Key developments on the 1,045th day since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine include:
This is the situation on Saturday, January 4th.
finding
Russia’s creeping advance in Donetsk has captured 4,168 square kilometers (1,609 square miles) of territory at the cost of 430,000 soldiers, according to a new analysis. According to the French magazine Avion Legendaire, Ukraine will receive its first French Mirage 2000-5F multi-role fighter jet this month. A Russian court has ordered Yandex, Russia’s largest search engine, to hide maps and photos of the country’s largest oil refinery after repeated attacks by Ukrainian drones, state news agency TASS reported.
military aid
US President Joe Biden is expected to announce additional security assistance to Ukraine in the coming days, White House Press Secretary John Kirby said.
regional security
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Financial Times that he believes China intervened to prevent Russia from using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. A Finnish court has refused to release an oil tanker suspected by police of damaging an undersea power line and four communication cables in the Baltic Sea. The Eagle S tanker was transporting Russian oil when the cable between Finland and Estonia was damaged on December 25, along with four communication lines.
politics
Russia’s UN special envoy Vasily Nebenzha told state broadcaster Russia 1 TV that there was “nothing interesting” in US President-elect Donald Trump’s proposals to end the war in Ukraine. Mr. Blinken will begin his final tour of his term this weekend, ending with a meeting in Paris to discuss European security and Ukraine with French officials, the State Department said.
environment
Oil from two aging and damaged Russian oil tankers was detected Friday off the coast of Crimea’s largest city, Sevastopol, which was annexed by Moscow, local officials said. The ships were hit by a storm last month, causing one to sink and another to run aground, spilling around 2,400 tonnes of oil into surrounding waters.
