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The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EST.

12:45 a.m.: Ukraine said it had received a multiple rocket launcher system from France adding to the arsenal of long-range artillery credited with changing dynamics on the battlefield against Russia, Agence France-Presse reported Tuesday.

The French-provided LRU is the fourth variety of sophisticated rocket-launcher system (MLRS), after HIMARS, M270 and MARS II — to be supplied to Ukraine to help Kyiv battle Russia’s invasion. It has a range of around 70 kilometers.

Two weeks ago, French Army Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced the delivery of two French LRU to Ukraine in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche. Lecornu said France would also send two batteries of Crotale air defense systems and was “looking into a request from Ukraine for radars that are crucial to detect strikes upstream.” France is also planning to take 2,000 out of the 15,000 soldiers the EU promised to train.

12:30 a.m.: Estonia began putting into circulation 2 million two-euro coins with a special design dedicated to Ukraine and will be selling special editions to raise money for the country, Agence France-Presse reported.

“The two-euro coin dedicated to Ukraine will from today start to reach people throughout Estonia and elsewhere in Europe through shops,” Estonia central bank governor Madis Muller said in a statement. The coin was designed by Daria Titova, a Ukrainian refugee studying art in Estonia, and depicts a woman holding a bird next to a stalk of wheat and the popular Ukrainian slogan “Glory to Ukraine.”

The central bank released special coin cards with the design in July, but this is the first time the coin is being minted for general use. The governor said that $362,000 in proceeds from sales of the coin cards since this summer had been donated to Ukraine.

12: 15 a.m.: U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that securing funding for Ukraine and COVID-19 are his priorities before Republicans take control of the House of Representatives early next year, Reuters reported.

Biden held talks with Democratic and Republican leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate on what can be done in the remaining weeks when Democrats still control both chambers. Republicans won a narrow majority in the House in the November 8 midterm elections and will take over in January, complicating Biden’s agenda for the next two years. Biden’s Democrats retained control of the Senate.

He said funding more military assistance for Ukraine, an objective that House Republicans have talked about stalling when they take over in January, is a priority as well as funding measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is in her waning weeks as speaker, told reporters after the meeting that Democrats may have to approve a government spending plan through Sept. 30 that mainly freezes spending at the current level. This would be aimed at not letting the budget become subject to attempts by Republicans to cut it.

12:05 a.m.: A court in Moscow opened the trial of a prominent Russian opposition figure who faces charges stemming from his criticism of the Kremlin’s action in Ukraine, The Associated Press reported.

Ilya Yashin, one of the few Kremlin critics to have remained in the country amid an intensifying crackdown on dissent, has been in custody since his arrest in July. He was charged with spreading false information about the military, a new offense added to the country’s criminal law after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine. Yashin faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The charges against Yashin relate to a YouTube livestream video in which he talked about Ukrainians being killed in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. Speaking Tuesday during his trial at Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court, Yashin argued that his case has been fabricated and “has all the markings of illegal political persecution.” He noted that in the video he cited Russian official sources along with Ukrainian statements to give his audience an objective view.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.