These were the key events on day 1004 of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Sunday, November 24:
Diplomacy
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Italy, ahead of the G7 foreign ministers meeting on Monday, to discuss the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
- Western allies should not set limits on support for Ukraine and “not establish or express red lines,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told the BBC.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will discuss the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday during his visit to Ankara, a Turkish official said.
- Addressing the Third Food Security Summit in kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed confidence that his country has a good chance of ending the war with Russia by 2025, The Kyiv Independent reported.
- During the same event, Zelenskyy said that Russia has damaged 321 port infrastructure facilities and 20 foreign merchant ships since July 2023, the media outlet added.
- Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen emphasized the importance of US support for Ukraine during the Halifax International Security Forum, arguing that Ukraine's success against Russia would serve “as the most effective deterrent to future aggression.”
Struggle
- Ukraine has lost more than 40 percent of territory in Russia's Kursk region that it quickly seized in a surprise raid in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counterattacks, a senior Ukrainian military source told Reuters news agency.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on debt forgiveness of up to 10 million rubles ($95,869) for new army recruits signing up to fight in Ukraine, a Russian government website showed.
- The independent Russian media Mediazona, in collaboration with BBC Russia, has published a report with the names of 79,819 Russian soldiers killed since the start of the war.
- Explosions were heard in kyiv, Reuters and local media in the Ukrainian capital reported, in what appeared to be operational air defense units.
- The Ukrainian capital, the surrounding region and most of northeastern Ukraine were under air strike alert from approximately 01:00 GMT.
- Russian air defense systems destroyed 34 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 27 over the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
- The governor of Kursk has said that Russian air defense units had destroyed two “Ukrainian missiles” overnight over the region.
- Putin stated that the massive deployment of the Oreshnik intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) could rival the destructive power of nuclear weapons, highlighting its precision and strategic potential.
