Navigating The Ukraine Crisis

Key events list, day 1,036

Combating

• The strategically significant eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk has once again been the scene of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. There were 35 Russian assaults reported in the city on Wednesday, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. Viktor Trehubov, Ukraine’s regional commander, was cited as stating, “Three Russian armies are concentrated here against us”.
• Russia used drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles to conduct a massive attack on Ukraine on Christmas Day.
• According to the local governors, the Russian attack killed on person in the Dnipropetrovsk region and injured at least six others in the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, condemned the Russian “inhumane” strike, which involved over 170 missiles and drones, some of which caused power outages in various parts of the nation.
• The “outrageous attack was designed to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardize the safety of its grid”, according to US President Joe Biden.
• There was “no respite even at Christmas”, according to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who denounced Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s electrical grid.
• Meanwhile, Russia reported that a falling drone and Ukrainian missile attacks in the Caucasus border region of Kursk and North Ossetia killed five people.
• Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Australia had been in touch with Moscow over the potential detention of an Australian citizen fighting alongside Ukrainian forces by the Russian army and that Moscow was investigating the situation.

Military Assistance

• Biden said that after denouncing Russia’s attack on Ukraine on Christmas Day, he had instructed the US Department of Defense to keep up the influx of weapons supplies to Ukraine.

Diplomacy

• In his Christmas speech, Pope Francis condemned the “extremely grave” humanitarian situation in Gaza and urged for “arms to be silenced” globally. He also called for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine, and Sudan.
• According to an Interior Ministry database viewed by the AFP news agency, Ilya Yashin, a Russian opposition lawmaker who was freed by Moscow in August as part of a prisoner swap, has been added to Russia’s “wanted” list. At the end of 2022, Yashin, 41, received a sentence of eight and a half years in prison for condemning “the murder of civilians” in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

Security in the region

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused NATO of attempting to move the Western alliance’s military facilities closer to Russia and of attempting to utilize Moldova as a logistical hub to support the Ukrainian army.
• Following the failure of an underwater power line connecting Finland and Estonia, Arto Pahkin, chief of operations for the Finnish electrical grid, informed the nation’s national broadcaster Yle that “the possibility of sabotage cannot be ruled out”. It is the most recent in a string of events affecting energy pipelines and telecom cables in the Baltic Sea.
• According to the Russian state-owned corporation that owns the ship, a “terrorist act” caused the Russian cargo ship to capsize in international waters in the Mediterranean this week. Without naming the perpetrator or providing an explanation, the Oboronlogistika business stated that it “believes a targeted terrorist attack was committed on December 23, 2024, against the Ursa Major”.
• The passenger plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, which crashed close to the Kazakh City of Aktau and killed 38 passengers, was previously heading away from a region of Russia that Moscow has lately protected from Ukrainian drone assaults. Drone strikes were reported Wednesday morning by authorities in Ingushetia and North Ossetia, two Russian districts that border Chechnya.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,035

Combating

• According to Yevgen Yerin, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, the estimated 12,000 North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region of Russia have not yet significantly changed the direction of the combat. According to Yerin, the North Koreans employ “primitive, linked, frankly speaking, more to the times of the Second World War” tactics and have little expertise with modern warfare, especially with drones.
• A Russian missile attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih in southeast Ukraine left at least one person dead and at least 15 injured. According to reports, a woman was pulled alive from the wreckage of a Russian missile-hit home. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine was born and raised in Kryvyi Rih.
• Following the release of a video showing an Australian man taken prisoner by Russian forces in Ukraine, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia stated that his government is working toward a “positive outcome”. The man identified himself as Oscar Jenkins, a biology teacher, and was seen with his hands bound while being slapped in the face by a man speaking Russian. The identify of the individual has been confirmed by Australian media.
• Ukraine claimed that Russian had attacked it overnight on Monday with 60 drones, 36 of which had been shot down, 23 of which had been jammed by electronic warfare, and one of which was still in the air at the time of writing. Drones were shot down Tuesday in eight different regions of Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
• For two acts of sabotage of railroad lines in Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula, which Russia invaded in 2014, a man was given a 22-year prison sentence by a Russian court. According to the court, Pavel Levchenko was deployed to Crimea to commit “acts of terrorism” after being recruited and trained by Ukraine’s SBU security service.
• A one-time payment for soldiers injured in the conflict in Ukraine and suffering lasting injuries has been canceled by authorities in the Russian territory of Transbaikal in Siberia. Depending on the extent of the disability, the compensation used to range from 100,000 to 500,000 roubles ($1,000 to 5,000). The regional Social Affairs Ministry of Siberia clarified that the funds will instead be utilized for a gasoline allowance as well as for medical care and treatment for soldiers.

The Society

• In a video address Tuesday evening, President Zelenskyy wished everyone a Merry Christmas, as Ukraine observes the holiday on December 25th for the second year in a row. In July 2023, Zelenskyy signed legislation to align Ukraine’s public Christmas holiday with that of most other European nations, instead of Russia’s later date.
• Zelenskyy took aim at his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in his Christmas Eve speech, quoting directly from a recent speech in which Putin told reporters that Moscow’s war on Ukraine was thrilling. “These statements demonstrate the distance that they [Russians] have from God, Christianity, and genuine faith, “Zelenskyy stated. Instead of Russian missiles and Iranian Shaheds, he continued, “all we need is to live peacefully on our own land, to see the sun, our sky, and in it – a Christmas star”.

Security in the region

• According to a government statement, Italy’s cabinet enacted a law allowing it to keep providing Ukraine with “means, materials, and equipment” to bolster its defense against Russia till the end of 2015.
• The Ursa Major, a cargo ship controlled by the Russian Defense Ministry, sank in international seas in the Mediterranean after an explosion on board, leaving two crew members missing. According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, two of the 16 Russian crew members are still missing, while the other 14 have been rescued and sent to the Spanish port of Cartagena.
• According to Ukrainian military intelligence, Russian forces in Syria, where Moscow has a naval port at Tartous, were also supplied by the Ursa Major Vessel.
• After Congress failed to renew its funds, the State Department announced that the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which monitors foreign disinformation, has ceased operations. In June, GEC coordinator James Rubin announced the formation of an international team headquartered in Warsaw to combat Russian misinformation about the conflict in Ukraine.
• Zelenskyy has criticized Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, for his unwillingness to reduce Slovakia’s reliance on Russian gas, describing it as a “big security issue” for Europe.
• After Russia was accused of meddling in last month’s election in the former Soviet republic that borders Ukraine, Moldovan voters chose to support Europe “despite the pressures”, according to President Maia Sandu, who was inaugurated in for a second term on Tuesday.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,034

Combating

• “Preliminary data indicates that the number of North Korean soldiers killed and wounded in the Kursk region has already surpassed 3,000” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. Shortly after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) stated that South Korean estimates place the figure at roughly 1,100, Zelenskyy made his comments.
• In a Telegram post, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that its air defense systems had shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Sea of Azov and nine drones over the Rostov Region.
• In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine’s military intelligence service, GUR, claimed that a warehouse in Russia’s Alabuga special economic zone “was destroyed” in a “mysterious destructive fire” along with parts for the “Shahed” drone “worth $16 million”.

Politics And Diplomacy

• China’s assertion that it has assisted in an open inquiry into the November breaking of two Baltic Sea underwater cables in Swedish waters was denied by Sweden. The Kremlin called the European officials’ suspicion that the sabotage is connected to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “laughable”.
• After Romania’s Constitutional Court canceled the presidential election due to allegations of Russian meddling, lawmakers in the country, which borders Ukraine, narrowly supported a new pro-European coalition administration.
• With a contract for gas transit through Ukraine slated to expire on December 31, Zelenskyy accused Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico of seeking to “assist” Putin after Fico traveled to Moscow in an apparent attempt to continue buying Russian gas.
• According to a government statement, Italy’s cabinet approved a legal order on Monday that permits it to keep providing military assistance to Ukraine till the end of 2025.
• More than a week after two aging Russian tankers were destroyed in harsh weather while en route to carry gasoline to the Russian Navy, volunteers clearing up a significant oil leak along Russia’s Black Sea coast claimed they are overwhelmed and asked Putin for assistance.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,033

Combating

• South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced on Monday that Russia’s war with Ukraine has resulted in the deaths or injuries of over 1,000 North Korean soldiers.
• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, 42 Ukrainian drones were shot down by its air defense systems over five Russian areas during the course of Sunday night.
• The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that Russian soldiers had taken control of two Ukrainian villages: one in the eastern Donetsk region and one in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
• According to a Ukrainian military general, 26 Russian strikes have occurred in the last 24 hours in the eastern village of Sontsivka. The general staff reportedly recorded 34 Russian attempts to breach defenses during intense fighting close to Pokrovsk.
• Five unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed by Russian soldiers on Sunday, according to Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights.
• Colonel General Alexei Kim, a deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, was named by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) as one of the individuals it believes ordered a missile strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August. According to the SBU, he acted “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of” the news organization Reuters.

Security And Diplomacy

• Following the impact of Ukrainian drones on residential structures in Kazan, in the Tatarstan region of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised reprisal.
• As a deal for Russian gas to pass through Ukraine approaches its expiration, Putin made a rare trip to Moscow on Sunday, meeting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in the Kremlin.
• According to the Yonhap news agency, South Korea claims that North Korea is getting ready to send more troops and weaponry to support Russia in its full-scale conflict with Ukraine.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that he would like to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump “as soon as possible” to talk about the conflict in Ukraine, Trump said on Sunday.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,032

Combating

• The conflict spread well into Russia when eight Ukrainian drones struck residential buildings in Kazan, a city more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from the front line. There were no casualties, according to local authorities.
• As a precaution, the Russian civil aviation body Rosaviatsia canceled all significant public events in the region and temporarily shuttered Kazan International Airport.
• Alexander Khinshtein, the acting governor of Russia’s Kursk district, reported that a Ukrainian missile attack on the town of Rylsk on Friday killed six people, including one kid. A 13-year-old was among the ten other people who suffered minor injuries.
• According to Ukrainian officials, 57 of the 113 drones that Moscow launched into Ukraine overnight on Saturday were shot down. 56 more drones were “lost”, most likely as a result of electronic jamming.
• In the midst of ongoing assault to regain control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense declared that its forces had taken the village of Kostiantynopolske, also known as Ostrovsky by Russian officials.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian strike struck an oncology center in the southern Kherson region. Staff and patients were taking refuge, therefore there were no casualaties.

Security and Diplomacy

• In a rare public revelation, Zelenskyy claimed to have met CIA Director William Burns in Ukraine. He stated that the meeting will be their last before Burns resigns from his position when Trump assumes office, although he did not say when it could take place.
• According to Russia’s FSB security service, a man was given a 19-year prison sentence for providing the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with information regarding Russian military.
• Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, informed the Security Council that Moscow’s “response to this targeted crime against peaceful Russian citizens will not be long in coming” in response to the incident that killed six people in Kursk.
• Using drones and missiles, Ukraine “will definitely continue to strike at Russian military targets”, Zelenskyy declared.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,031

Combating

• Six persons were killed in an attack by Ukraine on Friday that used US-supplied missiles to target the town of Rylsk in the Kursk border area of Russia. Recently, US President Joe Biden gave Ukraine permission to launch an attack deeper into Russia using missiles provided by the US.
• A building housing the embassies of Albania, Argentina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Palestine, and Portugal was destroyed and at least one person was killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv hours earlier. Moscow claimed that the strike was response to a Ukrainian strike using Western missiles against Russia’s Rostov.
• The bodies of 503 deceased Ukrainian service men from the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia regions, as well as Russian morgues, were delivered to Kyiv on Friday, the Ukrainian capital stated. Donetsk, which has been hardest hit by the war, accounted for the majority of the dead.

The Economy

• In face of strong consumer inflation brought on by significant military spending and severe labor shortages, Russia’s central bank held off on raising its benchmark interest rate further. leaving it at a record 21 percent.
• The Kremlin has come under fire from business leaders for the impact that increased borrowing prices have had on the economy.
• The International Monetary Fund authorized $1.1 billion in financial support for Ukraine on Friday, increasing the total amount paid since March 2023 to $9.8 billion under the institution’s ongoing assistance program.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Union, denounced the Russian attack on Kyiv that caused damage to a facility housing many foreign missions. She wrote on X, “Another horrific Russian attack against Kyiv”. “Putin’s disrespect for international law is at an all-time high”.
• As Russia advances on the front lines, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated that European leaders need to adjust their approach to Ukraine. He demanded a Christmas truce in Ukraine and the exchange of up 1,000 prisoners of war in an interview with Hungary’s official broadcaster on Friday.
• Orban has frequently thwarted, postponed, or softened EU attempts to censure Moscow for its invasion and to supply money and weaponry.
• After reestablishing contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, which drew criticism from Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Friday that he would speak with him once more. According to Scholz, the purpose of these appeals would be “to make clear” that Putin must “end his aggression and withdraw troops”.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,030

Combating

• According to the national police, a Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region has killed three persons and injured three more. It further stated that the attack damage to over ten homes.
• According to the Russian defense ministry, Ukraine fired four Storm Shadow missiles from the United Kingdom and six long-range ATACMS missiles from the United States at Russia’s southern Rostov region. According to the ministry, Russian forces shot down three of the four Storm Shadows and all of the ATACMS, and Moscow would retaliate for the assaults.
• According to a South Korean legislator, since going into combat in December, at least 100 North Korean soldiers who were sent to bolster Russia’s war effort in Ukraine have been killed. In order to support the Russian military, Pyongyang has dispatched thousands of troops, including to the Kursk border region, which Ukrainian forces took this year.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, stated that he had no requirements for initiating talks with the Ukrainian government and was prepared to make concessions about Ukraine in any potential negotiations with Donald Trump on ending the war.
• In an effort to circumvent sanctions, Putin has issued an order permitting international purchasers of Russian gas to make payments in roubles at other Russian banks, in addition to the US-sanctioned Gazprombank, until April 1.
• During his final session with EU leaders prior to Trump’s inauguration, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he required the support of both Europe and the United States in order to achieve a lasting peace.
• Trump and Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany, both that Russia’s war on Ukraine has lasted “far too long”. In a phone conversation with Trump, Scholz assured him that he would support Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression for as long as it took.
• Following a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels, EU Council President Antonio Costa confirmed that the EU will provide Ukraine with an additional 30 billion euros ($31.09 billion) in financial assistance in 2025.
• The suspect in the murder of prominent Russian general Igor Kirillov has been placed in two months of pre-trial imprisonment by a Moscow court. The suspect, an Uzbek national, was accused of carrying out a terrorist act that killed someone.
• Finland’s Defense Minister Antii Hakkanen cautioned that even after the war in Ukraine is over, Russian and its allies will continue to pose a threat to Europe. The more than 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border between Finland and Russia is presently blocked to all travelers as Helsinki accuses Moscow of directing unauthorized migration to Europe.
• Two individuals were sentenced to 21 years in prison by a Russian military court for allegedly organizing attacks on Ukraine’s orders. According to the TASS state news agency, Alexander Kholodkov and Viktoria Shinkarchuk, a former local government official in the Belgorod region that borders Russia, were also found guilty.

Cyberwarfare

• According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, Russia launched a widespread cyberattack on Ukraine’s official registers, which led to a brief service stoppage. Important details on Ukrainian citizens, including births, deaths, marriages, and property ownership, are recorded in the registry.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,029

Combating

• The Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery caught fire after Ukraine launched an attack using at least 13 missiles and dozens of drones, according to the governor of Russia’s southern Rostov region. Russian air defenses shot down 84 drones, including 36 over the Rostov region, according to the Ministry of Defense.
• Since going into action in December, at least 100 of the thousands of North Koreans sent to aid Russia’s war effort in Ukraine have been killed, according to South Korean legislator Lee Seong-kweun. The National Intelligence Service of he country estimates that almost 1,000 people may have been hurt.
• Britain said that it would provide Ukraine with an extra 225 million pounds ($286 million) worth of military hardware to aid it in its conflict with Russia.
• The Conflict Armament Research organization, based in the United Kingdom, predicted that North Korea will be able to produce ballistic missiles and deliver them to Russia for use in Ukraine in a matter of months. Jonah Leff, the group’s leader, told the UN Security Council that among the four North Korean missile remnants discovered in Ukraine was one that shoed it was manufactured in 2024.
• In connection with the murder of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the commander of the Russian army’s chemical weapons branch, and his aide in Moscow earlier this week, Russian authorities have detained a suspect. The 29-year-old Uzbek national was “recruited by Ukrainian special forces” to carry out the killing, which required remotely detonating a bomb concealed in an electric scooter, according to the Investigative Committee.
• Two more communities in the Donetsk region of east Ukraine, Stari Terny and Trudove, have been taken, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. Both are situated close to Kurakhove, an industrial town that Russia seems on the verge of seizing.
• Security agencies have proof that Ukraine had dropped white phosphorus weapons from drones on multiple occasions in September, according to Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry. Kyiv refuted the claims.

Diplomacy And Politics

• In response to criticism of the nation’s backing for Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, North Korean’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blasted the United States and its allies for “reckless provocation” and accused them of “distorting and slandering” Pyongyang’s “normal cooperative” ties with Moscow.
• After The Times published an editorial describing Ukraine’s death of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov as ” a legitimate act of defense”, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared that journalists at the publications were “legitimate military targets”.
• Ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, NATO chairman Mark Rutte met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders in Brussels to discuss Russia’s war. He made reference to the provision of air defense systems and other weapons when he stated that he wanted Ukraine to be “in the best possible position” when peace negotiations begin.
• In separate meetings with the Ukrainian president, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that France will continue to provide Ukraine with the resources it needs to defend itself and to end Russia’s war of aggression, and that France would make strengthened support for Ukraine its top priority.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,027

Combating

• After Ukraine’s military intelligence reported on Monday that its troops had killed or wounded at least 30 North Korean soldiers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that “initial reports suggest that Russia is trying to conceal the losses of North Korean personnel”.
• According to a U.S. assessment, “North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk”, and the United States has “indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded”, Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told reporters.
• According to the Associated Press news agency, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov directed inquires regarding North Korean casualties to the Russian Ministry of Defense, which did not immediately respond.
• According to Russian Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov, Russian forces have taken about 4,500 square kilometers (1,737 square miles) of Ukrainian territory so far this year and are currently gaining roughly 30 square kilometers (11.5 square miles) of area per day.

Humanitarian circumstances

• Nearly 12,000 people who are still living in the Ukrainian towns of Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, and Chasiv Yar-all of which are only a few kilometers from the front line-are experiencing gas and drinking water shortages in the bitterly cold winter months as a result of local utility operators suspending services, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA.

Diplomacy And Politics

• The intention by US President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination to head the FBI, Kash Patel, to investigate US support for Kyiv “spells trouble for the Ukrainian leadership”, Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, warned the UN Security Council.
• The 15th set of sanctions on Russia was approved by the European Union Foreign Affairs Council. The new penalties target North Korean officials and, for the first time, Chinese companies that produce drones for Moscow.
• 52 ships that are allegedly a part of a huge “shadow fleet” that Moscow uses to carry gas, oil and stolen Ukrainian grain were also the focus of the EU penalties.
• Sanctions against Russia’s oil fleet were “useful”, but “too late”, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, an assistant to the head of Zelenskyy’s office. Two Russian gas to pass through his nation and reach European consumers “will not be extended” when it expires on January 1, 2025.
• A former FBI informant entered a guilty plea to lying about a purported bribery conspiracy involving Ukrainian energy company Burisma, US President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,026

Combating

• In the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where its forces are advancing steadily, the Russian army claimed to have taken the village of Yelyzavetivka. Kurakhove, a resource-rich town that Russian troops are also attempting to capture, lies about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of the village.
• According to the TASS state news agency, which cited Denis Pushilin, the regional leader appointed by Moscow, Russia declared earlier on Monday that it had taken the village of Shevchenko in Donetsk as well.
• The villages of Veselyi Hai and Pushkino in the same area were also seized by Russian soldiers, according to the country’s defense ministry. The ministry added that four patriot air defense systems had been struck and destroyed by Russian forces.
• According to the Ukrainian military, Russia launched 49 drones to strike Ukraine overnight. Its air force shot down 27 of the drones and lost sight of 19 more.
• At least 30 North Korean soldiers who had been stationed by Russia close to the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba, and Martynovka in the Kursk region-where Ukraine has captured territory were killed or injured by Ukrainian forces, according to military intelligence.
• The SBU security of Ukraine announced that it had begun an operation to demolish 40 railcars that were transporting gasoline to Russian forces in a territory of Zaporizhzia, which is currently governed by Russia to a degree of roughly 70%.
• As Kyiv continues to retaliate against Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a Russian National Guard university in the Chechen area of Russia on Sunday. The attack on a location owned by the Akhmat Grozny riot police brigade was acknowledged by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
• According to Alex Gatopoulous of Al Jazeera, who is reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine has asserted that there are no longer any Russian ships cruising the Black Sea since Kyiv has damaged Moscow’s naval presence in the region.

Diplomacy And Politics

• According tp Russia’s RIA agency, Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Moscow’s foreign intelligence, stated that he has not communicated with the CIA over Kyiv’s deployment of Western long-range missiles to hit Russia and Moscow’s retaliatory use of its own missile.
• According to Norway, it will give Ukraine 2.7 billion kroner ($242.38 million) to bolster its navy and aid in discouraging Russian naval operations in the Black Sea. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement that “it is crucial to protect the Ukrainian population and Ukrainian infrastructure from attacks by Russia’s Black Sea Fleet”. Protecting grain and other product exports by sea is particularly vital because they bring in a significant amount of money for Ukraine.
• On Monday, European Union foreign ministers will gather in Belgium to discuss Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,025

Combating

• For the first time, Russia has started deploying large numbers of North Korean troops to attack Ukrainian forces fighting to maintain an enclave in the Kursk region of the Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
• According to the Ukrainian air force, 58 out of 132 Russian drones were shot down by Ukraine’s air defenses. It claimed that the use of electronic warfare interference tactics resulted in the “loss” of 72 Russian drones. Reports of damage were not immediately available.
• The Ministry of Defense said that 15 Ukrainian drones were destroyed overnight by Russian air defense systems. It further said that 13 of the drones were shot down over the Black Sea and one over the Belgorod and Kursk districts of the Russian border.
• According to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, a Ukrainian drone strike in Belgorod killed a nine-year-old child. The attack also injured two other people, one of them was a youngster.
• Ukraine’s military said that Ukrainian drones attacked the Steel Horse oil complex in the Oryol region of Russia, which is a vital supply of fuel for Russian soldiers.
• According to the local governor, Ukrainian drones hit a “fuel infrastructure facility” near Orlov, starting a fire. Eleven drones were shot down over the area, according to Governor Andrei Klychkov. There were no recorded casualties.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Zelenskyy claimed that following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, he had given his government instructions to establish systems for delivering food to Syria. Russia has stopped exporting wheat to Syria after the overthrow of al-Assad.
• Russia’s rapid advances in the Donetsk region have prompted the military to announce the appointment of 54-year-old Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tranavskiy to lead the operational and tactical group Donetsk, replacing General Oleksandr Lutsenko.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,024

Combating

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian aerial assault on Ukrainian energy facilities was one of the biggest yet on the failing grid and demonstrated why Kyiv required greater Western assistance before making peace with Russia.
• According to the DTEK energy corporation, at least 93 missiles fired by Moscow “severely damaged” Ukrainian power plants.
• In the Oryol region of central Russia, Ukrainian drones targeted a fuel shortage infrastructure facility, causing a fire and breaking windows in residences, according to regional governor Andrei Klychkov.
• According to Vladimir Kondratyev, the governor of the Krasnodar region, Russian air defenses destroyed Ukrainian drones at a number of locations in the south and east of Ukraine. No one was hurt, but one drone broke glass in homes in the village.
• According to Governor Alexander Bogomaz, Russian air defenses also shot down seven drones over Bryansk, which is located on Ukraine’s northern border.
• According to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, Ukrainian forces attacked two villages in the Belgorod area of Russia, wounding one citizen and starting a fire in a house that was promptly put out.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Donald Trump, the US president-elect, received congratulations from the Kremlin for denouncing Ukrainian missile attacks into Russian territory. However, it stated that it was too soon to start talking about sending European troops to maintain peace in Ukraine.
• According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Warsaw was not “planning any such actions”, but he did discuss with French President Emmanuel Macron the idea of foreign forces in Ukraine in the event of ceasefire.
• According to sources acquainted with the arrangement, the Reuters news agency said that Zelenskyy will meet with the leaders of the European Union, NATO, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland in Brussels next week to discuss support for his nation.
• According to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, the United States will impose financial penalties on Serbia’s oil company NIS, which is mostly owned by Gazprom Neft and Gazprom of Russia, in the comping days.
• With the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, Ukraine, a major producer and exporter of grains and oilseeds, is prepare to provide food to Syria, according to Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Vitaliy Koval. Due to payment delays and uncertainties surrounding the new government, Russian wheat supplies to Syria have been halted, according to both Syrian and Russian sources.
• According to diplomats, EU foreign ministers will sanction Russian intelligence officers on Monday for their “hybrid” attacks against the bloc. Moscow has been charged by the EU and NATO with orchestrating a series of events intended to undermine Western stability.
• A woman who collaborated with Russian intelligence to create false reports that supported Moscow’s invasion was given a 14-year prison sentence by a Ukrainian court.
• Additionally, Kyiv detained a number of individuals it claims are Russian spies and are compromising Ukrainian security.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,023

Military

• Ukraine’s senior military commander has described the fighting surrounding the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk as “extremely intense” during a months-long Russian advance.
• In the last 24 hours, Ukrainian troops have thwarted around 40 Russian efforts to breach defenses near Pokrovsk, according to the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ General Staff.
• A “direct” drone attack that destroyed a “clearly marked” agency car in Ukraine on Tuesday was denounced by Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who said that the hit had the “intention to harm”. Moscow and Kyiv exchanged blame for the walkout.
• As Russia increased pressure on what had been a comparatively quiet area of the battlefield, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with soldiers in the front-line southeastern Zaporizhian region.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Despite Kyiv’s mockery of the notion, the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin supported Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s efforts to secure a Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine and a substantial exchange of prisoners of war.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a statement that the U.S. administration of President Joe Biden has announced another $500 million package of weapons supplies for Ukraine.
• Donald Trump, the US president-elect, stated that while he “strongly disagreed” with Ukraine launching US-provided missiles far into Russia, he believed that US assistance for Kyiv would be crucial leverage in attempts to end the conflict.
• According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Warsaw is not “planning any such actions” at the moment, but he did discuss with French President Emmanuel Macron the prospect of placing foreign forces in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
• Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, stated that Kyiv was not yet prepared to begin negotiations with Russia since it did not have the weapons, security assurances, or international standing it desired.
• As he urged Europeans to put pressure on their governments to increase defense expenditure, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte issued a warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to “wipe Ukraine off the map” and may target other regions of Europe next.
• At a summit in Berlin, seven European foreign policy officials said that Ukraine’s route to NATO membership is “irreversible”.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,022

Military

• Nine people have been killed in a Russian missile strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials.
• According to Ukraine’s military general staff, a nighttime attack led to a “massive fire” at an oil storage in the Bryansk region of western Russia that feeds fuel to a vital conduit for Russian military supplies.
• Governor Alexander Bogomaz of Bryansk acknowledged that a drone strike had caused an industrial building to catch fire, but he added that no one had been hurt and that the fire had been put out.
• In the western Kursk region, where Kyiv has been conducting a cross-border incursion since August, the Russian army claimed to have retaken two villages.
• Ukraine fired six ATACMS missiles supplied by the West toward a military airport in the southern Rostov region’s port city of Taganrog, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
• After a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. stated that “Russia has signaled its intent to launch another experimental Oreshnik missile at Ukraine, “Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh informed reporters that a U.S. “intelligence assessment” concluded that “it’s possible that Russia could use [an] Oreshnik missile in the upcoming days”.
• A law passed in April to increase army conscription in Ukraine is encountering increasing opposition, according to videos shared on social media, while some Ukrainian war veterans claim they feel ignored and forgotten.

Diplomacy And Politics

• A $20 billion US loan to Ukraine, secured by blocked Russian assets, was described by Russia’s Foreign Ministry as “banal theft” that “will not go unanswered. “The loan is a component of a $50 billion G7 assistance package that was revealed in October.
• Ukraine denied discussing a Christmas ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Russia with Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary.
• As relationships between Moscow and the West deteriorate, Russia issued a warning to its people not to visit the US and other Western nations, saying they could be “hunted” by the government.
• OMV, an Austrian oil and gas company, declared that it had terminated its agreement with Gazprom, a Russian energy giant that had previously ceased providing gas to Austria. Despite reducing imports during the war, certain European nations are still heavily dependent on Russian gas that is routed through Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,021

Military

• According to Ukraine’s National Police, a Russian missile strike on a private medical clinic in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia resulted in four fatalities and nineteen injuries.
• One of its cars was seriously damaged by a kamikaze drone while being driven by officials keeping an eye on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Although no employees were hurt, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi called the strike on teams trying to stop a nuclear disaster during the military war “unacceptable”.

Diplomacy And Politics

• According to Russian news media, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, arrived in Beijing on a two-day visit aimed at holding meetings with Chinese leaders.
• As part of a $50 billion G7 support package announced in October, the US Treasury said it granted a $20 billion credit for Ukraine backed by the proceeds of blocked Russian assets.
• According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, peace negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine might start this winter.
• Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, stated that his nation will set up facilities for the anticipated launch of Moscow’s newest hypersonic ballistic missile and that it is currently housing dozens of Russian nuclear warheads. As part of Moscow’s attempts to deter the West from Stepping up its assistance for Ukraine, Belarus has been participating more and more in Russian nuclear weapons exercises.
• According to the Pentagon, the possible $266.4 million sale of F-16 sustainment services and associated equipment to Ukraine was cleared by the US State Department. According to the Pentagon, Sabena, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, and Pratt & Whitney will be the main contractors.
• A newly established unit in Cyprus will receive intelligence from the UK with the mission of stopping Russia from avoiding international sanctions. Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Cyprus has blocked $1.9 billion in Russian assets.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,020

Military

• Orders to enhance money for Ukraine’s brigades to acquire new drones were issued by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A decision regarding the amount of these direct funds was recently approved by us. But in his nighttime speech, Zelenskyy stated, “Now I see that the amount is insufficient”. “I gave the prime minister instructions to increase brigade funding multiple times over in the upcoming days”.
• According to Zelenskyy, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency said that there are currently about 800,000 Russian forces stationed in Ukraine.

Diplomacy

• President Zelenskyy argued for a diplomatic end to the conflict and brought up the possibility of sending foreign troops to Ukraine until it could join NATO at a joint news conference with Friedrich Merz, the head of the German opposition.
• Merz, a leading candidate for Germany’s next chancellorship, called his nation’s arms-procurement strategy for Ukraine “like forcing it to fight with one arm tied behind its back”.
• According to a presidential spokeswoman, Ukraine wants to meet with its main European partners in December to coordinate a unified stance and make sure Kyiv is well-positioned for any future negotiations and on the battlefield.
• The EU Council said that Ukraine will soon receive an additional 4.2 billion euros ($4.4 billion) in funding after the member states of the EU approved the planned payment of the cash.
• According to Portugal’s Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, the EU requires shared tools to finance defense expenditures in the face of a protracted conflict in Ukraine and demands from the US for NATO allies to boost such spending.
• As part of a long-running effort to repatriate more than 20,000 children deported by Russian authorities from seized regions of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials announced that five Ukrainian children who had been transferred away or place in care since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 had returned to their motherland.
• Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defense minister, said he spoke with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin about organizing the upcoming meeting of the Ramstein Group, an alliance of NATO, the EU, and other nations that support Kyiv against Russia’s incursion. According to reports, Austin reiterated that the US is “prepared to give Ukraine everything it needs to effectively fight the enemy”.
• Andrius Kubilius, the EU’s new defense commissioner, told the Reuters news agency that Europe must figure out how to pay for hundreds of billions of euros in additional military spending over the next year in order to protect against any Russian invasion.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1, 019

Combating

• The Russian Defense Ministry posted on the Telegram messaging app that 13 Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defense troops over three areas of western Russia.
• According to Ukraine’s air force, the nation’s air defense system shot down 18 Russian-launched drones and two missiles last night.
• According to Russia’s RIA state news agency, which cited the Defense Ministry, Russian forces have seized control of the Blahodatne town in eastern Ukraine. Less than 20 percent of Ukraine is under Russian control.
• Since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been slain, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a post on X, he stated that an estimated 370,000 soldiers were wounded during that time.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Zelenskyy and the Kremlin listed their demands after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump demanded an immediate ceasefire and talks between Ukraine and Russia to put an end to “the madness”.
• Trump also stated in an interview with NBC News that the next administration would cut aid to Ukraine, which the US has firmly supported since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
• Following Trump’s demand for a ceasefire, the Kremlin declared that Russia was amenable to discussions on Ukraine. Negotiations must be grounded in the agreements made in Istanbul in 2022 and the reality of the modern battlefield, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
• A truce without guarantees can be breached at any time, Zelenskyy said, adding that the war with Russia cannot be resolved with a few signatures and a piece of paper.
• During their Paris talks, Zelenskyy claimed to have informed Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron that Kyiv requires a “lasting peace” that Moscow would not “destroy in a few years”.
• According to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, Russia’s inferiority and incapacity to fight on two frost are shown by the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
• Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s conservative opposition and a strong candidate to become the nation’s next chancellor, is in Ukraine for discussions on how to stop Russia’s full-scale invasion. Compared to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he has taken a more assertive stance against Russia, stating that if the Kremlin does not cease attacking the civilian infrastructure, Germany should provide Ukraine with the Taurus long-range cruise missiles it has long desired. Putin will only be willing to engage in talks if Ukraine is powerful. This war will drag on longer if we lose support for Ukraine. This battle will finish sooner if we continue to assist Ukraine”, Merz stated when he arrived in Kyiv on Monday.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,018

Combating

• According to Ukraine’s air force, its air defense units destroyed 28 of the 74 Russian drones that were launched against the country overnight. According to a Telegram statement, 46 Russian drones were “lost”, most likely due to electronic warfare.
• On Telegram, Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported that 46 Ukrainian drones were shot down by its air defense system over five Russian regions during the course of the night.
• Additionally, the ministry reported that its troops had captured Berestky, a tiny village near the beleaguered town of Kurakhove in the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine.

Weaponry

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, announced that a second group of F-16 aircraft had flown in from Denmark. He commended Denmark for defending lives and establishing a “example of leadership”.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Following their meeting in Paris, which was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump stated that Zelenskyy was eager to reach an agreement to stop the war with Russia. Trump stated on his Truth Social platform that talks should take place after a rapid ceasefire.
• “We all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way”, Zelenskyy said after describing his meeting with Trump and Macron in Paris as “good and productive”. We discussed a just peace, the circumstances on the ground, and our people.
• The Biden administration will give Ukraine an additional $988 million assistance, according to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The package is distinct from the December 2 announcement of $725 million in military aid.
• After speaking with Trump over the phone, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Funke group of newspapers that he is sure he can reach a consensus with him on a shared approach to Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,017

Combating

• At least ten people were killed and twenty-four injured in a Russian strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday. Ivan Fedorov, the city’s governor, claimed that the attack had caused a service station and auto garage to catch fire.
• According to the local governor, at least two persons were killed in another attack on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, which is nearby.
• Moscow said that its forces had advanced in two strategic regions of the east Ukraine front line, taking a village close to the industrial town of Kurakhove and another close to the beleaguered supply center of Pokrovsk.

