Russian military killed five people in Ukraine through shelling on December 13

The National Police reported that as a result of shelling by Russian forces on December 11, 2025, five civilians were killed in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Sumy Oblasts. Another 12 people were injured in the Kherson and Chernihiv regions.

Ukrainian police at the site of a strike in the Sumy region, where Russian forces hit a store while shoppers were inside

Fatalities on December 11 due to shelling by Russian forces:

• Two people from Druzhkivka and Illinivka, struck by drones and tube artillery;
• Two women from the Velykopysarivska “hromada,” a local government area that includes one or more nearby settlements, hit by an airstrike;
• A woman from the village of Yuriivka, who died in the hospital from her injuries.

In the Sumy region, in addition to the two deceased women, another woman was injured in the Velykopysarivska hromada. Russian forces hit a store there with a guided aerial bomb while shoppers were inside.

Debris removal at the site of a Russian strike in the Sumy region

In the Donetsk Oblast, two more people were injured due to Russian strikes in Kostiantynivka and Novoiverske, which were targeted by aviation, artillery, and drones. In total, over 24 hours that day, the Russian military struck the Donetsk region over 2,100 times, destroying more than two dozen civilian objects, including many residential buildings.

In addition, police in Pokrovsk learned of the death of a person on December 10 due to a Russian strike; thus, in total for that day, Russian forces killed three Ukrainians through shelling.

A house in the Chernihiv Oblast is burning after a Russian strike early in the morning on December 11, 2025

In the Kharkiv region, a 73-year-old man from Novoplatonivka was also hospitalized. The Russians targeted him with a drone that allows the operator to see where they are aiming (FPV).

In the Kherson Oblast, the day before, Russians injured four residents of Kherson:

• In the morning, a man was injured in the Korabelnyi District.
• At noon, three elderly residents of the Dniprovskyi district were injured.
• In addition to them, a woman sought help at the city hospital, having suffered a concussion and other injuries due to a Russian strike the day before.

In the Chernihiv region, early in the morning, Russian troops struck the city of Nosivka. As a result, a 65-year-old man was injured. He was taken to the hospital, but the police did not specify the nature of his injuries.

On the night of December 11, 2025, Russian military forces once again launched a massive strike on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, particularly in the Poltava region, where a large fire broke out as a result.

To provide background, this year, in 10 months, Russian strikes killed more people than during the same period last year.

On December 14, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had begun a meeting in Berlin with representatives of the United States and Germany regarding efforts to establish lasting peace in Ukraine. Advisor to Zelenskyy, Dmytro Lytvyn, told journalists that the negotiations on December 14 lasted over five hours and will continue on Monday morning, as reported by the Handelsblatt newspaper.

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Earlier, during an online conversation with journalists on his way to Berlin, President Zelenskyy said he believes it would be unfair for Ukrainian troops to leave part of Ukraine’s east that they currently control if Russian forces do not also withdraw.

“I believe that, as of today, a fair possible option should be ‘we stay where we stand’. This is true because this is what a ceasefire is – the sides stay where they are, and then they try to resolve all general issues diplomatically. I know that Russia doesn’t view this positively, and I would like the Americans to support us on this issue. But to our signal ‘we stay where we stand’, the Russians respond that we must leave Donbas or they will occupy it anyway… And then the US said: Let us have such a compromise – the Russians will not enter part of our east, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine will withdraw,” cites Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainska Pravda news outlet as saying.

He doubts this move is fair.

“Because this is an economic zone, who will manage it? If we are talking about some kind of buffer zone along the line of contact, if we are talking about some kind of economic zone, we believe there should only be a police mission there, and that troops should withdraw. In that case, the question is very simple. If Ukrainian troops withdraw by 5-10 km and so on, for example, then why do Russian troops not withdraw deeper into the occupied territories by the same distance? Therefore, this is a question that remains unanswered. But it is a very sensitive and very hot issue,” he highlighted.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said at a party congress of the Christian Social Union in Munich that Russian ruler Vladimir Putin is interested in a “fundamental change of borders in Europe” and in restoring the Soviet Union within its former borders. In his view, this poses a “huge threat, including a military one, to countries that were once part of this empire”.

“Putin will not stop. If Ukraine falls, he will not stop,” DW cited Merz as saying. 

The German Chancellor stated that continued support for Ukraine and European unity, in strategic cooperation with the UK, are priorities in foreign and security policy. He also stressed the importance of preserving NATO “for as long as possible”, noting that its effectiveness has repeatedly been questioned by U.S. President Donald Trump.

US Republican Congressman Don Bacon said that forcing Ukraine to give up its territories for the sake of an agreement resembles the situation of the “Munich Conspiracy” of 1938.

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Earlier, independent Senator from Maine, Angus King, also compared the proposed peace plan of the US administration to the Munich Agreement concluded in 1938 by UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Adolf Hitler, which became a historic failure of the policy of appeasement.