Source: Aljazeera
As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 279th day, we take a look at the main developments.
Fighting
- Russian forces shelled 30 settlements in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region 258 times in the past week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
- Ukraine’s military said Russia kept up heavy shelling of key targets Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region and bombarded Kupiansk and Lyman to the north. Kyiv recaptured both recently.
- The Pentagon is considering a Boeing proposal to supply Ukraine with cheap, small precision bombs fitted onto abundantly available rockets, allowing Kyiv to hit far behind Russian lines as the West struggles to meet demand for more arms.
- Along front lines in eastern Ukraine, the onset of winter is ushering in a new phase of the conflict, after several months of Russian retreats, with intense trench warfare along heavily fortified positions.
- Russian forces heavily shelled towns on the west bank of the Dnieper River, including Kherson, abandoned by Moscow earlier this month, Ukraine’s military said.
- Ukrainian forces damaged a rail bridge north of the Russian-occupied southern city of Melitopol that has been key to supplying Russian forces dug in there.
Blackouts
- The United States will announce new aid to help Ukraine restore electricity as its people face another week of brutal cold and darkness after Russian raids on its power grid caused rolling blackouts.
- Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians to expect the same during the next week, predicting Russia’s attacks on infrastructure would not stop until it runs out of missiles.
- NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will call on allies to pledge more winter aid for Ukraine at a meeting in Romania.
- Kyiv plans to put up Christmas trees, without lights, throughout the battered city in a defiant display of holiday spirit as the area’s millions of residents suffer through blackouts.
- Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz has asked the US Agency for International Development to help with additional natural gas volumes for the heating season.
- Russia has been shelling Ukraine’s power plants, transmission and distribution facilities and water pumping stations since early October, with each barrage dealing a bigger blow than the last as the fallout mounts and winter sets in.
- Kyiv and its allies say Russia’s attacks on civilian infrastructure are war crimes. Moscow denies its intent is to hurt civilians but said last week their suffering would not end unless Ukraine yielded to Russia’s demands, without spelling them out.
Diplomacy
A communications line created between the American and Russian militaries at the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine has been used only once, a United States official told the Reuters news agency. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States initiated a call through the “deconfliction” line to communicate its concerns about Russian military operations near critical infrastructure in Ukraine. Nuclear disarmament talks between Russia and the US set to take place this week have been postponed.
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