Russia's economy will be under major strain in 2025, economists told BI. One said stagnation was similar to the USSR at the start of the 1980s.

Russia launches a Christmas Day missile attack on Ukraine as the war enters its third year. NBC News’ Erin McLaughlin reports on the shifting battleground there and in Washington, D.C.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he had asked the Defense Department to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, after condemning Russia's Christmas Day attack on Ukraine's energy system and some of its cities.

A passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia with 67 people on board crashed in Kazakhstan Wednesday, authorities said.

An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Christmas Day has prompted speculation the plane was shot down by Russia after it took a detour of hundreds of miles in the wrong direction and crash-landed with holes in the fuselage.

Ukrainian officials say Russia has launched a massive missile barrage targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

A Russian court case involving a compensation claim against Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) will continue in the second half of January, judicial authorities and the lender said on Wednesday.

Russia is ready to continue gas exports to Europe through several routes just as a contract to transit the fuel via Ukraine is expected to end this year, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

Russia attacked Ukraine's energy system and some cities in an "inhuman" Christmas Day assault, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Russia has held several rounds of tactical nuclear weapons drills this year, and regularly carries out military exercises for its strategic nuclear forces.

Several passenger plane crashes have occurred worldwide this year, including a Wednesday morning Azerbaijan Airlines wreck that has left dozens feared dead.