Russia-Ukraine conflict: List of key occasions, day 653 | Russia-Ukraine conflict News | USAEMALL.com

As the conflict enters its 653rd day, these are the principle developments.

Here is the scenario on Friday, December 8, 2023.

Fighting

• Russia launched a swarm of Iranian-designed assault drones, damaging port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa area and killing one civilian. The Ukrainian air power stated it destroyed 15 of the 18 Shahed drones. The assault was the primary on the Danube ports since November 21.
• Ukraine urged residents to avoid wasting electrical energy after Russia shelled a thermal energy plant close to the entrance line inflicting severe injury as temperatures plunge beneath freezing. The power ministry, which didn’t title the plant, stated two of its energy items stopped working, resulting in a “temporary shortage of electricity” within the grid.
• United Nations officers instructed the Security Council in New York that intensifying Russian assaults on Ukraine’s power services have been worsening humanitarian situations throughout the nation. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca stated Russia should cease its assaults on civilians and civilian infrastructure which are “prohibited under international humanitarian law” whereas Ramesh Rajasingham, the UN humanitarian coordinator, stated “the deaths, injuries and level of destruction of vital civilian infrastructure is staggering”.
• Russia started utilizing smaller assault teams with the backing of armoured autos and air cowl in its long-running effort to seize Ukraine’s japanese city of Avdiivka, Ukrainian officers stated. In its Thursday night replace, Ukraine’s General Staff stated its forces had rebuffed 15 assaults in Avdiivka and close by villages, after reporting 34 assaults in its morning bulletin.
• Russia’s FSB safety service stated it had arrested a Belarusian man it accused of blowing up two trains in Siberia final month allegedly as a part of a sabotage marketing campaign performed by the Ukrainian intelligence providers.

Politics and diplomacy

• An support tracker from the Kiel Institute confirmed Ukraine’s allies have drastically scaled again their pledges of recent support to the nation, which have fallen to their lowest stage because the begin of the conflict. The Germany-based institute stated new army, monetary and humanitarian support promised to Ukraine between August and October 2023 fell nearly 90 % from the identical interval in 2022.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Russia hoped US lawmakers would proceed to dam White House requests for billions of {dollars} in support for Ukraine as Republicans demand immigration concessions be included within the help package deal. Peskov accused US President Joe Biden of “demonising” Russia in his makes an attempt to get Congress’s approval for the spending.
• Visiting Beijing, high European Union officers urged China to do extra to press Russia to finish its conflict in Ukraine. European Council President Charles Michel stated the EU would love China, which has not condemned Moscow’s full-scale invasion, to “be more assertive” and “be very clear they support the UN Charter and condemn this war caused by Russia against Ukraine”.
• Speaking to journalists following the summit, a Chinese international ministry official insisted that, regardless of the bloc’s calls, Beijing wouldn’t be capable of sway Moscow. Russia “is a very independent sovereign nation”, Wang Lutong, director common of the Chinese international ministry’s European division, instructed a press briefing. “President Putin is making his decision based on his own national interest and security,” he stated.
• Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised $4.5bn to Ukraine, together with funding for mills and different energy provides, in addition to measures to clear Russian mines.
• British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, on a go to to the US, stated there was a powerful argument for seizing frozen Russian belongings and utilizing them to assist rebuild war-ravaged Ukraine.
• Andriy Yermak, chief of workers to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stated he wished to rearrange a gathering between Zelenskyy and Hungarian chief Viktor Orban amid Budapest’s opposition to a proposal to start out talks on EU membership for Kyiv. An EU summit is because of happen subsequent week, and Orban has stated leaders may fail to realize a consensus on Ukraine’s membership.

Weapons

• Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine’s minister for strategic industries, stated Kyiv will work with two companies from the US to collectively manufacture 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine. The shells are important for the conflict, however Kamyshin stated manufacturing was unlikely to start out for not less than two years as a result of Ukraine had by no means produced such shells earlier than.
• Kyiv stated it signed an settlement with the US to assist develop weapons manufacturing in Ukraine. “The document will facilitate the building of production facilities in our country to provide the armed forces with the necessary weapons, in particular in the areas of air defence, production of critical munitions, and repair and sustainment,” the Ukrainian presidency stated in an announcement.