Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin says Russia ‘ready to negotiate’ over Ukraine as Zelenskiy gives defiant Christmas message | Ukraine

• Russia is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has said, while accusing Kyiv and its western allies of “refusing” to negotiate. Moscow has persistently said it is open to negotiations, but Kyiv and its allies suspect Putin’s claims are a ploy to buy time after a series of Russian defeats and retreats on the battlefield.

• Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said Putin “needs to come back to reality” after the Russian leader claimed Moscow was ready for negotiations. It is “obvious” that Russia “doesn’t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility”, Podolyak tweeted.

• President Putin also blamed the west for starting the conflict in Ukraine in 2014 by toppling a pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, in the Maidan revolution protests. But he told Rossiya 1 state television that the geopolitical conflict with the west was not “so dangerous”.

• Air raid alerts blared across Kyiv and most of Ukraine twice on Sunday. Officials gave the all-clear and there were no immediate reports of Russian attacks on the country. Unconfirmed reports on Ukrainian social media suggested the sirens may have been triggered after Russian jets took to the skies in Belarus.

• At least 16 people were killed and 64 injured in Russia’s shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine on Saturday, the region’s governor, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said. Russian forces “opened fire on the Kherson region 71 times” with artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems and mortars, Yanushevych said. Iuliia Mendel, a Ukrainian former presidential spokesperson, shared photos of people waiting to donate blood in Kherson.

• Among those killed in Kherson on Saturday were three Ukrainian emergency workers, who died when a mine exploded while they were demining parts of the Kherson region. “All three selflessly served … and performed the task of demining territories liberated from the enemy in the Kherson region,” the Zhytomyr emergency service said on its Facebook page.

• Russian forces’ rate of advance in the Bakhmut area of eastern Ukraine has probably slowed in recent days, according to analysts. In its latest update, the US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) cited one Russian military blogger as saying that Ukrainian forces had pushed back elements of the Russian private mercenary company, the Wagner group, to positions they held days ago.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy used his latest video address to say that Ukrainians would create their Christmas miracle by remaining unbowed, despite Russian attacks that have left millions without power. Speaking 10 months to the day since Russia invaded, Zelenskiy said that while freedom came at a high price, slavery would cost more.

• Russia’s parliament is preparing to introduce a higher taxation rate for people who have left the country, as many have since the war in Ukraine began in February. Some local media reported that as many as 700,000 fled after the announcement of a mobilisation drive to call up new troops to join the fight in September. The government rejected that figure at the time.

• China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has defended his country’s position on the war in Ukraine and indicated that Beijing will deepen ties with Moscow in the coming year. China will “deepen strategic mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation” with Russia, Wang said in a video address, according to an official text of his remarks.

• The Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Francis have used their Christmas addresses to call for an end to the war in Ukraine. Condemning the use of food as a weapon of war, the pope said the war in Ukraine and conflict in other countries had put millions at risk of famine.

It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• Russia is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has said, while accusing Kyiv and its western allies of “refusing” to negotiate. Moscow has persistently said it is open to negotiations, but Kyiv and its allies suspect Putin’s claims are a ploy to buy time after a series of Russian defeats and retreats on the battlefield.

• Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said Putin “needs to come back to reality” after the Russian leader claimed Moscow was ready for negotiations. It is “obvious” that Russia “doesn’t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility”, Podolyak tweeted.

• President Putin also blamed the west for starting the conflict in Ukraine in 2014 by toppling a pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, in the Maidan revolution protests. But he told Rossiya 1 state television that the geopolitical conflict with the west was not “so dangerous”.

• Air raid alerts blared across Kyiv and most of Ukraine twice on Sunday. Officials gave the all-clear and there were no immediate reports of Russian attacks on the country. Unconfirmed reports on Ukrainian social media suggested the sirens may have been triggered after Russian jets took to the skies in Belarus.

• At least 16 people were killed and 64 injured in Russia’s shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine on Saturday, the region’s governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said. Russian forces “opened fire on the Kherson region 71 times” with artillery, multiple launch rocket systems and mortars, Yanushevych said. Iuliia Mendel, a Ukrainian former presidential spokesperson, shared photos of people waiting to donate blood in Kherson.

• Among those killed in Kherson on Saturday were three Ukrainian emergency services workers, who died when a mine exploded while they were demining parts of the Kherson region. “All three selflessly served … and performed the task of demining territories liberated from the enemy in the Kherson region,” the Zhytomyr emergency service said on its Facebook page.

• Russian forces’ rate of advance in the Bakhmut area of eastern Ukraine has probably slowed in recent days, according to analysts. In its latest update, the US thinktank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) cited one Russian military blogger as saying that Ukrainian forces had pushed back elements of the Russian private mercenary company, the Wagner group, to positions they held days ago.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy used his latest video address to say that Ukrainians would create their Christmas miracle, by remaining unbowed, despite Russian attacks that have left millions without power. Speaking 10 months to the day since Russia invaded, Zelenskiy said that while freedom came at a high price, slavery would cost even more.

• Russia’s parliament is preparing to introduce a higher taxation rate for people who have left the county, as many have since the war in Ukraine began in February. Some local media reported that as many as 700,000 fled after the announcement of a mobilisation drive to call up new troops to join the fight in September. The government rejected that figure at the time.

• China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has defended his country’s position on the war in Ukraine and indicated that Beijing will deepen ties with Moscow in the coming year. China will “deepen strategic mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation” with Russia, Wang said in a video address, according to an official text of his remarks.

• The archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Francis have used their Christmas addresses to call for an end to the war in Ukraine. Condemning the use of food as a weapon of war, the pope said the war in Ukraine and conflict in other countries had put millions at risk of famine.