Diplomacy And Military

• In a post on Telegram following the attacks, Zelenskyy attacked Putin, claiming that “only through force can real peace be established” and that “thousands of such strikes carried out by Russia during this war make it absolutely clear that Putin does not need real peace”.
• Andrius Kubilius, the EU’s first-ever defense commissioner, has warned that Russia may be ready for a military attack on the EU or NATO by 2023 and has called for a “big-bang approach” in terms of investment and legislative changes to bolster the bloc’s defenses.
• Ukraine unveiled Peklo, or Hell in Ukrainian, a new domestically made “rocket drone” that it claims can travel 700 kilometers (430 miles), more than twice as far as missiles supplied by Western partners.
• In a television interview, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that his nation’s recent deployment of a hypersonic missile in the conflict in Ukraine was intended to convey to the West that Moscow was prepared to employ “any mean” to avoid defeat.
• In an attempt to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump, Zelenskyy is scheduled to fly to Paris this weekend for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral.
• In an interview released on Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his belief that he and Trump could create a “joint strategy” for Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,016

Combating

• Russia launched 53 drones against Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, which shot down 32 of them and “lost track” of 16. According to the Air Force statement, two drones departed Ukraine-controlled airspace and were their route to Belarus.
• According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, the country intends to provide its military with over 30,000 long-range attack drones in the upcoming year. These cutting-edge drones are capable of long-range autonomous operation and very accurate enemy target strikes.
• The Institute for the Study of War claims that Russia is still losing a lot soldiers in order to advance tactically in the western Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Diplomacy And Politics

• According to a White House spokeswoman, Andriy Yermak, a senior advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan talked about strengthening Kyiv’s stance in its conflict with Russia and making sure it enters any future talks from a strong position.
• During an annual security summit in Malta, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov implicitly clashed with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, accusing the West of resurrecting the Cold War and inciting a direct confrontation with Russia.
• In a separate interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, Lavrov stated that Russia would do everything in its power to prevent a loss in the conflict with Ukraine.
• Despite opposition from Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, is anticipated to consider whether to deploy Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine.
• According to Canada’s public safety minister, 324 types of firearms that belong on the battlefield are being banned. Additionally, Ottawa stated that it was collaborating with the Ukrainian government to determine how the weapons may be supplied to aid in the defense against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,015

Combating

• According to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the second such strike on the Russian North Caucasus region occurred in Grozny when a Ukrainian drone struck, injuring residents and damaging the property of a special police unit engaged in combat in Ukraine.
• According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Ukraine must enlist young people in the military if it hopes to win the fight against Russia.
• In a delicate conversation, a Russian government minister was heard stating that 48,000 relatives of Russian soldiers had provided DNA samples, presumably in reference to efforts to identify Russia’s fallen soldiers by their remains.
• A 16-year-old girl was detained by Ukraine’s security service on suspicion of assisting Moscow in planning an airstrike against the northern Chernihiv region.

Diplomacy

• After Moscow’s UN envoy accused Kyiv of supporting rebels against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, Ukraine dismissed as “baseless” a Russian allegation that it was participating in the crisis in Syria.
• Proposals to terminate Russia’s assault on Ukraine are being floated by advisers to incoming US President-elect Donald Trump both publicly and privately. These proposals include removing the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO and giving up significant portions of the country to Moscow for the foreseeable future.
• Despite President Emmanuel Macron’s repeated pledges to back Kyiv for as long as required, Paris may find it challenging to increase its support for Ukraine given the country’s inability to pass a budget and the fall of the French government on Wednesday.
• According to a source with knowledge of the meeting, a Ukrainian team met with top Trump administration officials as Ukraine looks to the incoming US government for assistance in its conflict with Russia.
• German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was heavily criticized by Friedrich Merz, the conservative candidate for chancellor, for implying that Germany could send soldiers to Ukraine in order to keep the peace.
• According to state news agency TASS, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made his first trip to a member state of the European Union since the start of Moscow’s war in Ukraine when he arrived in Malta for an OSCE meeting.
• After a far-right outsider won Romania’s first-round presidential election, setting the stage for a Runoff the US threatened to have “serious negative impacts” if Romania turned away from the West. The 62-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin supporter and anti-vaxer Calin Georgescu has sparked concerns in the West that it might signal a change in the NATO member that borders Ukraine’s foreign policy.

Security in the region

• The military alliance has decided on “proactive measures” to combat Russia’s campaign of Hybrid warfare against its members, according to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
• Additionally, in exchange for troops and weaponry to fight in Ukraine, Rutte accused Russia of aiding North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
• Hungary’s foreign minister claimed that there was “no consensus” among NATO counterparts in Brussels over the possibility of inviting Ukraine to join the transatlantic military alliance.
• Georgia’s severe crackdown on protesters was criticized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also charged that Georgia’s administration was caving in to Moscow.
• According to the US military, last week was the first time that top US military officer, Air Force General CQ Brown, had a phone conversation with Russia’s Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov. During the conversation, Brown “discussed a number of global and regional security issues to include the ongoing conflict in Ukraine”.
• While conducting a reconnaissance operation in the Baltic Sea, the crew of a Russian ship fired signal munitions at a German military helicopter. According to German Foreign Minister Baerbock, ships frequently participate in evading sanctions imposed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the Baltic Sea.
• According to Pyongyang’s state-run news agency KCNA, a deal on a comprehensive strategic alliance between North Korea and Russia has taken effect. The treaty’s formalization coincides with accusations from the US and South Korea that North Korea sent over 10,000 troops to aid Russia in its conflict with Ukraine.
• An international sting has brought down a multibillion-dollar money laundering network that was used by drug dealers in the United Kingdom to conceal illegal funds and was overseen by two Russian millionaires.
• The commander of the UK’s armed forces has warned that the country faces numerous challenges as the globe enters a “third nuclear age”. However, if the two nations were at war, Admiral Tony Radakin stated that there would only be a “rare chance” that Russia would strike or invade the UK directly.

Human rights and humanitarian assistance

• In reference to the difficulties in generating funds for initiatives to assist people in conflict areas such as Gaza, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine, the new director of the UN humanitarian aid organization said it would be “ruthless” when deciding how best to spend funds.
• A Ukrainian government official called on countries around the world to assist in repatriating Ukraine’s children who have been detained in Russia since the beginning of the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.
• Alain Berset, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, was received in Kyiv by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy. Following their encounter, Zelenskyy wrote on X that the two had talked about the necessity of setting up a court to punish those responsible for Russian aggression against Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,014

Combating

• According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russian drones attacked vital infrastructure overnight in the western Ternopil and Riven districts of Ukraine. A week after Russian strikes knocked out power to much of the city and the surrounding area, the attack left a portion of Ternopil without energy, according to the city’s mayor.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded that Ukraine’s 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line be significantly reinforced in its eastern sections. Zelenskyy added that the “greater our army’s firepower and technological capabilities, the more we can destroy Russia’s offensive potential”, and that much hinged on Ukraine’s Western partners supplying essential weapons.
• As Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that its forces had taken control of two new front-line communities, the town of Novodarivka in the neighboring Zaporizhia area and the town of Kurakhove in the Donetsk region, Zelenskyy made his appeal.
• The mayor of Novorossiysk, a port city in the Russian Black Sea, stated on early Wednesday that Russian air defense units were attempting to thwart a Ukrainian drone attack on the city.
• The Russian Defense Ministry said that during exercise in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Russian Navy frigates tested new generation Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic antiship missiles. An Onyx antiship missile was also tested, and a Kalibr cruise missile-an additional weapon with a nuclear warhead-was launched by a Russian submarine.
• Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is increasing missile production and has tested new, domestically produced missiles, but he did not elaborate.

Diplomacy And Politics

• NATO chief Mark Rutte stated ahead of a Tuesday meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers that the union will increase intelligence sharing and strengthen the defense of vital infrastructure against Russia’s “hostile” sabotage actions. Rutte went on to say that in order to fortify Kyiv’s position in the event that it engages in peace talks with Moscow, the bloc must increase military assistance.
• Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs Baiba Braze told the Reuters news agency during the meeting that although political leaders in NATO have agreed “in principle” that Ukraine will join the transatlantic alliance, some members are holding off on approving the move until Donald Trump’s administration takes office in the US.
• As the alliance avoided Kyiv’s demand for an immediate membership invitation at Tuesday’s meeting of foreign ministers, Ukraine stated that it would not accept anything less than NATO membership to ensure its future security.
• German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated on the sidelines of the NATO meeting that Kyiv alone would determine whether to begin talks with Russia, adding that Ukraine needs strong security guarantees and a fair peace.
• In a fresh demonstration of solidarity for Kyiv, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has told the Reuters news agency that Italy is drafting a new military aid package for Ukraine.
• According to a US State Department-backed assessment by Yale’s School of Public Health, a Kremlin-funded initiative that employed a Russian presidential aircraft and funds to transport at least 314 children from controlled Ukrainian territory and place them with Russian families.
• As Poland increase defense spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, state-owned insurance provider PZU intends to fund project with both military and civilian applications, according to Artur Olech, head of the firm. Olech excluded programs that were solely military but did not elaborate.
• According to the Kremlin, the US’s decision to transfer another #725 million arms package to Ukraine demonstrates that President Joe Biden’s departing administration is committed to stoking the flames of the war in Ukraine in order to keep it continuing.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,013

Combating

• According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia attacked the nation overnight with 110 drones. The Air Force reported that at least 50 drones were “lost” and that 52 of the 110 drones were shot down.
• According to official news, which cited the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russia’s air defense systems shot down 15 Ukrainian drones over various Russian territories overnight.

Diplomacy and Military Assistance

• According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine needs stronger air defense systems to defend its vital infrastructure against Russian missile assaults.
• According to Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine would require tens of thousands of uncrewed robotic ground vehicles in the upcoming year in order to evacuate injured soldiers and deliver supplies and ammunition to infantry in the trenches.
• F-35 fighter jets and NASAMS (short to medium-range) air defense systems will be sent to a logistics center in Poland that organizes military assistance for Ukraine, according to Norway’s Ministry of Defense. In addition to the fighter jets and air defense systems, Norway will deploy about 100 troops to protect the airspace over the Rzeszow airport starting in early December.
• Hours after Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the deliveries during his surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, a Defense Ministry official indicated that German military aid, including armed drones, Leopard 1 tanks, and IRIS-T air defense systems, would be sent to Ukraine in December.
• Local authorities were attempting to stabilize the situation, but Russia would not intervene, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, comparing the wave of pro-EU protests in Georgia to an attempted Orange Revolution akin to the 2004 mass protest that overthrew a pro-Russian government in Kyiv.
• According to senior NATO diplomats cited by Reuters, it is extremely improbable that NATO will accept Ukraine’s request for a membership invitation at a bloc summit scheduled for Tuesday. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote to his NATO counterparts prior to the conference, stating that an invitation would eliminate one of Russia’s primary justifications for fighting its war, which is to keep Ukraine from joining the alliance.
• During their discussion, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov talked about Russia’s employment of new ballistic missiles, plans for Washington’s military assistance next year, and the upcoming weapons donor meeting.
• As President Joe Biden’s departing government looks to support Kyiv before it leaves office in January, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the United States will deliver Ukraine $725 million worth of missiles, ammunition, antipersonnel mines, and other weapons.
• While acknowledging that a negotiated conclusion to the war is possible, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that increasing assistance for Ukraine is crucial to putting Kyiv in a strong position for peace negotiations with Russia.
• Prosecutors told a London court that a gang of Bulgarian nationals who are suspected of spying for Russia targeted an investigative journalist with the Bellingcat news site and attempted to trick him into falling into a “honey trap” on Facebook. Along with Orlin Roussev and Bizer Dzhambazov, Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova, and Tihomir Ivanchev also conducted surveillance on a US military installation in Germany that was used to train Ukrainian forces.
• Threats to the institution, such as potential US sanctions and Russian warrants for employees,”jeopardize its very existence”, according to Tomoko Akane, president judge of the International Criminal Court. Two months after the Hague court issued one for Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the ICC.
• During a visit to Beijing, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock claimed that Putin is using North Korean troops and Chinese-made drones to pull Asia into the conflict in Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,012

Combating

• Viacheslav Negoda, the commander of the military administration of the Ternopil region, said that Russia’s drone attack on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil resulted in one fatality and other injuries. The victims were staying in a residential structure, and the fire also damaged parts of that building.
• Regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said a Russian drone attack on the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine killed at least three persons. The attack injured seven more people.
• According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at least four persons were killed in a Russian missile strike on a town in the central Dnipropetrovsk area of Ukraine. A toddler was among the more than a dozen other people injured.
• According to Governor Alexander Bogomaz, a huge Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s western Bryansk region killed one child and destroyed one house in the Starodubsky area.
• According to the RIA official news agency, which cited the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russia’s air defense systems shot down 15 Ukrainian drones over various Russian territories overnight.
• According to the Russian Defense Ministry, its troops have taken control of the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine, specifically the communities of Illinka and Petrivka.
• Additionally, the ministry reported that in the last 24 hours, its air defense system shot down 55 Ukrainian drones.

Diplomacy And Politics

• In an unexpected trip to war-torn Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised 650 million euros ($680 million) in further military assistance to reinforce Berlin’s support for Kyiv in its conflict with Russia.
• Zelenskyy urged former US President Joe Biden to assist in persuading NATO members to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance.
• Zelenskyy met with Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council, in Kyiv and commended his intention to travel to Ukraine right after taking office. Before holding discussions with Russia, he informed Costa and Kaja Kallas, the new head of diplomacy for the European Union, that Ukraine needs more weaponry to defend itself and security guarantees from NATO.
• Following allegations that some unnamed Western officials had advised Biden to do so before he leaves office, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that the US is not considering restoring to Ukraine the nuclear weapons it gave up after the Soviet Union fell.
• China is allegedly supplying Russia with weaponry for its conflict with Ukraine and endangering peace in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, according to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. Next week, Baerbock will travel to Beijing to speak with Wang Yi, her Chinese counterpart.
• A budget for 2025-2027 with a military focus has been authorized by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a document posted on the official legal acts website. As the nation continues its military campaign in Ukraine, its includes a 25 percent increase in military budget

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,011

Combating

• According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at least four persons were killed in a Russian missile attack on a town in the central Dnipropetrovsk area of Ukraine. A business and residential structure were wrecked, and over a dozen others, including a kid, were injured.
• According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s port infrastructure has been struck around 60 times in the past three months, and 15 of the country’s civilian airports have sustained damage since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Diplomacy And Politics

• In an interview, Zelenskyy hinted that granting Ukraine NATO membership while letting Russia retain the area it had taken temporarily would be a way to put an end to the conflict’s “hot stage”, which has been going on for 33 months.
• Antonio Costa, the head of the European Council, and Kaja Kallas, the EU’s new top diplomat, arrived in Kyiv on their first day in office as a symbolic gesture of solidarity of Ukraine.
• In a phone conversation with Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macon underlined his support for Ukraine and his disapproval of an increase in Russian aggression on the nation, according to the two leaders.
• In a letter seen by Reuters on Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged his NATO counterparts to invite Kyiv to a summit in Brussels next week to join the Western military alliance.
• Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has been informed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Moscow has the right to defend itself and that Ukraine’s use of long-range weaponry is the consequence of direct US military participation.
• Given the antagonistic US, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned official news agency TASS that a potential return to nuclear weapons testing by Moscow is still up in the air.
• As Russia gains ground in the east and Kyiv’s troops struggle with a manpower shortfall, Zelenskyy replaced the head of the military’s land forces with Major-General Mykhailo Drapatyi. Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, who assumed command in a significant reorganization in February, is replaced by Drapatyi.
• After visiting two important Ukrainian-held locations in the Donetsk region, Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskii declared he would provide reserves, ammunition, and equipment to forces stationed on the eastern front.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,010

Combating

• After visiting Pokrovsk and Kurakhove in the Donetsk region, Oleksandr Syrskii, the head of Ukraine’s army, declared he would provide reserves, ammunition, and equipment to bolster troops on the eastern front. Ukrainian military are still fending off Russian advances in the east, according to Syrskii.
• According to Kyiv, Russian officials have returned around 500 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers who were killed in battle, the majority of whom died in the eastern Donetsk region.
• On Friday, social media footage showed the Atlas Oil Depot in Russia’s Rostov Region on fire.
• Major-General Mykhailo Drapatyi was named the next commander of Ukraine’s ground forces by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “For the Ukrainian army to fully accomplish the objectives of our state, internal reforms are required”, Zelenskyy stated.
• Amid escalating Russian counterattacks, Ukraine has lost almost 40% of the area it took in August during a surprise invasion of Russia’s Kursk region.
• According to military analysts, Ukraine’s military is facing a manpower shortfall, which makes it more difficult to build up reserve forces or rotate troops out of the more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of front line.
• After Russia launched about 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure a day earlier, leaving over a million households without electricity, residents of Kyiv went about their daily lives on Friday with flashlights and candles.
• Early on Saturday, a senior Russian ambassador was quoted as saying that Moscow’s potential to resume nuclear weapons tests is still up in the air due to hostile U.S. policies. When asked if Moscow was thinking about starting testing again, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov responded, “This is a question at hand”, according to the TASS news agency.

Diplomacy

• According to Pyongyang official media, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and decided to increase military cooperation between the two countries.
• According to the country’s KCNA news agency, Kim informed Belousov that Moscow has the right to strike in self-defense and that Ukraine’s use of long-range weaponry is the outcome of direct military intervention by the United States and the West.
• According to his office, French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to give Ukraine strong assistance in its fight against Russia’s “escalation” of its invasion.
• At a meeting in Brussels next week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha is said to have pushed NATO allies to invite Kyiv to join the Western military alliance.
• Offering Ukraine NATO membership while letting Russia retain the area it has taken temporarily may be a way to put an end to the “hot stage” of the 33-month conflict, Zelenskyy stated in an interview broadcast on Friday.
• The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ spokeswoman demanded that Russia “immediately cease all attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure”.
• The conflict between Russia and Ukraine “has shown us the weakness of the rules-based international system”, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
• Josep Borrell, the departing head of European Union foreign policy, called the situation in Ukraine “worsening” and expressed doubt that US President-elect Donald Trump can make it better. According to Borrell, Ukraine can only protect itself if its allies stand by it.
• In a call on Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised Zelenskyy Germany’s sustained support and they agreed to keep in touch, with a focus on potential routes to a just peace, he posted on social media site X.
• After Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidza of Ukraine announced that his nation would halt EU accession negotiations, Ukraine accused Georgia of attempting to “please Moscow”.

Security in the region

• In addition to increasing its nuclear saber-rattling to deter other nations from supporting Ukraine, Russia is engaging in a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage across Europe, according to the chief of the UK’s MI6 foreign spy organization.
• Poland has strengthened the NATO brigade in Latvia by sending Leopard 2 battle tanks there.
• Rheinmetall, a German defense company, and Lithuania inked agreements to start building a $190 million ammunition plant in Lithuania to produce artillery shells domestically.
• According to a parliamentary budget committee source who spoke to the AFP news agency, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius wants to purchase four additional submarines to help meet NATO’s security needs in Europe.
• The BfV domestic intelligence agency in Germany has issued a warning about potential attempts by other states to sway the next federal election.

Human Rights

• In a second hearing, Russia condemned Alexei Gorinov, the first person convicted for criticizing Moscow’s military campaign Ukraine, to an additional three years in prison. The 63-year old, a former city councilor from Moscow, was convicted in 2022 and is currently serving a seven-year term.

SOOURCE: ALAJZEERA

Key events list, day 1,009

Combating

• At least a million people in three western areas experienced catastrophic power outages as a result of Russia’s second significant attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this month. Regional governors claimed that 523,000 customers in the Lviv area, 215,000 in the Volyn region, and 280,000 in the Rivne region lost power as a result of the attacks.
• Russia employed 91 missiles and 97 drones in the strike, according to Ukraine’s air force, with 12 of them striking their objectives, the majority of which were fuel and energy installations.
• President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow used US medium-range ATACMS missiles to retaliate for Ukraine’s strikes on Russian territory. He cautioned that further targets might use its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile, which Moscow says cannot be intercepted, to attack “decision-making centers” in Kyiv.
• Russian employment of cruise missiles with cluster munitions in the attack was criticized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “despicable escalation”. Zelenskyy claimed he was negotiating with Western leaders, such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, to develop a response to Russia’s effort to “drag out the war”.
• Another to Regional Governor Yuri Slyusar, Russian air defenses shot down or destroyed shot down or destroyed 30 Ukrainian drones in the southern Rostov region early Friday.
• Late Thursday, fragments of downed Russian drones hit buildings in two area of Kyiv, injuring one person, according to officials.
• Reports of a cruise missile attack in the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa prompted explosions to be heard there thursday morning.

Politics, Diplomacy, and Finances

• Ukraine’s first wartime tax rises have been signed into law by President Zelenskyy. According to Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko, the bill is essential to ensuring seamless financing for the country’s defense industry. The personal income war tax will increase from 1.5 percent to 5 percent as a result of the amendments, which will go into effect on December 1.
• Following a top US administration official’s call for Kyiv to lower the conscription age from 25 to 18, Ukraine has encouraged its allies to expedite military help, arguing that delivering vital battlefield equipment more quickly is more crucial than recruiting more soldiers.
• According to Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, Ukraine is prepared to organize a second international summit with the goal of putting a stop to Russia’s invasion in the “nearest future”. In June, Ukraine hosted its first “peace summit” in Switzerland.
• France has refused to declare if it would be willing to arrest President Putin under a similar demand. France is under fire for its position that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is exempt from an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
• At a news conference in Kazakhstan, Putin declared that if Kyiv were to obtain nuclear weapons, Russia would employ “precisely all means of destruction available” against Ukraine and that he would be “watching their every move”.
• Putin went on to say that there were no requirements to begin negotiations with Ukraine on a potential peace agreement, but that the conditions he laid out in June-such as Kyiv abandoning its NATO aspirations-remained the same.
• According to the German Defense Ministry, Germany has offered to re-deploy Patriot air defense missiles to NATO ally Poland at the beginning of the new year.
• Dmitry Talantov, an attorney who has defended opponents of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, was found guilty of disseminating misleading information about the Russian army and “inciting hatred” and was given a seven-year prison sentence by a Russian court.
• In a recent humanitarian exchange mediated by Qatar, Russia and Ukraine agreed to return a total of nine children to be reunited with family members.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,008

Combating

• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Russian soldiers have seized control of the community of Nova Illinka, which is near the beleaguered town of Kurakhove in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine.
• Three persons were injured in a Russian drone strike on Kyiv, with two of them admitted to hospitals, according to officials in the Ukrainian capital.
• According to state-run news agency TASS, Russia is moving quickly to deploy its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, which is a component of its strategic nuclear arsenal, on combat duty.
• According to reports from both sides, Russian air defense systems destroyed 22 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 36 of the 89 Russian drones that were launched in strikes.
• According to a senior U.S. administration official who wished to remain unnamed, Kyiv is not mobilizing or training enough new soldiers to replace those lost on the battlefield, thus Ukraine should think about reducing the age of military duty for its soldiers from 25 to 18.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, has stated that NATO may eventually trigger the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defense clause in response to Russia’s sabotage actions against Western targets.
• According to the president-elect, Donald Trump has appointed retired US lieutenant general Keith Kellogg, who gave him a strategy to end the war in Ukraine, as a special envoy for the conflict. During Trump’s 2017-2021 administration, Kellogg served as the White House National Security Council’s chef of staff. Prior to that, he served as Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser.
• During a visit to Seoul this week, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said he spoke with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol about taking collaboration security measures. Kyiv’s team also allegedly asked for military support during the meeting.
• A German national has been detained by Poland and accused of supplying Russia with dual-use commodities that were “illegally sent to Russian military plants involved in the production of weapons”.
• According to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, the notion that Washington should arm Ukraine with nuclear weapons, which is allegedly being discussed in the West, is “insane”, and one of the reasons Moscow invaded Ukraine was to avoid such a situation.
• Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, cautioned the United states to stop what it described as a “spiral of escalation” over Ukraine, but he also promised to continue updating Washington on test missile launches to prevent “dangerous mistakes”.
• After the Kyodo news agency revealed that Japan and the US are working to develop a unified military strategy for a potential Taiwan emergency, Russia claimed that the US missiles stationed in Japan would jeopardize Russian security and provoke a retaliatory response from Moscow.
• At the beginning of his second trial on charges of justifying terrorism, Alexei Gorinov, a Moscow district councilor serving a seven-year term for opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, conducted an antiwar demonstration from the courtroom cage.

Military Assistance

• According to the Reuters news agency, which cites two unidentified US sources, US President Joe Biden’s administration is putting up a $725 million arms package for Ukraine. According to reports, the shipment will contain antitank weaponry such as drones, Stinger missiles, antitank land mines, and ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
• In a joint statement, the leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Poland, and Sweden promised to increase their assistance for Ukraine and provide it with more weaponry in the upcoming months.
• Any decision by President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration to withdraw support for Ukraine would be a “death sentence” for the Ukrainian army, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told the UN Security Council, accusing Kyiv of attempting to bring NATO nations into direct conflict with Russia.
• Ukraine’s 2025 budget, which calls for the first wartime tax rises in the nation’s history, will be signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,007

Combating

• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Russian forces have taken control of the village of Kopanky in the northeastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
• Russian bombardment in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy has killed two citizens, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also stated that a rescue effort is underway and that further victims may be buried beneath the rubble.
• According to the Moscow Defense Ministry, Russia is contemplating retaliation measures after Ukraine twice used American-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) against Russia in the recent three days. Without mentioning any losses, it said that both strikes were directed at Russian forces in the Kursk area.
• Overnight, Russia launched its biggest drone strike against Ukraine, destroying residential buildings in the Kyiv region and causing damage to the Ternopil system, which shut off power to around 70% of the country, according to Ukrainian officials.
• Ukraine lost sight of 96 drones and shot down 76 of the 188 drones that were used during the night.
• According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 39 Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defense systems throughout seven locations during the course of the night.
• According to independent Russian news organization Agentstvo, Russian soldiers have occupied an area half the size of London in the last month, marking the fastest advance in Ukraine since the early stages of the full-scale invasion in 2022. According to the report, Russian soldiers set a weekly record for 2024 by capturing about 235 square kilometers (91 square miles) in Ukraine in the last week.
• According to two senior Ukrainian government sources, Russia fired a new experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile toward the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last week. The missile did minor damage and contained multiple warheads but no explosives.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Following Russia’s launch of the new ballistic missile last week, NATO members met with Ukrainian authorities and reiterated their support for the country.
• In a draft statement released following a two-day meeting, foreign ministers from the Group of 7 (G7) countries warned that North Korean support for Russia represents a dangerous extension of the conflict and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine while denouncing Russia’s “irresponsible and threatening nuclear rhetoric”.
• Following the G7 meetings, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the United States is still providing a large amount of security assistance to support Ukraine’s eastern defenses. He said that Washington is keeping an eye on what Russia is doing for North Korea in return and that Russia’s use of North Korean forces in its conflict with Ukraine is a “serious concern”.
• Following a report in The New York Times last week that suggested President Joe Biden could provide Kyiv with nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared that Western discussions about equipping Ukraine with nuclear weapons are “absolutely irresponsible”.
• According to Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence, Moscow wants a “solid and long-term peace” that addresses the fundamental causes of the problem, which is why Russia is against merely freezing the conflict in Ukraine.
• According to South Korean media, a Ukrainian team headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is in South Korean this week to request arms for its conflict with Russia.
• In another setback to deteriorating relations following Ukraine’s firing of UK-made Storm Shadow missiles against Russian targets, Russia announced it was expelling British diplomat Edward Wilkes for spying, a claim the UK has disputed.
• Before the year is out, Ukraine will receive two more IRIS-T air defense systems, according to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Finances

• Putin will visit Kazakhstan this week to discuss energy connections, according to the Kremlin. Kazakhstan receives food, electricity, and refined oil products from Russia and exports the majority of its oil through it.
• In its internal forecasts for 2025, the Russian state-controlled gas company Gazprom aims to stop sending gas to Europe through Ukraine after December 31, a source familiar with the preparations told the Reuters news agency. After more than 50 years of gas flows from Siberia to central Europe, which started during the Soviet era, Kyiv has stated its intention to terminate the transit agreement, a reliable source of Russian income.
• According to Turkish officials, Turkey is negotiating with Russian and the US to obtain a waiver of US sanctions so that it may keep paying Gazprombank for Russian natural gas imports.
• According to diplomats from the 27-nation bloc, European Union envoys will debate the 15th batch of penalties in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These measures would target Chinese companies that manufacture drones for Moscow as well as tankers transporting Russian oil. In all, 54 people and 29 entities will be added to the current list’s 2,200+ members.
• According to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Norway has agreed to increase its projected fiscal help for Ukraine from 27 billion kronor this year to 30 billion kronor ($207 billion) next year.
• The $50 billion loan guaranteed by frozen Russian assets must be disbursed to Ukraine as quickly as possible, according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,005

Combating

• On his Telegram channel, Alexei Smirnov, the regional governor of Kursk, stated that seven Ukrainian missiles were destroyed overnight over the Kursk region by Russia’s air defense systems.
• According to regional governor Vladislav Shapsha, falling debris from downed Ukrainian drones caused a fire at an industrial complex in Kaluga, Russia. He reported that three drones were destroyed and that no one was hurt.
• A security source told Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency that Russian forces had taken a British mercenary, named as James Scott Rhys, who was engaged in combat with the Ukrainian army in the Kursk region of Russia.
• In reaction to a fresh Russian drone attack, Kyiv’s air defenses were activated, Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on Telegram.
• According to the Ukrainian military, 50 out of 73 Russian drones that were launched at different targets were already shot down by Ukraine’s air defenses.

Diplomacy And Politics

• In order to safeguard people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged its Western allies to focus their efforts on assisting in the provision of an air defense system.
• According to the Kommersant newspaper, Russia will shortly appoint Alexander Darchiev, who currently leads the Foreign Ministry’s North American division, as its new ambassador to Washington.
• Days after the United States announced it would provide antipersonnel landmines to Ukrainian forces fighting Russia’s incursion, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticized the “renewed threat” of these weapons.
• Following Moscow’s announcement that it has tested its new Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile, Ukraine has revealed journalists pieces of the Russian missile that was used to attack the city of Dnipro last week.
• According to a bill signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, those who volunteer to fight in Ukraine can write off about $100,000 in outstanding obligations, the administration said.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,004

Diplomacy

• Prior to Monday’s G7 foreign ministers meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to Italy to speak about the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
• French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the BBC that Western allies should “not set and express red lines” and “not put any limits on support for Ukraine”.
• During his visit to Ankara on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will speak with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte about the most recent events in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, according to a Turkish official.
• According to The Kyiv Independent, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated his belief that his nation has a high possibility of resolving the conflict with Russia by 2025 while speaking at the Third Food Security Summit in Kyiv.
• Zelenskyy stated at the same event that since July 2023, Russia has damaged 20 foreign commerce ships and 321 port infrastructure installations, the news agency added.
• At the Halifax International Security Forum, former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen emphasized the need of US assistance for Ukraine, claiming that a victory for Ukraine over Russia would act “as the most effective deterrent to future aggression”.

Combating

• According to a senior Ukrainian military official who spoke to the Reuters news agency, Russian forces have launched rounds of counterattacks, costing Ukraine more than 40% of the area in Russia’s Kursk region that it quickly captured in an unexpected invasion in August.
• According to a Russian government website, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation that will forgive up to 10 million roubles ($95,869) in debt for new army recruits who enlist to fight in Ukraine.
• The name of 79,819 Russian servicemen who have died since the war began are listed in a report published by Mediazona, an independent Russian media organization that works with BBC Russia.
• According to Reuters and local media in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv heard explosions that sounded like air defense troops in action.
• Since around 1:00 GMT, there have been air raid alarms for the Ukrainian capital, the surrounding area, and the majority of northeast Ukraine.
• According to Russia’s Defense Ministry on Telegram, 34 Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defense systems, including 27 over the Ukrainian border region of Kursk.
• According to the governor of Kursk, two “Ukrainian missiles” were shot down by Russian air defense units over the area overnight.
• Putin emphasized the accuracy and strategic potential of the Oreshnik intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by asserting that its widespread use may equal the devastating force of nuclear weapons.

SOURCE: ALJZEERA

Key events list, day 1,003

The Military

• The Oreshnik is an experimental hypersonic missile that was launched toward Ukraine on Thursday, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed future military test firings of the weapon.
• According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine is asking its partners for upgraded air defense systems in reaction to the growing threat posed by Russian hypersonic missiles.
• According to experts, the Oreshnik can travel ten times faster than sound and may potentially hit targets as far distant as 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles).
• The chief of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, General Sergei Karakayev, stated that the Oreshnik could be equipped with either conventional or nuclear warheads and could reach targets all over Europe.
• Following Russia’s confirmation that it had launched a new ballistic missile at Ukraine, China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated pleas for “calm” and “restraint” in the conflict.
• In his evening address, Zelenskyy claimed that international demands for de-escalation were being mocked by Russia’s intensification of the conflict. He claimed that Russia was making fun of the stance taken by nations like China, the Global South, and some politicians who consistently advocate for moderation.
• Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, acknowledged that some people were alarmed by the most recent developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. The eastern conflict is about to hit a pivotal stage. We are all aware of this”, he stated. “The events of the past few dozen hours demonstrate that there is a real and serious threat of global conflict”.
• The deployment of hypersonic missiles is a “terrible escalation, just like the use of North Korean soldiers, who are now being deployed and dying in this war for Putin’s imperial dream”, according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
• Russia launched a strike with the experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile, prompting NATO and Ukraine to hold emergency talks Tuesday.
• Fearing an attack, Kyiv’s parliament canceled its regular Friday questions to the administration. A number of parliamentarians announced that Friday’s session had been canceled and that they were working remotely.

Combating

• The village of Novodmytrivka in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine has been taken by Russian forces, according to the country’s defense ministry. This is the latest in what Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov called an expedited offensive.
• The hamlet was one of eight villages where Russian forces were fighting and attempting to advance, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.
• Russian soldiers are moving “200-300 meters a day” closer to the Ukrainian center of Kurakhove in the eastern Donetsk region, according to a Ukrainian military source. According to the insider, the situation is “worse” than it is near Pokrovsk, another important Russian target.
• According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the US anticipates that hundreds of North Korean forces gathered in Russia would “soon” engage in war against Ukraine. According to Austin, there were perhaps 10,000 North Korean soldiers stationed near Kursk, which is on the Russian border, where they were being “integrated into the Russian formations”.
• Authorities in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine said that a Russian drone assault killed two individuals and injured another twelve. The territory serves as a vital supply line for the Ukrainian forces that have taken control of a portion of western Russia’s Kursk region.

Diplomacy

• Russia’s threat of future strikes with new weapons should be taken seriously, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned, adding that “there will be consequences”. Orban sated that Russia values its position as “one of the most powerful militaries in the world, with some of the most modern and destructive weapons”, and that it “bases its policy and its place in the world on military force”.
• According to a White House statement, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron have spoken about the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
• According to four people familiar with the transition arrangements, US President-elect Donald Trump is thinking of appointing his former intelligence chief, Richard Grenell, as a special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine crisis. According to rumors. Grenell, who was Trump’s ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s 2017-2021 term, will be instrumental in Trump’s attempts to stop the war in Ukraine if he is chosen for the position.
• As part of his legal team during his first impeachment hearing, Trump’s attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, was accused of threatening to cut off military supplies to Ukraine unless it agreed to conduct a corruption investigation into Trump’s Democratic opponent, now-President Joe Biden.

