Here is the situation on Friday, December 20:
Fighting
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A Russian missile attack has killed three people and wounded three more in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, the national police said. It added that more than 10 houses were damaged in the attack.
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Ukraine launched six United States-made long-range ATACMS missiles and four United Kingdom-made Storm Shadow missiles at Russia’s southern Rostov region, the Russian defence ministry said. Russian forces downed all of the ATACMS and three out of four of the Storm Shadows, the ministry said, adding that Moscow would respond to the attacks.
- At least 100 North Korean soldiers deployed to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine have been killed since entering combat in December, a South Korean politician said. Pyongyang has sent thousands of soldiers to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory this year.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with Donald Trump on ending the war and had no conditions for starting talks with the Ukrainian authorities.
- Putin has published a decree allowing foreign buyers of Russian gas to pay in roubles in other Russian banks, not only via the US-sanctioned Gazprombank, until April 1, in an attempt to bypass sanctions.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he needed Europe and the US on board to secure a durable peace, as he huddled with EU leaders at their final summit before Trump’s inauguration.
- Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Trump have agreed that Russia’s war on Ukraine had gone on for “far too long”. Scholz told Trump in a phone call that he would continue to back Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression as long as necessary.
- The European Union will deliver an additional 30 billion euros ($31.09bn) of financial support to Ukraine in 2025, EU Council President Antonio Costa announced after meeting with EU leaders in Brussels.
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A court in Moscow has ordered the suspect in the killing of top Russian general Igor Kirillov to be sent to pre-trial detention for two months. The suspect, a native of Uzbekistan, was charged with an act of terrorism resulting in the death of a person.
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Russia and countries that support it will remain a danger to Europe even after the war in Ukraine has ended, Finland’s Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen warned. Finland is a neighbour to Russia, sharing a more than 1,300km (800-mile) border that is currently closed to all travellers as Helsinki accuses Moscow of funnelling undocumented migration to Europe.
- A Russian military court has jailed two people for 21 years, accusing them of planning attacks on the orders of Ukraine. Viktoria Shinkarchuk, a former local government official in the Belgorod region bordering Russia, was convicted as well as Alexander Kholodkov, the TASS state news agency reported.
Cyber-warfare
- Russia has carried out a mass cyberattack on Ukraine’s state registries, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said, adding that it resulted in a temporary suspension of services. The registries contain vital information about Ukrainian citizens such as births, deaths, marriages and property ownership.
