Ukraine has dismissed as a trick a unilateral order by Russia for a 36-hour ceasefire and the leaders of the United States and Germany say they are sending armoured fighting vehicles in a boost for the Kyiv government.
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TRUCE OFFER
* Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to cease firing from midday on Friday along the entire front in response to a call for a Christmas truce by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a close Putin ally.
* Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected the ceasefire and called it a trick. His adviser Mikhailo Podolyak tweeted that Russia "must leave the occupied territories - only then will it have a 'temporary truce'."
* The US greeted Putin's order with scepticism, calling it "cynical" and raising concern Russia would use the temporary pause to regroup.
DIPLOMACY/AID
* A new US weapons package for Ukraine will be worth roughly $US2.8 billion ($A4.1 billion), US officials told Reuters.
* The leaders of the US and Germany on Thursday announced they were sending armoured fighting vehicles to Ukraine after a similar move by France earlier this week.
* The Kremlin said Putin told Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow was ready for peace talks - but only under the condition that Ukraine acknowledges Moscow's annexation of Ukrainian territory.
* Ukraine's Podolyak called that demand "fully unacceptable".
* Erdogan said his government was ready to take on mediation duties to secure a lasting peace. But United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said serious peace negotiations were still far away.
FIGHTING
* Ukrainian and Russian troops battled in eastern regions as Kyiv tried to push back occupying forces and Zelenskiy urged the West to provide his army with heavy tanks.
* The Ukrainian military said the Russians were focused on an offensive in the Bakhmut sector of the Donetsk region.
* The US believes Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner mercenary group and a Putin ally, wants control of salt and gypsum from mines near Bakhmut, a White House official said.
* The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office said at least 452 children have been killed and 877 children injured in the war.
* Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.
Australian Associated Press
