Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Drone shot down over bomber base in Russia

Moscow said on Monday its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone close to a long-range bomber base deep inside Russia, while Ukraine said Russian artillery had unleashed heavy barrages on its cities in the past 24 hours.

Moscow said on Monday its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone close to a long-range bomber base deep inside Russia, while Ukraine said Russian artillery had unleashed heavy barrages on its cities in the past 24 hours. FIGHTING

* Ukraine's military said dozens of towns in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzia regions had been shelled. In the Kherson region, Russian forces were shelling populated areas along the right bank of the Dnipro River, it said. Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports. * The Russian defence ministry said three air force personnel had been killed when a Ukrainian drone was shot down near Russia's Engels air base, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the Ukraine frontlines, but no planes were damaged.

* Russia's FSB security service said that a four-person Ukrainian "sabotage group" had been "liquidated" while trying on Sunday to enter Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported. DIPLOMACY

* Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiations and he blamed Ukraine and its Western allies for failing to engage in talks. * Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he sought India's help with implementing a "peace formula" in a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India has not explicitly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

* Ukraine called for Russia to be removed as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and accused it of violating international law. QUOTES

"Russia has lost everything it could this year ... I know darkness will not prevent us from leading the occupiers to new defeats," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Christmas Day video address. (Compiled by Michael Perry and Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Gareth Jones and John Stonestreet)