Security in the region

• At the Baltic Council of Ministers meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Friday, the leaders of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania reportedly discussed the threat of hybrid warfare by hostile powers as well as joint defense and security concerns.
• Following the conference, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal stated, “the importance of protecting our critical undersea infrastructure has been underscored by the recent damage to the Lithuania-Sweden and Finland-Germany cables in the Baltic Sea”.
• Authorities in Norway have reported that a 20-year-old Norwegian student who was employed as a guard at the US embassy in Oslo was detained on suspicion of espionage for Iran and Russia. They ordered the man, who has not been named, to be detained for four weeks. According to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, he co-owns a security frim with a dual citizen of Norway and an unnamed Eastern European countries.
• After determining that around 645,000 rounds of Swiss-made small-calibre ammunition ended up in Ukraine in contravention of Swiss law, the Swiss government announced that it is prohibiting exports to a Polish
• military hardware provider. Exports to the Polish company will be prohibited due to “the risk of diversion to Ukraine being assessed as being too high,” according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. Exports of
• Swiss-made or Swiss-owned military equipment to warring nations are prohibited by Swiss law.
• In a UK court, a man entered a guilty plea to an arson attack on a London company with ties to Ukraine, which the prosecution claims was committed on behalf of Russia’s paramilitary Wagner group. During his video-link appearance at London’s Woolwich Crown Court, 23-year-old Jake Reeves guilty to aggravated arson and taking money from a foreign intelligence agency. He is among six individuals facing charges related to the March fire at an industrial building in Leyton, east London, which took 60 firemen to extinguish.

Humanitarian

• According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine will soon receive $4.8 billion from the World Bank for social and humanitarian purposes. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian assault in February 2022, Ukraine has already gotten over $100 billion in foreign aid.
• Following infrequent and “painful” negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, dozens of citizens from the Kursk region on the Russian border have been repatriated to Russia from Ukraine. Kyiv did not immediately react, and it was unclear why the residents had been moved into Ukraine. Tatyana Moskalkova, the Russian human rights ombudsman, stated that 46 people from the Kursk region returned to Russia from Ukraine today after engaging in negotiations with the Ukrainian side.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,002

Attack by ballistic missiles

• In a further escalation of the 33-month-old conflict, President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia launched a Hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in retaliation for the United States and the United Kingdom permitting Kyiv to attack Russian territory using cutting-edge Western weapons.
• Putin claimed that the battle has “acquired elements of a global character” and that civilians would be alerted before any more strikes using such weapons.
• Using the new missile was “a clear and severe escalation”, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also called for strong international condemnation, regretting that “right now, there is no strong reaction from the world”.
• However, US officials and NATO echoed Putin’s description of the weapon as an intermediate-range ballistic missile, which has a shorter range of 3,000 to 5,500km (1,860-3,415 miles). Kyiv first suggested Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, a weapon designed for long-distance nuclear strikes and never used in war before.
• Russia informed Washington just prior to the missile strike, according to an anonymous US official who spoke to the Reuters news agency. Another person claimed that the US had briefed Kyiv and allies to become ready for the potential deployment of such weapons.
• Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, has warned that Britain “is now directly involved in this war”, as the country’s defense ministry reported that air defense troops had shot down two British Storm Shadow cruise missiles fired by Ukraine.
• According to Russia, the establishment of a new US ballistic missile defense installation in northern Poland will raise the total risk of nuclear war. Moscow’s “threat”, according to Warsaw, only serve to bolster the need for NATO defenses.

Combating

• According to Russia’s defense ministry, Russian troops have taken Dalne, a village in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine.
• Although the General Staff of Ukraine would not declare that Dalne was in Russian hands, they did note that it was one of seven villages in an area where Russian soldiers had attempted to breach Ukrainian defenses 26 times in the previous day.
• Because of “potential security issues”, the Ukrainian parliament has postponed a meeting that was scheduled for Friday.
• The severity of the most recent blow to the national grid is demonstrated by the fact that three of the five operational thermal plants owned by Ukrainian power company DTEK were struck by Russian missile strikes over the weekend, and one of them is still offline, according to an industry source.

North Korea

• Two people aware with the decision told Reuters that President Joe Biden no longer opposed Ukraine using US missiles at targets inside Russia in retaliation for North Korea’s war entry.
• According to state media, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has charged that the United States is increasing tension and provocations, claiming that the Korean Peninsula has never been at such risk of nuclear war.
• According to a statement released by Seoul’s Defense Ministry, the defense ministers of South Korea and Japan denounced North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia during negotiations.

Sanctions

• The Department of Treasury’s website carries a notice that the United States has imposed fresh sanctions on Russia, including on Russia’s Gazprombank.
• In a letter to the European Commission, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have demanded that fertilizers from Belarus and Russia be subject to customs duties.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,001

Weaponry And Combating

• According to pro-Russian Telegram channels, Ukraine fired 12 British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into the Kursk area of Russia. These missiles are the most recent Western weapon that Ukraine has been authorized to employ against Russian targets.
• In the town of Gubkin in the Belgorod area of Russia, around 168 kilometers (105 miles) from the Ukrainian border, the Ukrainian military said that a Russian command post had been “successfully struck”.
• According to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Russian forces have seized control of the village of Illinka in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine.
• By pretending to be Ukrainian intelligence and disseminating a fictitious warning about an impending huge air attack, Russia has launched “a massive information-psychological attack”, according to Kyiv, which also said the letter “contains grammatical typical of Russian information and psychological operations”.
• After closing its embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday over what it described as the prospect of a major air strike, the United States has restored it.
• Russia would punish any NATO nations who assist Ukraine in striking deep into Russia with long-range Western weaponry, according to Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
• Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, has declared his objection to the United States’ plan to permit Ukraine to launch an attack inside Russia using long-range missiles, claiming it will intensify the crisis.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to reduce his nation’s threshold for a nuclear strike has been dismissed by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot as being “rhetoric”, claiming that France is “not intimidated”.
• According to the Dutch Defense Ministry, the Netherlands has given the last two of the 18 promised F-16 fighter jets to a training center in Romania, where Ukrainian pilots and ground crew are being trained to operate and maintain the aircraft.
• More ammunition for the HIMARS rocket system is part of the $275 million in military assistance that the Pentagon has pledged for Ukraine. Congress could yet thwart the Biden administration’s efforts to cancel $4.7 billion in US loans to Ukraine.

North Korea in Ukraine

• According to South Korean politician Lee Seong-kweun who cited the nation’s spy service, around 11,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Kursk as part of Russian’s airborne unit and marines, with some of them already taking part in combat against Ukrainian troops. According to Lee, North Korea has also sent more weapons for the conflict in Ukraine, such as multiple rocket launchers and self-propelled howitzers.
• Following negotiations in Pyongyang that covered trade, the economy, science, and technology, North Korea and Russia inked another protocol on cooperation, according to North Korean state agency KCNA.

Global Diplomacy

• Britain and Romania inked a new security and defense partnership deal with the former Soviet state, offering Moldova assistance in addressing the aftermath of Russia’s 1,000-day invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
• Following accusations by European governments that Russia was responsible for cutting two fiber-optic data communications cables in the Baltic Sea-one between Sweden and Lithuanian and the other between Finland and Germany-Russia denounced as “absurd” any suspicions that it was involved in the damage.
• The Kremlin-controlled gas company Gazprom’s decision to stop supplying Austria, according to Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, demonstrated how weak the rule of law was in Russia and sent a message to businesses worldwide.

Russian-related matters

• In response to the “shameful” imprisonment of a pediatrician in Moscow over remarks she allegedly made criticizing the war in Ukraine, a group of Russian physicians have appealed to President Putin.
• According to the Federal Security Service, Russia has arrested a German national on charges of terrorism and explosives smuggling after he allegedly blew up a pipe at a gas distribution station in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 1,000

Weaponry And Combating

• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Ukraine has utilized the long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), manufactured in the United States, to strike a military installation in the Bryansk area of the Russian border after Washington removed limits on their deployment against Russian targets.
• According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Moscow will respond “accordingly” to Ukraine’s use of the ATACMS, which he said signaled a “new phase of the Western war” against Russia.
• According to reports, US President Joe Biden has approved the provision of antipersonnel land mines to Ukraine, marking yet another policy reversal about the armaments his outgoing administration supplied to Kyiv.
• According to US officials cited by the Associated Press news agency, the pentagon would deliver Ukraine at least $275 million in new weapons.
• The US Department of State Consular Affairs announced on social media site X that the US embassy in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, will close after receiving reports of a “potential significant air attack” on Wednesday.
• According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, 44 Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defense systems overnight, including 20 over the northwest Novgorod region and 24 over other central and western regions.

Diplomacy

• According to the Reuters news agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to talk to US President-elect Donald Trump on a ceasefire agreement for Ukraine, but he denies making any significant territorial concessions and wants Ukraine give up its aspirations to join NATO.
• In its defense against Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has vowed to “never submit” and issued a warning that the world must not show any sympathy to Putin, who formally approved lowering the bar for Russia’s deployment of nuclear weapons. According to the dossier, if Russia were the target of a conventional missile attack backed by a nuclear state, it might think about using nuclear weapons.
• Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s state news agency TASS that the emergency hotline between the Kremlin and the White House, established following the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, is not in use at the moment.
• A German national was seized by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on suspicion of sabotaging electricity installations. According to an FSB statement quoted by official media, the guy was charged with involvement in an explosion that occurred at a gas distribution station in Kaliningrad in March of this year.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 998

Combating

• In the Black Sea city of Odesa, Ukraine, a Russian missile strike on a residential neighborhood has left 10 persons dead and 44 injured. According to local officials, three persons are in critical condition and four children were among the injured.
• The settlement of Novooleksiivka in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine was seized by Russian forces, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense.
• As Kyiv commemorates 1,000 days since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the eastern front-line towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk.
• According to the world’s chemical weapons watchdog, samples collected last month on the Russian front line evidence of tear gas. Although the team was not required to place responsibility, the US and Ukraine have asserted that Russian has unlawfully used tear gas to clear trenches.
• As of Monday morning, Odesa residents had been without electricity for 24 hours, and more outages were anticipated nationwide due to damage to energy infrastructure caused by a Russian missile strike.

Long-range Missiles

• Following a warning from the kremlin that Washington was throwing “fuel to the fire” by permitting Kyiv’s military to launch strikes deep into Russia with US-made weapons, the United States claimed that Russia was intensifying its war in Ukraine by sending North Korean troops.
• Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to attack Russian territory would be a drastic escalation of the conflict, prompting “an adequate and tangible” response, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed.
• Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for the Kremlin, stated that modifications to Russia’s nuclear doctrine have already been drafted and only need to be formalized.
• Allowing Ukraine to use US-manufactured weapons to strike inside Russia was a “good decision” made by US President Joe Biden’s administration, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
• Jean-Noel Barrot, the minister of foreign affairs, also hinted that France, which has given Ukraine long-range missiles, would yet let Kyiv to attack military targets within Russia.
• Allowing Ukraine to employ American-made weaponry to attack deep within Russia might be a game-changer in the war, according to Polish President Andrzej Duda.
• Despite Washington’s action, Berlin is continuing to refuse to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles, according to a spokesman for the German government.
• Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, declared his adamant opposition to the US action, describing it as a “unprecedented escalation of tensions” intended to obstruct peace talks.
• Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister of Hungary, called the action “astonishingly dangerous”.
• Josep Borrell, the head of EU foreign policy, expressed his optimism that the bloc will consent to allowing Ukraine to launch an armed attack within Russia. He also voiced alarm about claims that China, North Korea, and Iran are manufacturing and supplying Russia with weaponry for its conflict in Ukraine.

Global Diplomacy

• A narrow agreement on Russia’s intensifying war centered on “human suffering” and its economic consequences was reached by leaders of the Group of 20 major economies who are gathering in Brazil this week. They released a joint statement stressing the agony caused by hostilities in Gaza and Ukraine
• In response to a news that a Chinese manufacturer is manufacturing military drones for Russia, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 about the supply of dual-use goods. Additionally, Scholz stated that he would convey to Xi that the deployment of North Korean troops to attack Ukraine is intolerable.
• Yoon Suk-yeol, the president of South Korea, called on Russia and North Korea to stop their alleged unlawful military collaboration during his speech at the G20 summit.
• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that backing Ukraine is “number one” on his agenda while speaking on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
• According to US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US will soon announce more security aid for Ukraine.
• Scholz’s chat with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, was a “strategic mistake” that undermined European solidarity in the face of Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine.

Sanctions

• The European Commission said that European Union had expanded sanctions against Iran due to Tehran’s backing of Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. The penalties were aimed at Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and its director, Mohammad Reza Khiabani, among other entities.
• In reaction of Iran’s purported delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in combat against Ukraine, the United Kingdom placed sanctions on Iran’s primary airline and shipping company.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 997

Combating

• According to Ukrainian sources, a Russian missile struck a residential building in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing ten people, including two children. Another missile attack knocked off power in the administrative center of the region. The city council reported that at least 55 individuals were hurt, including eight children.
• Overnight, Russian air defense units shot down 59 Ukrainian drones, including two that were en route to Moscow. According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, 45 drones were destroyed over the Bryansk area.
• Russia launched 90 drones and 120 missiles in its biggest airstrikes against Ukraine in nearly three months on Sunday. According to officials, the power grid suffered significant damage and at least seven individuals were murdered.
• The Ukrainian air force claimed to have shot down 42 drones and deflected 104 of the 120 incoming missiles. According to the report, 41 more vanished from radar.
• Following Russia’s most recent aerial attack on the region’s energy grid, Ukraine’s energy operator DTEK declared “emergency power cuts” in the Kyiv region and two more in the east.
• During the strike, Russian drones and missiles breached Moldovan airspace, according to Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Mihai Popsoi. Poland, a NATO member that shares a border with Ukraine, announced that it had reorganized its air force as a precaution.

Diplomacy And Politics

• In a major change of Washington’s stance on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, President Joe Biden’s administration has permitted Ukraine to deploy US-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, according to Reuters and other news sources, which cited two US officials and a source familiar with the decision.
• Senior Russian MPs stated on Sunday that Washington’s decision to allow Kyiv to launch long-range US missile strikes deep into Russia intensifies the situation and raises the possibility of another world war.
• A significant Russian airstrike against Ukraine, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, demonstrated that Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not want peace and is not ready to negotiate”.
• According to three diplomats familiar with the discussions, the Russian airstrikes on Ukraine also upended a tenuous agreement among the Group of 20 major economies crafting their joint statement at an annual leaders summit in Rio de Janeiro.
• The Russian airstrike on Ukraine, which he said targeted “energy and critical civilian infrastructure”, was denounced as “unacceptable” by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
• Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, claimed that his hour-long chat with Putin has revealed no change in the Russian leader’s position on the conflict in Ukraine. He defended his widely criticized choice to contact the Kremlin over the phone.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 996

Combating

• According to sources, Kyiv heard blasts early on Sunday after Ukraine’s air force issued a warning about a serious threat of a Russian missile attack. On the Telegram messaging app, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council stated that several missiles were in the air.
• The Ukrainian military claimed that its air defense forces were attempting to fend off a Russian air strike on the nation’s capital. A residential structure was hit by Russia and was on fire, according to the Reuters news agency.
• After Russia began a missile attack on Ukraine, Poland’s military says it has altered its aircraft to safeguard its airspace.
• The leader of the Udmurt Republic stated on Sunday that a drone had crashed into a factory workshop in west-central Russia, resulting in an explosion and one person being injured. One individual was admitted to the hospital with “moderate” injuries.
• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Russian forces have taken control of the villages of Makarivka and Hryhorivka in the Donetsk area of Ukraine. It took some time for Moscow’s assertion to be independently confirmed.

Diplomacy And Politics

• As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he hopes to conclude the war through negotiations next year, leaders of the Group of Seven alliance have reiterated their support for Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.
• The G7 industrialized countries said in a statement commemorating the approaching 1,000 days of the Russian invasion that Russia is only one to blame for impeding a just settlement to end the conflict in Ukraine.
• Olaf Scholz’s political enemies claimed that his phone conversation with Vladimir Putin regarding the conflict in Ukraine had given the Russian president a “propaganda win”. Juergen Hardt, the foreign policy spokesperson for the Christian Democratic Union party, claimed that Scholz has “not made any concrete new proposal or even issued an ultimatum” during the call.
• North Korean troops joining the fight in Ukraine will have a “very significant” impact on East Asian security, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya has warned. Tokyo is “seriously concerned: about the incident and “strongly condemns it”, according to Iwaya, who was in Kyiv.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 995

Combating

• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, 15 drones were shot down by air defenses in the Kursk area near the Ukrainian border.
• According to the ministry, one drone each was destroyed in the central Oryol region, Lipetsk, further north, and the Bryansk district, which is also on the border.
• Although there were no confirmed casualties, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod area, which is frequently targeted along the Ukrainian border, said a series of strikes had destroyed windows in an apartment building and caused other damage.
• In Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, dozens of mourners flocked to a golden-domed Orthodox cathedral to honor 32-year old Maria-Khrystyna Dvoinik, a cherished combat nurse who was slain this week on the front lines.

Diplomacy And Politics

• For the first time in almost two years, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged Moscow to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and start negotiations with Kyiv.
• “Detailed and frank exchange of views over the situation in Ukraine” is how the Kremlin characterized the call. According to the report, Putin told Scholz that any deal to end the war should “address the conflict’s underlying causes and, most importantly, proceed from the new territorial realities”.
• Scholz’s phone conversation with Putin sparked a “Pandora’s box” that weakened attempts to isolate the Russian leader and bring the war in Ukraine to a “fair peace”, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “This is precisely what Putin has long desired: it is crucial that he reduce his isolation and engage in normal talks”, he stated.
• After the center-right opposition indicated a willingness to amend the so-called debt brake, Scholz stated that adjustments to Germany’s expenditure cap are necessary to address the “financial emergency” of the war in Ukraine.
• Russia’s war on Ukraine will “end sooner” under US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, Zelenskyy told Ukraine’s public TV Suspilne.
• In a move that foreshadows the impending termination of Moscow’s final gas supplies to Europe, Russia has notified Austria that it will halt gas deliveries through Ukraine beginning on Saturday.
• Austria’s vast gas storage facilities are 93 percent filled, according to Chancellor Karl Nehammer, and the nation is prepared to handle Russia’s decision to halt gas imports.
• Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told a news conference in Norway that Ukraine is not changing its war strategy and is fighting to retake all of the area that Russia has taken over in the past ten years.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 994

Combating

• According to Ukrainian officials, a Russian airstrike destroyed a boiler plant used for heating, killed one person, and injured eight others when it attacked a residential structure and power installations in and around the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukraine.
• In an indication of increasing strain on the Ukrainian outpost, a small Russian assault squad briefly made its way to the outskirts of Kupiansk, a city in northeastern Ukraine, for the first time since September 2022. According to Ukraine’s military, its soldiers had halted the Russian advance and were still in complete control of the rail terminal.
• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Russian forces have taken control of the town of Voznesenka in the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine.
• Russia launched 59 attack drones overnight Thursday, and the Ukrainian military claims to have shot down 21 of them.

Russian-related matters

• Anastasia Berezhinskaya, 43, was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony by a military court in Moscow for making antiwar remarks on the internet, including many that called for the murder of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Foreign Policy

• According to Gennady Gatilov, Moscow’s ambassador for the UN in Geneva, Russia is amenable to talks to end the war in Ukraine if they are started by US President-elect Donald Trump, but they must be grounded in the facts of Russian progress in the battle.
• As the new director of national intelligence for the United States, Trump has selected Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who lacks intelligence and security credentials and is perceived as being friendly to Russia in its war on Ukraine, therefore the decision has shocked the national security establishment.
• Boris Pistorius, the country’s defense minister, stated that if the US is less focused on Europe, Germany must increase its defense role. He also added that it was illogical to show President Putin a debt-free Germany that was less able to protect itself.
• According to the nation’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, Germany needs to play a bigger role in defense if the US is less concerned about Europe. Additionally, he stated that it was nonsensical to present President Putin with a debt-free Germany that was less self-sufficient.
• On November 19, the foreign ministers of Poland, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, and Ukraine will gather in Warsaw, Poland, to talk about issues such as Trump’s reelection and the conflict in Ukraine.
• The Kremlin has stated that President Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman spoke this week on the conflict in Ukraine, but it has declined to elaborate.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 993

Combating

• According to Ukraine’s military, Ukrainian forces have driven back Russian troops close to the city of Kupiansk in the northeast. It further stated that Russian soldiers used tanks, armored vehicles, and a mine-clearing apparatus in their four waves of attack. It claimed that certain Russian personnel engaged in a war crime by dressing in uniforms that were similar to those of the Ukrainian military.
• Further south, the city of Pokrovsk has seen heavy military activity, with Ukrainian forces fending off all but one of 36 attacks.
• The village of Rivnopil in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine has been seized by Russian soldiers, according to the country’s defense ministry. According to Ukrainian police, two people were killed in a Russian attack in the Donetsk region’s Shevchenko village.
• One of its highest-ranking targets to yet, according to a Kyiv security source, was senior Russian navy officer Valery Trankovsky, who was killed by a Ukrainian car bomb in the city of Sevastopol in seized Crimea.
• Since August, Russia has attacked Kyiv with missiles for the first time; no significant damage or casualties have been reported. The air force reported that 37 drones, two incoming cruise missiles, and two ballistic missiles were all intercepted by air defenses nationwide.

Soldiers from North Korea in Ukraine

• According to South Korea’s spy service, there is proof that North Korean soldiers have fought with their Russian partners against Ukraine.
• According to Bonnie Jenkins, the top U.S. arms control official, the United States is worried about Russia’s expanding ties with North Korea, particularly the technology that the two nations might be sharing. “We have nothing definitive ,,, in terms of nuclear technology going from Russia to the DPRK [North Korea]”, Jenkins continued.

Foreign Policy

• In Brussels, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte as the departing Biden administration looks to solidify support for Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office again.
• In the months leading up to Trump’s return, Blinken promised NATO that the Biden administration will strengthen its backing for Ukraine, stating that North Korea’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine “demands and will get a firm response”.
• After speaking with Blinken about the potential for deep attacks on Russia and Euro-Atlantic integration, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha declared he was “cautiously optimistic”.
• During a friendly encounter between Trump and Joe Biden, the outgoing US president allegedly made the case that backing Ukraine was beneficial for national security since a stable Europe would prevent America from getting drawn into conflict.
• President Andrzej Duda claims that the US’s opening of a new air defense installation in northern Poland demonstrates that Washington is a “guarantor of Poland’s security” and that Poland is safe as a NATO member.
• Saudi Arabia’s official news agency reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke over the phone about the events of the war in Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 992

Combating

• According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Ukraine shot down 46 of 110 Russian drones that were launched overnight. Two Russian drones headed into Belarus, and another 60 were lost in Ukrainian airspace. In addition to guided aerial bombs, the Air Force reported that Russian forces launched three missiles during the nocturnal operation.
• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense,13 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight by Russian air defense systems in areas that border Ukraine.
• According to the US State Department, North Korean troops have started fighting alongside Russian forces. More than “10,000 DPRK [North Korean] soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia”, with the great bulk going to the Kursk region, where they have “begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces”, according to spokeswoman Vedant Patel.

Foreign Policy

• According to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Russia’s expanding military and economic ties with China, North Korea, and Iran “are not only threatening Europe”, but also “threatening peace and security” in the Asia Pacific and North America.
• Strong ties between Moscow and Beijing are a stabilizing force in the world, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu told China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi in Beijing.
• According to the State Department, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Brussels to meet with counterparts from the European Union and NATO to discuss support for Ukraine.
• According to Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Ukraine is almost ready to establish three new joint ventures with European manufacturers of weapons in order to increase its production of munitions. Five joint ventures with Western weapons manufacturers, including German and Lithuanian firms, had already been established, she claimed.
• At her confirmation hearing at the European Parliament to become the next head of the EU’s foreign policy, Estonia’s former prime minister, Kaja Kallas, stated that China must pay a “higher cost” for its backing of Russia, which allows Moscow to continue its conflict in Ukraine.
• After former US President Donald Trump was re-elected, former Russian President and deputy head of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev charged that European leaders were attempting to drive the crisis in Ukraine “into an irreversible phase” and dangerously intensify it.
• Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was given a 15 year prison sentence for disclosing highly confidential US military documents to a group of gamers over the chat app Discord. Information about the usage of US equipment in Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion was among leaks.

Russian-related matters

• Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory will be included in Russia’s estimations for this year’s grain harvest and the winter grain sown area, the country’s Ministry of Agriculture announced. The ministry predicts this year’s grain harvest will be 130 million tones and 18 percent from the record 158 million tones in 2022, following months of unfavorable weather.
• According to the city’s executive governing board, the Helsinki Arena, the largest sports and events venue in the Finnish capital, would be forcibly taken from its sanctioned Russian owners.
• According to Russian media, a Russian Navy ship outfitted with the latest generation of hypersonic cruise missiles is conducting exercises in the English Channel and is currently performing missions in the Atlantic Ocean.
• In an attempt to increase the lagging birthrate as death rates are rising as a result of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Russia’s lower house of parliament overwhelmingly decided to outlaw “propaganda” advocating a childless lifestyle.
• After the mother of one of her patients publicly condemned a Moscow pediatrician for allegedly making disparaging remarks about Russia’s war in Ukraine, a Russian court sentenced her to five and a half year in a prison colony.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 991

Combating

• In the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk area of central Ukraine, Russian shelling has killed two persons and injured five more.
• A Russian missile attack on a residential building in Kryvyi Rih, also in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killed at least one woman and injured 14 residents.
• In Russia’s southern Belgorod region, a fire was started by a Ukrainian drone strike, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defense claims that Russian forces have taken control of the village of Kolisnykivka in the eastern Kharkiv area of Ukraine.
• According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s forces are engaged in combat with around 50,000 enemy troops in the Kursk region of Russia. He also stated that Ukraine will “considerably strengthen” its positions on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts in the east, where the most intense fighting is occurring.
• According to EU foreign policy leader Josep Borrell, the EU has provided Ukraine with over 980,000 shells for the conflict and intends to surpass the one million mark by the end of this year.

Soldiers from North Korea in Ukraine

• According to North Korea’s state media, KCNA, on Tuesday, the two nations have ratified a mutual defense treaty that was signed by their leaders in June and stipulates that in the event of an armed attack, one side must assist the other.

Global Diplomacy

• Reports that US President-elect Donald Trump had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin were rejected by the Kremlin as “pure fiction”. The denial follows reports from unnamed sources that Trump warned Putin during a phone conversation that Moscow shouldn’t intensify its conflict in Ukraine.
• As French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated their support for Kyiv during discussions in Paris, France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot warned that Ukraine’s allies should not “prejudge” how Donald Trump will conduct the situation there.
• Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen stated that imposing neutrality on Ukraine would not result in a peaceful resolution to the conflict with Russia and that Moscow could not be relied upon to uphold whatever agreements it signs.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 990

Combating

A day after Moscow and Kyiv launched unprecedented nocturnal drone attacks on one another, regional governor Vitaly Kim posted on Telegram that Russian airstrikes in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, killed at least five people.

Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said a separate Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia killed one person and injured at least 18 others, including five children.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 145 drones at Ukraine in the past 48 hours, more than any other nighttime raid throughout the conflict.

Additionally, Russia claimed to have shot down 34 Ukrainian drones that were aiming for Moscow, the most attempts to assault the city since the war began in 2022.

Ukrainian attempts to take control of a Russian Mi-8MTPR-1 electronic warfare helicopter were thwarted by Russia’s Federal Security department (FSB), according to Russian news media that cited the FSB’s press department.

The population of Moldova was put in risk when two Russian “decoy” drones, which are meant to fool Ukrainian air defenses during operations, broke through Moldovan airspace and crashed deep within its borders.

The village of Vovchenko in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk area, where the army has been advancing in recent weeks, has been taken by Russian soldiers, according to the country’s defense ministry. The village is located 3 miles (5 km) from Kurakhove, a key Donetsk city.

Diplomacy and Politics

The Reuters news agency reports that US President-elect Donald Trump has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin not to intensify the conflict in Ukraine. It was not immediately clear what the call was about.

Although he cautioned that it was hard to anticipate how Trump would act in office, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow saw “positive signals” from his stance on Ukraine.

Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, told Reuters that there was no truth to claims that Kyiv was notified ahead of a phone conversation between Trump and Putin.

According to Berlin, Trump also had a phone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during which they “agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe.”

According to US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, outgoing US President Joe Biden would advise the US Congress and the new Trump administration not to abandon Ukraine since doing so could lead to further instability in Europe.

In addition, Sullivan warned of the worldwide repercussions of the US withdrawing its assistance for Kyiv and stated that the Biden administration will use the $6 billion in remaining Ukraine money before Trump takes office in January.

After Trump’s win sparked worries about a decline in US support for the fight against Russia, which Downing Street called a “barbaric invasion,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet with French President
Emmanuel Macron to discuss measures to assist Ukraine.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy stated that diplomacy and strength must be combined to end the Russian war in Ukraine and prevent a future conflict of this nature.

According to EU foreign policy leader Josep Borrell, Russia should pay for the devastation it has caused and be held accountable for war crimes committed in Ukraine in any future peace agreement.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 988

Combating

• Russia sent a volley of drones and missiles into Ukraine overnight, killing one person in the Black Sea port city of Odesa and injuring over 30 others nationwide, according to Ukrainian officials.
• Ukrainian national television Suspilne said that Russian drones hit an apartment complex in Odesa, causing a massive fire. Online videos displayed burning houses and automobiles with dense smoke rising into the air.
• At least 25 people were injured when Russian forces used guided bombs to bombard the northeastern city of Kharkiv, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
• According to regional governor Alexander Bogomaz, Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones over the southern Bryansk region; no harm or casualties were reported.
• According to military bloggers, Russian soldiers on the eastern front of the conflict un Ukraine have advanced into the village of Sontsivka and are getting closer to seizing Kurakhove, a city in the northwest of the country, as part of their westward advance to seize the whole Donbas region.
• In his evening video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that the battle was most intense on the eastern front around Kurakhove and Pokrovsk, a significant supply hub to the northwest.
• According to Ukraine, Russian authorities have handed over the bodies of 563 soldiers, primarily those who lost their lives in fighting in the Donetsk region in the east.

Diplomacy And Politics

• As Russia steps up its strikes throughout Ukraine, Zelenskyy has reiterated his call on Ukraine’s partners to support the country’s air defenses and impose additional sanctions on Moscow.
• US media said that Zelenskyy made a 25-minute celebratory call to US president-elect Donald Trump, joining billionaire businessman and Trump supporter Elon Musk. The news site Axios claims that Musk promised to keep providing Ukraine with Starlink satellites.
• In a major policy change intended to support Kyiv’s conflict with Moscow, US President Joe Biden has let US defense contractors to operate in Ukraine to maintain and repair weapons supplied by the Pentagon, according to US sources.
• The “deepening military cooperation” between North Korea and Russia “impact Euro-Atlantic security, with implications also for the Indo-Pacific”, according to the 32-member NATO alliance. The NATO declaration was also endorsed by South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Ukraine. Thousands of North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia.
• In a rare encounter in Belarus, Russian and Ukrainian human rights officials shared list of POWs. According to both officials, they also helped move an elderly woman from Ukraine to Russia.

The Economy

• India’s Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri wrote on X that if the world’s third-largest importer, India, had not purchased oil from Russia after the war in Ukraine, oil prices “would have hit the roof”. India, the third-largest importer and user of oil worldwide, has emerged as the leading purchaser of cheap Russian seaborne oil that Western nations have spurned since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 987

Combating

• According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, Russian forces have taken control of the town of Kreminna Balka in the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine.
• In the southeast Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian-led bombing has destroyed homes and damaged an oncology center, leaving four people dead and 33 injured.
• During midnight drone strikes, Russia struck an energy facility in the Zhytomyr region of northern Ukraine, injuring at least three persons nationwide, according to Ukrainian officials.
• A man was hurt in the southern city of Odesa, where the Russian drone attack also damaged an 11-story building, automobiles, and a gas pipeline. In Kyiv, fragments from downed drones injured at least two people and damaged ten buildings, including a medical facility, a business center, and apartment blocks.
• Ukraine’s air force reported that it shot down 74 out of 106 Russian-launched drones nationwide, while another 25 were “locationally lost”.

Soldiers from North Korea in Ukraine

• North Korea’s general delegate in France has been called by the French Foreign Ministry to voice opposition to the country’s forces being sent to Russia to aid in the war against Ukraine and to warn of the repercussions.
• According to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, growing connections between Russia and North Korea pose a threat to American security as well as that of Europe.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated during the European Political Community conference in Budapest that some of the 11,000 troops dispatched to the Kursk area of Russia had participated in combat and that North Korea had already lost soldiers in battle against Kyiv’s army.
• Zelenskyy warned that unless something was done, more North Korean troops will be sent to Russia’s side.

Safety

• Leaders of the European community decided at the summit that they must be less dependent on the United States and take greater responsibility for their own security. French President Emmanuel Macron reminded other leaders, “We cannot give the Americans our security indefinitely”. He cautioned that Europe must avoid becoming a helpless “herbivore” surrounded by “carnivores”, saying, “We need to be able to defend ourselves”.
• According to the Reuters news agency, which cites budget committee sources, Germany will be able to supply the majority of the 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) it has promised Ukraine, even if the 2025 budget cannot be agreed on time when the country’s coalition government collapses.
• Targeting 56 organizations and individuals implicated in the conflict in Ukraine, mercenary groups based in Africa, and a nerve toxin attack on British territory, the British government said it has implemented its largest sanctions package on Russia in 18 months. Ten Chinese-based companies that were allegedly supplying parts for the Russian military were among those sanctioned.

Russian-related matters

• In a speech to a conference of Russian academics, Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined his worldview and stated that for there to be any hope of peace, Ukraine should remain neutral, alluding to their request to join NATO.
• He added that Ukraine’s borders should reflect the desires of the people residing in Russian-claimed territory, saying, “It is hard to imagine the existence of any good neighborly relations if there is no neutrality”.
• Additionally, Putin called NATO a “blatant anachronism”, which the US required to control its sphere of influence. Additionally, he proposed that Russia and North Korea conduct military exercises. “We’ll see. We may exercise as well. “why not?” he asked.

Trump’s administration

• Putin said Moscow is prepared for talks with the president-elect and congratulated Trump on winning the US election. He stated that he does not want Russia to return to its previous course, which was set in 2022 prior to the conflict in Ukraine, when foreign nations “subordinated it” through “veiled intervention”.
• President Zelenskyy has stated that he is certain that a speedy conclusion to the conflict in Ukraine would require significant concessions from Kyiv, but he is not aware of the specifics of President-elect Donald Trump’s plan. “If it’s just quick, Ukraine will lose. He remarked, “I simply don’t understand how this could be in any other manner just now.
• Talk of implementing a ceasefire without first reaching an agreement on security assurances for Ukraine, according to Zelenskyy, is “very dangerous” and “preparation for the continuation of the occupation”.
• Ahead of President Joe Biden handing over control to Trump in January, the White House has stated that the United States will continue to pump aid to Ukraine.
• Ukraine has praised the Biden administration’s efforts to use all of the aid that has been allotted as quickly as possible and is not preparing for the possibility that the US could reduce its military assistance.
• Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, stated, “We do not believe that such a step is in the best interest of the United States”. Some people throughout the world believe that Ukraine will be compelled to engage in negotiations if its military supplies are cut off. “This isn’t accurate”, Tykhyi stated.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 986

Combating

• Early on Thursday, a Russian drone strike severely destroyed an apartment in the Holosiivskyi neighborhood of Kyiv. There have been no reports of injuries.
• Ukraine’s air force reported on Wednesday that 38 out of 63 Russian drones launched overnight had been destroyed by air defense troops.
• The villages of Maksymivka, located just north of the town of Vuhledar, and Antonivka, located close to the town of Kurakhove, further north, are the two further localities that Russian soldiers have taken control of in eastern Ukraine, according to a statement from Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
• Ukraine said its forces repulsed two raids at Maksymivka and a settlement near Vuhledar in the Donetsk area, but neither of them acknowledged that either had fallen. Ukraine reported fighting around both villages in the eastern sector of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.
• A “tense” situation surrounding Kurakhove was also reported by Ukraine’s military General Staff, which noted 39 Russian assaults against Ukrainian positions.

