Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russians told not to travel to West as Putin could use new missile in ‘coming days’

European Union ambassadors have agreed to a 15th package of sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine, the Hungarian EU presidency said.

The presidency said in a post on X that the sanctions would limit the activity of vessels of third states operating in ways that supported Russia’s actions against Ukraine and added more people and entities to the sanctions list.

The sanctions package is likely to be formally adopted at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.

Rescue crews working through the night pulled two women from rubble more than seven hours after a Russian missile struck a private medical clinic in a southern Ukraine city, killing six people and wounding 22 others, authorities have said.

The women called rescue services on their cellphones to say they were buried under the rubble after the attack late Tuesday in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s Emergency Services said.

Deadly Russian strikes on civilian areas have been a feature of the almost three-year war. Ukraine’s Western allies are sending more aid to help it keep fighting Russia’s invasion, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Zaporizhzhia strike showed that his country still needs more air defence systems.

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Russia has said that relations with the United States were so confrontational that Russian citizens should not travel to the United States, Canada and some EU countries because they were at risk of being "hunted" by US authorities.

Maria Zakharova, foreign ministry spokeswoman, said that relations with the United States were teetering on the verge of rupture.

“In the context of the increasing confrontation in Russian-American relations, which are teetering on the verge of rupture due to the fault of Washington, trips to the United States of America privately or out of official necessity are fraught with serious risks,” Zakharova told a news briefing.

“We urge you to continue to refrain from trips to the United States of America and its allied satellite states, including, first of all, Canada and, with a few exceptions, European Union countries, during these holidays,” she said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Ukraine in a phone call with Hungarian President Viktor Orban, the Kremlin has said.

Putin told Orban that Kyiv’s policy continues to exclude the possibility of a peaceful settlement of the conflict, according to the statement which did not say when the call took place.

They also discussed bilateral trade and economic cooperation, as well as the further promotion of joint energy projects, the report said.

The Kremlin has played down the damage to Russian influence in the Middle East from the fall of Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, saying that its focus was Ukraine and that Moscow was in contact with the new rulers of Syria.

When Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil War in 2015, it helped tip the balance in Assad’s favour, so his fall from power dealt a serious setback to both Russia, which is fighting a major land war in Ukraine, and to Iran, which is battling US-backed Israel across the Middle East.

“You know, of course, that we are in contact with those who are currently in control of the situation in Syria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Asked how much the fall of Assad had weakened Russia’s influence in the region, Peskov said that Moscow maintained contacts with all countries in the region and would continue to do so.

Moscow’s priority, Peskov said, was the war in Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin calls a “special military operation”.

Moscow has supported Syria since the early days of the Cold War, recognising its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule. The West saw Syria as a Soviet satellite.

President Joe Biden is pushing US national security agencies ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration to devise new strategies to tackle the risky, deepening ties among Russia, Iran, North Korea and China, according to US officials.

In exchange for Iran's help with the Russian war effort in Ukraine, Moscow is giving its ally fighter aircraft, missile defence and space technology, Biden concluded in a national security memorandum issued on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is giving North Korea fuel, money and technology, and is recognizing it as a de facto nuclear state. Russia is conducting joint patrols with China in the Arctic, the administration said.

The classified document was described in general terms to reporters. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have disputed similar assessments in the past and accused Washington of destabilizing behaviour.

Biden's new document orders various arms of the U.S. government to restructure groups currently organized by region to better focus on issues linking the four countries that span Europe and Asia.

The document's strategies and policy suggestions could be implemented - or rejected altogether - by President-elect Trump, a Republican who takes office on 20 January.

Kazakhstan pipeline operator Kaztransoil said on Wednesday that the Druzhba oil pipeline, which brings Russian and Kazakh oil to Europe, was not damaged during Ukrainian overnight attacks on Russian targets.

A cat sanctuary rescuing lions from war-torn Ukraine has successfully met its fundraising target to help provide “forever homes” for the animals.

The Big Cat Sanctuary is a Kent-based charity behind the Big Cats in Crisis campaign, and reached its fundraising target of £500,000 to help rescue five lions, Yuna, Rori, Vanda, Amani and Lira, from Ukraine to the Lion Rescue Centre in Smarden.

The money will help towards transportation costs, veterinary treatment and a new habitat, which the sanctuary started creating in July and expects to finish in the new year.

African lioness Yuna was taken to the Lion Rescue Centre, a journey spanning six countries and lasting more than four days, in August, after she suffered shell shock and psychological issues from heavy bombing.

She was found cramped in a concrete enclosure with an aggressive male, and the continued shelling left her unable to stand or walk, according to the Big Cat Sanctuary.

The three-year-old lioness has seen grass for the first time, after being rescued by the sanctuary.

The sanctuary thanked people for their donations.