War in Ukraine, latest news. Kiev, agreement with the US military on army support and guarantees. Alarm from Kiev's 007s: the Russians are preparing an attack

Ukraine and the US have agreed on a military document consisting of four chapters. This was announced by Armed Forces Chief of Staff Andriy Hnatov in the context of meetings with European and NATO national security advisors in Kiev. The understanding covers 'how Ukraine will support the Armed Forces, how they will be resupplied and modernised, and how compliance with the agreements will be monitored and how action will be taken in the event of non-compliance with these agreements'. Hnatov said that 'the same work is being done with other partners and one of the sections of the document concerns the activities of the Coalition of the Willing'.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal and proposed him the role of new Energy Minister. "We held consultations with Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and I trust in the support of parliamentarians for this approach and the position of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister in favour of Denys Shmyhal," the Ukrainian president wrote on Telegram.

"I met with Denys Shmyhal. I thank him for his systematic work at the Ministry of Defence and for the processes that have been activated to ensure the protection of our state. It is precisely this kind of systematicity that is also needed today for the Ukrainian energy sector. It is crucial that, after each Russian attack, we can quickly restore what has been destroyed and that the development of Ukrainian energy is stable and adapted to the country's needs,' Zelensky represented.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel that he had a "good conversation with Keir Starmer". "We talked both about how to act now on the diplomatic level and how to achieve greater justice together, in light of all that Russia has brought with the war," Zelensky continued.

During the phone call, Zelensky said that "the details of the preparation of a meeting at the leaders' level, which will be held soon," had been discussed. "The national security advisors are also working very productively: today is a busy day and 18 participants from Europe are taking part in the joint work. We are also coordinating with the American side," Zelensky pointed out.

Russian forces attacked a district of Kherson, killing two people, according to the Telegram account of the head of the OVA in Kherson, Oleksandr Prokudin. "This morning the Russians killed two people in Kherson," Prokudin said. According to his account, a man and a woman were fatally injured in the city's Dnipro district. Their identities are being ascertained.

On Tuesday 6 January at 2 p.m., Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will be in Paris, at the Elysée Palace, to take part in a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing at Leader level. This was reported on the website of the Presidency of the Council.

Security advisers from Ukraine's European allies and Nato have arrived in Kiev to continue negotiations on a plan to end the war triggered by the Russian invasion in 2022. This was announced by Ukraine's chief negotiator Rustem Umerov in a message on Telegram. "The national security advisers of European countries have arrived in Kiev," he said. "We have a busy day ahead of us: security and economic issues, drafting framework documents, coordinating the next steps with our partners," Umerov added.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported a Russian night attack involving 95 drones, 80 of which were considered shot down or suppressed. About 60 of the drones launched were Shaheed, Ukrainska Pravda reports. Fifteen Uavs were reported to have hit eight locations, while other downed Uavs (fragments) fell in two locations. On the night of 3 January, a state of air alert was declared in Kiev and several regions of Ukraine due to the threat of ballistic weapons.

According to the mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, rescuers have recovered another body under the rubble of a building destroyed by a Russian raid in Kharkiv. Local media reported this. According to initial information, the victim is a woman. Meanwhile, the mayor assured, search and rescue operations continue. Yesterday, rescuers had recovered from the rubble the body of a three-year-old boy, whose mother is still missing. The raid, which took place yesterday, had been described as 'ferocious' on X by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: "Two missiles hit a normal residential area" and "the exact number of victims is still unknown," the president had written yesterday. 'Unfortunately,' he had added, 'this is how the Russians treat life and people: they continue to kill, despite all the efforts of the world, and in particular of the United States, in the diplomatic process. It is only Russia that does not want this war to end'.

Ukrainian forces have lost up to 810 soldiers in the last 24 hours. This was reported by Tass citing several Russian army sources. Numerous military vehicles and at least eight Ukrainian drone control centres were also destroyed.

Alarm from Kiev's 007: the Kremlin is preparing a large-scale attack with numerous victims in order to derail the peace talks. The blitz would be planned 'around 7 January'. Zelensky replaces Yermak, who is implicated in the corruption investigation, with Budanov taking over as head of the president's office. The Defence Minister also changes: via Shmyhal comes Fedorov, currently in charge of Digital Transformation. Moscow hands over to the US what it considers evidence of the drone attack on Putin's dacha. A summit of Western security advisors is scheduled for today, ahead of the meeting of the leaders of the Willing on 6 January in France.

News from the war front in Ukraine on 2 January