Soldiers from North Korea in Ukraine

• The ratification of a treaty between Russia and North Korea that has a mutual defense clause has been approved by the upper house of the Russian parliament.
• President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea has stated that his country is not ruling out providing weaponry to Ukraine in response to North Korea’s troop deployment in support of Russia. According to Yoon, North Korea’s participation in the conflict poses a threat to the South since Pyongyang gains battle experience and receives transfers of key military technologies.
• In a phone conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump, Yoon also expressed his concerns over North Korea’s deployment of forces in support of Russia and talked about strengthening connections with the US in all spheres of security and the economy.

Global diplomacy

• Following Trump’s election as US president, the Kremlin has responded cautiously, claiming that the US remains a hostile state and that it is too soon to know whether his promises to cease the war in Ukraine would materialize.
• Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, stated that he was not aware of any preparations by President Vladimir Putin to congratulate Trump, saying, “let us not forget that we are talking about an unfriendly country, which is both directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state [in Ukraine]”.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Trump’s “absolutely convincing” election victory in his nighttime speech. According to Zelenskyy, he called Trump after his triumph and the two decided to “maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation”. Additionally, he praised Trump’s “dedication to the ‘peace through strength’ approach in international affairs”.
• There are still doubts about Trump’s commitment to Kyiv after he earlier criticized the extent of the US military and financial support, so the White House is apparently assistance to Ukraine before President Joe Biden leaves office.
• Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated that a Trump victory would likely be detrimental to Ukraine, although he did not specify the extent to which he may reduce US finding for the conflict.

Russia-related matters

• Igor Girkin, a well-known Russian nationalist and former militia leader, lost his appeal to the Supreme Court against a four-year prison sentence for inciting extremism. Girkin blamed Putin and the army for the war in Ukraine.
• When the present transit agreement ends at the end of the year, Moscow is willing to continue providing gas to Europe through Ukraine, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak. However, Kyiv and the other European nations must agree on this.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 985

Combating

• According to Ukrainian officials, a Russian missile strike on the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine has destroyed a vital infrastructure facility, killed six people, and injured at least twenty more.
• In the Russian city of Belgorod, a Ukrainian army drone targeted an apartment complex, causing three apartments to catch fire and injuring one civilian.
• According to Ukraine’s military, it shot down two missiles and 48 out of 79 drones that Russia deployed overnight.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defense has stated that although it does not think Ukraine can produce nuclear weapons, it can produce a “dirty bomb”, which is a conventional weapon made by fusing radioactive material with explosives.

North Korean forces in Ukraine

• The defense ministry of South Korea has reaffirmed that it believes there are over 10,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia, with a “significant number” of them in the frontline regions, such as the Kursk region.
• After Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said a “small engagement” had occurred, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that the initial clashes between Ukrainian and North Korean forces “open a new page in instability in the world”.
• The sending of North Korean troops to Russia has been referred to as a “dangerous expansion of the conflict” by foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) countries, which includes the United States, Japan, Italy, Britain, Germany, France, and Canada, as well as three allies, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

Foreign Policy

• In response to NATO invasion, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that “nobody will be safe” and that Russia will employ every available measures to defend itself.
• A Lithuanian presidential adviser said that packages that burst at logistics facilities around Europe were a trial run for a Russian conspiracy to set off explosions on cargo aircraft to the US. In the past, Western governments and security services have claimed that Moscow is responsible for a number of Sabotage operations meant to undermine Ukraine’s supporters.
• Two men, a Belarusian and a Polish national, have been charged by Polish authorities with collaborating with Belarusian intelligence agencies on espionage activities within their nation. They could spend up to ten years behind bars if found guilty.
• According to a new bill, Poland intends to invest three billion zlotys ($744m) to increase ammunition manufacturing in order to guarantee that it has enough supplies in case of a Russian invasion.
• Dan Jorgensen, the prospective new energy commissioner for the European Union, stated during a parliamentary hearing that he wants to “speed up” the bloc’s transition away from Russian fossil fuels.

Russian-related matters

• Weeks after his wife was given a similar sentence, an engineer at a plant producing tanks for Russia’s conflict in Ukraine was found guilty military secrets to Kyiv and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
• US tech giant Apple was fined 3.6 million roubles ($36,889) by a Moscow court for failing to take down two podcasts that contained “information aimed at destabilizing the political situation in Russia”.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 984

Combating

• According to Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine’s air defense units were trying to fend off a Russian air strike early on Tuesday morning.
• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, in the past 24 hours, its military has shot down 42 Ukrainian drones and four US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
• Russian forces used guided aerial bombs on Sunday to strike Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and the surrounding area, resulting in at least 15 confirmed injuries.
• During a nocturnal attack, Ukraine’s military claimed to have shot down 50 of 80 Russian drones.

Soldiers from North Korea in Ukraine

• According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, he spoke with Annalena Baerbock, his German counterpart, about the “need for decisive action” in response to North Korea’s role in Russia’s attack on Ukraine. “A sovereign European state is currently being attacked by [North Korean] troops in Europe”, Sybiha stated.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a warning during his nightly speech that there “are already 11,000 [North Korean soldiers] in Kursk”, the area of Russia where Ukrainian forces have been occupying territory since August. “We observe a rise in North Koreans, but we do not observe a rise in our partners’ response”, he stated.
• Major General Patrick Ryder, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, said that at least 10,000 North Korean forces were present in Kursk, but he was unable to confirm that they were fighting.
• South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell issued a joint statement denouncing North Korea’s arms delivery to Moscow and calling for the withdrawal of the troops it has dispatched to Russia. The two called for a stop to “illegal military cooperation” and denounced North Korea’s “illegal arms transfers to the Russian Federation for its use in attacking Ukraine”.
• Choe Son Hui, the foreign minister of North Korea, met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. Choe delivered “sincere, warm, comradely greetings” from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while Putin pointed out that they were meeting on Russia’s National Unity Day.

Diplomacy

• During her visit to Kyiv, Foreign Minister Baerbock said that Germany would provide Ukraine with an additional 200 million euros ($218 million) in aid to strengthen the nation.
• If Qatar or any other nation held separate negotiations with Ukraine and Russia to reach a deal on energy security, Ukraine would not object. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, stated.

Russian-related matters

• Putin agreed to the abrupt departure of the governor of the Rostov area. Wagner Group fighters launched a brief rebellion against Moscow in June of last year in the area, which is bordering Ukraine and has been beset by Ukrainian drone attacks.
• In a fiercely contested Moldovan presidential runoff, Maia Sandu, who has long condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and charged it with conspiring to over throw her government, has declared victory.
• In addition to congratulating Sandu on winning the election, Zelenskyy reiterated Kyiv’s dedication to pursuing a shared objective of EU membership. The election was called the “most undemocratic” in Russia’s post-Soviet history by the Foreign Ministry.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 983

Combating

• The mayor of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, claimed Monday that debris from downed Russian drones caused grass and park fires throughout the city. There were no early reports of casualties, although emergency personnel were sent out.
• According to the military administration on Monday, Ukraine’s air defense forces attempted to fend off a Russian drone strike on Kyiv. “Remain in shelters!”. The head of Kyiv’s military government, Serhiy Popko, shared a message on Telegram.
• Four people were hurt late Sunday in a Russian guided bombing that struck a grocery in Kharkiv, a city in northeastern Ukraine. The city’s wooded area had been struck earlier.
• As they continue their march towards the logistical hub of Pokrovsk, Russia’s military announced on Sunday that its soldiers had captured the settlement of Vyshneve in the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine.
• Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Belgorod area killed one man on Sunday.
• Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday the death of a second Taiwanese volunteer who was battling alongside Ukrainian soldiers against Russia. According to a statement from the ministry, the man belonged to Ukraine’s military legion of foreign combatants.

Diplomacy

• The UN chief’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, stated on Sunday that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “very concerned” about claims that North Korean troops had been dispatched to Russia to potentially assist in its conflict against Ukraine.
• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated on Sunday that if Donald Trump is elected president of the United States, Europe “will not be able to bear the burdens of the war alone” and that the continent will need to reconsider its support for Ukraine. Orban believes Trump shares his ideas and will he supports Trump in the election and opposes military aid to Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 982

Combating

• Russia’s Ministry of Defense stated on Sunday that Russian forces shot down 19 Ukrainian drones last night, 16 of which were over the southern Rostov region and the rest over the Belgorod and Bryansk Districts.
• Following a suspected Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv heard explosions early on Sunday and saw smoke billowing from residential buildings.
• Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, ordered residents to remain in shelters after stating on the Telegram channel that Ukraine’s air defense troops were attempting to fend off a Russian air strike on the city.
• General Oleksandr Syrskii, Ukraine’s senior military commander, has stated that Ukrainian forces are holding back one of Russia’s “most powerful offensives” since the beginning of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
• According to Russian news outlets, which cited the Defense Ministry, Russian troops have captured Kurakhivka and Pershotravneve, two more settlements along the Donbas frontline, on Saturday.

Ukraine-Russian Relations

• According to Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Ukraine is undermining the prisoner swap procedure and has refused to return its own countrymen. According to her, Ukraine has only taken 279 of the 935 Ukrainian POWs that Russia had promised to turn over.
• Kyiv has refuted the accusations and demanded that Moscow submit a list of Ukrainian POWs who are available for exchange. “We are prepared to trade prisoners of war at any time!” Dmytro Lubinets, the human rights commissioner for Ukraine, posted on Telegram.

Relations with other countries

• In order to prevent World War III, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council and former president from 2008 to 2012, has cautioned the United States to heed Russia’s nuclear warnings. If American and European leaders think “the Russians will never cross a certain line”, Medvedev added, “they are wrong”.
• After aiding Russian forces in their attack on Ukrainian troops, a US national who Russia evacuated from eastern Ukraine has stated in Moscow that he has applied for Russian citizenship. For two years, Daniel Martindale provided the Russian military with intelligence regarding the location of critical Ukrainian infrastructure, claiming he was not under any pressure.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 981

Combating

• A Russian drone strike on Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine overnight injured at least two persons. According to Serhiy Popko, chief of Kyiv’s military administration, debris from downed drones damaged residential buildings and caused fires in three city districts.
• According to the prosecutor general’s office, a Russian missile assault on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, struck a police station, killing at least one officer and injuring 40 others. The office said on the Telegram messaging app that nine civilians and a rescuer were among the injured.
• Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, reported that an apartment complex and a number of private residences had been damaged in a previous attack on the city.

North Korean forces in Ukraine

• Choe Son Hui, the foreign minister of North Korea, declared that her nation would “stand firmly” behind Russia until Ukraine is won.
• As the United States issued a warning that thousands of North Korean soldiers are near the Ukrainian border and are preparing to engage in warfare in the days ahead, Choe traveled to Moscow.
• With Pyongyang allegedly seeking nuclear technology from Russia in return for military assistance, Choe promised that North Korea would keep expanding its nuclear weapons.
• During his discussion with Choe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised the “very close ties” between their nations’ “armies and special services” without bringing up the troop deployment.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chastised Kyiv’s partners for their silence during the North Korean force deployment in his nightly address. In an effort to put further pressure on Moscow to stop the war, the president has been pleading with his Western friends for months to let Ukraine to utilize long-range missiles to strike targets within Russia.
• “We are aware of the locations in Russia where these North Korean personnel are assembling. If we had the resources long range capability, we could take proactive measures. However, Germany, the UK, and America observe”, he wrote on social media site X.

Diplomacy

• A further $425 million in military aid to Ukraine was announced by the United States. The current aid package, which includes rocket system and artillery projectiles as well as air defense interceptors, takes the total amount of military aid the US has given Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 to $60.4 billion.
• Amid growing tensions with China, North Korea, and Russia, Japan and the European Union unveiled a broad new security and defense partnership in Tokyo. Josep Borrell, the head of EU foreign policy, praised it as a historic and “very timely” move that would aid in “tackling emerging threats”.
• Lavrov criticized US President Joe Biden in an interview with the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet just days before the US presidential elections, warning that Washington and Moscow are on the verge of a “direct military” conflict.
• Russia’s top diplomat responded to a question about next week’s US presidential election by saying that his nation had “no preference” between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump, adding that “whoever wins the election, we can see no possibility of the United States changing its Russophobic course”.
• Lia Jian, a spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that “how they develop bilateral relations is their own matter” and that the country has no interest in the expanding connections between North Korea and Russia.
• When asked if Seoul could respond to North Korea’s assistance to Russia by sending weapons to Ukraine, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul indicated that all potential outcomes were being considered.

Courts

• Russia accused two men in occupied Crimea of working with Ukraine’s security services and sentenced them to 14 and 16 years in jail on treason charges.
• After the 20 year old student was imprisoned in Checknya for allegedly burning the Quran, a Russian court announced that the student will stand trial for treason on behalf of Ukraine this month. Crimean native Nikita Zhuravel was detained in May 2023 on suspicion of setting fire of the holy book in Volgograd, a city in the south.
• According to Russian agencies, a former Russian employee of the US consulate in Vladivostok, in the country’s far east, was given a four year, ten month prison sentence for “secret collaborative with a foreign state”.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 980

Combating

• On Wednesday, rescue crews in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv finished recovery efforts at a building that had been struck by a Russian guided bomb. Three persons have been killed, including youngster ages 12 and 15, and 36 others have been injured.
• According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 10 Ukrainian drones were intercepted by air defense systems over four different regions of Russia; no harm or casualties were recorded. There were five drones destroyed in Kursk, three in Bryansk, one in Oryol, and one in the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea.
• A Ukrainian drone attack on the Bashkortostan area of central Russia targeted a number of fuel and energy installations, with little damage and no injuries.
• According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, Russian forces have taken control of the village of Yasna Poliana in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine.
• Russia launched eight guided missiles and two ballistic Iskander missiles toward a critical bridge that spans the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Estuary in the southern Odesa area of Ukraine, according to Kyiv.
• Ukraine claims to have shot down guided missiles and 17 of 43 drones that Russia launched overnight.
• According to Russia, if Kyiv is requesting that the US provide long-range Tomahawk missiles, Ukraine’s leadership is obviously concerned about Russian advances along the front line.

Soldiers from North Korea in Ukraine

• According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the US anticipates North Korean forces in Russia’s Kursk region to join the conflict against Ukraine in the days ahead. Ten thousand North Korean soldiers are in Russia, he continued, with up to 8,000 of them near Kursk, where Ukrainian forces still control area.
• In a “robust conversation” this week, Blinken also urged China to use its power to restrain Pyongyang. According to him, China and the rest of the world ought to insist that North Korea stop its “provocative” acts, such as stationing forces in Ukraine.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized what he called his partners’ “zero” response to Russia’s stationing of North Korean troops in Ukraine in an interview with South Korean media, claiming that a lackluster response would incite President Vladimir Putin to expand the force.
• Zelenskyy also stated that he thought Moscow was attempting to reach an agreement for North Korea to send a “large number of civilians” and engineering troops to operate at Russian military facilities.
• The Ukrainian government listed three North Korean generals in prepared statements to the UN Security Council, claiming they are travelling with the hundreds of Korean People’s Army soldiers sent to Russia.
• When asked if Russia was assisting North Korea in developing its military capability, the Kremlin remained silent, despite Seoul’s warning that Pyongyang could obtain missile technology from Russia to aid in the conflict in Ukraine.

Global Diplomacy

• Even though Donald Trump has accused President Zelenskyy of trying to initiate the war with Russia, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has stated that the country is confident of continuous US backing regardless of the outcome of next week’s presidential election.
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated during a two-day meeting in Montreal about the return of Ukrainian prisoners and children held by Russia that the war in Ukraine is harming the entire world and that the longer it continues, the worse the effects would be for everyone.

Ukrainian And Russian Issues

• According to Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the Russian government is attempting to reallocate 7 trillion roubles ($72 billion) in its three-year budget draft, with a sizable amount of the funds going to the military. The budget draft gives the military the largest amount since the Cold War: 13.5 trillion roubles ($139 billion) in 2025, or 6.3 percent of the country’s GDP.
• According to Finland’s National Prosecution Authority, Yan Petrovsky, a Russian who also goes by the name Voislav Torden, will face trial in Finland on charges of committing war crimes in Ukraine in 2014.
• As worries about deeper military relations between Russia and Iran deepen, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that a pact that the two nations are about to sign will involve more defense cooperation.
• The first round of negotiations for the 2025 budget, which would provide almost 26% of GDP ($53.38 billion) for defense, has been completed by Ukrainian MPs.
• According to a senior official, Ukraine uses dozens of locally produced AI-augmented systems for unpiloted drones to reach targets, enabling low-cost drones carrying explosives to fly in regions with strong signal jamming.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 979

Combating

• According to local authorities, a Russian guided bomb killed a kid and injured at least 29 others when it struck a high-rise apartment complex in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine.
• Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Kruhliakivka, near the key town of Kupiansk in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the Russian Ministry of Defense has said. Ukraine’s military has not acknowledged Kruhliakivka falling into Russian hands, but officials said nine villages are gripped by fighting in the area, with 15 Russian attacks repelled and nine clashes still ongoing.
• Russia’s 19th strike on Kyiv this month has damaged a kindergarten, set numerous apartments on fire, and injured nine people. Russia launched 62 drones overnight, according to Ukraine’s air force, but its air defenses shot down 33 of them over Kyiv and other areas, leaving 25 missing.

North Korean forces in Ukraine

• At a UN Security Council meeting, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, asked why its allies cannot support Moscow in its fight against Ukraine if Western nations have the right to support Kyiv. He also said that Russia’s military engagements with North Korea do not contravene international law.
• In response, Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s UN representative, stated that “receiving assistance from the fully-sanctioned North Korea is a brazen violation of the UN Charter” and that no nations aiding Ukraine are “under Security Council sanctions”.
• While denying that it had sent troops to Russia, North Korea state during the conference that any such actions would be legal under international law and that “Pyongyang and Moscow maintain close contact with each other on mutual security and development of the situation”.
• Robert Wood, the deputy US ambassador to the UN ambassador to the UN, forewarned Kim Jong Un that if his troops invade Ukraine, they will “return in body bags”.
• According to South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, there is a “high chance” that North Korea may ask Russia for intercontinental ballistic missile technology and tactical nuclear weapons in return for sending soldiers to Ukraine.
• According to a presidential official, South Korea is thinking of sending a group of military observer to Ukraine to watch and evaluate any North Korea force deployment.

Sanctions

• As part of fresh measures against Russia to combat sanctions evasion, the US has placed penalties on almost 400 organizations and people from over a dozen nations.
• The operation, which was the largest coordinated effort to date against third-country evasion, included sanctions on entities in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Switzerland, and other countries, as well as dozens of Chinese, Indian, Hong Kong, and Russian companies.
• In an effort to stop the evasion of current sanctions against Russia, the Swiss government has announced that it has authorized additional penalties against Belarus, aligning it with actions the European Union took in late June.
• According to the Finnish Enforcement Authority, it is carrying out a court order in Finland to confiscate $4.25 billion in Russian assets in Finland. At the request of Ukrainian state company Naftogaz, which is requesting restitution for Moscow’s theft of its property after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, Russia called Finland’s ambassador to Moscow to protest the decision.

Relation with other countries

• The Ramstein group, which plans military assistance for Ukraine, is scheduled to meet again in the upcoming weeks, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• After a pro-Russian party won Georgia’s elections last weekend, Zelenskyy said that West should acknowledge that Russia has “won” in Georgia and is headed to do that same in Moldova, which will hold a run-off presidential election on Sunday after a pro-European incumbent failed to receive more than 50% of the vote.
• Zelenskyy describes the delay as “not funny”, claiming that Ukraine has barely gotten 10% of a $62 billion US military aid package that Congress approved in April. The Ukrainian president made a strong implication in the same remark that he had asked for US Tomahawk long-rage missile deliveries.
• In comments that have angered people at home, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Russian television that he intends to travel to Moscow for the anniversary of World War II next year and that he disapproves of the EU’s strategy in the war in Ukraine.
• According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a post-Soviet military bloc led by Russia, intends to conduct drills in Belarus in September 2025.
• Rachel Reeves, Britain’s finance minister, has pledged that the country will continue to provide Ukraine with three billion British pounds ($3.88 billion) in aid each year for “as long as it takes”.
• After refuting claims that Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports had interrupted vital food supplies for other nations, Russia has accused Britain of utilizing a Black Sea grain corridor to transport weapons to Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 978

Military Advancements

• According to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, a Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian capital has resulted in an explosion and a fire.
• At least four people have been killed and six injured in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which also destroyed a medical facility.
• According to a U.S. media story that quoted two unnamed Western intelligence officials, there are already some North Korean forces in Ukraine.
• North Korean troops have unexpectedly invaded the Ukrainian battlefield, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol informed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. According to Yoon’s office, Trudeau stated that their deployment will intensify Russia’s war.
• According to a Pentagon spokesman, some 2,000 North Korean soldiers are en route to Russia’s Kursk region, and a small number are already there. Although he was unable to confirm claims that North Korean personnel were in Ukraine, Major General Patrick Ryder expressed his fear that they would be deployed to “support combat operations against Ukrainian forces”.
• US President Joe Biden has expressed his “concernedness” about reports of North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region and stated that Ukraine should retaliate if they invade the nation.
• In order to simulate a “massive” nuclear retaliation to an enemy first strike, Russian forces fired missiles thousands of kilometers away. President Vladimir Putin claimed that the exercises were conducted because of “growing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threat and risks”.

Global Diplomacy

• Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has spoken with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan about North Korea’s alleged involvement in the conflict.
• In a statement given on behalf of NATO and the European Union during negotiations in Beijing, Finnish President Alexander Stubb claimed to have informed Chinese President Xi Jinping that North Korea’s engagement in the conflict was a “escalation, expansion, and provocation”.
• Given the “significant escalation” that the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia marks, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte have formed a new high-level task force to improve collaboration between the military alliance and the EU.
• Claudia Roth, Germany’s culture minister, stated on the second day of her tour to the port city of Odesa in southern Ukraine that Russia’s war is “deliberately direct against culture and the cultural identity of Ukraine”.

Finances

• After Ukrainian oil an d gas company Naftogaz successfully petitioned of the Finnish government to collect tens of millions of euros in Russian state assets located in Finland, Russia will dispute the decision in court.
• In contrast to its 2023 profit of 446 billion roubles ($4.5 billion), the Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom recorded a nine-month loss of 309 billion roubles ($3.2 billion). The cause of the losses was not explained.

Ukrainian-related issues

• The resignation of prosecutor general Andriy Kostin has been approved by the Ukrainian parliament in the wake of a controversy involving officials who were given false disability status in order to avoid serving in the military.
• Oleksandr Lytvynenko, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has announced that his country will start calling up an additional 160,000 recruits to the military. According to an unnamed security insider, the hiring process will go for three months.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 977

Combating

• On the Telegram messaging service, Mayor Ihor Terekhov announced that Russia had bombed Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, overnight, killing at least four people. About 30 Kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border, Kharkiv has been the target of numerous Russian aerial assaults.
• In a previous attack on Kharkiv, the Derzhprom building, one of the city’s most renowned structures from the 1920s, was mostly demolished and six people were injured.
• According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, a Russian drone attack in the Solomianskyi area of Kyiv, Ukraine, resulted in two injuries and the burning of a residential building.
• In the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kryvyi Rih, a three-story residential building was struck by a Russian missile, resulting in one fatality and eleven injuries.
• Another Russian strike in the city of Chuhuiv injured eight people.
• According to the RIA Novosti news agency, which cited Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Russian soldiers have seized the town of Tsukuryne in the Pokrovsk district of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
• During a nighttime raid, the Ukrainian Air Force claimed to have destroyed 66 of 100 Russian attack drones. While “several” others had damaged civilian infrastructure and left portions of the Sumy and Poltava districts without power, another 24 were “locationally lost”.
• According to the Defense Ministry, seven Ukrainian drones were shot down over night by Russia’s air defenses. According to reports, the drones targeted the Ukrainian bordering districts of Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk.
• Alexander Gusev, the regional governor of Voronezh in southern Russia, reported that Ukrainian drones targeted ethanol plants in the area, injuring two persons. Two industrial businesses were damaged and a fire was started as a result of the attack.

Diplomacy And Politics

• An estimated 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been dispatched to Russia to train and engage in combat against Ukraine in “the next several weeks”, according to the Pentagon.
• North Korean troops have been dispatched to Kursk and transported to Russia, according to confirmation from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. He claimed that this shows the “increasing desperation” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• US President Joe Biden said that North Korea’s assistance to Russia in Ukraine is “extremely dangerous”.
• According to the Yonhap news agency, South Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol stated that North Korean forces might be sent to the front lines sooner than anticipated.
• The Pentagon stated that if North Korean forces joined the conflict against Ukrainian forces, Ukraine would not face any additional limitations on the use of US weaponry against them.
• Zelenskyy is in Iceland to talk to Nordic politicians about his “victory plan” to settle the conflict with Russia. According to him, there are currently roughly 3,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia, and four times as many are anticipated in the near future.
• Andriy Yermak, Ukraine’s president and chief of staff, urged for further arms shipments to his nation and stated that sanctions would not be sufficient to address North Korean involvement.
• According to Russian official media, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui is now in Vladivostok, Russia, and is expected to go to Moscow on Wednesday.
• Viola Amherd, the president of Switzerland, stated that she supports lifting the embargo that now prohibits the re-export of Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine, claiming that it is detrimental to her nation’s business and security.
• Three Russian public relations firms-the state-funded Social Design Agency (SDA), its partner company Structura, and another firm named Ano Dialog-as well as their senior employees have been sanctioned by the UK for allegedly “attempting to undermine and destabilize Ukraine and its democracy”.
• The government said that SDA had tried “to incite protests in half a dozen European countries” and that Structura and SDA had launched “interference operations” against Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 976

Combating

• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, its air defense troops shot down 21 Ukrainian drones that were aiming for the Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, and Belgorod regions, which are all on the country’s border.
• Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on the Telegram messaging app that an older guy from the Ukrainian port city of Kherson was killed by artillery fire and another man was killed by explosives dropped on him by a drone.
• Alexander Gusev, a governor of the southern Russian province of Voronezh, said a drone attack caused a fire at an unidentified industrial complex and injured one person. Emergency personnel were sent to the fire, he said.
• The Russian security services’ Baza news Telegram channel reported hearing two explosions near an ethanol factory in the hamlet of Krasnoye.
• Russia struck Kharkiv with precision-guided bombs, damaging multiple residential buildings and sending two people to the hospital, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov. Later in the evening, he reported fresh strikes on the city.
• Later in the evening, Russian strikes in the Kharkiv region injured four persons, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov’s Telegram post.
• According to Syniehubov, an attack on the city of Chuhuiv damaged a residential building. The incident did not result in any reported injuries.
• According to the Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti, Russia’s defense ministry declared that its troops had captured the settlement of Izmailivka in the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine.
• Months after Kyiv launched a daring attack on its nuclear-armed adversary that Moscow is still fighting to stop, Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said Russian forces stopped an effort by Ukraine to launch another cross-border incursion into the southwest Bryansk area.

Diplomacy And Politics

• If the United States and its NATO allies assist Ukraine in striking deep into his nation with long-range western missiles, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the Defense Ministry was preparing various responses.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Putin’s Ukrainian counterpart, stated that cooperation under the “Ukraine plus Northern Europe” model is accelerating and that additional actions that could put greater pressure on Russia are anticipated in the upcoming week. The five Nordic nations-Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland-have all been strong allies of Ukraine and are currently members of NATO.
• After the United States voiced serious concerns about the potential use of the troops against Ukraine, the alliance announced that a high-level delegation from South Korea will brief NATO on North Korea’s troop deployment to Russia.
• Ukraine stated that it is looking into claims that Russian soldiers opened fire on people in the beleaguered town of Selydove. A Ukrainian army unit called “Ghost of Khortytsia” shared a video on Telegram that allegedly showed Russian military shooting at a civilian car.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 975

Combating

• Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, announced that Ukraine’s air defense troops ha been sent in early on Sunday to fend off a swarm of Russian drones that were approaching Kyiv and advised citizens to remain indoors.
• At least 30 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over the southern districts of Voronezh, Bryansk, Oryol, Lipetsk, and Belgorod, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
• Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod area, said on the Telegram messaging app that one woman had been hurt in the drone attack on the border region. A few automobiles were also damaged, he added.
• A Ukrainian drone landed in the Michurinsky area of the Tambov region, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) southeast of Moscow, according to Maxim Yegorov, the territory’s governor. The incident caused a brief fire but no injuries or material damage.
• According to Russian and Ukrainian bloggers, Russian forces are moving closer seizing the strategically important city of Pokrovsk as they continue to march into a number of eastern Ukrainian cities, including Selydove. Eighty percent of Selydove is under Russian military control, according to a telegram message from the Russian news agency SHOT.
• The village of Kurakhove, southwest of Hirnyk, was also on the verge of being overrun by Russian forces, according to Russian military bloggers.
• According to Russia’s defense ministry, the state-run news outlet RIA Novosti reported that its troops had seized the Oleksandropil hamlet in eastern Ukraine.
• While many fights were still going on, Ukraine reported Saturday night that its forces had repulsed 36 Russian strikes along the Pokrovsk front line the day before, including in the Selydove region.
• In Kostiantynivka, close to the front line in the Donetsk area, a Russian glide bomb killed one person and wounded three others, according to the regional governor.
• Two individuals were killed by Russian shelling in a tiny village west of Kherson, a city in the south that is controlled by Ukraine.

Diplomacy And Politics

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Kyiv’s allies to increase political pressure on Moscow in response to a series of Russian attacks that have killed and injured civilians in Ukraine in recent days.
• Amid reports that Russian financial institutions have established a network of foreign subsidiaries to facilitate the trade of sanctioned goods, the Group of Seven countries’ finance ministers have agreed to intensify efforts to stop Russia from evading sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine.
• According to Pascal Dayez-Burgeon, a North Korea specialist and former French diplomat in Seoul, the use of North Korean forces to support Russia in its conflict with Ukraine is unlikely to have a major impact on the actual fighting but could have an impact on security interests in Asia, Europe, and other regions.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 974

Combating

• Overnight Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed three people, including a child. Sergiy Lysak, the governor of Dnipro, said the attack damaged many structures and injured at least 19 people.
• According to regional police, two persons were killed in separate nighttime attacks on Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and the surrounding area. One of the victims was a teenage girl who was slain by a drone. There were also reports of at least five injuries.
• The Ukrainian Air Force claimed to have shot down 36 of the 63 Russian-launched drones over different regions of Ukraine. 16 drones were described as “locationally lost”.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Group of Seven (G7) countries’ finance minister and central bank heads said that $50 billion in bilateral loans to Ukraine, secured by frozen Russian assets, will be made available for repayment beginning on December 1 and lasting until the end of 2027.
• Because Antonio Guterres is attending this week’s BRICS conference in Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected a plan for the UN secretary-general to visit Kyiv, according to a Ukrainian officials.
• Zelenskyy declared that Russia intends to send North Korean troops to the battlefield beginning on October 27-28, citing intelligence reports.
• Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, stated that Moscow could take any action it wanted to secure its own security, including using North Korean troops, if Ukraine desired to join NATO.
• Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, stated that the conflict that began with Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 must be ended by a complete withdrawal of Russian forces, not only through peace negotiations.
• As Moscow sought to ratify its defense contract with Pyongyang, South Korean expressed “grave concern” and urged Russia to cease its “illegal cooperation” with North Korea. This Thursday, a unanimous vote of Russian lawmakers ratified the deal. The Federation Council, the parliament’s upper body, will now review and approve it.
• According to the White House, when U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with his counterparts in South Korea and Japan, the three countries voiced “severe concern” about North Korea force deployments in Russia and their possible use against Ukraine.
• The possibility of North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian military in Ukraine is extremely concerning, should not be taken lightly, and would worsen the situation, according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
• According to a Reuters news agency report, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa have reportedly blocked Ukraine’s attempt to have Russia included to a global list of nations with lax money-laundering regulations.
• The Kremlin stated that it will consider Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s suggestions to reestablish ties with Ukraine on Black Sea shipping. In July 2023, Russia ended the agreement, which permits Ukraine to export grains and other agricultural products.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 973

Combating

• According to municipal officials, Russian forces carried out drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital overnight, marking the 15th airstrike against Kyiv this month. No injuries were reported at this time.
• In the village of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv area of northeastern Ukraine, a Russian attack claimed one life and injured nine, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
• Governor Vadym Filashkin said on the Telegram messaging app that three persons had been murdered by Russian bombardment in the important center of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region.
• Two persons were murdered in Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka, close to the front-line villages of Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka, by a Russian attack on a Nova Poshta delivery service branch, according to Filashkin.
• Russian military have reportedly moved into the coal mining town of Selydove, which is located around 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Pokrovsk, according to Russian media and war bloggers.
• The Pokrovsk front, including the area close to Selydove, is now seeing the most severe Russian attacks along the front line, according to the General Staff of the front line, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Force. However, it made no mention of whether Russian troops had made their way into the town.
• Ukraine claimed that four Ukrainian servicemen who had been seized were killed by Russian forces in Donetsk.
• The first North Korean units trained in Russia have been stationed in Kursk, a Russian border territory where Ukrainian forces launched a surprise invasion in August, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence service.

Diplomacy And Politics

• After Russia sought to ratify its defense deal with North Korea, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “grave concern” and urged Moscow to halt its “illegal cooperation” with Pyongyang.
• Yoshimasa Hayashi, the chief cabinet secretary for Japan, stated that Tokyo was monitoring rumors of North Korean forces in Russia before they might be sent to Ukraine with “serious concern”.
• According to a readout of their conversation held on the margins of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that his invasion of neighboring Ukraine was against both international law and the UN charter.
• Putin emphasized that talks must be “based on the realities on the ground” and stated that any peace agreements with Ukraine must consider the land occupied by Russian soldiers.
• He added that he applauded Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s “sincere” remarks toward ending Russia’s war with Ukraine.
• The late Russian dissident Alexey Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, blasted Guterres for meeting Putin and referred to the Russian leader as a “murderer”.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Ukraine to join NATO right away when he submitted his “victory plan” to Western friends, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denied the request, stating that a war-torn nation “absolutely cannot become a member” of the alliance.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 972

Combating

• According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, Russian forces have taken control of the villages of Serebrianka and Mykolaivka in the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine.
• The Ukrainian military denied that either settlement had fallen but claimed that fierce battle was raging in both parts of the front and that its soldiers had repulsed 12 Russian attacks in the Serebrianka area.
• Ukraine further stated that communities near Pokrovsk, the next crucial logistical center in the Russian military’s westward assault in Donetsk, have been engulfed in intense fighting.

International participation

• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that it would be “very, very serious” if it were true. This is the first time the US has claimed to have seen proof that North Korea has transferred 3,000 troops to Russia for deployment in Ukraine.
• US information indicates that North Korean troops were sent to three training facilities in eastern Russia early this month, according to White House spokesperson John Kirby, who also stated that they would be “fair game” if sent to Ukraine.
• Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, has rejected the idea that Russia would send North Korean troops to Ukraine, claiming that doing so would be a “escalation of the conflict” and that “[President] Putin would never try to persuade another country to involve its army.”
• Lukashenko said that he was “completely ready” to use Russian nuclear weapons if “the boot of one [foreign] soldier steps into Belarus,” but that doing so would require his personal approval.
• Following French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s suggestion that non-nuclear forces be sent to Ukraine to dissuade Russian aggression, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has stated that sending Western troops there will result in a “direct clash of nuclear powers” with “catastrophic consequences.”
• Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt released a unified statement at the BRICS alliance conference in the Russian city of Kazan, urging mediation in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Finances

• The United States announced intentions to begin making funds available by the end of the year for military and economic assistance after finalizing its $20 billion share of a long-awaited $50 billion loan to Ukraine guaranteed by blocked Russian assets.
• Alongside a separate $20 billion commitment from the European Union and $10 billion divided by the G7 allies—Britain, Japan, Canada, and Japan—the funds will be repaid with interest generated from over $300 billion in frozen Russian assets, the majority of which are held in Europe.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 971

Military

• As Kyiv claimed to have knowledge of two North Korean units—up to 12,000 troops—set to participate in the conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged friends to “not hide” in the face of evidence of North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• Kyiv anticipated the arrival of North Korean forces on Wednesday in the southern Kursk area of Russia, where Ukrainian forces conducted an incursion in August, according to the head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence.
• In the midst of a controversy involving dozens of officials who are accused of abusing their position to obtain disability status and evade military duty, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin announced his resignation.

