Russia-Ukraine conflict: List of key occasions, day 657 | News | USAEMALL.com

As the conflict enters its 657th day, these are the principle developments.

Here is the scenario on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.

Fighting

• The Ukrainian army stated Russian forces unleashed an enormous new offensive on the jap Ukrainian metropolis of Avdiivka, simply northwest of the Russian-occupied metropolis of Donetsk. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun advised Ukrainian tv that preventing had been intense with 610 artillery shellings reported close to Avdiivka over the earlier 24 hours. There was no fast remark from Russia on the preventing within the space. About 1,500 individuals stay in Avdiivka out of a pre-war inhabitants of some 32,000.
• Four individuals have been injured after Russia attacked Kyiv with eight long-range ballistic missiles within the early hours of the morning. The missiles have been shot down by Ukrainian air defences and other people have been harm after being hit by the particles or shards of glass.
• In a separate Russian assault, Ukrainian air defences shot down 18 Shahed drones aimed on the south.

Politics and diplomacy

• Speaking on the primary day of his go to to Washington, DC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that failing to take care of help for Ukraine would play into the arms of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy is because of meet President Joe Biden and House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday as Republicans within the US Congress resist further Ukraine funding.
• Zelenskyy additionally met International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva, hours after the fund’s government board accredited a brand new $900m disbursement for Ukraine. Georgieva and Zelenskyy spoke for practically an hour on the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC. Zelenskyy thanked the IMF for its help. Georgieva famous that the board, excluding one nation, was unanimous in its help for Ukraine.
• Zelenskyy described his temporary chat with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the sidelines of the inauguration of Argentinian President Javier Milei on Sunday as “frank”. Orban has threatened to dam extra European Union monetary help for Kyiv and is against Ukraine becoming a member of the group. EU leaders will talk about Ukraine’s membership at a summit on Thursday.
• Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) stated it had arrested 18 “agents and accomplices” of Ukraine’s particular providers it claimed have been a part of a community of assassins focusing on pro-Russian figures in occupied Crimea and jap elements of Ukraine. Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
• The EU added six individuals and 5 entities to their Iran sanctions checklist over their alleged help for Russia in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The sanctioned embrace the Shahed drone-maker Shakad Sanat Asmari, its CEO, deputy CEO and chief scientist. Other corporations concerned in drone manufacturing have been additionally focused.
• Russia’s central election fee stated March’s presidential election would come with voting in 4 areas of Ukraine that it partly occupied and annexed final 12 months. Ukraine, which rejected the annexation together with most members of the United Nations General Assembly, has already stated that any Russian vote within the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson areas could be null and void, and that it’ll prosecute any observers despatched to watch voting.

Weapons

• The United Kingdom stated it transferred two minehunters to Ukraine. The transfer is a part of a brand new Maritime Capability Coalition, led by the UK and Norway, geared toward offering long-term army help to bolster maritime safety within the Black Sea.
• US nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby stated Washington was more likely to announce further army help for Ukraine earlier than the tip of the month within the expectation that Russia was more likely to goal Ukraine’s power amenities because the climate will get colder.