As the war between Russia and Ukraine persists, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his nation's "troops are advancing," The Associated Press reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s end-of-year Q&A session is likely to send a signal to the United States and European powers over his appetite for peace or more war in Ukraine.

Ukraine claims it has carried out the first successful combat strike by an underwater drone against a submarine, damaging a Russian Kilo-class boat in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and potentially removing a key cruise missile launch platform from the war.

Ukraine's internal security agency said the attack damaged and disabled a Russian Kilo-class submarine in the port city of Novorossiysk.

Russia will be paying for its invasion of Ukraine for years to come even if the fighting ended tomorrow, as the government plugs a widening gap in the military budget with increasingly costly borrowing.