Key developments on the 1,040th day since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine include:
Here’s what happened on Monday, December 30th:
Finding:
Ukraine’s air force reported on Monday that its air defense forces shot down 21 of 43 drones launched by Russia in night attacks. The air force said the attack targeted six regions across the country, adding that 22 other drones were “lost.”
Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that Russian troops had captured the village of Novolenivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported.
On Sunday, Russian troops announced they had captured the village of Novotroytske in Donetsk region, Interfax news agency reported. Russian soccer star Alexei Bugaev, 43, who played for the national team at Euro 2004, died in a “fierce battle,” Russian media reported, citing his father and agent. In September, Bugaev was jailed on drug trafficking charges. He was one of many prisoners of war drafted for the war.
Politics and diplomacy:
The United States on Monday announced a $2.5 billion security aid package for Ukraine as part of the U.S. government’s efforts to provide assistance to Kiev before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The aid includes a $1.25 billion military “financing package” that allows the Pentagon to take weapons from U.S. inventories and quickly send them to the battlefield.
Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported that Syria’s de facto ruler, Ahmed al-Sharah, met on Monday with a senior Ukrainian delegation led by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha. Syria was a close ally of Russia for decades under ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that his country would suspend the deployment of short- and medium-range nuclear missiles because the United States had “arrogantly ignored warnings from Russia and China” and deployed “weapons of this class” to Russia. He said he would withdraw it. different regions of the world. Amid fears of a new arms race, Russia’s move would eliminate all remnants of the New START treaty on nuclear weapons reduction. Russian state media appears to have been blocked on the social media platform Telegram in several European Union countries. The RIA Novosti news agency, Russia-1, Channel One Russia, NTV television, Izvestia newspaper and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper channels became inaccessible across the block on Sunday. Neither Telegram nor EU officials have yet commented on the confusion. The Russian government called the move an “act of censorship.”
Regional security:
Moldova’s separatist Transdniestrian region on Sunday cut off gas supplies to several state institutions, including medical facilities and police stations, two days ahead of an agreement to allow the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine. This is because Ukraine refused to extend it during the war. The move raised concerns that large-scale power outages would occur in the former Soviet state in the new year. Finnish police announced on Sunday that they had discovered a trail of evidence stretching dozens of kilometers under the Baltic Sea. In the same area, a Cook Islands-registered tanker carrying Russian crude oil is suspected of having severed four power lines and communication cables with its anchor. The Baltic states have been on high alert following a series of power outages to power cables, communications lines and gas pipelines since the start of the war in Ukraine. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said he wants Russia to accept last week’s downing of an Azerbaijani airliner, saying he witnessed a “clear attempt to cover up the issue.” Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to Aliyev for the “tragic incident” in Russian airspace after Russian air defense forces engaged a Ukrainian attack drone, but the Kremlin statement said Russia He did not say that he had shot down the aircraft, only that a criminal case had occurred. It was opened.
