Russia, Ukraine spar over fighting near nuclear facility
A fire at a munitions depot inside Russia forced the evacuation of two villages near the border with Ukraine, while two civilians were reported wounded by Russian shelling near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as both sides traded accusations about fighting near the facility in southern Ukraine.
Navalny releases recording of call to his alleged poisoner
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Monday Dec. 21, 2020, released a recording of a phone call he said he made to an alleged state security operative who revealed details of how the politician was poisoned. Bellingcat and other media outlets identified the man Navalny said he spoke with as Konstantin Kudryavtsev, a trained chemical-weapons specialist. Navalny said he phoned the alleged FSB operative hours before the Bellingcat report was released. While posing as a Security Council aide, the politician asked “what went wrong" and why Navalny survived the poisoning. The FSB told the Russian state news agency Tass that the recording Navalny released was fake.