by news organizations
On Sunday, December 28, 2018, this is how things are going.
Fighting
- After Russian forces launched a massive attack with hundreds of missiles and drones in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the surrounding area, ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss a strategy to put an end to nearly four years of hostilities, at least two people were killed.
- According to Ukrainian officials, the attack also claimed the lives of at least 46 people, including two children.
- Zelenskyy, who was traveling with Trump to Florida, claimed that Russia had launched 40 missiles and nearly 500 drones in an effort to attack both civilian and energy infrastructure.
- Ukrenergo, the country’s state grid operator, reported emergency power cuts across the capital and energy facilities being damaged throughout Ukraine. More than a million households in and around Kyiv are without power, according to DTEK, the largest private energy company in Ukraine.
- More than 40% of Kyiv’s residential areas were left without heat, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba, who reported that following the attack, temperatures remained around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Following Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, Poland’s Air Navigation Services Agency announced in a statement on X that the country’s southeaster regions’ Rzeszow and Lublin airports were temporarily closed. Polish and allied jets were deployed during the attack, according to the Polish Armed Forces’ Operational Command, but no airspace was allegedly violated.
- According to Sergei Sobyanin, the city’s mayor, air defense forces shot down 11 drones heading for Moscow.
- Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia reported that for security reasons, Moscow’s Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports temporarily imposed airspace restrictions.
- In three hours, over 100 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed by Russia’s Ministry of Defense, according to the country’s ministry of defense.
- According to the Kremlin and Russian news agencies, Russian commanders informed President Vladimir Putin that Moscow’s forces had taken control of the Ukrainian towns Myrnohrad, Rodynske, and Artemivka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, as well as Huliaipole and Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhia region.
- However, the Ukrainian military claimed in its daily battlefield update that its forces had blocked Russian advances in the Myrnohrad and Huliaipole’s immediate area.
diplomacy and politics
- As Kyiv pushes for a stronger position in the ongoing ceasefire negotiations to stop Russia from prolonging the conflict in Ukraine, Zelenskyy announced in a Telegram message that he would meet with European leaders after his meeting with Trump on Sunday.
- Zelenskyy said he wants to talk about the 20-point peace framework and the imminent completion of a security guarantee deal with Trump, which is the main sticking point in negotiations to end the war.
- Zelenskyy stopped in Halifax to meet Mark Carney while traveling in Florida, according to the Canadian prime minister’s statement following the meeting.
- Carney referred to the most recent Russian attack as “barbarism,” arguing that allies should “stand with Ukraine in this difficult time.” Additionally, he made an announcement that Ukraine would receive additional economic aid worth $ 1.83 billion.
- Following their meeting with Carney, Zelenskyy addressed European leaders. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, stated in a statement posted on X that “we welcome all efforts that advance our shared goal, a just and lasting peace that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. And that increases the nation’s defense and security capabilities.
- Von der Leyen’s pledge to continue supporting Ukraine was shared by Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, which represents the bloc’s 27 member states, on X: “The EU’s support for Ukraine will not falter. In the midst of a war, peace, or reconstruction?
- Prior to his meeting with Trump, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Zelenskyy had “the full support” of European leaders. The leaders of NATO and the European Union both declared in a statement that they would work “in close coordination” with the US to “create a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
- According to AFP news agency officials from Macron’s office, the most recent Russian strikes on Kyiv showed that Moscow was not interested in ending the war, according to French President Emmanuel Macron in a call with Zelenskyy. Macron made a point during the call by highlighting the “contrast” between “Russia’s determination to prolong the war that started” and “the willingness of Ukraine to forge a lasting peace” according to the report.
- According to the Interfax news agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia could see Kyiv was not moving to end the conflict peacefully. Putin claimed that Russia would use force to carry out all of its “special military operation” if Ukraine did not want to resolve the conflict peacefully, according to Russian state news agency TASS.





