The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a new alert on Thursday warning non-European carriers not to fly within western Russia airspace due to the risk of being unintentionally targeted by its air-defence systems.

The European Aviation Safety Agency issued a bulletin warning airlines against flying over western Russia due to the risk of being shot down.

Russia and its four flight information regions (FIRs) to a list of potentially dangerous airspaces for civilian aircraft. According to the agency, the decision aims to "ensure maximum flight safety amid the ongoing full-scale war Russia is waging against Ukraine.

In the capital of Transnistria, a Kremlin-backed microstate sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine, the festive New Year’s lights have gone dark ahead of schedule. This separatist sliver of Moldova will run out of energy in three weeks,

Every time planned electrical outages are imposed on his village in southern Moldova, 73-year-old retiree Vasili Donici passes the time solving crosswords and puzzles in a room he illuminates with a small gas lamp.

Ukraine's air force said on Friday Russia attacked it with 72 drones overnight though it downed 33 of them while 34 others disappeared from radar without reaching their targets.

Russia was once again in flames today as a suspected Ukrainian drone strike' devastated a chemical plant in Vladimir Putin's home city of St Petersburg, leaving a "pillar of fire". Huge repeated explosions were heard at the facility in Gatchina - which makes acetone that can be used for military explosives and rocket fuel.