A video of the attack on Novorossiysk with the Sub Sea Baby drone shows a calm port with several ships before a massive explosion kicks up water and debris.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, right, Russian presidential foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, left, Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev, second right, and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, arrive for meetings in Moscow on Dec. 2, 2025. | Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told ABC News during an exclusive interview in Moscow on Monday that he believes the warring parties are close to a deal.

Russia’s war economy is not collapsing, but neither is it stable. It survives by pushing strain into the future – into labour markets, public finances and the everyday lives of Russian households.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says proposals being negotiated with U.S. officials for a deal to end the fighting in Russia's nearly 4-year-old invasion of his country could be finalized within days,

Ukraine claimed it carried out an underwater drone strike on Dec. 15, the first such attack in maritime warfare, that critically damaged a Russian Kilo-class attack submarine at the Russian port of Novorossiysk,

The total combat losses of Russian troops from February 24, 2022, to December 16, 2025, in the war against Ukraine amount to approximately 1,190,620 people, including 1,150 people over the past day. — Ukrinform.

But part is because Ukraine is keeping secret the methods it hopes will help it regain a winning edge elsewhere. Participants refuse to say how they circumvented the all-seeing eyes and kill-zones of the modern battlefield.

Germany is ramping up its military operations amid security concerns over the Russia-Ukraine war. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorious talked about the rearming on "60 Minutes." Isaac Stanley Becker,

It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out a ceasefire by Christmas, saying Russia is likely to reject a new European-backed peace proposal and that Ukraine must be ready to continue fighting.