The final week of 2025 in Ukraine began with a massive Russian attack on critical infrastructure. According to the Ministry of Energy, it was the ninth large‑scale strike on Ukraine’s power system since the start of 2025. A significant portion of the attacks targeted Western Ukraine. For residents of Chernihiv, Christmas Eve and Christmas turned into days of hardship under relentless shelling. The week was also marked by strikes on the Zhytomyr and Cherkasy regions, where children were among the dead and injured. Russian forces continued their deliberate destruction of infrastructure in Odesa region. The situation in frontline areas remained consistently severe. In Donetsk region, a volunteer from Kharkiv was killed by a Russian drone strike. Late in the week, Russia launched a massive attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region, continuing drone terror throughout the day.

Yakiv Liashenko is a documentary photographer who now captures everyday life and the reality of war within the Donbas Special Forces Battalion. With his digital camera, he records death and pain; with black‑and‑white film, he preserves life and beauty. His photographs are documents of our time, showing ruined buildings, mutilated bodies, and the faces of people who have witnessed immense suffering yet have not lost their desire to live.

Photographer Ira Lupu explains why, visually, the act of photographing war operates within a fairly limited register — yet photography remains her medium of choice; why it is worth taking on subjects that may seem obvious at first glance; and how to search for depth within them.

The Cabinet of Ministers is launching a mechanism for one‑time financial assistance in the event of the death or injury of journalists while performing their professional duties. This was announced on December 13 by Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko. The program is included in the state budget for 2026. The first compensation will be issued to the father of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was killed in Russian captivity.

Russia, which consistently violates international humanitarian law and the rules and customs of war, has been persecuting journalists in Ukraine since the beginning of the full‑scale invasion. The Kremlin is doing everything it can to halt the work of the media who report daily on the war crimes committed by the Russian Federation. The aggressor state’s propaganda machine works intensively to sow informational chaos in Ukrainian cities.

From the beginning of the week, Russian drone attacks targeted frontline and border regions. In Okhtyrka, Sumy region, Russian forces struck a residential high‑rise; in Shostka, they hit a sports school where children were training at the time. Later in the week, the enemy launched another strike on Fastiv in Kyiv region. A massive combined missile‑and‑drone attack hit Kremenchuk in Poltava region. Overall, the largest number of strikes was directed at critical infrastructure in southern Ukraine. Photo reports from Odesa after the Russian attacks were prepared by Oleksandr Himanov and Tymofii Melnykov.