Oleksiy Reznikov

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken and defense chief Lloyd Austin spoke with their Ukrainian counterparts on Tuesday as Washington seeks to reassure its allies after a leaked trove of highly sensitive documents appeared online.

Türkiye's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar spoke over the phone in line with diplomatic efforts with his colleagues from Russia and Ukraine as well as the United Kingdom amid rising violence in the war and concerns about the use of unconventional weapons.

Ukraine has become an associate member of the Multilateral Interoperability Program (MIP), which takes care of the technical cooperation of the armies of NATO member states, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered the Ukrainian army to recapture the coastal areas in the southern part of the country, for which Ukraine is gathering a million-strong fighting force equipped with Western weapons, according to the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were "holding on" in the flashpoint eastern city Severodonetsk where intense street battles with Russian troops could determine the fate of the Donbas region.

Despite mounting difficulties and growing concerns over the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, Turkey is still hopeful of a summit between Russian and Ukrainian leaders as a result of the continued mediation efforts by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey's defense minister has said. 

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Dec. 3 he would make it "very, very difficult" for Russia to launch any invasion of Ukraine, which warned that a large-scale attack may be planned for next month.