Because the struggle enters its 658th day, these are the primary developments.
Right here is the scenario on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.
Preventing
- Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-installed head of the Russian-occupied components of Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhia area, stated Russian forces had “superior considerably ahead northeast of Novopokrovka”. The village lies some 20km (12 miles) east of Robotyne, which Kyiv stated it recaptured in August. Balitsky stated Russian forces have been “not solely holding the road however are steadily shifting ahead”. Ukraine acknowledged battles within the space. “The defence forces repelled three enemy assaults within the areas north of Pryutne and west of Novopokrovka of the Zaporizhia area,” the military stated in its every day report.
- The Ukrainian Air Drive stated it shot down 9 of 15 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia at a number of areas of Ukraine.
- One particular person was killed and 4 others injured throughout 24 hours of Russian bombardment of the southern Kherson area, in response to Oleksandr Prokudin, the pinnacle of the regional navy administration.
- Ukraine claimed to have captured a tactically vital hill within the japanese Donetsk area. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy introduced on social media that his troops had taken the foothold, which offers a vantage level over the entrance line close to Pivdenne, a mining city to the northwest of the Donetsk metropolis of Horlivka.
- A significant outage at Kyivstar, the operator of Ukraine’s greatest cellular community, left 24.3 million individuals with out cellular protection and potential air raid alerts after what seemed to be the most important cyberattack since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the nation. “Conflict can also be taking place in our on-line world. Sadly, we now have been hit because of this struggle,” Chief Govt Officer Oleksandr Komarov informed nationwide tv. Ukraine stated it was investigating potential Russian state involvement and Kyivstar stated it hoped to revive companies by Wednesday.
- A declassified US intelligence report assessed that 315,000 Russian troops had been killed and injured within the struggle in Ukraine – almost 90 % of the personnel Moscow had when the battle started – a supply accustomed to the intelligence informed the Reuters information company. The report additionally assessed that Moscow’s losses in personnel and armoured automobiles to Ukraine’s navy had set again its navy modernisation by 18 years.
Politics and diplomacy
- United States President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy met on the White Home to debate the “important significance” of continued US help for Ukraine after US Republicans, who wish to hyperlink funding for Ukraine to new border safety measures, blocked billions of {dollars} of assist.
- At a press convention following the assembly, Biden reiterated the necessity to keep navy help for Ukraine, saying Republicans who stood in the way in which would hand a “Christmas present” to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “If we don’t cease Putin … [he] will preserve going,” Biden stated.
- Zelenskyy, in the meantime, stated about 600,000 Ukrainians have been combating Russian forces and that the nation’s troops had been profitable within the Black Sea in addition to in establishing a brand new hall for grain exports. He stated the objective in 2024 was to “take away Russia’s air superiority”.
- The Ukrainian president earlier appealed on to the US Congress over new funding and stated that whereas he had obtained “optimistic” alerts from the assembly, he would concentrate on motion slightly than phrases. Home of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, didn’t seem to have been swayed. “What the Biden administration appears to be asking for is billions of further {dollars} with no applicable oversight, no clear technique to win and with not one of the solutions that I believe the American individuals are owed,” Johnson stated.
- Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had stated Russia could be closely watching the assembly between the 2 leaders. Peskov stated that additional US navy help to Ukraine could be a “fiasco”, claiming the billions of {dollars} in earlier help had not helped Ukraine on the battlefield.
- Zelenskyy emphatically rejected as “insane” ideas that Ukraine ought to hand over a few of its territory to safe a peace take care of Russia. “It’s a matter of households and their historical past. We’re not going to surrender territories to terrorists,” Zelenskyy informed reporters.
- Poland’s newly-elected prime minister, Donald Tusk, stated Warsaw would demand the “full mobilisation” of the West to assist Ukraine. “There is no such thing as a various,” he stated.
![Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inside the Capitol. Mitch McConnell is on one side and Chuck Schumer on the other.](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AP23346517217002-1702433009.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513)
- The US introduced a wave of new sanctions concentrating on greater than 250 people and entities in international locations together with Turkey, China and the United Arab Emirates, because it tries to additional isolate Russia over its full-scale invasion.
- Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) who Russia detained in October, was slapped with further fees of “spreading false details about the Russian military”. RFE/RL’s performing president and board member Jeffrey Gedmin stated the community “strongly condemned” the transfer. “It’s time for this merciless persecution to finish,” he stated.
Weapons
- The US introduced a brand new $200m navy help package deal for Ukraine together with ammunition for the Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket Methods (HIMARS), high-speed anti-radiation missiles and artillery rounds. It’s separate from the package deal presently stalled in Congress. “Until Congress take motion to move further help, this will probably be one of many final safety help packages we can present Ukraine,” the Biden administration stated in a press release.