These were the key developments on the 1,000th day of the Russia-Ukraine war.Here is the situation on Wednesday, November 20:
Fighting and weapons
Ukraine has used the United States-made long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to hit a military facility in the Russian border region of Bryansk, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence, after Washington lifted restrictions on their use against Russian targets.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine’s use of the ATACMS marked a “new phase of the Western war” against Russia and Moscow will react “accordingly”.
US President Joe Biden has approved providing antipersonnel land mines to Ukraine in what has been seen as another policy reversal on weapons provided to Kyiv by his outgoing administration, according to reports.
The Pentagon will send Ukraine at least $275m in new weapons, The Associated Press news agency reported quoting US officials.
The US embassy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, has received information of a “potential significant air attack” on Wednesday and will be closed, the US Department of State Consular Affairs said in a post on social media platform X.
Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 44 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 20 over the northwestern Novgorod region and 24 over several central and western regions, according to Russia’s Defence Ministry.
Diplomacy
Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with US President-elect Donald Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists Ukraine abandons ambitions to join NATO, the Reuters news agency reported.
Ukraine has insisted that it will “never submit” in defending against Russia’s invasio …