Strikes on four vessels signal that Kyiv is willing to expand the maritime theater of the conflict in an effort to crimp Moscow’s military funding.

President Vladimir Putin said he’s willing to discuss bringing Russia’s war in Ukraine to an end, even as he ruled out changes sought by Kyiv and Europe to a US peace plan drawn up with Moscow.

Follow live updates from NBC News as Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at his annual year-end news conference on Ukraine, peace, war and Trump.

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.

The US-drafted proposals for an end to the nearly four-year ⁠war, leaked to the media last month, raised European and Ukrainian concerns that they favour more of Russia’s wartime demands ​and that US President Donald Trump’s administration could push Kyiv into conceding too much.

The intelligence reports also contradict Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has constantly denied that he is a danger to Europe.

Russia disclosed several new figures on Wednesday, including how much it's specifically spent on the war and how many soldiers it hired in 2025.

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,

Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday that an International Claims Commission for Ukraine launched by some European powers had no legal force for Russia and was driven by an attempt by European countries to spread propaganda against Russia.