Because the battle enters its 667th day, these are the principle developments.
Right here is the scenario on Friday, December 22, 2023.
Preventing
- Ukrainian Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko stated not less than three individuals had been killed and 5 injured after Russia bombed two coal mines in Toretsk in Ukraine’s japanese Donetsk area. Some 32 miners who had been underground on the time of the assault had been introduced safely to the floor, he added. The assault additionally broken administrative buildings and tools.
- Regional Governor Serhiy Lysak stated two girls had been killed and an 86-year-old man injured in Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Nikopol, which lies on the Dnipro river. Russian artillery hearth additionally killed one other lady within the village of Tyagynka within the Kherson area, officers stated.
- Ukraine’s air pressure stated air defences shot down 34 out of 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched in a significant Russian assault on 12 Ukrainian areas. The drones had been launched in a number of waves in the course of the evening. There have been no fast experiences of main harm or casualties.
- In its common replace from the entrance, the Common Employees of the Ukrainian army stated Ukrainian forces repelled not less than 30 Russian assaults close to Avdiivka and an extra 11 round close by Maryinka – two of the most well liked factors on the entrance line in japanese Ukraine – with an extra seven outdoors Bakhmut.
- Ukrainian air pressure spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat stated Russia had launched about 7,400 missiles and three,700 Shahed assault drones on the nation because it started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ihnat stated air defences had been capable of shoot down 1,600 of the missiles and a couple of,900 of the drones. Fewer of the missiles had been destroyed as a result of Russia’s use of supersonic ballistic missiles and since Patriot air defence techniques from Western allies didn’t arrive till April this yr, he added.
Politics and diplomacy
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who’s an in depth ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, stated he accepted an invite from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy to carry a bilateral assembly sooner or later. Orban stated Zelenskyy requested discussions on Ukraine’s ambitions to affix the European Union. Orban didn’t give a date for the assembly, which might be their first since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
- The EU paid the ultimate tranche of a multibillion-euro help bundle to Ukraine to assist hold its war-ravaged financial system afloat. The EU has despatched 1.5 billion euros ($1.6bn) every month this yr to make sure macroeconomic stability and rebuild crucial infrastructure destroyed within the battle. The cash has additionally helped pay wages and pensions, hold hospitals and colleges working, and supply shelter for individuals compelled from their properties. Future monetary help is unclear as a result of Hungary is blocking a new $54bn aid plan.
- Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov reacted angrily to a German proposal to grab frozen belongings value greater than 720 million euros ($790m) from the Frankfurt checking account of a Russian monetary establishment. Requested concerning the plan at a press convention in Tunisia, Lavrov lashed out at German leaders as a “thieving lot”.
- A Russian court docket jailed two males, certainly one of them Ukrainian, for financing an alleged ultranationalist group in Ukraine by promoting unlawful medicine. The 2 males got jailed phrases of 16 and 17 years after being discovered responsible of “financing extremist actions”.
Weapons
- The chief of the Russian Common Employees, Valery Gerasimov, stated Moscow had established “complete” defence cooperation with North Korea however didn’t go into element. America and South Korea have stated Pyongyang might be sending weapons to Russia to be used within the battle in Ukraine in trade for Russian technological know-how. Russia has denied the allegation.