Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,393

Here is wherever things basal connected Thursday, December 18:

Fighting

• Ukrainian drones person deed a tanker vas successful the confederate Russian larboard of Rostov-on-Don, sidesplitting and injuring a fig of radical and igniting a fire, the city’s mayor, Alexander Skryabin, said.
• “Emergency teams are extinguishing the occurrence connected the tanker that was struck portion docked successful a drone attack,” Skryabin said, according to Russian quality agencies.
• Ukraine’s subject said it struck infrastructure astatine the Slavyansk lipid refinery successful Russia’s Krasnodar portion overnight.
• Russian glide weaponry attacks connected flat blocks successful Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia wounded 26 people, including a child, determination Governor Ivan Fedorov said. Fedorov said 3 strikes deed the determination superior and its outskirts, and 2 flat blocks had been severely damaged.
• Ukraine’s subject has said it present controls astir 90 percent of Kupiansk, refuting Russian claims that a Ukrainian counterattack connected the strategical northeastern municipality had been unsuccessful. Kyiv denied Moscow’s assertion past period that Russian troops had taken afloat power of the town, earlier announcing past week it had itself retaken parts of Kupiansk successful an cognition that encircled Russian troops.
• Russian forces person captured the colony of Herasymivka successful the Dnipropetrovsk portion of eastbound Ukraine, Moscow’s Ministry of Defence claimed.

Peace deal

• At an yearly Defence Ministry meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would instrumentality much onshore successful Ukraine by unit if Kyiv and its European allies, whom helium formed arsenic “young pigs”, did not prosecute with US proposals for a bid colony to extremity the war.
• “If the opposing broadside and their overseas patrons garbage to prosecute successful substantive discussions, Russia volition execute the liberation of its humanities lands by subject means,” Putin told the meeting.
• United States and Russian officials are expected to clasp talks successful Miami, Florida, this play astir a imaginable woody to extremity the warfare successful Ukraine, US quality outlet Politico reported, citing 2 radical acquainted with the matter.
• US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to beryllium portion of Washington’s delegation astatine the Miami meeting, according to Politico, which besides reported that Kirill Dmitriev, the caput of Russia’s sovereign wealthiness fund, volition beryllium portion of Moscow’s negotiating team.

Military aid

• The US Senate has passed a compromise mentation of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act providing $800m for Ukraine – $400m implicit each of the adjacent 2 years – arsenic portion of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays US companies to nutrient weapons for Ukraine’s military.
• The enactment besides authorises the Baltic Security Initiative, providing $175m to enactment the defence of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and limits the US Department of Defense’s quality to trim the fig of American troops successful Europe to less than 76,000.
• The astir $1 trillion bill, passed by the House of Representatives past week, volition present beryllium sent to the White House for Trump to motion it into law.
• Norway’s authorities said it volition acquisition ammunition for Ukraine’s F-16 combatant jets and different aerial defence systems, including long-range missiles, worthy 3.2 cardinal Norwegian crowns ($290m).

Sanctions

• The European Parliament approved the bloc’s program to signifier retired Russian state imports by precocious 2027, clearing the penultimate ineligible hurdle earlier the prohibition tin walk into law. The Russian state prohibition inactive requires ceremonial support astatine a gathering of European Union ministers, expected aboriginal adjacent year.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called connected Kyiv’s allies to amusement Russia that continuing its warfare is “pointless”, earlier a important EU acme connected Moscow’s frozen assets, which volition beryllium held connected Thursday and could spot astir $250bn of Russian sovereign assets, presently frozen successful EU banks, utilized arsenic a indebtedness for Ukraine.
• Speaking successful beforehand of the EU summit, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said uncovering a ineligible mode to usage the frozen Russian assets remains “far from easy”. Meloni warned that doing truthful without a coagulated ineligible ground would manus Moscow “the archetypal triumph since the commencement of the war”.
• A Moscow tribunal volition clasp a preliminary proceeding connected January 16 connected the Russian cardinal bank’s suit against Belgian depository Euroclear implicit plans to usage the frozen Russian assets to enactment Ukraine.
• Russia’s cardinal slope filed a suit successful Moscow this week seeking $230bn successful damages from Euroclear, marking the archetypal measurement successful what the Kremlin has warned volition beryllium a ineligible nightmare for the EU should it usage Russian assets to assistance Ukraine.

• The US is preparing a further circular of sanctions connected Russia’s vigor assemblage to summation the unit connected Moscow should Putin cull a bid statement with Ukraine, Bloomberg News reports, citing radical acquainted with the matter.
• The US has extended a waiver allowing lipid income from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 project done June 18 adjacent year, a determination that apt allows accumulation of liquefied earthy state from the task to continue. The wide licence, issued by the US Treasury Department, is important for Japan, which gets astir 9 percent of its LNG from Russia.
• Britain said it was giving Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich a last accidental to give Ukraine 2.5 cardinal pounds ($3.33bn) from the merchantability of Chelsea Football Club oregon look imaginable ineligible action.
• Britain sanctioned Abramovich successful a crackdown connected Russian oligarchs aft Moscow’s penetration of Ukraine, triggering a rushed merchantability of the shot nine and freezing of the proceeds. Britain wants the funds spent connected humanitarian causes successful Ukraine.
• Abramovich has 90 days to enactment nether the presumption of the government’s caller licence. Should the Russian businessman neglect to escaped the funds quickly, the authorities said successful a connection that it was prepared to instrumentality him to court.

Regional security

• Poland has decided to commencement producing antipersonnel mines for the archetypal clip since the Cold War and plans to deploy them on its eastbound borderline and whitethorn export them to Ukraine, Polish Deputy Defence Minister Pawel Zalewski told the Reuters quality agency. Poland wants to usage antipersonnel mines to beef up its borders with Belarus and Russia.

Russian affairs

• Russia volition walk 5.1 percent of its gross home merchandise (GDP) connected the warfare successful Ukraine successful 2025, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said, providing the archetypal authoritative estimation of however overmuch the struggle volition outgo the authorities fund this year. Based connected the Economy Ministry’s 2025 GDP estimation of 217 trillion roubles ($2.70 trillion), warfare expenditure volition magnitude to 11 trillion roubles ($136bn).