Russia would seek to strengthen military cooperation with China, with relations between the two countries at their “best in history,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in the video call, the first since the leaders met in person in September. China stands ready to expand their “strategic partnership”, said Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

US President Joe Biden signed a $1.7-trillion government funding bill that includes $47-billion in additional aid for Ukraine. The US is considering sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine as part of a further package of military support, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Key developments

• Putin, Xi hold talks as Russia struggles with war in Ukraine
• Biden signs $1.7-trillion funding bill that includes Ukraine aid
• US considers sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine 
• Russia to raise yuan share in wealth fund to 60%, gold to 40%
• Why the US is giving a Patriot system to Ukraine: QuickTake

On the ground

Ukraine’s defences shot down all of the fourth wave of drones sent over the past day, with a district administrative building sustaining damage in Kyiv, according to local authorities and Ukraine’s military command in the east. It was part of one of the most intense missile and drone attacks of the war. Russian shelling killed two people and wounded two more in the Kharkiv region, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office. The president said the toughest fighting was taking place near Bakhmut and Soledar, and he expected more attacks before New Year’s Eve. 

War may cost Ukrainian farmers $40bn this year 

Financial losses suffered by Ukraine’s agriculture industry may rise to $40-billion this year due to Russia’s invasion, Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskiy said on television.

Xi vows to play constructive role in ‘crisis’ 

Chinese state television reported that Xi told Putin Beijing would continue to play a constructive role in seeking to resolve the Ukraine “crisis”, though the road to peace talks won’t be smooth.

Beijing has refused to publicly condemn the invasion or even to call it a war, instead accusing the US of provoking Russia by pushing to expand the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Putin, Xi pledge to expand ties 

Putin said in his end-of-year video call with Xi that Russia and China’s strategic partnership was a “stabilising factor” against rising geopolitical tensions, and Russia would seek to strengthen military cooperation with China. Xi said China was ready to expand their “strategic partnership.”

Putin has grown increasingly dependent on China for political and economic support, turning to its neighbour as a buyer for oil redirected away from European markets as well as for imports. 

While Xi has refused to publicly condemn the war, Beijing has shown some impatience with the wider political and economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The US said Biden and Xi chastised the Kremlin for loose talk of nuclear war over Ukraine when they held talks at the Group of 20 summit in November.

Ukraine’s energy system resumes operations after recent attack  

Ukraine was fixing the relatively minor damage to its energy system caused by Russia’s missile and drone attacks over the past day, Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenergo said on Friday in a Facebook statement. Operations were resuming at the planned level, it said.

The nation was still experiencing power shortages, particularly in the southern and eastern regions, because of previous repeated attacks. “Consumption limits have been established for all areas,” Ukrenergo said. “Exceeding the shortages leads to emergency shutdowns.”

DTEK, a private supplier of electricity to Ukraine’s cities, said in its Telegram channel that it had stabilised supplies to Kyiv. 

Russia raises yuan, gold limits for reserves 

Russia’s Finance Ministry doubled the amount of Chinese yuan and gold it can hold in the national wealth fund, with much of its savings frozen by international sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

The potential share of yuan was raised to 60% of the National Wellbeing Fund and gold to 40% to make investments in the National Wellbeing Fund “more flexible,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Friday. The ministry said its accounts in British pounds and Japanese yen at the central bank had been set at zero.

Belarus says it’s investigating Ukrainian missile 

Belarus is looking into whether a Ukrainian missile entered its airspace on Thursday by mistake or as an intentional provocation from Kyiv’s troops, Air Force commander Kirill Kazantsev said in a video statement on the Defence Ministry’s Telegram channel.

The Ukraine Defence Ministry said on Thursday that it was ready to investigate the incident. Without directly confirming or denying it launched the anti-aircraft guided missile that was shot down over southern Belarus, the ministry said Russia may have deliberately laid the trajectory for its cruise missiles to provoke an interception in Belarusian airspace. 

The incident was a “matter of concern” for Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a daily conference call with reporters.

Ukraine needs more arms – Nato chief  

Once Putin realises he can’t subdue Ukraine, there could be a “negotiated peaceful solution ensuring that Ukraine prevails as an independent democratic state,” Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a DPA interview. 

Recent Ukrainian attacks on military targets in Russia were legitimate as “every country has the right to defend itself”, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization head said.

Read more: Russia fires heavy salvo on Ukraine, ruling out peace talks

Biden signs bill with $47bn aid for Ukraine 

Biden signed the measure after Republicans, who will have control of the House in January, vowed to subject the administration’s support for Ukraine to greater oversight.

The fresh assistance to the government in Kyiv adds to the $65-billion the US has already appropriated this year in response to Russia’s invasion and follows an address in person to Congress earlier this month by Zelensky. 

At least 15,000 people missing, says Zelensky adviser 

Aliona Verbytska, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said Russia had confirmed that it was holding more than 3,000 prisoners of war. She said 15,000 people were missing, many of them civilians. 

Verbytska, in her capacity as ombudsperson for the rights of Ukrainian soldiers, underscored the discrepancy between the number of confirmed POWs and the number still missing.

“We do not know what happened to them. Whether they are also Russian prisoners of war, have been taken from Russian-occupied territories or possibly killed,” Verbytska said. She assailed what she called the “very poor” cooperation of Russian agencies, with regard to dealing with prisoners of war. DM