Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,398

Here is wherever things basal connected Tuesday, December 23:

Fighting

• A car bomb killed Russian Lieutenant General ⁠Fanil Sarvarov successful confederate Moscow, the 3rd specified sidesplitting of a elder Russian subject serviceman successful conscionable much than a year. Russian investors pointed the digit astatine Ukraine. Kyiv has not commented connected the incident.
• Russian forces struck Ukraine’s Black Sea larboard of Odesa precocious connected Monday, damaging larboard facilities and a vessel successful the 2nd specified onslaught connected the portion successful little than 24 hours, according to Ukrainian officials.
• Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said connected the Telegram app that the latest onslaught connected Odesa is portion of Russia’s effort “to disrupt maritime logistics by launching systematic attacks connected larboard and vigor infrastructure”.
• Kuleba said the onslaught besides caused harm to vigor infrastructure, disrupting energy proviso to much than 120,000 customers successful the Odesa region. One idiosyncratic was wounded successful the attack, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed media reports that residents of Hrabovske village, straddling the borderline with Russia successful Ukraine’s Sumy portion and location to 52 people, were taken by Russian troops. Zelenskyy said that 13 Ukrainian servicemen were among those taken.
• Ukraine’s subject said it deed a Tamanneftegaz lipid terminal successful Russia’s Krasnodar portion successful an overnight attack, causing explosions and a fire. The Ukrainian General Staff said the lipid terminal was portion of Russia’s vigor infrastructure that supported the financing and logistics of Russian troops warring successful Ukraine.
• A Ukrainian drone onslaught besides damaged 2 vessels successful the aforesaid region. All unit connected the ships astatine the Volna terminal person been safely evacuated, according to determination authorities.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it had captured Vilcha colony successful Ukraine’s eastbound Kharkiv region. The assertion could not beryllium instantly verified.

Politics and diplomacy

• US President Donald Trump said that talks to extremity the warfare successful Ukraine are going “OK”, amid questions astir their progress, with Moscow and Kyiv inactive acold isolated connected immoderate cardinal matters.
• Zelenskyy, meanwhile, described the negotiations successful Miami arsenic “very adjacent to a existent result”. He besides told a gathering of Ukrainian diplomats that the bid process “all looks rather worthy”, adjacent arsenic helium conceded that “not everything is perfect with this, but the program is there”.
• Separately, successful his nightly video code to the nation, Zelenskyy said the cardinal contented successful the talks was to find whether the US was capable to “get a effect from Russia; existent readiness connected the portion of that state to absorption connected thing different than aggression”. He said that continued unit connected the Kremlin was captious to trim Moscow’s capableness to wage war.
• The Kremlin said talks betwixt Russia and the US successful Miami connected ways to resoluteness the struggle successful Ukraine should not beryllium seen arsenic a breakthrough. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Izvestia quality outlet that the discussions were expected to proceed successful a “meticulous” expert-level format.
• Peskov besides questioned the reliability of the sources cited successful a Reuters quality bureau report, which said that the US quality assemblage believes Putin wants to prehend each of Ukraine and reclaim parts of Europe that belonged to the erstwhile Soviet bloc. Peskov told reporters successful Moscow that if the study was accurate, past the US’s quality conclusions were wrong.
• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov declared that Moscow is acceptable to corroborate successful a ineligible statement that it has nary volition of attacking either the European Union oregon the US-led NATO subject alliance, the authorities RIA quality bureau reported.

Military aid

• The Czech Republic’s National Security Council volition statement the aboriginal of a Czech-led, Western-financed strategy organising artillery ammunition supplies for Ukraine connected January 7, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said. The strategy besides brings unneurotic overseas donors, including Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Regional security

• Swedish customs released the Russian vessel Adler, which it boarded implicit the play to execute an inspection, with marine tracking information showing the vas was connected the determination again. Swedish customs declined to accidental what cargo the Adler had been carrying. The Adler is nether EU sanctions, portion the vas and its owners, M Leasing LLC, are some taxable to US sanctions, suspected of engagement successful weapons transport.