Zelensky didn’t hold back when pressed about the US toppling Maduro’s regime after President Trump ordered airstrikes on military sites around the Venezuelan capital of Caracas early

The Kremlin leader kept his speech short, spoke only briefly about the fighting in Ukraine, and did not mention U.S.-mediated talks on ending the war.

The U.S. and Russia have been on opposing sides in Venezuela, with Moscow providing military and economic support to Maduro.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual televised New Year's address to rally his troops fighting in Ukraine, saying he believed in them and in victory in a war that he has framed as part of an existential struggle with the West.

Russian commanders told Putin during an inspection visit that Moscow's forces had captured towns in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk.

By Ben Aris in Berlin President Vladimir Putin continues to enjoy strong approval ratings nearly four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to polling from the Levada Centre, an independent Russian research organisation.