The Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24 continues, with casualties rising on both sides.
Ukrainian forces are mounting a strong counteroffensive against Russian troops, reclaiming territory lost when Moscow launched its invasion.
Ukraine has managed to withstand the Russian onslaught with the help of Western military aid, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regularly calls on the world to do more. For all our coverage, visit our Ukraine war page.
Read our in-depth coverage:
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Note: Nikkei Asia decided on March 5 to suspend its reporting from Russia until further information becomes available regarding the scope of the revised criminal code. Entries include material from wire services and other sources.
Here are the latest developments:
Thursday, Dec. 8 (Tokyo time)
2:30 p.m. China is paying the deepest discounts in months for Russian ESPO crude oil amid weak demand and poor refining margins, even though the effective prices refiners pay could exceed a price cap imposed this week by Western countries. The $60 per-barrel cap -- set by G-7 nations, the European Union and Australia -- took effect on Monday to limit Moscow's power to finance its war in Ukraine, though Russia has vowed to defy it. China, Russia's top oil buyer, has not agreed to the price cap. Traders said they were doing business as usual. At least one December-arrival ESPO shipment was sold last week to an independent refiner at a discount of $6 per barrel against the February ICE Brent price on a delivery-ex-ship basis, according to four traders with knowledge of the deal.
5:00 a.m. The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a ninth package of sanctions on Russia, including adding almost 200 additional individuals and entities to the list. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that the EU also proposes sanctions against three additional Russian banks and wants to impose new export controls and restrictions, particularly for dual-use goods including key chemicals, nerve agents, electronics and IT components.
We fully understand what nuclear weapons are," Putin said on Dec. 7. "We aren't going to brandish those weapons like a razor running around the world." (Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo via AP) © AP 3:00 a.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin says the risk of nuclear war is rising but his country's arsenal is a means of defense.
Russia has the world's most advanced nuclear weapons, but "we haven't gone mad," Putin tells a televised meeting of his presidential human rights council.
Putin says fighting in Ukraine -- which Moscow calls a "special military operation," not a war -- could be a long process.
The Russian leader sees no reason now for a second mobilization of troops after the call-up of 300,000 reservists in September and October.
Wednesday, Dec. 7
11:30 p.m. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is named Time magazine's Person of the Year.
Zelenskyy, a former comedian, refused to leave the capital at the beginning of the war and has traveled across the nation, including to combat zones.
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"Zelenskyy's success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious. It spread through Ukraine's political leadership in the first days of the invasion, as everyone realized the president had stuck around," Time writes in acknowledging the 44-year-old leader.
7:00 a.m. The U.S. has "neither encouraged nor enabled Ukrainians to strike inside of Russia," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says at a news conference.
"The important thing is to understand what Ukrainians are living through every day with the ongoing Russian aggression against their country, and our determination to make sure they have in their hands, along with many other partners around the world, the equipment that they need to defend themselves and their territory," Blinken tells reporters.
The remarks come at a news conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles.
For earlier updates, click here .