Finances

• As a conference of almost two dozen international leaders began Tuesday in the Russian city of Kazan, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia aims for greater financial cooperation with BRICS members, which make up 45% of the world’s population and 35% of its economy.
• As the present 2 percent no longer reflects the “reality of today’s security situation,” Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal has called for NATO to increase the alliance’s defense budget target to at least 2.5 percent of GDP by 2025.
• The final legislative step before the money is sent to Ukraine has been completed when the European Parliament approved to use frozen Russian assets to lend more than 35 billion euros ($38 billion). 518 parliamentarians voted in favor of the plan, 56 opposed it, and 61 abstained.
• Moscow claims that the European Union is committing a worldwide economic crime by holding around 210 billion euros ($227 billion) in frozen Russian funds as a result of sanctions put in place since the start of its war on Ukraine.
• Washington is to contribute $20 billion to a $50 billion G7 credit package for Ukraine, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who may shortly announce more penalties aimed at Russian arms procurement. Policymakers are scheduled to meet later this week, and G7 leaders are nearing completion of the plan.

Diplomacy

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin before of the BRICS summit that he desired peace in Ukraine and that his country was willing to help reach a truce.
• As fresh British information indicates that Russian attacks on food-carrying ships are delaying the delivery of essential supplies to Palestinians and the Global South in general, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused Putin of “harming millions of vulnerable people.”
• After Polish authorities found that Russia’s secret service was hiring individuals to carry out arson attacks in the US and the EU, Poland announced that it was closing the Russian consulate in Poznan and expelling its employees.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 970

Combating

• According to the Ukrainian Air Force, during a nocturnal strike over portions of central, southern, and eastern Ukraine, Russia launched 60 drones, 42 of which were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defenses.
• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, its air defense forces shot down eighteen Ukrainian drones in all. The ministry reported on the Telegram messaging app that eleven drones were shot down in the southern Bryansk region, three over Belgorod, the site of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and the remaining drones over the Kursk, Tula, and Oryol districts.
• According to the regional governor, a Russian drone strike in the Sumy region of eastern Ukraine killed three civilians, including a child, in a residential area.
• According to the authorities, Ukraine’s overnight drone assaults damaged two other Russian alcohol-producing businesses and resulted in an explosion and fire at an ethanol manufacturing facility.
• Tambov Governor Maxim Yegorov posted on Telegram that a single explosion rocked the Bio-Khim biochemical factory in the Tambov region of Russia, igniting a brief fire. The governor of the Tula area, which shares a northern border with Moscow, reported that two distilleries in the villages of Luzhkovskyi and Yefremov were damaged by Ukrainian drones. There were no casualty reports.
• In Russia’s Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, a boiler house and a non-residential building were damaged by another Ukrainian drone attack, according to the city’s governor.
• Regional governors in the Donetsk area and the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia reported three fatalities from Russian attacks.

Diplomacy

• Russia is hosting a summit of the BRICS alliance of developing economies in Kazan, where President Vladimir Putin will meet with international leaders.
• Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa were the original members of the alliance, which is now growing quickly. In January, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates joined. Malaysia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey have all submitted membership applications.
• According to the Kremlin, Putin is scheduled to meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday during the BRICS summit. The conference has not yet been confirmed by the UN.
• The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs chastised Guterres for allegedly accepting a Putin invitation. Ukraine was invited to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, but the UN Secretary General turned it down. Still, he accepted war criminal Putin’s invitation to Kazan. The cause of peace is not furthered by this poor decision. In a post on social media site X, the ministry stated, “It only harms the UN’s reputation.”
• According to Deputy National Security Advisor Kim Tae-hyo, South Korea would progressively implement countermeasures commensurate with the degree of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, including arming Ukraine.
• As it demanded their immediate departure, Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the Russian envoy to denounce Pyongyang’s intention to send hundreds of troops to back Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine.
• According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, China demanded de-escalation after South Korea claimed that North Korea had dispatched troops to Russia for use in Ukraine.
• Turkey made an effort to keep cordial relations with Russia and Ukraine and tried to mediate a settlement to end the conflict. According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, he spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about safe trade routes in the Black Sea.

Aid And Weaponry

• According to Defense Secretary John Healey, Ukraine would receive 2.26 billion pounds ($2.94 billion) from the United Kingdom as part of a far larger planned loan from the Group of Seven (G7) countries from frozen Russian assets to help restore damaged infrastructure and purchase weaponry.
• According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US was putting together an aid package worth $800 million to fund Ukrainian drone manufacturing. Two weeks prior to the US presidential election, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also made a show of solidarity by visiting Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and announcing an additional $400 million in new weapons for Ukraine.
• Numerous US officials, both Republican and Democratic, have questioned why SLB, the biggest oilfield services company in the world, was still doing business in Russia and asked US President Joe Biden’s government to impose stricter restrictions on Russian oil supplies.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 969

Combating

• According to Ukrainian officials, Russia has launched multiple drones waves against Kyiv for the second consecutive night, causing damage to residential buildings and injuring at least one civilian. According to reports, the city was rocked by a string of explosions during the night.
• On the Telegram messaging app, Serhiy Popko, the leader of Kyiv’s military government, stated that roughly ten drones that were hitting the city in many waves and from various directions had been destroyed.
• According to Ukraine’s national police on Telegram, Russia launched guided air bombs into the area overnight, injuring at least 12 people in Kharkiv. It also mentioned the damage to a number of residential buildings.
• According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 18 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight by Russian air defense units. The remaining drones were destroyed over the Bryansk, Kursk, and Oryol districts, while eleven were brought down over the Rostov region.
• According to multiple reports, Russian soldiers are engaged in street-to-street combat with Ukrainian troops on the outskirts of the town of Selydove in eastern Ukraine as Moscow’s forces attempt to seize control of the whole Donbas region.
• According to Dmitry Rogozin, a Russian-installed officials, strikes by Ukraine have compelled Russia’s Black Sea Fleet to relocate numerous warships from the military port of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia occupied in 2014.
• According to Kyiv’s General Staff, Ukraine attacked storage facilities at a military airfield in the Lipetsk region and a producer of military explosives located deep into Russian territory.

Diplomacy And Politics

• In a historic instance of Russian defectors being accepted in a nation belonging to the European Union collectively, six Russian troops who escaped the conflict in Ukraine have taken sanctuary in France and are hoping to be granted asylum. The defectors, who had traveled through Kazakhstan to reach France, expressed their hope that their actions might inspire other Russian men to rebel against Moscow and leave the war.
• Recent claims by the US administration that Washington is prepared for nuclear negotiations with Russia, China and North Korea without any conditions are a “deception”, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The US remark means that the Americans “reserve the right to declare us an enemy in their doctrinal documents”, Lavrov told the news source Argumenty i Fakty.
• Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, was greeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who praised him for mediating the exchange of prisoners of war with Ukraine and described the two countries’ relationship as a “strategic partnership”.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, stated that he was hoping for a robust response from nations that have recognized North Korea’s growing involvement Russia’s conflict with Ukraine. Reports that North Korea is sending troops to Russia to fight in its conflict with Ukraine have led to this.
• Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, has expressed gratitude to Putin for assisting his nation in obtaining enough natural gas for the winter. This occurs in the midst of rumors that Serbia is under pressure to slide with the West and censure Russia for its actions in Ukraine.
• According to Myanmar state media, a fleet of Russian navy ships have landed in war-torn Myanmar to participate in maritime drills with the military government’s navy. The military government of Myanmar, which Moscow supports closely, calls Russia’s military action in Ukraine “justified”.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 968

Combating

• According to local authorities, Ukraine fired a number of drones directed towards Moscow and western Russia.
• The Ministry of Defense reported that 110 Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defense forces over Russia. Of those, one was shot down over the Moscow region, 43 over the Kursk border region, and 27 over the southwest Lipetsk region.
• Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on the messaging app Telegram that at least one drone heading towards the capital was shot down by Russia’s air defense troops, while the regional governor of Lipetsk reported on the app that drone debris caused multiple short-lived fires in the city. There were no reports of injuries or major damage resulting from the strikes.
• In the industrial zone of Dzerzhinsk, in the Nizhny Novgorod area of Russia, four firefighters were attacked by a Ukrainian drone, resulting in minor injuries from shrapnel, according to the regional governor.
• The mayor of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, stated late on Saturday that the air defense forces of Ukraine retaliated to an air attack by Russia. “Remain inside the shelters!”. On Telegram, Vitali Klitschko stated.
• The Russian Defense Ministry was cited by the Interfax news agency as saying that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Zoryane in the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine.
• The foreign minister of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, stated that having North Korean forces air Russia in its conflict would be a “huge” risk of escalation. A video purportedly showing scores of North Korean recruits waiting in line to pick up Russian military fatigues in an undisclosed location was made public by Ukrainian officials. The secretary of defense for the United States, Lloyd Austin, stated that he was unable to verify allegations of North Korean forces, but that any such action would be alarming.

Diplomacy

• The Group of Seven (G7) countries’ defense ministers supported Ukraine’s “irreversible” road to NATO membership. This Saturday’s summit in Naples, Italy, was the first ministerial gathering of the G7 devoted to defense issues.
• According to Russia, Ukraine’s entry into NATO will prevent a diplomatic and political settlement of the crisis and cause it to worsen, the RIA news agency claimed, quoting Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot promised to support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “victory plan” for ending the conflict with Russia through diplomacy and said he would work with Ukrainian officials to seek assistance from other nations.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 967

Combating

• As its spy service reported that 1,500 North Korean forces had come to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, South Korea issued a warning, citing a “grave security threat”.
• According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 10,000 North Korean soldiers may eventually enlist in the military.
• Russian troops stormed the town of Toretsk last Friday, and Ukrainian military are engaged in a fierce battle for control of the town in the eastern Donetsk area.
• An official in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, a major target in Russia’s drive west, has advised locals to leave since vital utilities like heating would be turned off.
• Ukraine’s allies are lobbying for the country to decrease its military draft age from 25, but President Zelenskyy says he sees no justification for doing so.

Diplomacy

• According to Kyiv, Russia returned the corpses of 501 military personnel who died in combat, and as part of an arrangement brokered by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 95 prisoners of war.
• According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a joint plan put forth by China and Brazil in May to settle the conflict in Ukraine was “balanced” and might work.
• Zelenskyy has rejected the idea, which calls for the restoration of direct talks without requiring Russia to retreat from Ukraine. He also stated that he anticipates Putin presenting his own peace plan at the next BRICS meeting.
• During a visit to Berlin, US President Joe Biden stated that there is no agreement on providing Ukraine with long-range weapons so that it may carry out more aggressive strikes against Russia, but he urged NATO to “maintain our support”.

Finances

• The board of the International Monetary financing has finished reviewing a financing arrangement for Ukraine, allowing for the payment of $1.1 billion to Kyiv.
• According to three anonymous sources who spoke to The Financial Times, the US is prepared to lend up to $20 billion to Ukraine as part of a G7 deal that will be paid back with earnings from Russian assets that have been placed under embargo.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 966

Combating

• Russian soldiers launched 56 drones and one missile over the course of a nocturnal offensive on energy facilities in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine.
• A local governor reported that Russia also attacked an industrial site in the western Ternopil Oblast, resulting in a major fire that was extinguished.
• According to the Ukrainian air force, 51 of the 136 Russian assault drones that were launched on Thursday were shot down, and Russia also fired a Kh-95 guided aerial missile.
• The “victory plan” presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday is expected to put Russia and NATO in direct conflict, the Kremlin has reiterated.
• Following discussions with his Norwegian counterpart Bjor Arild Gram, Ukraine’s defense minister Rustem Umerov announced that Norway will provide six F-16 fighter jets to his country “in the near future”.

Diplomacy

• In a meeting with US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday in Berlin, French President Emmanuel Macron has stated that they will talk about security assurances for Ukraine.
• Following an EU leaders’ session in Brussels, President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission declared that Ukraine has achieved major strides toward EU membership.
• Alongside President Zelenskyy, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte declared that Russian President Vlamidir Putin would be mistaken to believe that the alliance’s members would no longer be willing to help Ukraine.
• “There is no doubt that Ukraine will join NATO, and until that time, we will ensure that Ukraine has everything it needs to succeed”, Rutte continued.
• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said Belarus should be present at any talks on settling the issue in Ukraine.

Sanction

• In response to China and Russia’s design, manufacture, and shipment of attack drones used in Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, the US has imposed further penalties.
• The Russian company TSK Vektor and its general director, Artem Mikhailovich Yamshchikov, as well as two Chinese companies, Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine Co Ltd. (Redlepus), were the targets of the sanctions.
• According to the Biden administration, the organizations directly assisted Russia in creating and developing the attack drones known as the Garpiya series, which are used in long-range strikes within Ukraine.
• Sanctions against 22 further oil tanker vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet were announced by the UK. There are currently 43 Russian oil tankers that are prohibited from using British ports and marine services because they operate in violation of Western sanctions.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 965

Combating

• According to Russian state-run news agency TASS, Russian forces have taken control of two villages in eastern Ukraine: Nevske in the Luhansk area and Krasnyi Yar in the Donetsk region.
• Russian forces launched 42 assaults in the Kurakhove area of Ukraine, sparking fierce fighting. Sixteen of these attacks were repulsed by Ukrainian troops, although fighting is still ongoing.
• Nine guided bombs were dropped by Russian aircraft during seven raids on Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region; yet, Ukraine’s military continues to hold control over a number of places within the captured Russian oblast.
• According to TASS, a Russian military officer who had just returned from Ukraine was killed in what appears to have been a planned hit in the Moscow area.
• Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister of Ukraine, demanded greater sanctions and isolation of Pyongyang and referred to North Korea’s role in Russia’s conflict in his nation as a “huge threat of escalation”.

Diplomacy And Politics

• According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, if the plan is carried out now, it “may be possible to end the war no later than next year”. The plan calls for particular armaments and extends a “unconditional” invitation to join NATO.
• Zelenskyy strategy is pushing NATO toward direct conflict with Russia, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, and it will be disastrous for the Ukrainian people.
• Although he thought the idea was a good start, Mark Rutte, the new head of NATO, was unable to approve it in its entirety because “that would be a bit difficult”.
• According to NATO’s itinerary for the day, Zelenskyy is expected to attend a meeting of defense ministers on Thursday.
• As it destroys civilian ships and grains storage facilities, Russia is allegedly placing “millions of people in the world at risk of starvation”, according to Ukraine, which has requested to the International monitoring mission to Odesa ports.

Military Assistance

• According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance is “firmly on track” to meet its 40 billion euro ($43.53 billion) commitment to military aid for Ukraine this year. The organization has already provided 20.9 billion euros ($22.7 billion) for the first half of 2024 and is on course to meet this commitment for the remainder of the year.
• In a phone conversation with Zelenskyy, US President Joe Biden announced a fresh $425 million military aid package for Ukraine that will include armored vehicles, air-to-ground bombs, air defense capability, and other vital armaments.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 964

Combating

• Officials in the Ukrainian capital , Kyiv, have reported that Russia launched a drone attack. No information on casualties or damage was immediately available.
• According to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, Ukraine launched a series of drone strikes on Belgorod, a region bordering Russia’s south, hurting at least eight persons and causing damage to vehicles and other property.
• As Russian forces advanced, Ukrainian officials issued an order for the evacuation of Kupiansk and Borova in the northeastern Kharkiv area. Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, declared that the evacuation order was essential.
• According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, there are accusations that North Korean soldiers are fighting for Russia in Ukraine. The White House expressed worry about these claims. The claim has been brushed off by the Kremlin as “fake news”.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Zelenskyy has been invited to a conference of European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday to “take stock of the latest developments of Russia’s war against Ukraine and present his victory plan”, according to European Council President Charles Michel.
• According to a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, four out of five Ukrainians are in favor of a new law that would outlaw religious organizations with ties to Russia and accuse them of being a tool of Moscow.
• A Russian human rights organizations was informed by a father who had been freed a penal colony after being imprisoned over an antiwar drawing created by his daughter that he had suffered horrendous treatment, including two months in an isolation cell he called a “torture chamber”.

Finance

• Despite the EU’s efforts to lessen its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, Russian natural gas supplies to the bloc have been “much higher” than those stipulated in long-term contracts, according to EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson during a press conference.
• Following an annual loss of about $7 billion, the Russian energy giant Gazprom announced that it will sell 14 hotels and resorts. This was the company’s first loss of this kind in nearly 25 years.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 963

Combating

• According to Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, a Russian air strike on the southern Ukrainian territory of Ukraine resulted in at least one fatality and eleven injuries, some of which were critical.
• The most recent Russian missile attack on Odesa, a port on the Black Sea in Ukraine, resulted in at least one death and eight injuries. A grain storage facility and two civilian vessels were also harmed.
• According to the Interfax news agency, Russia’s Ministry of Defense declared that its soldiers had taken over the small village of Levadne in the Zaporizhia area of southeast Ukraine. Ukraine did not respond to the statement.
• Russian troops attempted to breach Ukraine’s defenses in the Kursk region for the sixth day in a row, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the Ukrainian forces had stood firm and were launching a counter offensive.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Chief of staff of Zelenskyy, Andriy Yermak, addressed at an online conference on securing peace after Russia’s invasion. He advocated for a new international security structure to stop acts of armed aggression in the future. Yermak reported that 66 nations and international organizations had attended the meeting.
• NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte declared that his organization would continue to stand with Ukraine in the face of Russian threats. Speaking at the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), which will progressively take over the coordination of Western military help to Kiev, in Germany, was Rutte during his first visit as NATO chief.
• After Laurent Vinatier, a French researcher, was found guilty by a Moscow court of violating Russia’s “foreign agent” regulations and given a three-year prison sentence, France demanded his immediate release. Vinatier was taken into custody shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron hinted that a more forceful stance on the conflict in Ukraine was required.

Weaponry

• Iran’s deputy defense minister, prominent Revolutionary Guard officers, and three airlines were all subject to penalties by the European Union due to claims that they provided Russia with drones, missiles, and other weapons to be used in its conflict with Ukraine. Andrii Sybiha, the minister of foreign affairs for Ukraine, applauded the action.
• Zelenskyy claimed that one million drones had already been purchased and sent by Ukraine to the front lines.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 962

Combating

• The latest Ukrainian accusation of an attack inside Moscow’s lines came over the weekend when Kyiv said that its forces had destroyed a Russian Tu-134 transport aircraft that was stationed at a military base in the Orenburg area, deep within Russian territory.
• According to Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, about 30,415 people including about 8,000 children had been evacuated from districts bordering Ukraine as a result of shelling and attacks. The evacuees have been housed in about 1,000 temporary lodging centers throughout the nation.
• According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian glide bombs targeted a group of Ukrainian soldiers close to the western Kursk region border. According to the statement, the strike was launched on ” a strongpoint and concentration of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel”, and a Russian Su-34 warplane dropped the bombs.
• According to Russia’s defense ministry, its soldiers have taken over the Ukrainian settlement of Mykhailivka and are moving closer to Pokrovsk, a crucial hub for logistics.
• In its daily report, the Ukrainian military claimed that its forces had repulsed 36 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk region, including one that occurred close to Mykhailivka.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, has charged that North Korea has assisted Russia in its war against his country by providing both soldiers and weaponry.
• According to a government source, US President Joe Biden will visit Germany the following week to meet with President Frank Walter Steinmeier and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He is likely to prioritize discussing the problems in the Middle East and Ukraine.
• International organizations are being encouraged to respond by the human rights ombudsman of Ukraine to an allegation that numerous Ukrainian prisoner of war were put to death in the Kursk region of Russia.

Finance

• The Russian broker Investitsionnaya Palata said that it has successfully sold an additional 2.54 billion roubles ($26.51 million) worth of securities to non-resident clients. The firm is running an asset swap program to release frozen funds for both Russian and foreign investors. This was on top of the 8.1 million roubles ($84,153) worth of assets that were purchased during the exchange’s initial round, which concluded on August 13.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 961

Combating

• According to Kyiv, two individuals were killed by Russian attacks in the eastern Donetsk region: a pensioner, 84, and a 19-year-old who was travelling in a civilian automobile.
• Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement that one person was killed when a Ukrainian drone struck the Russian town of Ustinka in the Belgorod district near the Ukrainian border.
• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Russian air defense unit shot down 13 Ukrainian drones during the course of the night over three areas that bordered Ukraine. According to the report, one drone were downed over each of the Belgorod and Kursk regions.
• Moscow has tried to drive Ukrainian positions out of the Russian Kursk region, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but Kyiv was “holding the line”.
• Zelenskyy also said that the circumstances for Ukrainian forces in the southern Zaporizhia region and the eastern Donetsk region were “extremely difficult”.
• According to the Ukrainian military, on Saturday, its soldiers attacked a fuel store located in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region. According to the statement on Telegram, the facility was used to store oil and oil products for the Russian army.

Diplomacy And Politics

• According to witnesses and the media, Ukrainian military recruitment personnel stormed clubs, restaurants, and a music hall in Kyiv. They checked military registration paperwork and detained men who did not comply with the mandatory military duty. It is unprecedented for such attacks to occur in the nation’s capital, according to the observers, and its illustrated how much Ukraine needs recruits. Men in Ukraine between the ages of 25 and 60 are subject to conscription, while these between the ages of 18 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the nation.
• Voting is expected to bring about a change of administration in Lithuania, but other aspects of the country’s policies will likely remain unchanged, such as the EU and NATO members’ strong support for Ukraine and their efforts to strengthen defense.
• In light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that he intended to partially restrict the right of refuge for undocumented migrants, blaming human traffickers and nations like Belarus and Russia of abusing the system.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 960

Combating

• According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, its forces shot down 47 Ukrainian drones over the course of the night, including 17 in the Krasnodar region in the southeast, 16 over the Azov Sea, and 12 over the Lursk border. No immediate reports of casualties were available.
• According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia shot 28 drones at Ukraine, 24 of which were destroyed in the areas of Kherson, Mikolayev, Sumy, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk.
• The fuel storage in the eastern Russian-occupied Luhansk region was struck and set on fire by Ukrainian forces, according to the chief of staff of the country. It provided no information, and Moscow refuted reports of the strike.
• Zhelanne Druge and Ostrivske, two front-line settlements in eastern Ukraine, were reportedly taken by Russian forces, marking the most recent in a succession of territorial victories. The Ukrainian military claims that Ostrivske is located in a location where Russia is concentrating its offensive action, on the eastern banks of the Kurakhove reservior.
• According to regional governor Oleg Kiper, Russian strikes on the Odesa area of southern Ukraine overnight resulted in the deaths of four people including a teenage girl and the injuries of ten more. He added that the attack had demolished a two-story structure and that the victims were a sixteen-year-old girl, a male, and a woman, 43. In the hospital, another woman passed away.
• According to the authorities, one person has died in the Pokrovsk district, where Russian soldiers are advancing, in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, which the Kremlin says is a part of Russia.
• According to Ukrainian police, throughout the past 24 hours, Russian strikes on the eastern part of Kharkiv have resulted in one death and seven injuries.
• Days after the attack in the town of Feodosia, a significant oil terminal on the south coast of the Crimean peninsula, which is seized by Russia, is still burning, according to Russian-installed authorities there.

Diplomacy And Politics

• As a warning to Russia that the West would not give up on Kyiv, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered 1.4 billion euros ($1.53 billion) in additional military funding for Ukraine until end of 2024. Along with Belgium, Denmark, and Norway, more air defense, tanks, combat drones, and artillery are all part of the help package.
• At their meeting in Berlin, the Germany capital, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, expressed optimism that the conflict with Russia will come to a conclusion in 2019.
• During a quick tour of European countries, the Ukrainian leader also met Pope Francis in the Vatican and pleaded for assistance in securing the release of Ukrainians taken captive by Russia. Zelenskyy announced that he had extended an invitation to the Vatican to participate in a meeting on prisoners of war that will take place in Canada later this month.
• According to two European diplomats and a senior EU officials, the European Union plans to slap sanctions on 14 people and organizations connected to Iranian ballistic missile exports to Russia. Previously, diplomats had stated that the European Union was considering taking steps to limit the activities of Iran Air, the country’s airline.
• Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo of the US Treasury Department will meet with senior British officials in London from October 13 to October 15 to discuss expanding sanctions against Russia and utilizing frozen Russian assets.

Courts

• A Russian lady who worked for a tank manufacturing in the Urals was found guilty of treason for selling military intelligence to Ukraine by the Sverdlovsk regional court. A prison colony term of twelve and a half year was imposed upon Viktoria Mukhametova. Danil Mukhametov, her spouse, is facing comparable allegations in a separate trial.
• Two individuals in the vicinity of Moscow were given 16 years each sentence by a military court in Russia for allegedly following the directions of Ukrainian security services and setting fire to operational equipment beside railroad tracks. The two were convicted guilty of “terrorism”, according to the news outlet Ria Novosti.
• CNN journalist Nick Paton Walsh has been ordered to be arrested in absentia and extradited by a Russian court in Kursk for his reporting from Ukrainian-held territory in the Kursk area of Russia. Following Ukraine’s unexpected incursion in August, Moscow initiated multiple criminal cases against Western journalists who had written reportage from Kursk.
• Investigating the death of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna while detained in Russia as a possible war crime, Ukrainian authorities announced on Friday. Following a reporting trip in eastern Ukraine, which is under Russian control, Roshchyna vanished in August of last year. Roshchyna’s death was reported by Reporters without borders on September 19, citing a Russian letter sent to her family.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 959

Combating

• According to Regional Governor Oleh Kiper, the number of fatalities from a Russian ballistic missile strike on port infrastructure in the southern Odesa area of Ukraine has increased to eight, while nine more were injured. A container vessel flying the Panamanian flag was struck by an attack on Wednesday at the port.
• Oleksii Kuleba, the deputy prime minister of Ukraine, stated that Russian has attacked Ukraine’s port infrastructure almost sixty times in the past three months and is stepping up these attacks.
• Russian-guided bomb raids on the southeast city of Zaporizhzia resulted in at least six injuries, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov. 29 structures were also damaged in the incident.
• Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk, reported that a five-story residential building was damaged and set on fire as a result of a Russian drone attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rih.
• The military of Kyiv reported that outnumbered Ukrainian soldiers repulsed Russian troop advances inside the vital city of Toretsk. The Reuters news agency was informed by military spokesman Anastasia Bobovnikova that Russian troops were advancing ahead and “completely erasing” buildings as street fighting broke out in the town perched on a hill.
• Russia claimed to have targeted two Patriot air defense system launchers in central Ukraine with their missiles; while Kiev acknowledged the weapon’s damage, it insisted it was still functional. According to a military blogger from Ukraine, the attack happened near the Dnupropetrovsk region’s Pavlohard.
• About 450 kilometers (280 miles) from the eastern Ukrainian battle line, in the Russian Adygeya region of the North Caucasus, is where the Ukrainian military claimed to have destroyed a munitions dump at an airstrip. The village of Rodnikovyi was evacuated after the drone strike caused a fire, according to Adygeya regional head Murat Kumilov, although no one was hurt.

Diplomacy And Politics

• President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy took a quick tour of Western European cities while describing his “victory plan” to his backers. He met with French Presidential Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in London. On friday morning, he is scheduled to have a meeting with Pope Francis before travelling to Germany to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
• Zelenskyy refuted media claims during his speech in Pars that he was talking with Russia on the conditions of a cease-fire. He informed reporters, “This is not the topic of our discussions”. That is correct.
• Meloni declared in Rome that the next “recovery conference” to aid in the restoration of Ukraine would be held in Italy. Meloni announced that the meeting would be held July 10-11, 2025, in Rome.
• According to a spokesman for Ukraine’s jail of war coordination headquarters, Victoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who vanished in August 2023 while covering events in occupied east Ukraine, passed away in Russian custody. He said that inquiries into the circumstances surrounding her death were ongoing.
• As military spending rises, the Ukrainian parliament authorized the first significant tax increase since Russia’s full scale invasion. The bill imposes measures such as a 25 percent tax on financial businesses, an effective 50 percent tax on bank earnings, and a five percent increase in the war tax paid by civilians from 1.5 percent to 5 percent.
• The defense minister of South Korea made remarks that suggested North Korean soldiers might be fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed them.
• The multinational consumer goods company Unilever left Russia after selling its operations to the Russian producer of household goods, cosmetics, and fragrances, Arnest Group. The sum Arnest paid was not revealed. As per Unilever, its business in Belarus was also included in the acquisition.

Weaponry

• According to an investigation by The Associated Press news agency, Russia has hired roughly 200 young African women to work at a Tatarstan plant that produces drones with Iranian designs for in Ukraine. According to AP, the women were drawn to Russia by a social media campaign that promised a free trip and work-study opportunities in industries like catering and hospitality. However, what they saw when they arrived at the drone factory was in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, which is located approximately 600 miles (or 1,000 kilometers) east of Moscow.
• The German-based Kiel Institute issued a warning that if Donald Trump wins the US election on November 5, 2025, Western Military and financial assistance to Kyiv may be cut in half, to roughly 29 billion euros ($31.6 billion). If elected, Trump has declared he would finish the conflict “in 24 hours”. He hasn’t explained how.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 958

Combating

• Following a Russian ballistic missile attack on the port infrastructure in southern Odesa region of Ukraine, at least six persons were killed and eight injured. The third attack in the area in the last four days, according to Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba, damaged the container ship Shui Spirit, which is flying the flag of Panama.
• The military of Ukraine claimed to have attacked a base where Shahed drones were being kept in the southern Krasnodar region of Russia. According to a General Staff statement, the SBU intelligence service and naval forces worked together to carry out the strike. Russia did not issue an official statement, but emergency services did notice a sizable fire near the suspected bombing site.
• According to Ukraine, the strike also targeted a Russian weapons stockpile in the Bryansk area, which held ammunition for artillery and missile weapons, including those supplied by North Korea. A state of emergency was later proclaimed by Bryansk authorities in response to “detonations of explosive objects”.
• According to the Ministry of Defense, Russian air defense units shot down 47 Ukrainian drones that were aiming at Russia’s western areas. There were no reports of casualties, according to regional officials.
• The villages of Novaya Sorochina and Pokrovsky in the Kursk area were taken by Ukraine in an unexpected attack in August, but Russia’s Defense Ministry declared it had retaken them.

Diplomacy And Politics

• At a summit of leaders from Southeast Europe in Croatia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that there was a “opportunity” to take “decisive action” to end the war by 2025. The president of Ukraine did not explain how or why he thought there was such a chance.
• Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and other European leaders on Thursday. Zelenskyy is pressing his country’s Western allies to grant Ukraine permission to use long-range weapons on military targets located deep inside Russia.
• A proposal to lend Ukraine up to 35 billion euros ($38 billion), secured by assets from the frozen Russian central bank, was agreed by envoys from the European Union.
• President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen claimed that Hungary’s strong connections to Russia were endangering European security. During a debate at the European Parliament with populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, von der Leyen criticized Budapest for its unwillingness to work with other EU members to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. The horrors of Russia’s conflict have been seen by the entire world. Nevertheless, some people continue to attribute the war to the invaded rather than the invader, she added.
• Serhiy Gnezdilov, 24, was detained by Ukrainian investigators for desertion after he left his army unit in protest at the absence of term limits for long serving personnel. Should Gnezdilov be fund guilty, he could spend up to 12 years behind bars.
• A Russian court sentenced former US Marine Trevor Reed, who was freed in a 2022 prisoner swap, to 14.5 years in prison after finding him guilty in absentia of acting as a mercenary for Ukraine. According to investigators, Reed enlisted in the Ukrainian Military in July 2023.
• Yevgeny Mishchenko, an activist, was sentenced to 12 years in a penitentiary colony by a Russian court for allegedly preparing to join the Freedom of Russia Legion, a banned group of Russians that supports Ukraine. Mishchenko was one of a few volunteers watching over a temporary memorial in Moscow for opposition lawmaker Boris Nemtsov, who passed away in 2015. Evidence from a security guard who pretended to be a volunteer at the memorial and recorded talks with Mishchenk served as the foundation for the case.
• According to Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey, the country wants Russia to join the next peace summit, which it hopes to host before the end of the year. During the meeting, he ruled out having direct bilateral talks with Moscow, stating that any talks would probably take place through third party intermediaries.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 957

Combating

• A string of Russian attacks on Kharkiv, in northern Ukraine, resulted in at least two fatalities and over thirty injuries, according to officials. Russian soldiers reportedly launched roughly four guided bombs on Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to Regional Governor Oleh Synuehubov.
• Russia shelled the village of Antonivka in the southern Kherson area of Ukraine, resulting in at least one fatality and five injuries, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
• The last drone returned to Russian territory, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, which shot down eighteen of the nineteen Russian drones that were engaged in a nocturnal attack on the southern Odesa region. Oleh Kiper, the regional governor of Odesa, reported that there were no casualties despite an apartment building catching fire as a result of the drone attack on Chornomorsk.
• In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces advanced to the periphery of the front-line city of Toretsk. The Operational Tactical Group “Luhansk” spokesman, Anastasiia Bobovnikova, stated to the national television of Ukraine that “the situation is unstable, fighting is taking place literally at every entrance [to the city]”.
• The village of Zolota Nyva and Zoryane Pershe, each with a few hundred residents, are in eastern Ukraine, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
• The Defense Ministry further stated that 16 Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defense units throughout the course of the night, with 14 of them taking place over Ukraine’s border in the Belgorod area. It gave no details about the casualties or damage.
• Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun of South Korea stated that it was “highly likely” that six of the nation’s officers perished in a Ukrainian missile attack near Donetsk on October 3 and that North Korean soldiers seemed to be fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.

Diplomacy And Politics

• United States President Joe Biden cancelled a scheduled trip to Germany, throwing the weekend’s gathering of Ukraine’s main Western supporters into doubt. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, was scheduled to address leaders at the Ramstein airfield and present his “victory plan”. Due to Hurricane Milton, which poses a record storm surge threat to Florida, Biden canceled the visit.
• The Russian Federation’s Radiological, chemical, and Biological Defence Troops and its commander, Igor Kirillov, were subjected to sanctions by the United Kingdom on the grounds that they had used chemical weapons in the conflict in Ukraine and that Moscow had employed “cruel and inhumane tactics”.
• Dmytro Chystilin, a dual citizen of Russia and Ukraine who was extradited from Moldova, was detained, according to the Ukrainian SBU security service, and accused of “high treason” and “justification” for Russia’s war against Ukraine. If proven guilty, Chystilin could receive a life sentence.
• To entice individuals to enlist in the Ukrainian conflict, several Russian regions-Belgorod and the oil-rich Siberian region of Khantu-Mansiysk, for example-have offered large wage and bonus increases.
• In an effort to erode EU support for Ukraine, the European Union established a mechanism for implementing penalties against anybody alleged to have participated in cyberattacks or acts of sabotage on behalf of Russia.
• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the closet Russian friend in the EU, said Ukraine could not win the fight against Russian forces on the battlefield, and that a “new strategy” was needed.
• As Moscow strengthens its hold on the internet, Russia’s telecoms authority declared that it was banning the chat app Discord, citing that it was “actively used by criminals” and violating Russian legislation.

