Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,408

On Friday, January 2, 2018, this is how things are going.

Fighting

• A drone strike on a hotel and cafe where civilians were visiting in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, according to Russia, resulted in at least 24 fatalities, including a child.
• Russian-installed governor of the area, Vladimir Saldo, claimed three Ukrainian drones had launched a “deliberate strike” against civilians at the celebrations in Khorly, a coastal village. He claimed that numerous people had been burned to death.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, stated in a message on Telegram that Russia had launched more than 200 attack drones against Ukraine, aiming at energy infrastructure in seven different regions.

• Over the course of 20 hours of the New Year, Russian air defense units have shot down 29 Ukrainian drones heading for Moscow, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Two Moscow airports were subject to restrictions on New Year’s Eve night. No injuries or damage were mentioned by Sobyanin.

allegedly an attack on Putin’s residence

• Admiral Igor Kostyukov, a senior Russian military official, claimed to have given a Ukrainian attache what he claimed was a piece of a Ukrainian drone. He claimed that the drone’s data demonstrated that President Vladimir Putin’s residence was being targeted by the Ukrainian military this week in the Russian region of northern Novgorod.
• According to Ukrainian military intelligence, Ukraine orchestrated Denis Kapustin’s death to stop his murder, which was ordered by Moscow’s special forces. Despite making claims that he was killed on the front line, Kapustin’s Russian Volunteer Corps later made an appearance in a video briefing with Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR).
• As part of a previously announced military aid package, the Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense announced that it had deployed two brand-new Patriot air defense systems.

Diplomacy

• Zelenskyy added that a peace agreement was almost ready after weeks of US-led diplomacy, including his meetings with US President Donald Trump in Florida. He claimed that “a peace agreement is ready to go until it is 10%.”