Because the battle enters its 663rd day, these are the primary developments.
Right here is the state of affairs on Monday, December 18, 2023.
Combating
- Ukraine’s Air Pressure mentioned it destroyed 20 Russian drones and a missile – 9 of them within the southern Odesa area. The falling particles began a fireplace in a residential house and killed one individual. The air power mentioned a second missile “didn’t attain its aim”. On Saturday, Ukraine mentioned its air defence methods shot down 30 Russia-launched drones over 11 areas of the nation
- Russia’s Defence Ministry mentioned its air defence methods 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 harm. 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 navy bloggers mentioned that one bomber on the base suffered minor harm.
- The Freedom of Russia Legion, a Ukrainian-based paramilitary group of Russians who oppose President Vladimir Putin, mentioned it was behind a cross-border assault inside Russia’s Belgorod area. The group mentioned 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, mentioned Trebreno was underneath hearth from Ukraine’s Armed Forces and {that a} “taking pictures battle” was underneath approach on the sting of the village. He mentioned 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 lowered to rubble. The drone unit mentioned it’s attainable that a number of the lifeless have been Ukrainians.
- Household and mates 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 alternate with Russian prisoners of battle.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukraine’s safety service mentioned it had launched a prison investigation after a “technical gadget” was present in an workplace that might have been used sooner or later by Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhnyi. It added that the gadget – initially characterised as a bug by native media – was thought-about underneath preliminary data 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 mentioned 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 “complete nonsense” remarks by United States President Joe Biden that Russia can be emboldened to assault a NATO nation if it was profitable in its invasion of Ukraine. Putin mentioned Russia had little interest in preventing the NATO navy alliance. Biden careworn the menace 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 might be acceptable to its critics mentioned 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 shifting in a really constructive approach,” Joe Manchin, a Democrat, instructed CNN’s State of the Union program.
- Police in Finland are searching for a courtroom order to imprison a Russian man accused of committing battle crimes towards wounded or surrendered troopers in jap Ukraine in 2014 and 2015. Yan Petrovsky, who had been dwelling in Finland underneath 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.