Weaponry

• Speaking in his nightly video message, Zelenskyy said he had held a meeting with the Ukraine’s top commanders on the growth of domestic weapons supply. According to him, Ukraine must acquire, use, and produce more modern missiles on the battlefield more quickly.
• NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte urged partners to increase armament supplies, stating that this writer may be the most challenging for Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022. “NATO needs to help Ukraine more and will do so”, newly appointed NATO chief General Rutte stated to reporters last month.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 956

Combating

• Russian shelling on the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk resulted in at least one death and six injuries. The governor of the Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, reported that two children were among the injured and that among the destroyed buildings were six multistory apartment buildings.
• In the second strike on a ship flying the flag of Palau in as many days, a Russian missile attacked a ship in the port of Odesa in a southern Ukraine, killing one port worker and injuring five others, including foreign nationals. Andrii Sybiha, the minister of foreign affairs for Ukraine, denounced the assaults on the two ships. The ship that was targeted on Sunday, according to Ukraine’s Ministry for Restoration, was the Paresa, flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis and carrying 6,000 tones of corn.
• The strategically significant city of Pokrovsk is located near the settlement of Hrodivka in eastern Ukraine, which the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have taken control of.
• An oil station on the Crimean Penisula, which Moscow unlawfully seized and annexed in 2014, was reportedly targeted by Ukrainian forces. There were no casualties reported from the incident at an oil facility in the Black Sea port town of Feodosia, according to Russian-installed authorities in Crimea.
• The Russian minesweeping ship Alexander Obukhov, of the Alexandrit class, was “seriously damaged” in a sabotage operation in the Kaliningrad region of Russia, according to the GRU, the military spy agency of Ukraine. Russia did not immediately respond.
• Ukraine reported that early on Monday, a Russian hypersonic missile had attacked the “area” of the country’s main airbase, Starokostiantyniv. The attack’s potential for causing damage was not disclosed by the air force. Serhii Tyurin, the local governor, reported that no civilians had been injured and that no vital infrastructure had been harmed.
• According to the Ukrainian air force, two Russian Kinzhal missiles were also shot down in the Kyiv area. Three districts of the capital saw the fall of debris, but no significant damage or injuries were reported.
• According to the air force, 32 Russian drones were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, while 37 more were lost on military radars, indicating that electronic warfare weapons had crippled them.

Diplomacy And Politics

• The war has entered “a very important phase”, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Ukraine must “put pressure on Russia in the way that’s necessary for Russia to realize that the war will gain them nothing”. Zelenskyy continued, “Only through strength can we bring peace closer”, in a video statement.
• Following the 72-year-old’s six-year, ten-month jail sentence, the US denounced Russia for refusing US citizen Stephen Hubbard access to diplomatic facilities. Hubbard was captured by Russia in April 2022 and was charged with acting as a “mercenary” for Ukraine.
• Two Italian journalists were ordered to be arrested in absentia by a court in the Kursk region of Russia for their reportage from the Ukrainian occupied area of Kursk. The journalists from Italy’s RAI public broadcaster, Stefanian Battistini and Simone Traini, were ordered to be extradited by the court for “illegally crossing” the border from Ukraine.
• The Reuters news agency was informed by a Ukrainian government source that Ukrainian hackers were responsible for Monday’s massive cyberattack against the Russian state media organization VGTRK.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 949

Combating

• In the southern city of Kherson, which is located on the western bank of the Dnipro river, Russian artillery fire struck a market, resulting in at least six fatalities and three injuries. When they were struck by Russian fire while standing at a municipal bus stop, six additional passengers sustained injuries.
• According to regional governor Ivan Fedorov, Russia attacked residential buildings and infrastructure in the southern Zaporizhia region with aerial bombs, resulting in at least one fatality and thirty-two injuries.
• The military of Ukraine claimed to have shot down 29 of the 32 Iranian-made drones that were used in the Russian invasion of the country’s northeast, center, and south.
• The industrial Donbas region of eastern Ukraine’s Russian troops have reportedly reached the center of Vuhledar, according to Vadym Filashkin, the governor of the Donetsk region. The town, which is elevated and has been leveled by months of fighting, is unclear to be in their control. According to Filashkin, there are currently 107 citizens living in Vuhledar, compared to 14,000 residents there before to the conflict.
• The state-run RIA news agency announced that Russia has taken control of two other front-line villages: Vyshneve in the northeastern Kharkiv region and Krutyi Yar in the Donetsk region.
• On Defenders Day, the nation of Ukraine observed its third national moment of silence in remembrance of the fallen soldiers since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Official figures on the number of war deaths in Ukraine are not disclosed. It is estimated that tens of thousands of soldiers perished.

Diplomacy And Politics

• According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, abuse and torture by Russian forces against Ukrainian POWs was “pervasive” during their detention. The team also discovered that while some Russian POWs were subjected to torture or other cruel treatment by Ukraine during their early detention, these acts ceased as soon as the detainees were transferred to authorized facilities for incarceration. “It’s different in scope and scale” how Russian and Ukrainian POWs were mistreated, according to mission commander Danielle Bell.
• General Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor for Ukraine, stated that Kyiv was looking into the deaths of sixteen Ukrainian POWs who had surrendered were taken prisoner by Russian forces on the eastern front line. The males looked to have been shot dead in an incident that happened close to Pokrovsk, according to Kostin.
• 39 persons, including nine teenagers, were reportedly held by Russia in several Russian regions on charges that they had supported “Ukrainian terrorist” organizations.
• Three journalists from independent news organizations that Russia had jailed were freed to continue interviewing attendees of a Red Square event commemorating the takeover of four regions of Ukraine two years prior. Because they were reportedly using “foul language” in a public place, the three were fined 500 roubles ($5) apiece.
• Ukraine is the “top priority” for Mark Rutte, the newly appointed Secretary-General of NATO. Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, took office in that capacity on Tuesday.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 948

Combating

• After meeting with his senior military commanders for about two and a half hours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that the situation on the front lines of the battle was “very, very difficult”. Zelenskyy stated that in order for Ukraine’s forces to accomplish their goals in the upcoming weeks, they must move swiftly and forcefully.
• On the eastern front line, the Russian claimed to have taken the settlement of Nelipivka. According to government figures, the population was little under 1,000 prior to the conflict starting in 2022. The General Staff of Ukraine claimed that Russian forces had carried out ten attacks in the around the settlement, but they did not acknowledge that the village had changed hands.
• In the early hours of Monday, Russia launched multiple waves of drones against Kyiv. According to the Ukrainian military, during the five-hour attack, the drones were either neutralized by electronic warfare or destroyed by defense systems. Reports of damage or injuries were absent.

Diplomacy And Politics

• By 2025, Russia plans to have spent 13.5 trillion roubles ($145 billion) on defense, a 25% increase. According to draft budget documents, the move raises the defense expenditures to 6.3 percent of GDP, the highest level since the end of the cold war.
• Alexei Dyumin, a 52-year-old former bodyguard, was promoted to the Security Council by Russian President Vladimir Putin along with a new group of officials entrusted with managing the defense sector and wartime command centers.
• Putin reiterated that Moscow would achieve all of the objectives it has set for itself in Ukraine in a video address to commemorate two years after Russia’s purported takeover of four areas of Ukraine.
• According to rights organization OVD-info, three journalists for independent Russian media outlets Republic and SOTAvision were detained in Moscow outside of a performance honoring the annexations. The group also stated that the three has their phones seized and will face charges of “hooliganism”.
• According to Russia’s RIA news agency, 72 year old US citizen Stephen James Hubbard entered a guilty plea in a Moscow court to allegations that he had fought Russia as a mercenary during the conflict in Ukraine. Hubbard’s sister told the Reuters news agency that he was too old to fight, casting doubt on his alleged confession.
• In connection with a car explosion in the Nizhny Novgorod region in 2023 that left nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin gravely injured and his driver dead, a Russian court sentenced Alexander Permyakov to life in prison. News reports say Permyakov was from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, formerly fought with the Russian-backed separatists there and was a vehement advocate of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
• In the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, authorities apprehended a 24 year old lady and her 40 year old neighbor on suspicious of receiving payment from Russia to set military vehicles on fire. Later, the AFP news agency was informed by Ukraine’s National Police that ” more than 200″ such crimes had been reported in various locations this year.
• Mark Rutte, the former prime minister of the Netherlands, will assume the NATO secretary general position on Tuesday. Jens Stoltenberg, who led the Western alliance through a tumultuous ten years that included Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, will be replaced by him.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Attacks by Russian drones on a medical facility in Sumy, Ukraine, claimed eight lives.

According to Ukrainian officials, at least eight people have perished in two separate Russian drone attacks on a medical facility in the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine.

According to Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, there was a second attack while patients and personnel were being evacuated after the first one on Saturday morning claimed one life.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed on his Telegram channel that eleven people had been hurt when Russia used Shahed drones to attack the hospital.

Sumy is located just across the border from the Kursk area of Russia, where Kyiv launched a surprise attack on August 6 with the stated goal of establishing a “buffer zone” within Russia.

According to regional prosecutors, the hospital housing 86 patients and 38 staff members was the target of the first attack in Sumy on Saturday, which occurred at roughly 7:35 a.m. (04:35 GMT).

Prosecutors added that when rescuers and police were assisting and removing patients at the scene, the second attack occurred at approximately 8:25 am (05:25 GMT).

Dobrobat, a volunteer organization that assists with home restoration, posted on Facebook that when the second attack occurred, its workers were already on the scene.

It uploaded a video that showed sirens wailing, thick smoke, explosions, and people running for cover.

A volunteer, recording himself at the incident with his phone,
stated, “People are just lying on the street dead.”

“Plan of victory”
The air force of Ukraine claimed to have shot down two of
the four missiles and 69 of the 73 Russian drones that were
launched overnight. About fifteen drones were shot down
above the Ukrainian capital and its surroundings, according
to Kyiv city authorities.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday that
during the course of the night, air defenses shot down
four Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod and one over the
Kursk regions, all of which border Ukraine.

Zelenskyy traveled to the US on Thursday in an effort to
garner support for Ukraine. He met with US President Joe
Biden and Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala
Harris to discuss the specifics of his “victory plan,”
which he has been referring to in recent weeks.

In the past, he had referred to the five-point plan as a
“bridge” that would put Ukraine in a strong enough position
to pressure Russia to terminate the conflict on Kyiv’s
terms.

Prior to the conference, Biden declared that Ukraine will
get an extra $8 billion in military assistance, some of
which would be Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) ammunition
intended to “enhance Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities.”

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 946

Combating

• As a result of two straight Russian attacks on a medical facility in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, at least six people have died, according to Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s interior minister. Parts of the facility were damaged and one person was killed in the initial attack. He claimed that the Russians hit again as people were being evacuated, killing five more.
• The air force of Ukraine claimed to have shot down 69 out of 73 drones following a Russian attack that took place overnight and involved two ballistic and two cruise missiles. The military reported that about fifteen of the assault drones were destroyed in Kyiv and its environs.
• According to regional governor Serhiy Lysak, a five-story building holding the regional police department was struck by a Russian missile attack in the cental Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, resulting in at least three fatalities and six injuries.
• Odesa regional overnor Oleg Kiper announced in a statement that three persons have died and eleven others, including a toddler, have been injured in a Russian drone strike on the vital port of Izmail, Ukraine, on the Danube River.
• In the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where its soldiers have been advancing toward the crucial Pokrovsk supplies hub, Russia claims to have taken control of the village Marynivka.
• The General Staff of Ukraine stated that Marynivka was one of around a dozen locations were Russian forces has “received a fierce rebuff”, but did neither confirm or deny the village’s capture. According to the report, there are still two ongoing Russian attacks in the area, with the hardest fighting taking place in the Kurakhove and Pokrovsk areas.

Diplomacy And Politics

• During a private meeting in New York, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave Donald Trump the “victory plan” for the conflict in Ukraine. Zelenskyy received plaudits from Trump, but he also claimed to have a strong rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• Despite Zelenskyy’s rejection of the effort, China and Brazil led a group of 17 developing nations that met in New York to support a plan to put an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the leaders talked about the necessity of preventing assaults on nuclear power facilities, avoiding the use of WMD, and preventing the war from getting worse.
• According to Nabila Massrali, a spokesman for the European Union, reports that Russia is creating an attack drone program supported by China for the conflict in Ukraine are “deeply concerning”. A branch of a state-owned weaponry corporation in Russia is said to have conducted flight testing of the new drone model in China.
• Cho Tae-yul, the foreign minister of South Korean, told the UN General Assembly that Russia is trading illegal weapons with North Korea. He reiterated claims made by the US, Ukraine, and other independent analysts that Pyongyang is providing rockets and missiles to Moscow in exchange for financial and military support.
• Dmytro Lubinets, the ombudsman for Ukraine, said that nine children wgo were removed from an orphanage in Kherson to Russia have returned home with the assistance of Qatar serving as a middleman. The minor were between the ages of 13 and 17, and a male who was 20 years old was also involved in the procedure.
• Putin’s close adviser Nikolai Patrushev has charged that the West is attempting to cut off Russia’s European outpost of Kaliningrad by limiting the flow of commodities there via train and road. Russia’s Baltic Fleet is based at Kaliningrad, an exclave on the Baltic coast that is encircled by Poland and Lithuania, two members of the EU and NATO.
• Twelve journalists have been the subjects of investigation by Russia’s FSB security service, which announced that it was looking into two Australian and one Romanian journalist for reporting in areas of the country’s Kursk region that were under Ukrainian military occupation. It doesn’t seem like the three journalists-who may spend up to five years in prison-are in Russia.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 945

Combating

• The military of Ukraine reported that during an offensive that lasted for hours on Wednesday and into Thursday, Russian forces fired six missiles and 78 attack drones over several districts. It said that 66 drones and four missiles were downed by air defenses. Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was the air defenses. Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was the aim of the attack, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
• Officials reported that ten persons were hurt in a guided-bomb attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, while one woman was killed in a missile strike on Odesa, a port on the Black Sea in Ukraine.
• According to Regional Governor Vyacheslav Prokudin, Russian forces shelled a town west of the Ukrainian-held city of Kherson repeatedly, resulting in at least one fatality and one injury.
• In the northeastern Kharkiv village of Slatyne, a local official stated that rescuers were looking fir anyone who may have been omjured after a fire started by a Russian missile bombardment destroyed six homes.
• In the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, Ukrainsk was taken over by Russian forces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Before the conflict, the settlement, which is located around 30 kilometers ( 18 miles) west of the city of Donetsk, had a population of over 10,000.

Diplomacy and Politics

• President Volodymyr Zelenksyy of Ukraine and President Joe Biden of the United States met in the White House. In the conflict that broke out when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Biden pledged that the US would “stand by” Ukraine and that Kyiv would “prevail”. Additionally, he declared that a high-level summit of Ukraine’s 50 allies will take place in Germany the following month.
• Additionally, Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, met with Zelenskyy and pledged her “unwavering” support for Ukraine. She also criticized Donald Trump, her Republican opponent, for what she claimed to be his “surrender” of Ukraine policy. Trump, who has stated that Russia and Ukraine ought to have “made a deal”, announced that he will be meeting Zelenskyy on Friday in New York.
• On the fringes of the UN General Assembly, the foreign minister of China and Ukraine met. They talked on how to bring about ” a comprehensive, fair and lasting peace for Ukraine based on the UN Charter”, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
• Prior to this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed Ukraine. Relations between China and Russia will “move forward” according to Wang, and the talks have been “constructive”, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
• Russia’s decision to expand its nuclear doctrine, according to kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, is a “signal” to Western nations that strikes on Russia will have repercussions.
• The Russian security service reported that it had detained six individuals, three of whom were juveniles, for allegedly following orders from Ukrainian intelligence to set fire to communications and railroad infrastructure.
• According to Qatari officials, 13 youngsters would be exchanged between Russia and Ukraine as a result of the Gulf state’s mediation. Four youngsters will travel to Russia, while nine children and teenagers, together with a 19-year-old sister, will be reunited with their family in Ukraine, according to the officials.
• Following their conviction for spying for Russia, a Polish court sentenced a 30-year-old citizen of Belarus and a 23-year-old Ukrainian national to prison, according to state news agency PAP. The two men were among 16 nationals of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia who were taken into custody as a result of an investigation into a spy ring that was gathering data on the movement of military hardware into Ukraine.
• Senior advisor to populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, Blazs Orban, stated in a newspaper that supported the government that Ukraine’s response to Russia’s invasion of its sovereign land was “irresponsible’. Orban, who has no related to the prime minister, stated that considering Moscow’s violent suppression of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, Hungary most likely would not have defended itself if the same situation had arisen. Orban’s remarks stoked fury on Hungary’s social media.

Weaponry

• In an effort to “win this war” and “enhance Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities”, Biden pledged over $8 billion in new military aid for the country of Ukraine, including Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) hardware.
• Gabrielius Landsbergis, the foreign minister of lithuania, told the Reuters news agency that Kyiv should be free to deploy the weaponry it has been handed and expressed the hope that Kyiv will be able to target locations further into Russia with the newest weapons that the US is delivering.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 944

Combating

• According to regional governor Vadym Filashkin, there were at least two fatalities and nineteen injuries from a bombing strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk that was guided by Russia.
• Not far from the town of Vuhledar, a longstanding Ukrainian bastion with 14,000 residents prior to the conflict, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that its forces had taken control of the Ukrainian towns of Hostre and Hryhorivka in the eastern Donetsk region. Eight armed conflicts have occurred in the Vuhledar area, according to a late-evening dispatch from the Ukrainian military’s General Staff. Russian reconnaissance groups were in Vuhledar, according to the region’s governor, Filashkin, although the town had not been taken by Russian forces.
• During a nighttime attack, the Ukrainian air force claimed to have shot down four out of every right missiles and 28 out of 32 Russian drones. Oleh Kiper, the regional governor of Odesa, stated that four of the missiles were directed towards the city’s southern area. Two trucks also sustained damage, and one struck an open area, starting in fire. There were no confirmed casualties.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Over a year and a half after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine asked international leaders to support a “real, just peace” at the UN General Assembly. China and Brazil were specifically called out by Zelenskyy for what he described as “half-hearted settlement plans”, alleging that they are serving their own interests “at Ukraine’s expense”. According to Zelenskyy’s peace initiative, Russia must leave the occupied region of Ukraine and provide war crimes prosecution.
• According to US President Joe Biden, the US will unveil plans to strengthen its backing for Ukraine and aid in its recovery from the harm caused by Russia’s invasion. Later on Thursday, Biden and Zelenskyy are scheduled to meet at the White House.
• 600,000 Russian soldiers have been “killed or wounded” in their invasion of Ukraine, according to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was making his first speech at the UNGA. Starmer also questioned how Russia could “show its face” at the UN after treating its own people like “bits of meat to fling into the grinder”.
• A “fatal mistake” would be made if Russia were to be “forced” into peace, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. In response to Zelenskyy’s remarks on Tuesday that Russia needs this statement. Referring to the conflict in Moscow’s official terminology, Peskov reaffirmed that Russia would only discuss peace once its “stability is ensured and the objectives of the special military operation are fulfilled”.
• Donald Trump, the former US president who is running for re-election in November, stated that when Ukraine’s neighbor invaded it, it ought to have made concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin rather than starting a war. During a rally in North Carolina, the Republican presidential candidate asserted that even “the worst deal would’ve been better than what we have now”.

Weaponry

• Putin said that Moscow would view any attack by a non-nuclear nation backed by a nuclear state as a joint attack by both, lowering the bar for a Russian nuclear response. Putin made no mention of Ukraine, which is pleading with its partners in the West to be granted permission to deploy their conventional long-range weapons to strike military targets located deep within Russia.
• $375 million in fresh military aid, including HIMARS rocket launchers, Javelin missiles, and light tactical vehicles, was announced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for Ukraine. The weapons would be used as soon as feasible, Blinked promised. Additionally, it is anticipated that the Biden administration will inform Congress on Thursday of its intension to provide Ukraine with an extra $5.5 billion in military air over the next several months.
• IEMZ According to Reuters, which cited two sources from a European intelligence agency and project documents, Kupol, a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned arms company Almaz-Antey, has established a weapons program in China to develop and produce long-range attack drones for use in the war against Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China said Reuters that Beijing has stringent regulations on the sale of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs), or drones, and that it was unaware of any such project. The Russian Defense Ministry, Kupol, and Almaz-Antey did not reply to the news agency’s requests for comment.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 943

Combating

• 34 people were hurt and at least three dead after Russia launched a guided bombing attack on an apartment building in Kharkiv. The second-biggest city in Ukraine is located in the northeast and is near the Russian border.
• A Russian bombardment on Zaporizhzhia, a city in the south that has been the subject of several strikes in recent days, left at least seven people injured.
• As for Russia, regional governor of Zaporizhia Ivan Fedorov charged that the country was “hunting civilians” following the death of a man in a village at the hands of a Russian first-person-view (FPV) drone.
• Donetsk regional prosecutors reported that a Russian artillery bombardment on a residential area in the eastern town of Pokrovsk resulted in the deaths of at least two persons.
• According to Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin on Telegram, a Russian guided bomb strike on two unidentified infrastructure facilities in Kostiantynivka resulted in one fatality and two injuries.
• Russian war bloggers and official media said that Russian forces started invading the town of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine, which was home to more than 14,000 residents prior to the conflict. The military of Ukraine reported that four of the eight attacks by Russian forces on the town and two neighboring settlements had been repelled.
• A Russian attack on Ukraine’s center area of Poltava damaged energy infrastructure and cut off power to 20 communities.
• According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia attacked the nation overnight on Monday and Tuesday with 81 drones and four missiles. According to the air force, it downed 66 drones and lost sight of another 13 in various parts of Ukraine.
• According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, its air defense troops shot down 13 Ukrainian drones, six over the districts of Kursk and Belgorod and one over Bryansk.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, informed the fifteen-member United Nations Security Council that Moscow had to be coerced into making peace in order to put an end to Russia’s war against his country. Zelenskyy declared that Moscow was the “sole aggressor” in the conflict and charged that Iran and North Korea were Russia’s “de-facto accomplices” in supplying the country with weapons.
• China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken got into a heated argument during the meeting when Blinken claimed that China was giving Russia technologies that were enabling Russia “to rebuild, to restock, to ramp up its war machine.” Wang denied the charges. “I want to be very clear that any action to place the blame for the Ukraine issue on China, or to attack and demonize China, is reckless and will not work,” he said to the council.
• Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva supported China’s and Brazil’s idea for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to settle the conflict during his speech at the UN General Assembly. De-escalating the situation and resuming direct communication are called for in the six-point plan, but Russia is not required to back down. The concept has already been rejected by Zelenskyy as “destructive.”
• According to Sergii Marchenko, the minister of finance for Ukraine, the nation would spend $24 billion, or 2.22 trillion hryvnia, on “national security and defense” by 2025. This amount accounts for approximately 26% of the GDP of Ukraine and 61% of the total budget of the government.
• In 2025, Russia announced plans to increase budget spending by 9% to 41.5 trillion roubles ($446.2 billion). The priority will remain on military demands, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
• New regulations enabling the army to recruit defendants on trial have been adopted by Russian lawmakers. According to the State Duma, criminal procedures would be halted while the defendant was serving in the armed forces and would cease if they were awarded a state prize or were released under normal conditions, like being injured in battle.

Weaponry

• Approximately 60% of the foreign components discovered in Russian weaponry on Ukrainian battlefields, according to Ukraine’s presidential adviser Vladyslav Vlasiuk, were shipped to Russia through China. In addition to serving as a transit channel for Western goods, Vlasiuk claimed that China was also providing Russia. He pointed out that crucial components for drones, missiles, and surveillance systems came from the US, the Netherlands, Japan, and Ireland.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 942

Combating

• The latest in a string of Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia, in southeast Ukraine, resulted in at least one fatality and five injuries, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov. Russian assaults on the city during the course of Sunday night and early in the day injured at least 23 people.
• Three people were killed and two injured, according to Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, when the settlement of Arkhangelskoe, which is roughly five kilometers (three miles) from the Ukrainian border, was shelled by the Ukrainians.
• Russia’s Foreign Ministry said at least 56 civilians had been killed and 266 injured in the seven weeks since Ukraine began its surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. According to Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Ukraine does not target civilians and adheres to international humanitarian law. He pleaded with Russia to grant access to the Red Cross and UN so they can confirm the situation.

Diplomacy And Politics

• “Determinate action” by the US at this time, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, might expedite the end of Russian aggression against Ukraine. While in the US, Zelenskyy is attempting to obtain authorization to use longer-range missiles supplied by the West against Russian military targets. After meeting with a bipartisan group from the US Congress, he was addressing. On Thursday, he will meet with President Joe Biden.
• According to a panel established by the UN Human Rights Council, doctors in one jail were even complicit in what the inquiry described as “torture,” with Russian prisons purposefully refusing medical attention to Ukrainian inmates. The chair of the commission, Erik Mose, informed the council that torture was now a “common and acceptable practice” and that Russian officials were using it “with a sense of impunity.” Testimonies from former Ukrainian inmates at the Olenivka prison in Russian-occupied east Ukraine served as the basis for Mose’s information.
• The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, Mariana Katzarova, informed reporters in Geneva that a tightening “state-sponsored system of fear and punishment” has made the country’s human rights situation “much worse” during the past year. According to Katzarova, the state of prisons had gotten worse and there were more and more arbitrary arrests. She stated that there are currently about 1,300 political prisoners in Russia.
• Katzarova added that there was proof that, upon their return from the front lines, Russian prisoners who had their sentences reduced or were pardoned in order to fight in Ukraine had committed crimes including rape and murder. Roughly 170,000 violent offenders with violent convictions have been enlisted to fight in Ukraine.
• Russia and Ukraine engaged in a protracted legal battle at The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) concerning rights to coastal waters surrounding the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Weaponry

• The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven major democracies will talk about enabling Ukraine to employ long-range missiles provided by the West to strike deep within Russian territory, according to European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 941

Combating

• The number of casualties from a Russian air strike on Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, increased to 21, involving an eight-year-old child. According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, Russia targeted “an ordinary residential building” with glide bombs. According to Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov, two of the injured were critically hurt and many were asleep when the incident occurred. The attack caused damage to eighteen structures, according to Kharkiv’s city council.
• According to regional prosecutors, a Russian air strike on homes in the city of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine trapped one woman under the debris and injured two of her neighbors.
• According to local governor Vadym Filashkin and the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy, Russian forces shelled a mine west of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, resulting in the deaths of two miners and injuries to another.
• In the southern Kherson region, Russian assaults resulted in at least six casualties. Regional authorities reported that two of them sustained injuries in an attack by a Russian drone on the city of Kherson.
• According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia fired two missiles and 80 Shahed drones toward Ukraine on Sunday night and into Sunday morning. According to the statement, six drones were lost on the spot as a result of electronic warfare countermeasures, while air defenses shot down 71 drones.
• In Russian-occupied Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, a firefighter was murdered and two of his colleagues were injured in an attack by a Ukrainian drone, according to Moscow.
• Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov of Russia’s Belgorod area, which borders Ukraine, reported that at least 12 people were injured in Ukrainian shelling, including a local official and members of a volunteer self-defense group.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Zelenskyy landed in the US, where he will meet with President Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and other political contenders to give his “victory plan” of peace solutions. On his first day in the nation, he went to the Pennsylvanian plant that makes 155mm artillery shells, the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant.
• The main organization for chess, the International Chess Federation (FIDE), turned down a readmission application from Kyrgyzstan for Russia and Belarus, but it will take into consideration permitting children under 12 or those with disabilities to compete in events. When Moscow started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the two nations were kicked out of FIDE.

Weaponry

• According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Kyiv is in negotiations with European allies to acquire Swedish-manufactured Gripen and European Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. Umerov stated that agreements had already been signed for the supply of French Mirage planes and US-built F16s.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 940

Combating

• Russian soldiers struck a multistory building in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, reportedly injuring at least 12 people, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov. He continued by saying that rescue efforts were underway. Oleh Syniehubov, the regional governor, reported that one of the injured was a youngster.
• In an announcement that demonstrated its increasing ability to attack targets deep into Russia, Ukraine claimed to have attacked two Russian ammunition stockpiles throughout the course of the previous night in the Krasnodar and Tver areas.
• According to the regional governor, two persons were murdered by a Russian drone strike in the Ukrainian town of Nikopol.
• One person was killed by a Russian artillery strike in Kurakhove, one of the hubs of Russia’s sluggish push across the Donetsk area of Ukraine, according to regional prosecutors.
• Authorities in the Sumy area of Ukraine said that Shostka’s energy infrastructure was targeted by Russian planes. No casualties were reported right away.
• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Ukraine launched 15 drones overnight that were aimed toward the southern Rostov region as well as the provinces of Kursk, Astrakhan, Belgorod, and Voronezh. These drones were shot down by Russian air defense troops. There were no casualty reports.

Diplomacy And Politics

• According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, the provision of necessary equipment and authorization to use it would determine whether or not Kyiv’s war with Russia would cease. He declared that his meetings in the US the next week were “critical” to guaranteeing Ukraine’s defense capability.
• The process amounts to “fraud,” according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who also stated that Moscow was prepared to discuss “truly serious proposals” that take into account the “situation on the ground.” Russia will not participate in any follow-up to the Swiss-organized “peace summit” held in June.
• According to Zelenskyy, early September saw a rise in military backing from Ukraine’s allies. The commander of Ukraine, whose army is fighting to halt Russian soldiers’ push east, continued, “We can feel the difference.”
• Zelenskyy rejected a peace proposal that China and Brazil had put up for Ukraine earlier this year, claiming it was too general and lacked clear steps or actions.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 939

Combating

• A Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa resulted in four injuries. According to Governor Oleh Kiper, additional damages included damage to a civilian vessel flying the flag of Antigua.
• According to the Ukrainian air force, one out of every four Russian missiles and 61 out of 70 attack drones were destroyed in 13 different Ukrainian districts.
• The BBC and the independent Russian news site Mediazona report that since the full-scale invasion started in February 2022, some 70,112 Russian soldiers have lost their lives in Ukraine. The death toll was recorded using publicly accessible data, including government declarations, media releases and death notifications, announcements on social media, and gravestones in Russian cemeteries. According to the BBC, the “actual number is believed to be considerably higher.”
• Russia will retake control of the Kursk region “in a timely manner,” according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who did not specify when this would happen. On August 6, Ukraine unexpectedly crossed the border and seized large areas of Kursk.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Amid worries about Russian spying, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine outlawed the use of the Telegram messaging app on official devices used by important workers, military personnel, and government officials.
• President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement while in Kiev that the EU will lend Ukraine up to 35 billion euros ($39 billion), supported by proceeds from Russian assets that had been blocked, to help the nation “keep warm” during the third winter of hostilities with Russia.
• Russell Bentley, 64, a US citizen living in Donetsk under Russian occupation who was discovered dead in April, is accused by Russia of having been tortured and killed by four of its soldiers stationed in occupied Ukraine. Bentley had long been a Russian ally. According to his wife, he was kidnapped and murdered by Russian forces.
• According to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Norway will boost its civilian aid to Ukraine by five billion kroner ($475 million) this year and prolong it for three more years, until 2030.
• Leading Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin shouldn’t be permitted to prevail in the conflict in Ukraine after being freed from prison in a well-publicized prisoner swap earlier this year.

Weaponry

• According to two senior officials who spoke to the Reuters news agency, the US is getting ready to provide $375 million in military aid to Ukraine. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the aid package is due to be unveiled next week and includes patrol boats, extra ammo for high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, spare parts, and other weapons.
• Italy will supply Ukraine another Samp-T antimissile system to “protect hospitals, schools, and universities,” according to Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that during a “emotional” conversation, key Ukrainian authorities, including the foreign and defense ministers as well as senior military commanders, decided that the nation must increase its domestic weapon manufacture and speed up its output.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 938

Combating

• Russia bombed a nursing facility in the northeastern city of Sumy, resulting in at least one death and thirteen injuries, according to the military authority of the area.
• Additionally, Russia targeted electricity infrastructure in the northeast, temporarily disrupting supplies, according to Ukrenergo, the national grid operator of Ukraine.
• Russian airstrikes on the Zaporizhia area of Ukraine resulted in the death of an elderly woman and the injuries of two other individuals, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov. He said that in the preceding twenty-one hours, Russian soldiers had fired the area 161 times, causing damage to residential houses and infrastructure.
• The 42 Russian drones and one of the four missiles used in the strikes on Thursday were all shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.
• According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia’s capacity for attack on eastern Ukraine has decreased as a result of Ukraine’s surprise push into the Kursk border region in early August, which forced around 40,000 Russian forces to retreat from the area. The situation on the eastern front is still “extremely challenging,” Zelenskyy continued.
• The settlement of Georgievka, which is located in eastern Ukraine around 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, was allegedly taken over by Russia.

Diplomacy And Politics

• International humanitarian law was most likely broken by Russian airstrikes on Ukraine’s power generating, transmission, and distribution infrastructure, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).
• When she visits Kiev on Friday, European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen is anticipated to make an announcement on additional funding for Ukraine’s energy requirements totaling 160 million euros ($179 million). The majority of the funding is anticipated to come from Russian assets that the EU has blocked since Moscow’s invasion in 2022.
• The trial of 18-year-old Daria Kozyreva, who displayed a poem from 19th-century Ukraine on a statue as a protest against the invasion by Moscow, took place in Saint Petersburg. If proven guilty, she could spend up to five years in prison for “discrediting the Russian army.”
• A 19-year-old student was imprisoned for nearly two months in the far-eastern Primorye region of Russia for “publicly justifying” an outlawed Ukrainian paramilitary group online.
• A local programmer is charged with treason in the Tyumen area of Russia after it is alleged that they received directions from an unidentified “foreign organization.”
• The top editor of the daily Novaya Gazeta, Kirill Martynov, who was exiled, was also charged with felony in Russia for organizing a group that was deemed “undesirable.” In June of last year, Moscow designated Novaya Gazeta Europe, which is based outside of Russia, as “undesirable.”
• Zelenskyy will hold separate meetings with US President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris on September 26, according to the White House. The two will “highlight their steadfast dedication to support Ukraine until it wins this war,” according to a statement from Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
• Zelenskyy will also meet Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, according to a statement from his office. The Trump campaign would not immediately provide confirmation.

Weaponry

• According to President Vladimir Putin, Russia is producing roughly 1.4 million drones this year, having increased manufacturing by a factor of ten.
• Germany is expected to authorize an additional $450 million ($400 million) in military aid to Ukraine, as stated in a Ministry of Finance letter obtained by Reuters and AFP. The money, which is extra to the approximately eight billion euros ($8.9 billion) allocated for Ukraine this year, would be used to purchase weapons and equipment, such as drones, fighting vehicles, and ammunition.
• A nonbinding resolution was passed by the European Parliament urging EU nations to permit Ukraine to utilize weaponry supplied by the West to attack military targets within Russia.
• Following the decision, Putin’s close ally and speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, threatened nuclear war on Western nations if they sanctioned the use of the weapons.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 937

Combating

• According to regional authorities, there was an attack by Russia on Kropyvnytskyi, the central city, resulting in the death of at least one person and injuries to a 90-year-old lady.
• The Russian air force fired three guided air missiles that missed their targets, according to the Ukrainian air force, which also claimed to have shot down 46 of the 52 drones that Moscow had deployed against the country.
• Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military administration in Kursk, informed the AFP news agency that Russia’s counteroffensive to recover Ukrainian-occupied territory in the Kursk region had been “stopped.” Russia is making an attempt to reclaim land that Ukraine has taken since its unexpected border incursion on August 6.
• According to Ukraine, it hit an armaments facility in the western Tver area of Russia, igniting a major fire that caused the evacuation of Toropets, a small town some 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of Moscow. According to the Russian Ministry of Health, the incident caused at least 13 injuries.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, declared that his country has “fully prepared” its “victory plan” to end the conflict with Russia and that he would talk about it with US President Joe Biden during his visit to the US later this month.

• Zelenskyy will address the 15-member UN Security Council on Tuesday when world leaders gather in New York for the organization’s yearly meetings, according to Slovenia, which is now in charge of the body.

• The defense ministers of nine nations on NATO’s eastern flank demanded a coordinated response to Russian drones and missiles repeatedly breaching their airspace with the aim of hitting Ukraine.

• Major General Denis Putilov, in charge of the armored car service for the Central Military District, was detained by Russia on suspicion of accepting a bribe of 10 million roubles ($108,000). This arrest is the most recent in a line of ones connected to suspected corruption in the defense industry.

