Because the warfare enters its 663rd day, these are the primary developments.
Right here is the scenario on Monday, December 18, 2023.
Preventing
- Ukraine’s Air Pressure stated it destroyed 20 Russian drones and a missile – 9 of them within the southern Odesa area. The falling particles began a hearth in a residential residence and killed one particular person. The air drive stated a second missile “didn’t attain its aim”. On Saturday, Ukraine stated its air defence techniques shot down 30 Russia-launched drones over 11 areas of the nation
- Russia’s Defence Ministry stated its air defence techniques destroyed or intercepted a complete of 35 Ukraine-launched drones over its Lipetsk, Volgograd and Rostov areas in Russia. It didn’t say what was focused or whether or not there was any injury. The Ukrainska Pravda media outlet later reported that the assault – reportedly a joint operation of the Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Ukraine’s Armed Forces – was focusing on the Morozovsk airfield within the Rostov area. A number of Russian army bloggers stated that one bomber on the base suffered minor injury.
- The Freedom of Russia Legion, a Ukrainian-based paramilitary group of Russians who oppose President Vladimir Putin, stated it was behind a cross-border assault inside Russia’s Belgorod area. The group stated it had destroyed a platoon stronghold of Russian troops close to Trebreno village and planted mines, however didn’t elaborate. Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s regional governor, stated Trebreno was below fireplace from Ukraine’s Armed Forces and {that a} “taking pictures battle” was below manner on the sting of the village. He stated three homes and an influence line have been broken.
- The Related Press information company revealed drone footage indicating the dimensions of Russian casualties within the intense battles for management of the jap Ukrainian metropolis of Avdiivka. The footage confirmed the our bodies of about 150 troopers – most of them in Russian uniforms – mendacity on the bottom the place they died exterior Stepove, a village north of Avdiivka, that has been diminished to rubble. The drone unit stated it’s doable that among the lifeless have been Ukrainians.
- Household and associates of Ukrainian troopers from the so-called Azov battalion held captive by Russia for the reason that fall of Mariupol held a rally in Kyiv calling for his or her pressing trade with Russian prisoners of warfare.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukraine’s safety service stated it had launched a prison investigation after a “technical system” was present in an workplace that might have been used sooner or later by Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhnyi. It added that the system – initially characterised as a bug by native media – was thought-about below preliminary info to be “in a non-operational state”, and no means of data storage or distant transmission of audio recordings have been discovered.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Ukraine and the European Fee would quickly assess Kyiv’s progress on aligning its laws with that of the European Union. A framework for negotiations on Ukraine’s EU accession can also be anticipated within the coming months, he added in his nightly video deal with.
- Putin dismissed as “full nonsense” remarks by United States President Joe Biden that Russia could be emboldened to assault a NATO nation if it was profitable in its invasion of Ukraine. Putin stated Russia had no real interest in combating the NATO army alliance. Biden pressured the risk posed by Moscow in an attraction to Republican lawmakers resisting new help for Kyiv.
- A senior US congressional negotiator working over the weekend to craft a deal that may be acceptable to its critics stated he was “very optimistic” a couple of answer. The Republicans have demanded the help to Ukraine and Israel be linked to new measures on the US’s southern border. “I’m very inspired. I’m very optimistic they’re transferring in a really constructive manner,” Joe Manchin, a Democrat, advised CNN’s State of the Union program.
- Police in Finland are in search of a court docket order to imprison a Russian man accused of committing warfare crimes towards wounded or surrendered troopers in jap Ukraine in 2014 and 2015. Yan Petrovsky, who had been dwelling in Finland below the title Voislav Torden, is already in Finnish custody however authorities are asking that he be formally jailed whereas they conduct an investigation into his alleged crimes.
