Here is the situation as of Friday, December 20th:
Battle
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A Russian missile attack has killed three people and injured three others in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, national police said. It added that more than ten houses were damaged in the attack.
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Ukraine started six US-made long-range ATACMS missiles and four British-made Storm Shadow missiles on Russia’s southern Rostov region, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Russian forces shot down all ATACMS and three of four Storm Shadows, the ministry said, adding that Moscow would respond to the attacks.
- At least 100 North Korean soldiers A South Korean politician said soldiers deployed to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine have been killed since their combat deployment in December. Pyongyang has sent thousands of soldiers to reinforce the Russian military, including in the border region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces seized territory this year.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to compromise in possible talks with Donald Trump about ending the war over Ukraine and had no conditions for starting talks with Ukrainian authorities.
- To get around this, Putin issued a decree allowing foreign buyers of Russian gas to pay in rubles until April 1, not only through the U.S.-sanctioned Gazprombank, but also at other Russian banks Sanctions.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he needed Europe and the US on board to secure lasting peace as he sat down with EU leaders at their final summit before Trump’s inauguration.
- Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Trump agreed that Russia’s war against Ukraine had lasted “far too long”. Scholz told Trump in a phone call that he would continue to support Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression for as long as necessary.
- The European Union will provide Ukraine with an additional 30 billion euros ($31.09 billion) in financial support in 2025, EU Council President Antonio Costa announced after a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels.
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A court in Moscow has ordered the killing of the suspect Russian general Igor Kirillov be sent to custody for two months. The suspect, originally from Uzbekistan, was accused of a terrorist attack in which one person died.
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Russia and the countries that support it will remain a threat to Europe even after the end of the war in Ukraine, Finland’s Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen warned. Finland is a neighbor of Russia and shares a more than 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border that is currently closed to all travelers as Helsinki accuses Moscow of funneling illegal migration into Europe.
- A Russian military court has sentenced two people to 21 years in prison and accused them of planning attacks on Ukraine’s orders. Viktoria Shinkarchuk, a former local government official in the Belgorod region bordering Russia, was convicted, as was Alexander Kholodkov, state news agency TASS reported.
Cyberwar
- Russia has carried out a massive cyberattack on Ukraine’s state registers, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said, adding that it led to a temporary suspension of services. The registers contain important information about Ukrainian citizens such as births, deaths, marriages and property status.
