Ukraine war latest: Baby rushed from train on fire in dramatic footage after Russian bombing

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has been speaking about the next round of trilateral talks with Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi.

It comes after reports suggested they could resume on Sunday (see 14.07 post).

Speaking at a Senate foreign relations committee hearing, Rubio says there could be a US presence at the follow-up talks but it won't be Donald Trump's top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who had taken part in the previous round of talks.

Providing more detail on the sticking points, Rubio says territorial issues over Donetsk still need smoothing over, adding that it's a "very difficult" topic.

Could Donetsk fall into Putin's hands?

His comments come as the Institute for the Study of War says Ukraine's Donetsk region - which alongside the Russian-held Luhansk region makes up the Donbas - will fall into Moscow's hands by August 2027 if Putin's troops sustain their rate of advance (see 10.50 post).

 It says Russia "would need to expend significant amounts of resources, time, and personnel to seize the rest of Donbas".

Meanwhile, a report in the Financial Times suggests the Trump administration has indicated to Ukraine that US security guarantees are contingent on Kyiv first agreeing a peace deal that would likely cede the Donbas to Russia.

The White House has hit back against the report, calling it "totally false". 

Last week, the French navy announced it had intercepted a Russian oil tanker after receiving intelligence from the UK.

The tanker was operating under a false flag and is suspected of belonging to Russia's shadow fleet, which allows the country to export oil despite sanctions.

In an update, the Marseille prosecutor says the vessel has been grounded at a port in the city.

The tanker's Indian captain, who had been detained by authorities, has since been released and allowed to return back on board the vessel.

French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken to Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine.

He calls the attack on a passenger train in Kharkiv "unacceptable" before announcing "we are mobilising".

In a similar move to Italy (see 17.08 post), he confirms that generators will be sent to Ukraine to help its citizens get through winter.

"France's position is clear: we will support Ukraine for as long as necessary, so that it can defend itself and defeat the war of aggression launched by Russia," he wrote in a post on social media. 

"Ukraine can also count on France within the framework of the Coalition of the Willing. We continue to work to create the conditions for a just and lasting peace that guarantees the security of Ukraine and of Europe."

We've been bringing you updates through the day on a Russian strike on a passenger train in northeastern Ukraine that killed five people (see 5.59 post).

This footage shows the moment a baby was evacuated from the train in a pram.

As Ukraine deals with its harshest winter in the four years of the war, the Italian government has outlined the support it's providing during the ongoing energy crisis.

Industrial boilers and electric generators are being delivered to Ukraine as part of a commitment made by Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, in her meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the European Council back in October.

The first batch of 78 industrial boilers has been delivered, with a further 300 coming over the next few weeks.

The boilers are to support those in damaged urban networks, hospitals and essential services.

Italy's government says this initiative will make a total thermal capacity sufficient for around 90,000 homes or a city centre of around 250,000 people.

It's also launched a programme to send medium and large-scale generators to Ukraine, supporting hospitals, water systems and critical infrastructure during power outages.

A funeral has been held in Kyiv today for a rescue worker killed in a Russian strike earlier this month.

Oleksandr Zibrov died from his injuries 18 days after the mass aerial attack on the city on 9 January.

The farewell service took place at a fire station in the Ukrainian capital.

Roman Rudak, head of the Kyiv city directorate of Ukraine's state emergency service, said: "Oleksandr gave his life for our citizens. The enemy killed him cynically. I don't know if there are words today that can describe this situation. My condolences to his family and loved ones."

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said NATO needs to be "reimagined" as he called for a "rebalancing" of obligations among its members.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said yesterday that European members should "keep dreaming" if they believe they can be separate from the US on matters of security and defence.

There's been rising concern over Washington's commitment to NATO, with Donald Trump repeatedly threatening to withdraw the US from the defence alliance over other nations' defence spending - fuelling talk of a separate European pillar.

Questioned in the US Senate on where the Trump administration stands on NATO, Rubio said the "erosion in European defence capabilities" was a "problem".

He insisted the US's alliances in NATO would "work out", saying: "Without the US, there is no NATO."

But he added: "In order for NATO to be stronger, our partners need to be stronger. And one of the things we've explained to our allies in NATO is the US is not simply focused on Europe. We also have defence needs in the Western Hemisphere. We have the defence needs in the Indo-Pacific and it will require us. We may be the richest country in the world, but we don't have unlimited resources."

He urged Washington's allies need to "step up" and be "capable of stepping up".

"Frankly many of them have not," he said, referring to the commitment by NATO allies last year to spend 5% of GDP on defence.

"I do think there needs to be a rebalancing and hopefully we'll have cooperation," he said.

China is supporting Russia in its construction of a powerful hypersonic missile that can reach speeds of more than 8,000mph, according to a report.

The Telegraph reports that the warheads are being built using specialised manufacturing machines and tools, which are among more than £7bn worth of technology that China has sent to Russia.

Russia has used the nuclear-capable, hypersonic Oreshnik missile twice in Ukraine - firstly in 2024, and for the second time earlier this month, when it struck a target in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, just 40 miles from the border with NATO-member Poland.

Kyiv's European allies described the use of the hypersonic missile as an attempt to intimidate them from supporting Ukraine.

With a reported range of up to 5,500 kilometres, the missile theoretically puts much of Europe within reach.

Military analyst Victoria Taylor explained after the attack earlier this month why the Oreshnik missile is an "unpredictable beast"...

We've a little more detail to bring you now on Russia's latest drone and missile strike on Ukraine, in which a couple - a man and a woman - were killed near Kyiv.

According to local media, the woman had a four-year-old daughter who survived the attack.

Journalist Marian Kushnir, a neighbour of the couple who died, told Radio Free Europe she carried the girl out when she started "crying very hard" and "began to shake violently".

"I felt a lot of pain, because in 10 ​years of war, I had never had such feelings before, when, holding a crying four-year-old child in my arms, I realised that her mother was dead," she said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to respond to the attack.

Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa have met in Moscow as the Russian leader seeks to secure his military bases in Syria. 

Putin praised al Sharaa's role in developing Russian-Syrian relations and noted his efforts to restore Syria's territorial integrity.

The meeting between the two leaders is their second in less than four months.

The Kremlin is seeking to keep its naval and air bases on Syria's coast, the only such outposts outside the former Soviet Union that are crucial for maintaining Russia's military presence in the Mediterranean.