Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,017

Here is the situation on Saturday, December 7:

Fighting:

On Friday, a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, in southern Spain, claimed the lives of 24 people and injured at least 10 others. The city’s governor, Ivan Fedorov, said the attack had set a car garage and service station on fire in the blast.
• Another attack on nearby Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, killed at least two people, according to the local governor.
• Moscow gained ground in two crucial areas of the east Ukraine front line, including a village close to Pokrovsk’s troubled supply hub and a village close to Kurakhove’s industrial town, according to reports from Moscow.

Military and diplomacy:

• Zelenskyy criticized Putin after the attacks, saying in a Telegram post that “presidents of this war do not need real peace,” adding that “only through force can real peace be established.”
• The EU’s first-ever defence commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, has called for a “big-bang approach” in spending and policy changes to strengthen the bloc’s defences, warning that Russia could be prepared for military aggression against the EU or NATO by 2030.
• Ukraine unveiled a new domestically produced “rocket drone” called Peklo (Hell in Ukrainian) saying it can fly 700km (430 miles) – more than twice the longest range attributed to missiles supplied by Western allies.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in a broadcast interview that Moscow was ready to use “any means” to avoid defeat with the recent use of a hypersonic missile in the Ukraine conflict.
• Zelenskyy plans to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump while he is in Paris this weekend to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his hope for the development of a “joint strategy” for Ukraine in an interview that was released on Saturday.

Source: Aljazeera