Russia captures new settlement from Ukraine, Ukraine reports counter-offensive progress

Russia claimed on Monday that its forces had captured one more settlement from Ukraine, while Ukraine, on the same day, reported progress in countering Russian offensives, according to the latest updates from the two countries.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces took control of a settlement in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, while continuing to launch strikes on the Ukrainian military in multiple directions, including Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson over the past day.

The Russian army also targeted Ukrainian aviation industry enterprises, military airfield infrastructure, and facilities used for the storage and launch of long-range drones, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported 156 combat engagements on the frontline on the same day, with its air force, missile units and artillery striking Russian troops.

Also on Monday, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrsky said that the Ukrainian forces had achieved progress in the direction of Donetsk, reclaiming 1.3 square kilometers of territory in counter-offensive operations over the previous day.

China's outstanding aggregate social financing -- the total amount of financing to the real economy -- reached 442.12 trillion yuan (about 63.4 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2025, up 8.3 percent year on year, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The country's aggregate social financing stood at 35.6 trillion yuan (about 5.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up by 3.34 trillion yuan (about 479 billion U.S. dollars) from the year 2024, said the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.

According to the data, the M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.5 percent year on year to 340.29 trillion yuan (about 48.8 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of December.

In addition, outstanding yuan loans stood at 271.91 trillion yuan (about 39 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2025, up 6.4 percent year on year.