Hello and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine – but first a reminder of key events.

Here’s what you need to know:

Leaders welcome back Trump

Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensklyy have both congratulated Donald Trump on winning the US election.

In his first public remarks since Trump’s victory, Mr Putin said the president-elect had acted “like a real man” during an assassination attempt on him in Pennsylvania in July.

Throughout his campaign, Mr Trump said he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine in just 24 hours – without explaining how he would do so.

The Russian president added what Trump has said “about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves attention at least”.

Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy praised Mr Trump’s election victory and described a recent phone conversation with him as “excellent”.

But he also denounced calls for a ceasefire without firm security guarantees, calling it “nonsense”.

Joe Biden’s administration previously reaffirmed its commitment to ramping up support for Ukraine even if Mr Trump won the election.

Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said the US will send Ukraine the full $6bn in outstanding military aid before Mr Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.

North Korean troops involved in ‘combat operations’

Top Ukrainian officials have revealed they have clashed with North Korean troops for the first time.

Kyiv’s defence minister Rustem Umerov told a South Korean broadcaster that said a “small group” of North Korean soldiers were attacked.

Mr Zelenskyy says around 11,000 North Korean soldiers are in the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian troops have a foothold.

“Some of these troops have already taken part in combat operations against Ukrainian forces, and there are already casualties,” he said.

Seoul said it “does not believe [troops on both sides] engaged in direct combat”, but that there was an “incident” involving a few North Korean troops “near the frontline”.

Moscow and Pyongyang have so far not responded directly to any of the allegations.

Seoul not ruling out help

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has not ruled out providing arms to Ukraine in light of the deepening cooperation between Russia and North Korea.

“Now, depending on the level of North Korean involvement, we will gradually adjust our support strategy in phases,” he said.

“This means we are not ruling out the possibility of providing weapons.”

Yoon said previously that Seoul might revise its ban on supplying direct military assistance to a war zone in response to North Korean troops being sent to Russia.

Seoul has provided Ukraine with humanitarian and non-lethal aid but refused to provide weapons, citing legislative restrictions. 

Investigations under way into POW killings

Ukraine says it knows of 124 prisoners of war who were executed by Russian forces throughout the war.

Denys Lysenko, the head of the department focused on war-related crimes, said that 49 criminal investigations were under way regarding the execution of Ukrainian POWs.

The most recent cases include the killing of six captured shoulders near Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, which prosecutors reported on 5 November.

“We are now analysing all these cases, looking for patterns,” said Mr Lysenko.

“We are considering all these cases comprehensively, and the involvement of a particular armed unit is, of course, analysed in each case.”