Weaponry

• Washington wants more specific details about how Kyiv intends to employ the long-range missiles supplied by the West, which it claims are essential for strikes deep within Russia, and how such weapons would fit into its larger war strategy, US officials told The Associated Press news agency.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 936

Combating

• According to regional governor Ivan Fedorov, Russian bombardment on the town of Komyshuvakha in southeast Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region resulted in at least two fatalities and five injuries.
• According to Regional Governor Volodymyr Artiukh, Russia fired at least four missiles targeting energy facilities in the northeastern city of Sumy, disrupting supply to almost 281,000 people. 34 out of 51 Russian drones that were aimed at five different locations of the country were reported down by the Ukrainian Air Force.
• In the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine, the town of Ukrainsk was taken over by Russian forces, according to reports from pro-Russian war bloggers and the state-run news agency RIA. In its evening report, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff simply stated that Ukrainsk was one of several sites under Russian bombardment, not that Russia had really taken control of the city. According to the report, 34 assaults had been reported close to Pokrovsk, a strategically significant town.
• With five further efforts by Ukrainian forces to breach its border and enter the Kursk region, Russia claimed to have thwarted them, increasing the total number of border incursions in the last six days to 26. On August 6, Ukraine unexpectedly invaded Kursk, seizing large portions of Russian territory.
• Russia claimed to have shot down six Ukrainian drones that were aimed at several parts of western Russia, including Bryansk and Smolensk, which are close to the Belarusian border. Governors in the area reported no casualties or damage. Transportation, electricity, and military infrastructure are deemed essential to Moscow’s war endeavors, according to Kyiv.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken was informed on aspects of a Ukrainian strategy to pressure Russia to stop the war while he was in Kiev last week, according to Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the US State Department.
• In a meeting with the visiting chief of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Russia’s foreign minister said that Ukraine had violated international humanitarian law “numerous times,” “including in the context of treatment of civilians and prisoners of war.” All states must “fulfill their obligations under international humanitarian law,” including visiting prisoners of war, according to ICRC Chief Mirjana Spoljaric.
• In the most recent criminal inquiry since Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Prosecutor General’s Office in Ukraine announced it was looking into the possible Russian execution of a Ukrainian soldier who was discovered dead with a blade in his body. The town of Novohrodivka in the east is said to be the scene of the most recent incident.
• Meeting with Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s top security official, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared his nation’s commitment to strengthening its connections with Russia in order to offset Western sanctions, according to official media. The United States of America is worried that Iran is giving Moscow missiles to use in Ukraine. Iran has refuted reports that it has sent Russia ballistic missiles.
• According to the prosecutor general of Ukraine, a worker in the country’s defense industry who gathered secret military data and gave it to Russia received a 15-year prison sentence. The man who allegedly gave confidential information to a Russian Defense Ministry intermediary regarding the outcomes of artillery and rocket attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding area was not identified by the prosecution.
• An accused Ukrainian agent who tried to place explosives beneath the vehicle of a senior defense industry executive in the Sverdlovsk region of Ukraine was shot and killed, according to Russia’s FSB security service. The man was unnamed by the FSB.
• RusNews, the website Maria Ponomarenko worked for, reports that the 46-year-old Siberian journalist, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for criticizing the conflict in Ukraine, has gone on a hunger strike.
• Following an appeal by the prosecution, Yuri Kokhovets, a 38-year-old Russian man found guilty of criticizing the crisis in Ukraine during a street interview in July 2022, received a harsher punishment. Instead of five years of hard labor, he will now serve five years in prison, according to official media.
• Russia retaliated against Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, after the corporation removed RT and other state-run Russian media off its sites. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, told reporters that Meta had disgraced itself and that the decision was “unacceptable.”

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 931

Combating

• In a statement published on the messaging app Telegram, the Ukrainian Air Force claimed to have shot down 24 out of 26 drones launched by Russia during the course of the previous night across five locations.
• Russia’s counter offensive against Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region, according to Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ruder, is currently only “marginal”.
• Russia has been charged by Ukraine with employing strategic bombers to launch a missile attack on a civilian grain freighter in the Black Sea close to Romania, a NATO member.
• The incident was described as a “unprecedented escalation” by Russia in its war on Ukraine by Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• As part of the Ocean 2024 naval exercises, ships from Russia’s Northern Fleet fired cruise missiles at targets in the Barents Sea, according to the Ministry of Defense. The ships used Vulkan and Oniks anti ship missiles, which have respective ranges of around 200 and 180 kilometers (124 and 111 miles).

Diplomacy And Politics

• At their meeting on Friday in Washington, DC, US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are anticipated to talk about allowing Ukraine to utilize long-range missiles provided by the West against Russia, a move that Kyiv has long advocated for.
• The head of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, has charged NATO with being a party to military action in Ukraine and said that the organization was already deeply involved in military decision-making.
• Volodin made his remarks in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning that if the West let Ukraine to use long-range missiles manufactured in the West to attack Russian territory, that would change the course of the conflict and lead to direct combat between the two countries.
• While traveling to the US, Starmer said reporters that “Russia started this conflict”. Ukraine was unlawfully occupied by Russia. Russia can put a stop to this war right away. The right to self-defense belongs to Ukraine, according to reports in British media.
• The accreditation of six British diplomats was revoked, according to Russia’s FSB security service, for allegedly engaging in espionage and “endangering Russia’s security”.
• Weeks after two countries inked a defense treaty, Sergei Shoigu, the head of Russia’s Security Council, met Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, in Pyongyang.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Putin threatens to wage war on NATO if Ukraine uses long-range weapons.

• In order to attack deep within Russia, Zelenskyy of Ukraine has pleaded with friends to ease limits on armaments supplied by the West.
• President Vladimir Putin has issued a warning, stating that NATO will be “at war” with his nation if Western countries permit Ukraine to launch long-range missiles inside Russia.
• This would fundamentally alter the essence of the fight. It would imply that the US, Europe, and NATO members are at war with Russia,” Putin stated on Russian official television on Thursday.
• He continued, “And if this is the case, then we will make the proper decisions based on the threats that will be created for us, keeping in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict.”
• His remarks coincide with the US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Friday meeting in Washington, DC, where it is anticipated that they will talk about granting Ukraine permission to strike targets within Russia in light of growing worries about its casualties in combat.
• President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has frequently demanded the lifting of limitations on long-range weaponry supplied by the West so that his forces might target airfields, ammo stores, and command centers located deep within Russia, therefore raising the costs of the invasion for Moscow.
• While traveling to the US, Starmer spoke with media and declared, “Russia started this conflict.” Ukraine was unlawfully occupied by Russia. Russia can put a stop to this war right away. The right to self-defense belongs to Ukraine, according to reports in British media.
• Presumably, it will be the final gathering of US and British leaders before Biden leaves office and before November’s US presidential election, which will match Republican Donald Trump against Democrat Kamala Harris.
• During a debate with Harris this week, Trump repeatedly refused to take sides in the conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, saying simply that he wanted the war to end.
• As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy made a rare combined visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where they promised $1.5 billion in extra help, Biden said he was “working” on Ukraine’s request.
• On Thursday, Blinken concluded his three-nation European tour with an emphasis on Ukraine in Poland, following repeated requests from Ukrainian leaders to employ weapons provided by the West for long-range strikes within Russia.
• “We’ve adjusted as the battlefield and what Russia is doing have changed,” Blinken declared during a press conference in Warsaw.
• In self-defense, Biden has permitted Ukraine to fire US-supplied missiles across the border into Russia, though he has mainly restricted their range.
• One of the main demands from Ukraine is to launch Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) made in the United States.
• The primary threat that Ukraine confronts, however, comes from long-range Russian glide bombs that are fired from more than 300 km (186 miles) away, beyond the reach of the ATACMS, as stated by the Pentagon.
• Putin’s remarks did not worry Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, a NATO member that borders Ukraine, on Friday.
• “I would not attach excessive importance to the latest statements from President Putin, but it is necessary to take all events in Ukraine and on the Ukrainian-Russian front very seriously,” Tusk said at a news conference.
• “They primarily highlight the challenging circumstances facing the Russians in the front.”
• Previously, Polish Foreign Minister Radowslaw Sikorski stated that Kyiv should be let to defend itself with Western weapons since “Russia is committing war crimes by attacking civilian targets.”
• “Bomber aircraft above Russian territory fire missiles that strike these civilian sites. These bombers take off from Russian airfields,” Sikorski remarked.
• Russian military have increased airstrikes around the nation and intensified pressure on the battlefield in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
• Following its unexpected cross-border incursion on August 6, Ukraine continued to attack the Kursk area of western Russia; however, Zelenskyy stated on Thursday that Moscow’s troops were launching a counteroffensive.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 930

Combating

• As part of a significant attack in the western Kursk region, Russian military commander Major-General Apti Alaudinov stated that his forces drove Ukrainian troops out of “roughly 10 settlements,” according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
• Regarding the purported Russian retaliation, Ukraine has not yet responded. The Institute for the Study of War called the situation “fluid” and stated that the “size, scale, and potential prospects” of the counterattack were “unclear.”
• Overnight, Russia launched 64 drones, of which 44 were shot down by the Ukrainian air force. The Ukrainian Air Force also stated in a statement published on the messaging app Telegram that five missiles were used by Russian forces.
• The village of Konotop in northeastern Ukraine was targeted overnight by Russian forces targeting both civilian and energy infrastructure, according to Sumy region officials via Telegram. According to the statement, at least 13 persons were hurt in the attack.

Diplomacy And Politics

• During a joint visit to the Ukrainian city of Kyiv with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the United States pledged more than $700 million in humanitarian relief for Ukraine.
• In Kyiv, Lammy reaffirmed that the UK would give Ukraine an additional $782 million in aid and loan guarantees. The majority of the aid from the US and the UK is intended to support the electricity grid, which has been bombarded by Russia and has lost 70% of its generation capacity.
• Reacting to the redoubled requests from Ukrainian officials for permission to launch strikes deeper within Russia using missiles supplied by the West, Blinken said he would “bring the discussion back to Washington to brief the president,” adding that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden would “no doubt” talk about the matter when they meet in Washington the following Friday.
• In an online article, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he and Blinken and Lammy had had “very substantive” discussions and that it was “important that Ukrainian arguments are heard.” “This encompasses the long-range armaments, the provision of combat brigades at the front lines, and the comprehensive plan for attaining a fair peace,” the speaker stated.
• Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers, which it exploits to export oil and get under a Western embargo imposed following its invasion of Ukraine, is the target of additional penalties announced by the British government.
• There are now 25 ships that have been sanctioned in total as a result of the UK’s third attempt to crack down on what the foreign ministry described as “critical revenue sources funding [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war machine.” It stated that the ten ships that were the focus of this round were “high-volume offenders.”
• To mobilize support for Ukraine, Blinken is meeting with President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland on Thursday in Warsaw. He is anticipated to talk about cooperation with the nation, which has increased its purchases of US weapons since the invasion and serves as a vital logistical entry point for Western military support into Ukraine.
• In response to Western sanctions, Putin stated in remarks that were shown on television that Russia has to think about restricting its exports of nickel, titanium, and uranium. He added that other commodities might also be subject to the limitations, pointing out that Russia was a significant producer of gold, diamonds, and natural gas. However, he stated that action did not have to be made “tomorrow” and that it could not hurt Russia.

Weaponry

• Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, refuted claims made by Western nations that Tehran has given Russia ballistic missiles to deploy against Ukraine, saying that the US and its allies were acting based on “faulty intelligence.”
• He referred to the pronouncements made on Tuesday that the US, the UK, France, and Germany will be imposing sanctions, notably on the national carrier Iran Air, on the purported deliveries of missiles to Russia, calling them “sanctions addicts.”
• “Hundreds of additional air defence missiles, tens of thousands of additional artillery ammunition rounds, and more armoured vehicles to Ukraine by the end of the year,” Lammy declared during his visit to Kyiv.
• Following a Russian drone accident in Latvia last week, Lithuania’s Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas stated NATO planes stationed in the Baltic states should fire down Russian drones that stray into their airspace. He stated that in addition to patrolling, NATO aircraft “must destroy the drones, if necessary.”
• The friends of Kyiv on its western frontiers have been urged by the country’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, to shoot down Russian drones and missiles above Ukraine. “Russian aircraft have already violated the airspace of neighboring countries and NATO countries on multiple occasions,” he stated.
• Renowned Russian policy hawk Sergei Karaganov stated in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant that Russia ought to make it plain that it is prepared to use nuclear weapons against nations who “support NATO aggression in Ukraine”.
• “It’s time to say that we have the right to use nuclear force in retaliation for any significant attacks on our land. He stated, “This also applies to any seizure of our territory,” as reported by Reuters.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 929

Combating

• 20 out of the 25 drones launched by Russia were shot down, according to the Ukraine Air Force, overnight into Wednesday.
• Despite Ukraine’s onslaught into western Russia, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Russian troops have advanced 1,000 square kilometers ( 390 square miles) into eastern Ukraine since early August.
• According to Russia’s national rail operator, “the intervention of non-authorized people” caused a freight train operating in the Belgorod region to derail close to the Ukrainian border.
• There were no confirmed casualties. Russia’s rail network, which is essential for getting troops and equipment to the front lines, has seen multiple attempts at sabotage since the invasion began in 2022.

Diplomacy and Politics

• In an unusual combined visit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lamy are headed to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, who has pushed for further arms transfers and the lifting of limitations on their deployment farther into Russia.
• “What they need when they need it to be most effective in dealing with the Russia aggression,” according to Blinken, is something the US is committed to giving Ukraine.
• Zelenskyy declared, “we will do everything not just to defend our state and people, but to truly consolidate the world, “promising to lead a forceful international reaction against any nation aiding Russia in its war efforts.
• During their first presidential debate, former US President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris sparred over US policy during the war in Ukraine. If elected, Trump pledged to “just get this war finished and get it done.” According to Harris, Trump would “eat you for lunch” if he were to “give up” in response to pressure from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Weaponry

• The US imposed further restrictions on Iran, blaming it for providing Russia with ballistic missiles to deploy against Ukraine and for targeting ships and businesses it believed were connected to the country’s arms exports.
• Because of Tehran’s purported delivery of missiles to Russia, Britain, France and Germany declared they would terminate their aviation agreements with Iran and impose sanctions on the country’s national airline.
• Iran pledged to react to the new restrictions and denied that it was shipping missiles to Russia.
• The spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’, Nasser Kanaani, stated, “this action by the three European countries is the continuation of the hostile policy of the West and economic terrorism against the people of Iran, which will face the appropriate and proportionate action of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
• When asked if he will lift the prohibitions on Ukraine employing long-range weaponry inside of Russia, US President Joe Biden replied that his government is “working that out”.
• Ukraine accused Sergei Kobylash, the head of the Russian air force, of ordering an attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv on July 8 that resulted in the deaths of two persons and extensive damage to the building.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 928

Combating

• Over 70 Ukrainian drones, including 12 that were en route to Moscow, were reportedly destroyed by Russia in the early hours of Tuesday. Three airports in the capital suspended flights due to the drones, and there were indications of an apartment fire in Moscow.
• The strategically significant city of Pokrovsk is located about 20 km (12 miles) east of the Ukrainian village of Memryk. According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, the Russians have also taken control of at least two additional surrounding villages, destroyed Ukrainian soldiers, and repulsed eight enemy strikes in the Donetsk region. Memryk was not mentioned by Ukraine in their daily report.
• Following a nocturnal attack on Ukrainian river ports, Romania claimed to have discovered pieces of a Russian drone in a village close to the Danube River that borders Ukraine.
• A Russian drone discovered on Latvian soil over the weekend was identified as an Iranian-designed Shahed type drone that was armed with explosives, according to Lieutenant General Leonids Kalnins, Commander of Latvia’s National Armed Forces.

Diplomacy And Politics

• Tuesday’s talks between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will take place in London and will cover topics including assistance for Ukraine.
• Leading opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, told the AFP news agency in an interview that the only way to bring about peace was to overthrow Putin and advised the West not to give the Russian president a “face-saving” way out of the conflict with Ukraine. In a prisoner swap this month, Kara-Murza, who had been incarcerated in a Siberian penal colony for 25 years on charges of treason and other offenses related to his criticism of the war, was released.
• According to Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, will travel to Russia this week for a security meeting of the BRICS developing nations.
• During his visit to Riyadh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. “Recent international and regional developments” were the topic of discussion, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

Weaponry

• Fazlollah Nozari, a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, dismissed as “psychological warfare” rumors that Tehran had given Russia ballistic missiles. The reports were deemed “credible” by a representative for the European Union. It was claimed by The Wall Street Journal on Friday that Iran has supplied missiles with short range to Russia.
• The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine announced that it had called Shahriar Amouzegar, Iran’s charge d’affaires, to warn of “devastating and irreparable consequences” for bilateral ties in the event that the rumors turned out to be accurate.
• In its yearly report, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) stated that since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, more than 1,000 people had been killed or injured by cluster munitions. The CMC also urged all nations to outlaw the weapons.
• Sweden will provide further military assistance to Ukraine totaling 4.6 billion Swedish crowns ($443 million), according to Minister of Defence Pal Jonson. Along with acquisitions that would make it easier to transfer Gripen fighter jets in the future—which should be agreed upon—the new package would contain ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles that Sweden has already supplied.
• Germany’s top military officer, General Carsten Breuer, stated that North Korea’s arms sales to Russia had bolstered Moscow’s position in Ukraine and enabled it to maintain fully supplied internal arsenals.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 927

Combating

• According to Governor Vadym Filashkin, Russia used cluster bombs to attack the village of Cherkaske in the eastern Donetsk area, resulting in at least three fatalities and one injury.
• A Russian air strike on the Sumy region resulted in two fatalities and four injuries, including two children, according to the regional military administration. In the northeast of Ukraine, Sumy borders Russia.
• After three more persons passed away from their injuries, the number of fatalities from a missile attack on a military school facility in the Ukrainian city of Poltava increased to 58.
• About 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Pokrovsk, a strategically significant town in eastern Ukraine, Russia claimed to have gained control of Novohrodivka. Prior to the war, Novohrodivka had 14,000 residents.
• The Ukrainian military’s General Staff reported severe fighting in the Pokrovsk area, including Novohrodivka, in its weekly update. It stated that seven skirmishes remained and that 29 Russian attempts at advance had been thwarted.
• According to the Ukrainian Air Force, air defense forces shot down one guided air missile and 15 out of 23 Russian attack drones. According to the Air Force, three additional missiles and two of the drones failed to hit their objectives.
• NATO allies Romania and Latvia, who sided with Ukraine, announced they were looking into Russian drones that had crashed into their airspace. The incidents, according to NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana, were “irresponsible and potentially dangerous.”

Diplomacy And Politics

• Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany, demanded that further diplomatic attempts be made to bring about peace in Ukraine “more quickly.” In an interview with ZDF, Scholz stated that he and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, had recently discussed the necessity of holding a new peace conference that would include Russia.
• According to an order posted on the president’s website, Zelenskyy named Oleksandr Kamyshin, a former minister of arms production, as an external adviser for strategic matters. In a significant shake-up of the cabinet, Kamyshin resigned from his position as minister of strategic industries.
  
  Weaponry
• Zelenskyy once more pleaded with the friends of Ukraine to loosen restrictions on the use of weaponry supplied by the West against targets within Russia. “Russia has used more than 60 missiles of various types, nearly 300 Shahed drones, and over 800 guided aerial bombs against our people in just one week,” he said on Facebook.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

The head of Ukraine’s armed forces claims that the Kursk offensive is operating and that Russia’s advance has stopped.

• Oleksandr Syrskii acknowledges that the Pokrovsk situation is “very problematic,” but he maintains that the Kursk attack is having the desired impact.
• The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskii, has justified his country’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, claiming that the offensive was successful since Russia had not made any progress on a crucial section of the country’s eastern front for six days.
• Beginning its unexpected assault on Kursk on August 6, Kyiv claims to have taken control of dozens of communities as well as an estimated 1,300 square kilometers (502 square miles) of land.
• According to officials, the operation was a part of a plan to impede Russia’s progress into the strategically significant town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.
• In an interview with CNN, a US broadcast network, Syrskii stated that Ukraine was making “every effort not to lose Pokrovsk.”
• “The enemy hasn’t moved a single meter toward Pokrovsk over the last six days,” he declared. Stated differently, our approach is effective.
• Verification of the front-line situation and the assertions made by both sides was not feasible.
• Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, stated earlier on Thursday that the Kursk attack had simply weakened Ukraine’s defenses in Donetsk and had failed to stop Russia’s advance.
• Few soldiers from the eastern region of Ukraine have reportedly been relocated by Russia to Kursk, where its forces are bolstered by militants of Chechen descent and conscripts.
• It has persisted in asserting its advances into Pokrovsk, claiming to have taken control of neighboring Myrnohrad and a number of small settlements east of Pokrovsk. There is an evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.
• Syrskii stated that the Kursk attack was having the desired impact, but acknowledging that the situation in Pokrovsk was “the most problematic for us” in his interview, which was conducted at an undisclosed location near the front line.
• He declared, “We’ve eliminated their capacity to maneuver and send in reinforcements.”
• “We are aware that both the offensive’s intensity and quantity of artillery fire have dropped.
• “I believe this approach was well-chosen and will yield the intended outcome.”
• Ukraine has increased pressure on the US and its allies to provide it more air defenses and permits it to use long-range weaponry supplied by the West against military targets within Russia. This is in response to the ongoing conflict and a recent wave of Russian bombardment that has claimed dozens of lives over the past week.
• When members of the Ukraine Defense Contact body (UDCG), a body that offers military assistance to Ukraine, meet later on Friday in Germany, such topics are probably going to be covered.
• In order to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense capabilities, the United Kingdom declared before to the summit that it would provide 650 lightweight multirole missile (LMM) systems, with the first deliveries scheduled for the end of the year.
• UK Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement, “We have seen the tragic cost of Russia’s indiscriminate strikes on Poltava and Lviv in recent days.” “Ukraine will be able to defend its people, infrastructure, and territory from Putin’s vicious attacks with the help of these new missiles made in the UK.”

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

The head of Ukraine’s armed forces claims that the Kursk offensive is operating and that Russia’s advance has stopped.

• Oleksandr Syrskii acknowledges that the Pokrovsk situation is “very problematic,” but he maintains that the Kursk attack is having the desired impact.
• The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskii, has justified his country’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, claiming that the offensive was successful since Russia had not made any progress on a crucial section of the country’s eastern front for six days.
• Beginning its unexpected assault on Kursk on August 6, Kyiv claims to have taken control of dozens of communities as well as an estimated 1,300 square kilometers (502 square miles) of land.
• According to officials, the operation was a part of a plan to impede Russia’s progress into the strategically significant town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.
• In an interview with CNN, a US broadcast network, Syrskii stated that Ukraine was making “every effort not to lose Pokrovsk.”
• “The enemy hasn’t moved a single meter toward Pokrovsk over the last six days,” he declared. Stated differently, our approach is effective.
• Verification of the front-line situation and the assertions made by both sides was not feasible.
• Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, stated earlier on Thursday that the Kursk attack had simply weakened Ukraine’s defenses in Donetsk and had failed to stop Russia’s advance.
• Few soldiers from the eastern region of Ukraine have reportedly been relocated by Russia to Kursk, where its forces are bolstered by militants of Chechen descent and conscripts.
• It has persisted in asserting its advances into Pokrovsk, claiming to have taken control of neighboring Myrnohrad and a number of small settlements east of Pokrovsk. There is an evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.
• Syrskii stated that the Kursk attack was having the desired impact, but acknowledging that the situation in Pokrovsk was “the most problematic for us” in his interview, which was conducted at an undisclosed location near the front line.
• He declared, “We’ve eliminated their capacity to maneuver and send in reinforcements.”
• “We are aware that both the offensive’s intensity and quantity of artillery fire have dropped.
• “I believe this approach was well-chosen and will yield the intended outcome.”
• Ukraine has increased pressure on the US and its allies to provide it more air defenses and permits it to use long-range weaponry supplied by the West against military targets within Russia. This is in response to the ongoing conflict and a recent wave of Russian bombardment that has claimed dozens of lives over the past week.
• When members of the Ukraine Defense Contact body (UDCG), a body that offers military assistance to Ukraine, meet later on Friday in Germany, such topics are probably going to be covered.
• In order to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense capabilities, the United Kingdom declared before to the summit that it would provide 650 lightweight multirole missile (LMM) systems, with the first deliveries scheduled for the end of the year.
• UK Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement, “We have seen the tragic cost of Russia’s indiscriminate strikes on Poltava and Lviv in recent days.” “Ukraine will be able to defend its people, infrastructure, and territory from Putin’s vicious attacks with the help of these new missiles made in the UK.”

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 924

Combating

• Following the conclusion of their search and rescue effort at a military educational facility in the Ukrainian town of Poltava that was struck by a Russian missile on Tuesday, emergency services in Ukraine reported that at least 55 persons had been confirmed deceased and 328 injured.
• One civilian was killed in Ukrainian firing on the town of Shebekino in the southern border region, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod Region.
• According to the Ukrainian air force, during a nighttime strike, Russia launched 78 drones, 60 of which were shot down. It further stated that one ballistic Iskander-M missile from Russia was also deployed in the onslaught.
• Oleksandr Syrskii, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, told CNN that Russia had not advanced on a crucial area of the eastern front for six days and that Kyiv’s foray into the southern Kursk region of Russia was successful.
• Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, had earlier declared that the assault had not halted Russia’s march into eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. Putin claimed that seizing control of the Donbas was the “primary” objective of Russia’s full-scale assault.
• A train scheduled to evacuate citizens of Pokrovsk, in eastern Donetsk, was canceled by Ukraine because to concerns about a potential Russian strike. The city is only ten kilometers (six miles) away from Russian forces. The 27,000 residents who still reside there are being urged to leave by officials.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
• Following the resignation of Dmytro Kuleba, the previous foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha was accepted by the Ukrainian parliament. This shift is a part of the largest reorganization of the Ukrainian administration since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
• Putin stated that preliminary agreements struck by Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the early weeks of the war might serve as the basis for negotiations and that China, India, and Brazil could serve as intermediaries in any future peace talks over Ukraine.
• Five Russian military officers were prosecuted by the US for allegedly hacking into Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure in the years before the country was invaded. The US Justice Department revised an indictment from June to include claims that “large-scale cyber operations” were initiated as early as 2020 by a branch of Russia’s military intelligence service.
• Dimitri Simes, a Russian television contributor located in Virginia, and his wife Anastasia Simes were accused by the Justice Department of money laundering in two different schemes to circumvent US sanctions placed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.
  
  Weaponry
• The British government said that it will give Ukraine 650 light multipurpose missiles for 162 million pounds ($213 million) to help defend against Russian bombing and drone attacks. By the end of the year, they should be delivered.
• The Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which consists of military chiefs from over 50 nations, will meet in Germany under the direction of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General CQ Brown. In order to guarantee Kyiv’s long-term assistance, the US stated that the meeting’s top priorities would be to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and energize “the defense industrial bases” of partners.
• The US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations declared that it would question four semiconductor companies at a hearing the following week over US-made chips used in Russian weaponry used in the conflict in Ukraine.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 923

Combating

• The western Ukrainian city of Lviv, which borders Poland, was the target of a Russian missile and drone attack that claimed the lives of at least seven people, three of them children. The family that lost four members was the same. Schools, hospitals, and other city center buildings were damaged, according to the prosecutor’s office, and at least forty people were injured.
• As attacks were launched against Lviv, Poland hurried to secure its borders with fighter jets.
• According to Ukrainian emergency services, a hotel was damaged when fragments from a downed Russian missile fell on the city of Kryvyi Rih, injuring at least five persons.
• The air force of Ukraine claimed to have downed 22 out of 29 drones and seven out of 13 missiles fired by Russia during an attack on vital infrastructure and energy sites spread over nine Ukrainian provinces.
• Russian military shelled a residential sector of Kostiantynivka, an eastern Ukrainian town northeast of Pokrovsk, a strategically significant town that Russia is attempting to seize, resulting in at least one fatality and three injuries.
• About 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Pokrovsk, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that its forces had taken over the communities of Prechystivka and Karlivka.
• Following Ukraine’s shelling of a village in the Russian border region, three persons were reported dead and two injured by Belgorod Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
• The Russian Defense Ministry admitted that it had struck a hospital and military school in Poltava. According to Ukraine, the incident on Tuesday left 271 people injured and at least 51 dead. According to Russia, it was intended at drone operators, foreign instructors, and military.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
• According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine needed “new energy,” therefore he issued an executive order reorganizing the administration. Four of the six ministers that tendered their resignations were accepted by parliament. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was one of those who tendered their resignation, although it was not formally approved by parliament.
• Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany, reaffirmed Germany’s military and political support for Ukraine. “Germany will continue to support Ukraine.” In order for Ukraine to be able to completely rely on us going forward, we have made preparations, reached [defense] agreements, and obtained the financing in a timely manner, according to Scholz.
• The Swiss government announced that, as conditions there were not anticipated to change anytime soon, it would provide shelter for Ukrainian refugees until at least 2026.
• According to the Kremlin, Moscow’s legitimate security interests were being ignored while the US and its allies were “provoking tension” and “stoking the hot war in Ukraine,” prompting Russia to modify its nuclear strategy. In February 2022, Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• The state-run All-National TV network in Belarus announced the arrest of a possible Japanese spy. According to the channel, the purported agent was seen recording military installations and was attempting to learn more about Chinese investment in Belarus as well as the circumstances around Belarus’ border with Ukraine. Minsk did not release an official announcement regarding the arrest.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 922

Combating

• In the bloodiest single attack of the war this year, two Russian ballistic missiles struck a military academy and a neighboring hospital in the central Ukrainian town of Poltava, inflicting at least 51 fatalities and 271 injuries. Many people were heading to a bomb shelter when the air raid alert went out, and that’s when the missiles struck, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defence.
• The Zaporizhia region hotel where a mother and her eight-year-old son were staying was struck by a Russian missile attack, resulting in their deaths. According to Ukrainian authorities, her spouse and daughter suffered injuries.
• Three workers were hurt in a Russian drone attack on a power plant in the northern Chernihiv district, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy.
• Russia targeted rolling stock and railroad infrastructure in the central Dnipropetrovsk region and the northeastern province of Sumy, according to the official railway operator of Ukraine.
• In response to fresh attacks close to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in central Ukraine, Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), declared the situation there to be “extremely fragile.” It’s Wednesday that Grossi will visit the factory.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that in response to persistent Ukrainian attacks, more air defense systems had been installed in the Belgorod region.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
• In advance of a trip to the US later this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy organized a significant reorganization of his administration. Oleksandr Kamyshin, the Minister for Strategic Industries who oversaw weapons manufacturing and is anticipated to assume a new position in the defense sector, was one of several resignations on Tuesday. There are now more over one-third of the cabinet’s posts open.
• Zelenskyy called Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and requested that he intensify efforts among Ukraine’s Western allies to let Kyiv to launch military strikes on targets located deep within Russia.
• The incarceration of French scholar Laurent Vinatier, who is suspected of gathering military intelligence that might be useful to foreign intelligence agencies and of not registering as a “foreign agent” in Russia, was prolonged by a Moscow court on Tuesday. Vinatier has been classified as “arbitrarily detained” by France.
• Unaffected by Ulaanbaatar’s disregard for an International Criminal Court arrest order for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin concluded his formal visit to Mongolia.
• The United Nations Human Rights Office stated that it was looking into Kyiv’s decision to forbid the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has ties to Russia, citing grave concerns about religious freedom. Last month, the Ukrainian parliament decided to outlaw the church.
  
  Weaponry
• According to a person involved in the negotiations, Germany intends to give Ukraine six more IRIS-T SLM air defense systems. This information was reported by Reuters.
• A law authorizing the transfer of one of Romania’s two operational Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine was adopted by the lower house of parliament. Romania and Ukraine have a 650 km (400 km) border; Romania has been a member of NATO since 2004.
• According to three government officials cited by the Reuters news agency, the United States is close to reaching an agreement to supply Ukraine with Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM), long-range cruise missiles that may penetrate far into Russia. They stated that delivery would likely take several months.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 921

Combating

• On the first day of classes, Russia launched a bombardment of Kyiv in the early hours of the morning using hundreds of drones and missiles. The attack resulted in damage to a boiler house at a water plant in Kyiv, as well as to the entrance to a metro station that was being used as an air raid shelter, and at least three casualties.
• The Russian air force also attacked other regions of the nation. According to Ukrainian troops, during the capital and the provinces of Kharkiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhia, they have destroyed 20 out of 23 attack drones and 22 out of 35 missiles.
• Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov of Kharkiv said that at least 13 people were hurt when four Russian guided bombs struck a residential area, while Regional Governor Serhiy Lysak of Dnipropetrovsk reported that one person was killed and three injured in a Russian missile strike on Dnipro.
• Russia claims to have conquered the village of Skuchne, which is a part of the district of Pokrovsk, a strategically significant town that Russia hopes to occupy. Fighting has continued to be violent on the front lines in eastern Ukraine. Despite Russia having made “no advance for two days,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that his country was having trouble competing with “the most combat-focused Russian brigades” on the eastern front.
• August saw Moscow’s largest monthly advance on Ukrainian territory since October 2022, covering 477 sq km (184 sq miles), according to statistics analyzed by the AFP news agency and provided by the Institute for the Study of War.
• During a visit to the Tuva area of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that his country’s troops were regaining land in the Kursk region “by square kilometers” and that Kyiv’s entry into the region on August 6 had failed to halt Russia’s advance into the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
• Following the destruction of a daycare center by a Ukrainian attack, regional governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced that several kindergartens in the Russian city of Belgorod, which is adjacent to Ukraine, would close for a week and that courses at several other schools would be held virtually.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine chastised Mongolia for not detaining Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival on Monday. In response to allegations of war crimes, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest order for Putin last year. If the Russian president steps foot on one of the 124 member states of the court, he must be arrested and sent to The Hague to stand prosecution. Mongolia is a member of the ICC. The inability of Mongolia to apprehend Putin, according to spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Heorhii Tykhyi, is “a heavy blow to the International Criminal Court and the system of criminal law.”
• Mongolia is required by rights organization Amnesty International to detain and turn over Putin to the ICC. Amnesty International Mongolia’s executive director, Altantuya Baldorj, stated in a statement that “Mongolia’s international legal obligations are clear.”
• Major General Valery Muminjanov was detained by Russia on accusations of bribery; this arrest is the most recent in a series connected to allegations of corruption inside the Ministry of Defense. According to investigators, he took bribes in exchange for facilitating the granting of public contracts to private firms that provided army uniforms. In recent months, he is the seventh prominent military person to be apprehended on allegations of fraud, bribery, or abuse of position.
• Zelenskyy promised to meet International Atomic Energy Agency director Rafael Grossi in Kiev. Following Grossi’s tour of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which was taken over by Russian soldiers shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the meeting will take place.
  
