As the war enters its 683rd day, these are the main events.
Here is the situation on Sunday, January 7, 2024.
Struggle
- At least 11 people, including five children, were killed in a Russian missile attack in and around the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. Vadym Filashkin, regional governor of Ukraine’s partially occupied eastern Donetsk region, said eight people were wounded in the attack.
- Ukraine’s military said it carried out a successful attack on the Saky military air base in the west of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. “Saki Airfield! All objectives were achieved! “Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram. He also posted a photo that appears to show the airfield.
- Russia previously said its air defense units shot down Ukrainian missiles and drones targeting Crimea and the western part of the Black Sea. Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
- Local officials in Belgorod – a Russian city about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Ukrainian border – said an “air target” was shot down as it approached the city. As Russians prepared to celebrate Orthodox Christmas, Christmas Eve masses in Belgorod were canceled due to the “operational situation,” Mayor Valentin Demidov said.
Politics and diplomacy
- Speaking on the eve of the Russian Orthodox Christmas, while meeting with families of soldiers killed in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin promised more support for soldiers who “with weapons in hand” defended Russia’s interests.
- In a rare public protest, about 15 Russian women whose husbands have been sent to fight in the full-scale Russian invasion symbolically laid flowers at the flame of the unknown soldier under the Kremlin walls in Moscow and demanded the return of men from the front. . Some 244,000 Russians have been mobilized to fight in Ukraine out of a total force of about 617,000 soldiers.
- Shalanda Young, US President Joe Biden’s top budget official, warned of the rapidly decreasing time lawmakers in Congress have to replenish US aid to Ukraine. The funding has been blocked by Republicans who demand that the $106 billion plan, which also includes support for Israel, be linked to immigration measures at the US-Mexico border. Young said the situation was “terrible.”
Weapons
- Ukraine provided more evidence that Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea, as the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office showed media fragments of a weapon that hit the northeastern city on January 2. Spokesman Dmytro Chubenko said the missile had a slightly larger diameter than the Russian Iskander missile, although its nozzle, internal electrical windings and rear parts were also different.
- Russia aims to produce more than 32,000 drones each year by 2030 with domestic producers accounting for 70 percent of the market, state news agency TASS reported, citing First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov.
