On Sunday, December 21, 2018, this is how things are going.
Fighting
- According to Ukrainian authorities, at least 30 people were hurt in a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s port city of Odesa, up from seven to eight.
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, accused Russia of trying to encroach on Kyiv’s territory by calling the situation in Odesa “harsh.”
- In response to the Russian attacks on Odesa, the Ukrainian leader added that he is considering replacing Dmytro Karpenko as the Southern Air Command’s head.
- Russian forces attacked the nearby port of Pivdennyi on Saturday, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba, hitting several reservoirs.
- On Friday, the Ukrainian military reported that its special forces attacked a Lukoil oil rig and the Okhotnik, a Russian military patrol ship, with drones in the Caspian Sea. The Filanovsky oil rig, which had been targeted twice this month, was also damaged, according to the military.
- Svitle and Vysoke, which are located in the eastern Donetsk region and the northeastern Luhansk region, were taken over by Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
Talks of diplomacy and a ceasefire
- According to Zelenskyy, the US suggested a new format for discussions with Russia that would involve three-way discussions with US national security advisers from Ukraine, Russia, and the US.
- The Ukrainian leader said he thought the talks would produce “anything new,” but that he thought the US-led discussions had the best chance of succeeding.
- He added that if trilateral discussions enabled progress in areas like prisoner swaps or a meeting of national leaders, he would support them. I cannot be opposed to a meeting that could be held right now to allow for the swapping of prisoners of war or if a meeting of national security advisers comes to an agreement on a leaders’ meeting. A US proposal like this would be welcomed by us. Let’s see how things turn out, he said.
- Zelenskyy also retaliated against Ukraine holding elections as the conflict drags on, claiming that Russian-occupied areas cannot host elections and that security conditions must first be improved before voting can take place. Zelenskyy asserted that “it is not Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, who decides when and how the elections will be held in Ukraine.”
- Zelenskyy urged European leaders to approve a plan to seize frozen Russian assets and use them to fund Ukraine’s war effort, claiming that doing so would increase Ukraine’s leverage at the table of negotiations. According to the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine will need about 137 billion euros ($161 billion) in 2026 and 2027 as the country’s economy struggles as a result of the conflict’s continued demands.
- In Miami, Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev and his US counterpart Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son of US President Donald Trump, spoke.
- “The discussions are going in a positive way. They started earlier and will continue both today and tomorrow,” Dmitriev said.
- More than 50 countries took part in a summit held in Cairo, which was attended by the Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose goal was to strengthen cooperation between Russia and African countries. In terms of security and national sovereignty, Lavrov marketed Russia as a “reliable partner” for African nations.
Weapons
- Oleksandr Kamyshin, the president of Ukraine, announced a deal with Portugal to jointly produce maritime drones, saying it would “defend Europe from the sea.”
Source: Aljazeera
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