Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,037
Here are the key developments on the 1,037th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Members
of the artillery unit of the special rifle battalion of Zaporizhia
regional police fire a small multiple launch rocket system (MLRS)
towards Russian troops in the Zaporizhia region, Ukraine, on December
25, 2024 [Stringer/Reuters]
Published On 27 Dec 202427 Dec 2024
Here is the situation on Friday, December 27:
Fighting:
- South Korean intelligence said that an injured North Korean soldier
dispatched to fight for Russia was captured alive by Ukrainian forces,
according to the Yonhap news agency on Friday.
- Russian drones struck a multistorey apartment building in the town
of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Thursday, killing two
people, according to regional officials.
- Other attacks on Thursday hit an industrial area of the southeastern
city of Zaporizhzhia and a market in the town of Nikopol in the
Dnipropetrovsk region. The attacks on Ukraine’s east come after Russia’s
Christmas day attack on the country’s energy system.
- Russian forces captured the village of Hihant in eastern Ukraine,
the RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing the defence ministry.
- The Ukrainian military claimed its air force had carried out a
strike on a military-industrial facility in the Russian town of
Kamensk-Shakhtinsky in the Rostov region over the previous few days. The
facility was used to produce solid fuel for ballistic missiles used in
Russian attacks on Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday.
- The Ukrainian military said on Thursday it shot down 20 drones out of 31 launched by Russia overnight.
Politics and diplomacy:
- China’s President Xi Jinping will visit Russia next year, Russia’s
state-run RIA news agency quoted Russian ambassador to Beijing Igor
Morgulov as saying on Friday. He said that Russia and China had to
respond to United States policy jointly, referring to alleged NATO plans
to “move its military infrastructure” into the Asia Pacific region.
China has put forward a peace plan with Brazil to end the war.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin told North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un that the two countries will continue to implement the comprehensive
strategic partnership treaty – which includes a mutual defence pact –
that they signed in June, North Korea’s KCNA news agency reported on
Friday.
- Putin said on Thursday that he was open to a Slovakian proposal to
host peace talks with Ukraine. “We are not opposed, if it comes to that.
Why not? Since Slovakia takes such a neutral position,” he said after a
visit by Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico to the Kremlin this week.
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is set to visit Moscow on
January 17 to sign a cooperation agreement with Putin, according to
Kazem Jalali, Iran’s ambassador to Russia, cited by Russian state news
agency RIA on Thursday.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that his
country was willing to work with Donald Trump’s incoming US
administration to improve relations. But, he said, the US would have to
make the first move since it had “interrupted” dialogue after “the start
of a special military operation”. Trump, who enters office on January
20, has promised to swiftly end the war in Ukraine.
Regional security:
- Investigations into the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash near the
city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, which killed 38 people, are under way.
Unnamed Azerbaijani and US officials were reported as saying they
believed a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the deadly crash.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned against “hypotheses”.
- Moldova’s parliament approved a 10-year defence strategy on
Thursday, calling for increased defence spending as part of a plan to
join the European Union. The move was ridiculed by the chamber’s
pro-Russian opposition, given the relatively small size of Moldova’s
armed forces. Pro-Western President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of
trying to unseat her government.
- Putin said on Thursday that there was no time left this year to sign
a new Ukrainian gas transit deal, laying the blame firmly
on Ukraine for refusing to extend the agreement that brings gas to
Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria. The current five-year gas
transit deal between Russia and Ukraine expires at the end of the year.