Here are the key developments on the 1,033rd day since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Here’s what happened on Monday, December 23rd.
Finding:
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced on Monday that more than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday night that its air defense systems destroyed 42 Ukrainian drones over five Russian regions. Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that Russian troops had captured two villages in Ukraine, one in the northeastern Kharkov region and one in the eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine’s military commander said the eastern village of Sontsivka was in the area of 26 Russian attacks in the past 24 hours. The General Staff also reported that there was heavy fighting near Pokrovsk, with 34 Russians attempting to break through the defense line. Dmytro Rubinets, Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner, said Russian forces executed five unarmed Ukrainian prisoners on Sunday. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has named Col. Alexei Kim, Deputy Chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, as one of the people suspected of ordering a missile attack on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August. The SBU claimed that the suspect acted “with a motive to intentionally kill an employee” of the Reuters news agency.
diplomacy and security
Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised retaliation after a Ukrainian drone attacked a residence in the city of Kazan in Russia’s Tatarstan region. President Putin met with Slovakian Prime Minister Roberto Fico in the Kremlin on Sunday, an unusual visit to Moscow for an EU leader as the deadline for a deal to allow Russian gas to pass through Ukraine approaches. Ta. South Korea announced that North Korea is preparing to deploy additional troops and weapons to support Russia in its all-out war against Ukraine, Yonhap News reported. US President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his desire to meet “as soon as possible” to discuss the war in Ukraine.
