With much fanfare, Ukraine was granted permission to fire Western long-range missiles at Russian military targets more than a month ago. But after initially firing a flurry of them, Ukraine has already slowed their use.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 21 missiles of various types and 40 drones in the barrage, adding that seven missiles and 16 unmanned aerial vehicles were downed. “As a result of the Russian attack, there were ballistic missile hits in Sumy and Kyiv regions,” the air force said.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said Russia is behind the Christmas Day crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan, which killed 38 of the 67 people aboard. The motives of the incident remain unclear.

Azerbaijan's president accused Russia of trying to cover up its role in a plane crash that killed 38 people. Preliminary results of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the crash indicated that a missile from a Russian air-defense system hit the aircraft.