  Weaponry
• Zelenskyy stated that the Western supporters of Ukraine ought to provide Kyiv with more long-range weapons in addition to permitting their weapons to be used for strikes deep within Russia. Following a meeting in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in the southeast with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Zelenskyy stated that Kyiv was “more positive” about the likelihood of obtaining such authorization.
• A draft bill on the transfer of a Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine was approved by the coalition government of Romania. In June, Bucharest announced that, if its allies replaced it with a comparable air defense system, it would send one of its two operational Patriot systems to Ukraine. The law must now be put to a vote in parliament.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 920

Combating

• The second-biggest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, was attacked by Russia, injuring at least 47 persons. According to officials, Russia launched at least ten missiles into the city, striking several locations, including a mall. In an effort to lessen Moscow’s military threat, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once more pleaded with Kyiv’s allies to permit Kyiv to launch missiles supplied by the West farther into Russian territory.
• Russian shelling on Kurakhove, a town in eastern Ukraine located about 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Pokrovsk, resulted in at least three fatalities and nine injuries, according to officials.
• Russian shelling on Ukraine’s Sumy area along their shared border resulted in at least one death and four injuries. Nine districts in the region, which was also targeted by drones, were attacked, according to the local Sumy administration.
• According to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, there was at least one fatality and over a dozen injuries inflicted by Ukrainian bombardment of the southern Belgorod region of Russia.
• Russia claimed to have neutralized at least 158 drones in 15 different parts of the nation, including two over Moscow, as part of a “massive” air strike against Ukraine. There were no confirmed casualties.
• Two more settlements in eastern Ukraine have been taken by Russian forces, according to the Ministry of Defense of Russia. Ptyche is located around 21 kilometers (13 miles) southeast of Pokrovsk, while Vyimka is another settlement in the Donetsk region.
• Oleksandr Syrskii, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, described the circumstances surrounding Russia’s main push in eastern Ukraine as “difficult.”
• Two members of the Ukrainian helicopter crew perished in the crash of the aircraft when it was being used for military training, according to the Kharkiv Air Force University. The cause of the crash is being investigated by the Defence Ministry.
  
  Weaponry
• In reaction to what it sees as a Western escalation in the conflict in Ukraine, Russia plans to modify its nuclear weapons doctrine, deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov was quoted as saying by state media. The effort is at a “advanced stage,” according to Ryabkov.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 917

Combating

• At least one person was killed and six injured in Russian shelling of the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Governor Vadym Filaskhin said. Kostiantynivka is miles from the front line, but comes under attack almost every day, he added.
• Oleksandr Syrskii, the top commander of Ukraine, described the battle in the eastern Pokrovsk front as “exceptionally tough” after claiming to have spent several days there. He stated that despite Ukraine’s unexpected entry into Kursk, Russia was pushing all into the war, with the most intensive fighting occurring near Krasnyi Yar, some 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from Pokrovsk.
• According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Russian troops have taken control of two villages in eastern Ukraine: Stelmakhivka in the neighboring Luhansk region and Mykolaivka in the Donetsk region, which is around nine miles (about 15 km) from Pokrovsk. The military of Ukraine had earlier declared that its soldiers were fending off attacks near Stelmakhivka.
• According to the Ukrainian Air Force, two out of every five missiles and 60 out of every 74 Russian attack drones were destroyed.
• The first loss since the aircraft started arriving in Ukraine earlier this month, according to the Ukrainian General Staff, occurred on Monday when one of its F-16 fighter airplanes crashed while fending off a significant Russian drone and missile onslaught. The aviator perished. According to a U.S. defense official speaking to the Reuters news agency, the incident does not appear to have been caused by a Russian fire, and other potential explanations, such as pilot mistake or mechanical failure, are being looked into.
• According to a Ukrainian delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ukraine was compelled to unplug multiple nuclear power units from the grid on Monday because to Russia’s intense drone and missile strike, which put the nuclear power industry at risk. The nation’s energy network was the focus of the attack.
• In the Belgorod area of Russia, the town of Shebekino was shelled by Ukraine, resulting in one fatality and two injuries, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
• The military of Ukraine claimed to have attacked two oil storage facilities and an artillery base in Russia, igniting a fire at the Atlas oil facility in the southern Rostov region.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
  
• Director-General Rafael Grossi of the IAEA will visit Ukraine the next week to conduct high-level discussions and evaluate the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility, which Russia seized shortly after it launched a full-scale invasion of the country, according to the IAEA.
• Pavel Popov, a former deputy minister of defense, was ordered to be detained by a Moscow military court on charges of fraud in a growing corruption scandal that has targeted people associated with former defense minister Sergei Shoigu. Popov is under investigation for building the Patriot Park, a war-themed park close to Moscow. Per his attorney, he refuted the accusations.
• On September 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to visit Mongolia, according to the Kremlin. This will be his first trip to an ICC member nation since the court issued an arrest warrant for him in March 2023 due to the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children.
  
  Weaponry
• Speaking to partners in the European Union, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that he had “conveyed a sense of urgency” over the need to expedite the delivery of pledged military equipment, especially air defense systems.
• Josep Borrell, the head of EU foreign policy, increased the pressure on supporters of Ukraine to remove their prohibitions on the use of Western weaponry inside Russia. According to Borrell, curbs must be removed in conformity with international law.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 916

Combating

• In the eastern town of Kupiansk, a bomb strike guided by Russia resulted in many fatalities and at least 14 injuries. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, stated there were deaths during his evening speech, but he did not specify how many. The city hall structure was also harmed by the bombing.
• As inhabitants of Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih marked an official day of mourning for four persons slain in a Russian attack on a local hotel the day before, a Russian missile struck the city, injuring at least eight people.
• A family of four people died after a Russian-guided bomb struck their home in the village of Izmailivka, according to the prosecutor general’s office in Ukraine. With only 200 residents prior to the war, Izmailivka is located close to the eastern front where Russia has been attempting to seize Pokrovsk, a strategically important city.
• Vadym Filashkin, the regional governor of Donetsk, reported that two fatalities resulted from separate attacks near Chasiv Yar that caused damage to over a dozen houses.
• According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, which was cited by the state-run TASS news agency, Russian soldiers have gained control of Komyshivka, a village located in the Donetsk area of Ukraine.
• In its statement on Wednesday, the Ukrainian General Staff stated that there was “fierce fighting” in many villages around Pokrovsk. The enemy has attempted 38 times to overrun Ukrainian positions thus far. In fourteen sites, combat is still going on, according to the General Staff.
• According to Deputy CIA Director David Cohen, Russian President Vladimir Putin would launch a counteroffensive to attempt to recapture area that Ukrainian troops had taken, but he would face “a difficult fight.” On August 6, Ukraine launched an unexpected offensive on the Russian area, claiming to have seized some 100 towns.
• The Russian National Guard, Rosgvardiya, said in a statement that its spies had discovered a rocket fragment that was allegedly packed with 180 unexploded munitions and a shell from what it claimed was a US-supplied HIMARS multiple launch rocket system 5 km (3 miles) from Kursk’s nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s military has been accused by Moscow of attempting to assault the plant. Ukraine did not respond to the claim right away.
• The regional governor of Rostov, a region in southern Russia, Vasily Golubev, reported that an oil depot in the Kamensky area caught fire as a result of an attack by a Ukrainian drone. There were no confirmed casualties.
• Additionally, an oil store near the Russian city of Kotelnich in the northern Kirov area caught fire as a result of a drone attack by the Ukrainians, around 1,100 kilometers (685 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
  
• According to Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, the main issue facing Kyiv is that its partners are reluctant to approve fresh measures to support the country for fear of things getting worse. Kuleba made his remarks the day after Russia’s foreign minister warned of the dangers of a third world war and claimed that the West was “playing with fire” by thinking about allowing Kyiv to attack far into Russia.
• NATO members reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen Ukraine’s defences at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council. “We must continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment and munitions it needs to defend itself against Russia’s invasion. This is vital for Ukraine’s ability to stay in the fight,” said Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
• Russia’s Foreign Ministry banned 92 US citizens – including journalists, lawyers and the heads of what it said were key military-industrial firms from the country. The list, published on Telegram, includes 14 Wall Street Journal employees, five senior journalists from The New York Times and four from The Washington Post.
• According to the TASS state news agency, 39-year-old engineer Artyom Lozovoi was sentenced to 18 years in prison by a Russian military court for his unsuccessful attempt to blow up a military recruiting office. Treason was among the several counts Lozovoi was found guilty of.
• The Russian legal aid group and monitor OVD-Info reports that Anastasia Zibrova, a dog handler from the Moscow area, was sentenced to five years in a prison colony for criticizing Russia’s attack on a Kramatorsk railway station that resulted in the deaths of 61 people in April 2022.
• According to Interfax, which cited the local division of the FSB security service, a Russian military court sentenced Andriy Martsenyuk, a Ukrainian, to four and a half years in jail in a third instance for planning to set fire to a military police station.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 915

Combating

• During a second day of Russian missile and drone attacks, at least six people were murdered around Ukraine, notably in the cities of Kryvyi Rih in the center and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Nine people were hurt, at least. Russia unleashed the largest aerial attack since the commencement of its invasion in 2022 on Monday.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, threatened to avenge Russia’s actions. According to the air force, on Tuesday, Ukraine shot down 60 out of 81 drones and five out of ten missiles fired by Russia; some of the drones were destroyed by F-16 fighter planes supplied by the West. It claimed to have lost track of ten further drones, which most likely crashed somewhere in Ukraine. Another one entered Belarus, which is nearby.
• Since beginning its foray into Russia’s western Kursk area on August 6, Ukraine has captured 594 Russian soldiers, taken possession of 1,294 sq km (almost 500 sq miles), and established 100 communities, according to Oleksandr Syrskii, the country’s commander in chief.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general, Rafael Grossi, paid a visit to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. He claimed that because it lacked a protective dome to defend it from artillery, drones, and missiles in the midst of the battle in the area, it was susceptible to a catastrophic disaster.
• Following rumors on Russian Telegram channels indicating that Ukraine had attacked a border checkpoint at Nekhoteyevka before being driven back, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s western Belgorod region, stated that the situation on the border with Ukraine was “difficult but under control.”
• Speaking on television, Syrskii of Ukraine stated that Russia was attempting to obstruct Ukraine’s supply routes to the front, making the situation near Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine “fairly difficult.” He declared, “The enemy is actively using artillery and aviation, in addition to using its advantage in personnel, weapons, and military equipment.” Prior to this, the Russian Ministry of Defense declared that the village of Orlivka, which is close to Pokrovsk, had been taken by its soldiers.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
  
• Zelenskyy declared that he will deliver a “victory plan” to US President Joe Biden and his two possible successors, most likely when the latter arrives in New York for the UN General Assembly the following month. The goal of the plan was to put Ukraine in a strong position for any future peace negotiations. “This plan’s primary goal is to compel Russia to terminate the conflict. And I sincerely hope that [it will be] equitable for Ukraine,” he declared to reporters in Kyiv.
• Following a round of diplomatic meetings with South Africa, Brazil, and Indonesia, China’s Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs, Li Hui, urged other nations to support its peace proposal for Ukraine. According to Li, “they have stayed in touch with both Russia and Ukraine and remain dedicated to a diplomatic resolution of the conflict through discussion and negotiation.” China refrained from attending the June peace summit hosted by Switzerland. Earlier this year, it and Brazil released a cooperative peace plan.
• According to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “exchanged perspectives” on the conflict in Ukraine. Last week, Modi visited Kiev.
• Spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov denounced Ukraine’s decision to outlaw an Orthodox Church branch with ties to Russia, calling it an assault on Christianity and a setback to religious freedom. Kyiv has charged that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) is harboring spies and disseminating pro-Russian propaganda in order to aid Moscow’s 30-month-old war.
• Following Ukraine’s incursion, the Russian security service FSB announced that it has filed criminal charges against two more foreign journalists who had entered the country to report from the Kursk region. The journalists included a correspondent for Ukraine’s 1+1 TV channel and a reporter for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, according to the news agency Interfax. At least seven international journalists who have covered events from Kursk are currently facing criminal charges from the FSB.
  
  Weaponry
• According to Zelenskyy, the first-ever successful test of a ballistic missile made in the country was just conducted by the military. He said he was unable to provide further information.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 913

Combating

• Russian missile and drone strikes on Sunday that targeted the front-line Ukrainian areas of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Donetsk resulted in at least 18 fatalities and 37 injuries.
• The Russian attack on Saturday night struck a hotel in Kramatorsk, approximately 20 kilometers (13 miles) from the front line in the east of Ukraine, killing Reuters safety consultant Ryan Evans and critically injuring two other Reuters journalists. The other three team members made it out unscathed.
• Six civilians were reportedly killed in Ukrainian assaults on Russian border regions, according to Russian officials.
• In the Kursk area of Russia, Ukraine’s soldiers pushed up to 3 km (1.86 miles), seizing control of two additional settlements, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• Ukraine demanded that Belarus withdraw what it considered to be a sizable contingent of its armed forces and artillery, which were stationed near their shared border in the Gomel area. Under pressure from Moscow, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cautioned Belarus against committing “tragic mistakes.”
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
  
• Zelenskyy reported that talks on a second summit for peace were still ongoing with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Switzerland. Additionally, Zelenskyy added that he had assured India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Kiev, that his country would be happy to host the event.
• Pope Francis denounced the Ukrainian government’s decision to outlaw an Orthodox Church branch that has ties to Russia. A day after Zelenskyy enacted the prohibition, the pope declared in his weekly prayers, “Do not touch churches.”
  
  Weaponry
• The Kursk region, where thousands of Ukrainian forces marched across the Russian border on August 6, is the target of further missiles and artillery, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 910

Combating

• Eight people, including a 15-year-old kid, were injured and one man was reported dead in the northeastern Kharkiv region after Russia targeted residential buildings in the village of Bohodukhiv.
• Regional prosecutors in the northeastern Sumy area of Ukraine report that a bomb assault guided by Russia resulted in the deaths of two persons and the injury of one.
• The Sumy region, which borders Russia’s Kursk region and is the scene of Ukraine’s surprise cross-border attack earlier this month, was visited by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He informed Oleksandr Syrskii, the commander in chief, that the Ukrainian military had taken over another Russian settlement and had seized additional POWs. He omitted the settlement’s name.
• According to the Ukrainian military, as Russian forces stepped up their attempts to take control of the vital town, they launched 53 attacks on enemy positions along the Pokrovsk front in eastern Ukraine. Just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the city, Russian military ordered the population of Pokrovsk to flee. This week, approximately 50,000 people were said to still be residing in Pokrovsk by Ukrainian officials.
• The village of Mezhove, which is situated between Pokrovsk and Avdiivka, was seized in February, according to Russian reports.
• Without providing any proof, Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted that Ukrainian military attempted to raid the Kursk Nuclear Power Station during the night. Ukraine didn’t respond at all. About 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the plant, there has been fighting. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called for caution on both sides. The area will be visited by Rafael Grossi, the head of the watchdog, next week.
• Following an attack by the Ukrainians, a ferry carrying thirty fuel tanks sank in the Russian port of Kavkaz in the southern Krasnodar area, according to local authorities. After the rescue of seventeen crew members, the hunt is still on for the two that are still missing. Ukraine did not respond to the statement.
• The US embassy in Kyiv issued a warning on Saturday, the eve of Ukraine’s 33rd anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union, about the increased risk of Russian missile and drone attacks throughout the nation.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
  
• This is the first visit to Ukraine by an Indian prime minister since Kyiv’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On the eve of his visit, Modi issued a peace declaration and cautioned against resolving disputes by military force in Poland.
• Following their reporting from the Kursk region, three journalists were accused of “illegally” crossing the border by Russia’s security service, FSB, which announced the opening of a criminal case against them. Among the three are journalists Nick Paton Walsh of CNN and Diana Butsko and Olesya Borovik of Ukraine.
• When the academic year begins in less than a month, more than 110 Russian schools near the Ukrainian border will offer remote instruction, according to the country’s education minister.
• Ukraine reported that participants in a follow-up conference to the peace summit held in Switzerland in June included representatives of over 40 nations and international organizations.
  
  Weaponry
  
• The US will provide Ukraine with an additional $125 million in military equipment, including artillery, ammo for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), and air defense missiles, according to officials in Washington who spoke with The Associated Press news agency. On Friday, the deal is anticipated to be formally disclosed.
• The Ukrainian air force claimed to have attacked a Russian platoon command post in the Kursk region with a GBU-39 bomb manufactured in the US.
  

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 909

Combating

• According to acting regional governor of Kursk Alexei Smirnov, a Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive near Sudzha that struck a car, killing one woman and injuring two others.
• In an effort to defend its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, Ukraine claimed to have destroyed multiple Russian pontoon crossings over the Seym River using US-made HIMARS rocket launchers. Kyiv’s march into its territory has been stopped, according to Moscow’s soldiers.
• Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Kursk and Ukraine, said Russian forces pushed back a Ukrainian attempt to enter that region. Although Bogomaz called the Ukrainian forces a “sabotage and reconnaissance group,” he did not say whether or not they belonged to the country’s armed forces.
• According to the General Staff of Ukraine, Russian forces frequently attacked its forces in the area of the eastern frontier town of Pokrovsk. According to the military, 46 Russian attacks were made on the front on Wednesday, of which 44 were repelled. One was still going as of 19:00 GMT. 238 Russian servicemen were reportedly killed or injured in the same region, according to the General Staff. It didn’t reveal the losses to Ukraine.
• The settlement of Zhelanne, which is located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Pokrovsk, has been taken over by Russian soldiers, according to the ministry of defense in Russia.
• Out of the 69 Russian assault drones that were deployed around the nation overnight, 50 were destroyed by Ukrainian forces. Damage and casualties were not described in detail.
• According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, air defense shot down eleven drones over Moscow and the surrounding area. Since the war’s commencement in 2022, this strike on Moscow ranks among the largest.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
  
• Premier Li Qiang of China was greeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, who also stated that trade and economic ties between Moscow and Beijing were “yielding results.” Amidst severe economic sanctions imposed by numerous developed nations due to its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has strengthened its connections with China.
• Voting to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) was done by the Ukrainian parliament. The action would guarantee that attempts to achieve accountability for “all Russian atrocities” in its invasion would be “even more effective,” according to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
• Dmitry Gudkov, a former parliamentarian and exiled opposition politician, was sentenced to eight years in prison “in absentia” by a Russian court for his criticism of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine. Gudkov, a prominent opponent of Putin who departed Russia in 2021, called the sentencing a “badge of honor.”
• After the government stopped providing state support to refugees from parts of Ukraine that were deemed unaffected by the conflict, thousands of Ukrainians are facing eviction from shelters in Hungary. Only 13 regions, or nearly half of Ukraine, are presently listed by Budapest as having been impacted by Russia’s incursion.
• Because of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine would require $12–15 billion more in foreign aid next year than first anticipated, according to Deputy Finance Minister Olha Zykova. Ukraine had previously stated that it would require $22.7 billion in foreign aid overall by 2025.
• On Friday, more than a month after visiting Moscow, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that he would “share perspectives” on the peaceful settlement of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.
• The UN Security Council has received a letter from the military regimes of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger requesting that it “take appropriate actions” against Ukraine, which they claim is arming rebel groups in northern Mali. Following a rebel offensive in northern Mali last month that claimed the lives of numerous soldiers and Russian Wagner mercenaries, Mali and Niger severed their diplomatic ties with Kyiv. Claims that Ukraine was involved have been denied.
  
  Weaponry
  
• The S-300 anti-aircraft missile system located in the southern Rostov region of Russia was targeted, according to the Ukrainian military, because it was being used to attack civilian facilities in the country. Vasily Golubev, the governor of Rostov, reported that an air defense force shot down a missile launched from Ukraine over his territory.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Key events list, day 908

Combating

• In the southern Zaporizhia area of Ukraine, a Russian mortar struck a kiosk at a children’s playground; the 14-year-old boy died in the hospital from his wounds, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov. A girl, eighteen, and three other youngsters were also injured in the attack on the village of Malokaterynivka.
• In a wave of missile and drone attacks throughout nine areas of Ukraine, Russia targeted energy facilities in the northeastern Sumy region, knocking out electricity to around 18,500 people. The strikes also caused a massive fire at an industrial site in the west. According to the commander of Ukraine’s air force, Ukrainian forces downed 25 out of the 26 drones deployed in the attack as well as three ballistic missiles.
• Since beginning their foray into the Kursk region on August 6, Oleksandr Syrskii, the top military commander of Ukraine, announced that his forces have advanced 28–35 km (17–22 miles) into Russia, seizing 1,263 sq km (488 sq miles) of territory, including 93 communities.
• The creation of additional military units in Kursk and two other border regions was announced by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov as part of Moscow’s attempt to drive back the Ukrainians without deploying combatants fighting deep inside Ukraine.
• According to the Ukrainian military, pressure was applied to its soldiers on the fronts of Toretsk and Pokrovsk, where Russia is focusing its primary offensive in eastern Ukraine. According to the statement, on Tuesday, 49 Russian strikes were repelled by Ukrainian forces, and 13 more were still ongoing.
• Just under 10,000 people lived in the Ukrainian town of New York prior to the conflict, but Russia claimed to have taken control of it. The Ukrainian military reported that Russian forces had targeted Ukrainian positions in the Toretsk sector of the Donetsk region, close to New York, but they did not provide further details on what happened.
  
  Diplomacy And Politics
  
• Legislators in Ukraine enacted legislation outlawing the actions of organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church and any other religious organization that backs Russia’s incursion. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which Kyiv accuses of being involved in Moscow’s war, is thought to be the target of the action. The Russian Orthodox Church denounced the vote, and the UOC insists it is autonomous.
• In what was Putin’s first visit to the North Caucasus since 2011, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov examined Chechen troops and volunteers prepared to battle Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.
• The scientist was seized in Moscow on charges of treason, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), which also claimed that he was conducting cyberattacks on vital infrastructure on behalf of Ukrainian security agencies. The suspect remained unnamed by the FSB.
• Russia announced that it has requested for the resignation of senior US ambassador Stephanie Holmes in protest of what it saw as the “provocative actions” of US media personnel covering the Kursk region of Russia. According to the Foreign Ministry, Russia planned to prosecute the reporters for their unauthorized border crossing. Moscow seems to be alluding to reports from CNN and The Washington Post from Sudzha, a Russian border town that is presently ruled by Kyiv. For a TV report from there, it has already launched a criminal inquiry against a number of Italian journalists.
• According to the Pentagon, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Ukrainian colleague Rustem Umerov spoke on the dynamics of the battlefield and current operations in Ukraine. It omitted any specifics.
• According to Chinese official media, Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in Moscow for negotiations with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
  
  Weaponry
  
• The Czech Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that the country will purchase large-caliber ammunition for Ukraine with a portion of the income earned from Russian central bank assets that have been blocked in the European Union.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

Ukraine to replace defence minister – TRT World

• Ukraine is set to replace Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov with the chief of its military spy agency, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in a reshuffle at the forefront of Ukraine’s war campaign.
• Reznikov would be transferred to another ministerial job and replaced by Kyrylo Budanov, head of the GUR military intelligence agency, said David Arakhamia, a senior lawmaker and chief of Servant of the People parliamentary bloc.
• “War dictates changes in personnel policy,” Arakhamia said on the Telegram messaging app.
• He said that Ukraine’s “force” agencies – like the defence ministry – should not be headed by politicians, but by career defence or security officials.
• Arakhamia did not say when the move would be formalised. There was no immediate comment from Reznikov.
• Reznikov, 56, became defence minister in November 2021, just a few months before Russia launched its full-scale offensive in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Price caps not intended to ‘crash’ Russia’s economy – TRT World

• The Group of Seven industrialised countries and Australia have reached agreement on price caps for Russian petroleum products, the group said in a statement, after a similar announcement by the EU.
• There are two price levels, $100 per barrel for more expensive fuel like diesel and $45 on lower-quality products such as fuel oil, the statement said, adding that the policy aims “to prevent Russia from profiting from its war of aggression against Ukraine” and support stability in energy markets.
• The intent of Western price caps on Russian crude and oil product exports is to reduce revenues that Russia can use to fight war in Ukraine, not to “crash” Russia’s economy, a senior US Treasury official told reporters.

Kiev deserves EU entry talks ‘this year’: Zelenskyy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his war-torn country deserved to start EU accession talks “this year”.
• “I believe that Ukraine deserves to start negotiations on EU membership this year,” Zelenskyy said after talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.
• He said further integration with the European bloc would inspire Ukrainians and give them “motivation” to fight against Russian troops.

US firm offers Ukraine advanced drones for $1 – TRT

• A leading US maker of advanced military surveillance drones has announced that it was willing to sell two to Ukraine for just $1, and called on the US government to approve the deal.
• General Atomic Aeronautical Systems said it had been urging Washington for months to provide Ukraine its powerful Grey Eagle and Reaper drones, which US forces have used in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and other countries.
• It said the drones, which can fly long distances at mid-altitudes, are one of the most obvious, force-enhancing technologies that Ukraine needs in its war against Russian forces.

US readies new Ukraine aid package — Reuters

• The United States is readying more than $2 billion worth of military aid for Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time and other munitions and weapons, two US officials briefed on the matter have told the Reuters news agency.
• The weapons aid is expected to be announced as soon as later this week, the officials said. It is also expected to include support equipment for Patriot air defence systems, precision guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank weapons, they added.
• One of the officials said that a portion of the package, $1.725 billion, would come from a fund known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows President Joe Biden’s administration to get weapons from industry rather than from existing US weapons stocks.
• The funds would go toward the purchase of a new weapon, Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), which have a range of 150 km. The United States has rebuffed requests for the 297-km range ATACMS missile.
• The longer range of the GLSDB glide bomb could allow Ukraine to hit valuable military targets that have been out of reach and help it continue pressing its counterattacks by disrupting Russia further behind its lines.

NATO to strengthen partnership with Japan – Stoltenberg

• NATO will continue to strengthen its partnership with Japan, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said during a visit to Japan, where he will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
• His trip is aimed at strengthening ties with Western allies in Asia in the face of the war in Ukraine and rising competition with China.

Russia, Ukraine discuss war prisoners exchange

• Russian ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova has said that she has agreed at a video conference with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets to exchange lists of seriously wounded war prisoners that should be repatriated.
• “Our cooperation has already allowed us to resolve a number of issues related to family reunification, the identification of missing persons on each side, assistance in the exchange of prisoners and in the return home of detained civilians,” Moskalkova said on Telegram.

Zelenskyy seeks long-range missiles, jets from West

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he wanted the West to send long-range missiles and jets to his war-torn country to help repel Russian troops.
• “I’ve spoken with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg today,” Zelenskyy said after the United States and Germany announced they would send heavy tanks to Ukraine.
• “We must also open deliveries of long-range missiles to Ukraine, it is important — we must expand our cooperation in artillery,” Zelenskyy said, also adding Ukraine needed jets. “This is a dream. And this is a task.”
• Zelenskyy has said that the key to supplying tanks for Ukraine’s war effort was speed and sufficient numbers.

US is purposefully trying to inflict strategic defeat on us: Russia

• The possible deliveries of battle tanks by Washington to Ukraine will be “another blatant provocation” against Russia, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, said.
• “It is obvious that Washington is purposefully trying to inflict a strategic defeat on us,” Antonov said in remarks published on the embassy’s Telegram messaging app.
• “If the United States decides to supply tanks, then justifying such a step with arguments about ‘defensive weapons’ will definitely not work. This would be another blatant provocation against the Russian Federation.”
• The United States was expected to announce as soon as on Wednesday that it will send heavy tanks to Ukraine.

Russia’s new army plan considers NATO’s expansion, Ukraine -chief of staff

• Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov has said that the new plan on changes to the country’s armed forces considers possible NATO expansion and the use of Ukraine against Russia.
• “The plan is approved by the President of the Russian Federation (Vladimir Putin) and can be adjusted when existing and new threats to the military security of the Russian Federation change,” Gerasimov told the news website Argumenty i Fakty.
• “Today, such threats include the aspirations of the North Atlantic Alliance to expand to Finland and Sweden, as well as the use of Ukraine as a tool for waging a hybrid war against our country.”

Britain’s former PM visits Ukrainian president

• Britain’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid an unannounced visit to Ukraine’s capital on Sunday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• Johnson also met with students and lecturers of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev and answered their questions, according to the Ukrainian Presidency,
• Despite the fact that his country is still at war with Russia, Zelenskyy said he believes that victory can be achieved in 2023 with international assistance.
• For his part, Johnson said: “The only way to end this war is for Ukraine to win – and to win as fast as possible. This is the moment to double down and to give the Ukrainians all the tools they need to finish the job.”

US throws its weight behind Crimea mission

• The Pentagon has said that the US would continue to support Ukraine in the event of a potential operation by Kiev to take back Crimea.
• “This department has said that we will be with Ukraine for as long as it takes. That includes an operation in Crimea,” said Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh at a press conference.
• “The Ukrainians make the decisions about their operations and when they conduct them. Crimea is a part of Ukraine.
• “We’ve made that very clear from the beginning. If they decide to conduct an operation within Crimea, they’re well in their bounds. That is a sovereign part of their country that was illegally invaded by Russia in 2014,” said Singh.

US to provide $125 million to Ukraine to support energy systems

 The United States will provide $125million to Ukraine to support its energy and electric grids following targeted attacks on those utilities by Russian forces, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. 

Huge US weapons package for Ukraine

• The US is finalising a massive package of military aid for Ukraine that US officials say is likely to total as much as $2.6 billion.
• It’s expected to include for the first time nearly 100 Stryker combat vehicles and at least 50 Bradley armoured vehicles to allow Ukrainian forces to move more quickly and securely on the front lines in the war with Russia — but not the tanks that Ukraine has sought.
• The officials said the numbers could change as the Biden administration goes through final deliberations on the package.
• An announcement is expected this week when defence leaders from the US, Europe and other regions gather in Germany to discuss military support for Ukraine.

Ukraine says military Patriot training will take 10 weeks

• The training of Ukrainian officers to operate the Patriot advanced long-range air defence system will last 10 weeks, Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said.
• The United States, Germany and the Netherlands have pledged to send Patriot missile systems to Ukraine to repel a barrage of Russian missile and drone attacks.
• “There is a decision that our officers will be trained in 10 weeks. Such obligations were undertaken by the American partners,” Reznikov said, in remarks published on Ukraine’s state Military Media Center Telegram messaging app.

Top US official meets Zelenskyy in Kiev

• A senior US official has travelled to Kiev where she met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and assured him of Washington’s “steadfast commitment” to Ukraine, the State Department said.
• Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman led a delegation to the Ukrainian capital to discuss assistance to bolster Ukraine’s security posture, improvements to its economy, and ways to develop an enduring bilateral trade partnership with the United States, it added.
• The purpose of the visit is “to reaffirm the United States’ strong and steadfast commitment to Ukraine and its defence against Russia’s unprovoked aggression,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

US begins expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces

• The US military’s new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces has begun in Germany, with a goal of getting a battalion of about 500 troops back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to eight weeks, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said.
• Milley, who plans to visit the Grafenwoehr training area on Monday to get a first-hand look at the programme, said the troops being trained left Ukraine a few days ago. 
• The so-called combined arms training is aimed at honing the skills of the Ukrainian forces so they will be better prepared to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks. They will learn how to better move and coordinate their company- and battalion-size units in battle, using combined artillery, armour and ground forces.

Russia claims Soledar under Russian army

• Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces have captured Soledar.
• The ministry said Soledar, the focus of a bloody battle between Russian and Ukrainian forces, was captured on Thursday night.
• There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian authorities to Russia’s claim to have seized the town in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province, one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow has illegally annexed.
• TRT World is unable to verify Russia’s claim independently.

Russia questions Sweden over Nord Stream blasts probe

• A spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry has questioned whether Sweden has “something to hide” over blasts along the Nord Stream gas pipelines last September.
• Addressing reporters at a news briefing, Maria Zakharova also reiterated criticism of the Swedish government for not sharing information from the ongoing investigations into the incidents.
• Sweden and other European investigators say the attacks were carried out on purpose, but they have not said who they think was responsible. Moscow, without providing evidence, has blamed the explosions on Western sabotage.
• “Maybe Russian investigators, conducting an objective investigation, could come to an inconvenient conclusion… about who conducted this act of sabotage, terrorism. About who thought it up, and who carried it out,” Zakharova said.

Kremlin calls not to rush in declaring victory

• The Kremlin said it was important not to “rush” to declare victory in Soledar, hours after Russia’s mercenary group Wagner claimed it had seized control of the town in eastern Ukraine.
• “Let’s wait for official announcements,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that there was a “positive dynamic in advances” in Soledar and saluted the “heroism of our fighters”.
• “Tactical successes, of course, are very important,” he added.
• Earlier, Wagner’s boss Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed his fighters controlled the salt mining city, while also saying some “urban battles” were still being fought in its centre.

Russia will keep developing nuclear weapons: Defence minister

• Russia’s defence minister says his country will continue developing its nuclear triad of ballistic missiles, submarines and strategic bombers because such weapons are the main guarantee of its sovereignty.
• “We will continue to develop the nuclear triad and maintain its combat readiness since the nuclear shield has been and remains the main guarantor of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state,” Sergei Shoigu said.
• “We will also increase the combat capabilities of the aerospace forces – both in terms of the work of fighters and bombers in areas where modern air defence systems are in operation, and in terms of improving unmanned aerial vehicles.”

Germany will not rule out Leopard tanks to Ukraine

• Germany will not rule out sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine in the future, the country’s economy minister told German broadcaster ARD.
• “Of course it can’t be ruled out,” Robert Habeck said.
• Habeck’s comments come two days after Germany said it wants to deliver around 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine before the end of March, a decision Habeck said was good and long overdue.

Erdogan speaks to Putin and Zelenskyy, offers help for Russia-Ukraine peace

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a phone call that Ankara was ready to take on mediation and moderation duties to secure a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.
• A readout from Erdogan’s office on Thursday said Türkiye also offered diplomatic support regarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. 
• Earlier today, Erdogan also had a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
• Erdogan told Putin that peace efforts in the Russia-Ukraine conflict should be supported by a unilateral ceasefire and a “vision for a fair solution”, the presidency said.

‘Deeply sceptical’ about Russia’s 36-hour truce: US Pentagon

• The Pentagon says the world is deeply sceptical about Putin’s call for a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine.
• “I think that there’s significant scepticism both here in the US and around the world right now, given Russia’s long track record of propaganda, disinformation, and its relentless attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters.
• “Our focus will continue to be on supporting Ukraine,” Ryder added.

Putin says Ukraine must accept loss of territories for there to be dialogue

• Putin has said during talks with his Turkish counterpart that he is open to dialogue with Ukraine if Kyiv accepts the “new territorial realities” on the ground.
• According to the Kremlin, Putin confirmed to Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their telephone conversation that Russia was open “to serious dialogue”.
• However, he said this was contingent on Ukraine “fulfilling the well-known and repeatedly voiced requirements of taking into account the new territorial realities”.
• Russia moved to unilaterally annex four partly occupied Ukrainian regions – Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhia in the south – in September and has rejected a peace plan put forward by Kyiv which calls for Moscow to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and withdraw all of its troops from the country.

Putin wants to destroy Ukraine, says German foreign minister

• German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says that the EU had tried everything to stop the war in Ukraine but that Putin had nothing on his mind but to destroy Ukraine.
• Speaking at a conference in Portugal’s capital Lisbon, Baerbock said Putin’s stance was why it was “important to keep up the delivery of weapons so Ukraine can defend itself and protect people’s lives”.

Russian official says peace treaty talks with Japan ‘impossible’

• Japan’s “anti-Russian course” makes peace treaty talks “impossible”, a senior Russian foreign ministry official has been quoted as saying by the state-owned TASS news agency.
• Russia and Japan have not formally ended World War Two hostilities because of their standoff over islands, seized by the Soviet Union at the end of the war, just off Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido. The islands are known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories.
• “It is absolutely obvious that it is impossible to discuss the signing of such a document [a peace treaty] with a state that takes openly unfriendly positions and allows itself direct threats against our country,” deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko told TASS.
• Japan has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and has moved to reduce its reliance on Russian oil and coal exports in recent months.

Ukraine reports more Russian drone attacks

• Russia has deployed multiple drones overnight to attack parts of Ukraine and dozens were shot down, Ukrainian officials say.
• Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 40 exploding drones “headed for Kyiv” overnight, according to air defence forces, and all of them were destroyed. He said 22 drones were destroyed over Kyiv, three in the outlying Kyiv region and 15 over neighbouring provinces.
• An infrastructure facility in Kyiv was damaged and an explosion occurred in one city district, the mayor said. It was not immediately clear whether that was caused by drones or other munitions.
• In the outlying Kyiv region, a “critical infrastructure object” and residential buildings were hit, Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said. Seven drones were shot down over the southern Mykolaiv region, according to Governor Vitali Kim, and three more were shot down in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.