Russia-Ukraine War: List of key events, day 1,030 | Russia-Ukraine war News

Here is the situation on Friday, December 20:

Fighting

• At least one person was reported dead in a Russian missile strike in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, said the head of the city’s military administration, Sergiy Popko, on Telegram. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko added that “due to the enemy’s attack”, two people were hospitalized and debris fell in four places.

• A Russian missile attack has killed three people and wounded three others in the northeastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine, the national police said. It went on to say that more than ten houses were destroyed in this attack.

• Ukraine has launched six US-made ATACMS long-range cruise missiles and four UK-made Storm Shadow missiles at the southern Rostov region of Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Russian forces destroyed all ATACMS and three out of four Storm Shadows, the ministry said, adding that Moscow would respond to the attack.

• At least 100 North Korean soldiers deployed to support Russia’s war in Ukraine have been killed since they began fighting in December, a South Korean diplomat said. Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce Russian forces, including in the border region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces took over this year.

Politics and diplomacy

• Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is ready to compromise on Ukraine in potential talks with Donald Trump about ending the war and he has no conditions to start talks with the Ukrainian authorities.
• Putin issued a decree allowing foreign buyers of Russian gas to pay in rubles at other Russian banks, not just the US-backed Gazprombank, until April 1, in an attempt to circumvent the sanctions.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he needs Europe and the US to have lasting peace, as he met with EU leaders in their last summit before Trump’s inauguration.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Trump agreed that the war between Russia and Ukraine has gone on “for too long”. Scholz told Trump on the phone that he would continue to support Ukraine in defending itself against Russian aggression as long as necessary.
• The European Union will bring another 30 billion euros ($31.09bn) of financial support to Ukraine by 2025, EU Council President Antonio Costa announced after meeting with EU leaders in Brussels.

• A Moscow court has ordered the suspect in the murder of Russian general Igor Kirillov to be kept in custody for two months before his trial. The suspect, who is originally from Uzbekistan, has been charged with terrorism that resulted in the death of a person.

• Russia and the countries that support it will continue to pose a threat to Europe even after the war in Ukraine is over, warns Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen. Finland is Russia’s neighbor, sharing a more than 1,300km (800-mile) border that is currently closed to all travelers as Helsinki accuses Moscow of smuggling undocumented migrants into Europe.

• A Russian military court has sentenced two people to 21 years in prison, accusing them of planning the attack at the behest of Ukraine. Viktoria Shinkarchuk, a former local government official in the Belgorod region on the border with Russia, was convicted along with Alexander Kholodkov, TASS news agency reported.

Cyber-warfare

• Russia has carried out a major cyberattack on the registration centers of the Ukrainian government, said Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna, adding that it led to a temporary suspension of operations. The registers contain important information about Ukrainian citizens such as births, deaths, marriages and property ownership.