12.30am GMT) on Thursday, killing about 40 people and injuring more than 100.

• Paul removed from WBA top 15 after Joshua KO

• Fight drew 33m global viewers on Netflix

• Loss followed brief cruiserweight ranking run

Jake Paul has fallen out of the World Boxing Association’s cruiserweight rankings after his sixth-round knockout loss to Anthony Joshua last month.

The YouTuber was stopped by the former two-time heavyweight champion in a scheduled eight-round bout in Miami, where Joshua scored four knockdowns before the referee halted the contest in the sixth round. Paul suffered a broken jaw in two places and required surgery after the fight.

Russian army captured more Ukrainian territory in 2025 than previous two years combined; Zelenskyy names new top aide. What we know on day 1,410

Russia’s battlefield gains in Ukraine last year were the highest since 2022, an analysis showed, as Kyiv prepared to host security advisers from allied states despite Moscow’s unrelenting strikes. The Russian army captured more than 5,600 square kilometres, or nearly 1%, of Ukrainian territory in 2025, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War. The land captured is more than in the previous two years combined, though far short of the more than 60,000 sq km Russia took in 2022.

As Russia pressed its advantage against outgunned Ukrainian troops, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said about 15 countries would attend security talks in Kyiv on Saturday, the latest in a flurry of efforts to end the nearly four-year war. The meeting will include representatives from the EU and Nato, while a US delegation would join via video link.

Zelenskyy named military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov as his new top aide on Friday, after the president’s previous chief of staff resigned in November over a corruption scandal. Budanov has built up a strong reputation in Ukraine, credited with a series of daring operations against Russia. When formally appointed, he will succeed Andriy Yermak, who resigned in November after investigators raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.

“Kyrylo has specialised experience in these areas and sufficient strength to achieve results,” Zelenskyy said. Budanov, 39, said on Telegram his new position was “both an honour and a responsibility – at a historic time for Ukraine – to focus on the critically important issues of the state’s strategic security”.

Zelenskyy also said he wanted to replace defence minister Denys Shymhal, who was appointed only six months ago, with 34-year-old Mykhailo Fedorov, who is now minister of digital transformation. “Mykhailo is deeply involved in issues related to drones and is very effective in the digitalisation of state services and processes,” the president added.

Moscow kept up its aerial barrage of Ukraine overnight, with the latest strike on a residential area of the city of Kharkiv reducing parts of multi-storey buildings to smouldering rubble. At least two people were killed in the attack, including a three-year-old child, and about 25 more were injured, officials said.

Zelenskyy described the attack as “heinous”. “Unfortunately, this is how the Russians treat life and people – they continue killing, despite all efforts by the world, and especially by the United States, in the diplomatic process,” he said on social media. Russia denied the attack had taken place, suggesting that an explosion at the site was caused by Ukrainian ammunition.

Ukrainian officials on Friday ordered the evacuation of more than 3,000 children and their parents from 44 frontline settlements in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where Russian troops have been advancing. More than 150,000 people have been evacuated from frontline areas since 1 June, said Ukraine’s restoration minister Oleksiy Kuleba.

Ninth circuit sides with gun owner that ban in counties with more than 200,000 people violates second amendment

A US appeals court on Friday ruled that California’s ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of the state was unconstitutional.

A panel of the San Francisco-based ninth US circuit court of appeals sided 2-1 with a gun owner in ruling that the state’s prohibition against open carry in counties with more than 200,000 people violated the US constitution’s second amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Southern Transitional Council wants to form a breakaway state, which would split the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest state in two

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has called for Yemen’s southern factions to attend a “dialogue” in Riyadh, after a surprise independence bid and the United Arab Emirates declaring it had withdrawn all troops from Yemen.

In a statement on Saturday, the Saudi ministry urged “a comprehensive conference in Riyadh to bring together all southern factions to discuss just solutions to the southern cause”. Riyadh said the Yemeni government had issued the invitation for talks.