Charles Maynes

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Wednesday his country will export more than a dozen of its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine. The move follows weeks of pressure from Western allies.

Control of Soledar could allow Russia to cut off Ukrainian supply lines to nearby Bakhmut, another fiercely contested city seen as central to Russia's struggling efforts to control eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces to observe the cease-fire for 36 hours starting Jan. 6. A Ukrainian official dismissed the move as "a cynical trap."

The attack was one of the deadliest strikes on the Kremlin's forces since the start of the war 10 months ago. Ukraine claimed to have killed hundreds of Russian conscripts, but details are murky.

At least one person was killed and several injured in Kyiv after Russia launched a new wave of missiles against the capital and other cities across Ukraine.

Griner was traded for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. The swap did not include former Marine Paul Whelan who remains imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges the U.S. says are false.

The Kremlin dismissed the idea of talks with President Biden to end the war in Ukraine and said its assault on Ukrainian infrastructure was an "inevitable" response to Kyiv's attacks.

The U.S. basketball star was transferred to a prison colony in Mordovia — 300 miles southeast of Moscow — to begin serving out a nine-year sentence on drug charges.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his forces are taking back Kherson, following Russia's withdrawal from the strategic southern city.

Maria Alyokhina was sent to a penal colony as a member of the feminist punk collective. Authorities "teach you how to forget your right to choose," she says. She urges Griner "to not forget yourself."