Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,394

Here is wherever things basal connected Friday, December 19:

Fighting

• Three people, including 2 unit members of a cargo vessel, were killed successful overnight Ukrainian drone attacks connected the Russian larboard of Rostov-on-Don and the municipality of Bataysk successful the country’s confederate Rostov region, section politician Yury Slyusar said.
• Russian strikes adjacent Ukraine’s Black Sea larboard of Odesa killed a pistillate successful her car and deed infrastructure. Odesa’s Governor Oleh Kiper said a Russian drone killed a pistillate crossing a span successful her car, and 3 children were injured successful the incident.
• Kiper besides asked residents whose homes person been affected by extended powerfulness outages to beryllium diligent and to extremity blocking roads successful protestation against the blackouts.
• “As a effect of force attacks, the vigor infrastructure successful Odesa portion has suffered extended damage,” Kiper said.
• About 180,000 consumers person been near without energy crossed 5 Ukrainian regions aft Russian attacks, Ukraine’s acting vigor minister, Artem Nekrasov, said.
• Nekrasov said the confederate regions of Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia, the cardinal regions of Cherkasy and Dnipropetrovsk, and the northeastern portion of Sumy person been impacted.
• Russia has formed a subject brigade equipped with Moscow’s caller hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile, Russian main of the wide staff, Valery Gerasimov, said.
• Russia fired the Oreshnik astatine Ukraine for the archetypal clip successful November 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted that the rocket is intolerable to intercept and has destructive powerfulness comparable to that of a atomic weapon.

Sanctions

• European Union leaders person agreed successful rule astatine a acme successful Brussels to enactment connected financing Ukraine successful 2026 and 2027 done the usage of frozen Russian assets alternatively than EU borrowing, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
• EU leaders were inactive trying to flooded differences implicit the plan, with talks successful Brussels focused connected seeking to reassure Belgium, which holds astir of the frozen assets, and different acrophobic countries, that Europe would stock the ineligible and fiscal risks resulting from the initiative.
• A caller draught of the woody offered Belgium and different countries unlimited guarantees for damages should Moscow successfully writer them for utilizing Russian assets to concern Ukraine.
• Diplomats said the woody could beryllium a occupation for immoderate governments, who would request parliamentary approval. The caller draught besides offered EU countries and institutions, whose assets whitethorn beryllium seized by Russia successful retaliation, the anticipation to offset specified damages against Russian assets held by the EU.
• The substance of the draught woody besides offered a mechanics of unconditional, irrevocable, on-demand guarantees that the EU would swiftly repay the Russian cardinal slope assets successful each circumstances should the request arise.
• Russia’s cardinal slope has said it volition widen ineligible enactment beyond its suit against Belgium-based depository Euroclear and writer European banks successful a Russian tribunal implicit attempts the EU’s plans to usage frozen Russian assets arsenic loans for Kyiv.
• Britain has imposed much sanctions targeting Russian lipid companies, including 24 individuals and entities, successful what it described arsenic a determination against Russia’s largest remaining unsanctioned lipid companies: Tatneft, Russneft, NNK-Oil and Rusneftegaz.

Peace talks

• Ukrainian bid negotiators are en way to the United States and program to conscionable Washington’s negotiating squad connected Friday and Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
• US President Donald Trump said helium believes talks to extremity the warfare successful Ukraine are “getting adjacent to something” arsenic Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner program to conscionable a Russian delegation successful Miami this weekend.

Aid

• The Ukraine-US reconstruction fund, established arsenic portion of a Trump-pushed minerals deal the 2 countries signed successful April, has approved its plus policies and is poised to statesman reviewing its archetypal concern opportunities successful 2026, the US assemblage overseeing the money said.
• The Development Finance Corporation (DFC) said the fund’s 2nd gathering “reached last statement indispensable to bring the money to afloat operational status”. Potential deals could absorption connected captious minerals extraction and vigor improvement arsenic good arsenic connected maritime infrastructure, the DFC said.
• Ukraine is facing a overseas assistance shortfall of 45-50 cardinal euros ($53-$59bn) successful 2026, President Zelenskyy said, adding that if Kyiv did not person a archetypal tranche of a indebtedness secured by Russian assets by adjacent spring, it would person to chopped drone production.
• Ukraine has clinched a long-awaited woody to restructure $2.6bn of growth-linked debt, with creditors overwhelmingly accepting a bonds-and-cash swap connection – a cardinal measurement for the state to look from the sovereign default it suffered successful the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale penetration successful 2022.

Politics and diplomacy

• President Zelenskyy said helium saw nary request to alteration Ukraine’s constitution enshrining its purpose to go a NATO subordinate state. A artifact connected Ukraine joining the subject confederation has been a halfway Russian request to extremity its war.
• “To beryllium honest, I don’t deliberation we request to alteration our country’s constitution,” Zelenskyy said. “Certainly not due to the fact that of calls from the Russian Federation oregon anyone else,” helium said.
• Earlier this week, Zelenskyy said Ukraine could compromise connected NATO rank if fixed bilateral information guarantees with protections akin to NATO’s Article 5, which considers an onslaught connected 1 subordinate arsenic an onslaught against all.
• Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya met Chinese overseas ministerial adjutant Liu Bin successful Beijing, wherever the brace “discussed ways to fortify commercialized and economical cooperation, and issues of co-operation wrong planetary organisations”, the Foreign Ministry said.

Russian affairs

• Sergei Yeremeyev, a Belarusian antheral accused by Russia of blowing up 2 trains successful Siberia for Ukraine, has been jailed for 22 years. Yeremeyev was recovered blameworthy of carrying retired an enactment of coercion and of planting explosives connected 2 freight trains successful 2023.
• British antheral Hayden Davies, who fought for Ukraine against Russia, has been sentenced to 13 years successful a maximum information situation campy aft being convicted of being a paid mercenary, Russian prosecutors said. The 30-year-old was tried by a tribunal successful a portion of Russian-controlled Donetsk.