Here are the key developments on the 1,036th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Here is the situation on Thursday, December 26:
Fighting:
Russian and Ukrainian forces have once again engaged in fierce battles around the strategically important city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s General Staff said that 35 Russian attacks were reported around the city on Wednesday. “Three Russian armies are concentrated here against us,” Ukraine’s regional commander Viktor Trehubov was quoted as saying.
Russia launched a huge Christmas Day attack on Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as drones.
The Russian attack wounded at least six people in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and killed one in the region of Dnipropetrovsk, the governors there said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the “inhumane” attack from Russia, which included more than 170 missiles and drones, some of which knocked out power in several regions of the country.
United States President Joe Biden said the “outrageous attack was designed to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardise the safety of its grid”.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned Russia’s strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid, saying there was “no respite even at Christmas”.
Russia meanwhile said five people were killed by Ukrainian missile strikes and from a falling drone in the border region of Kursk and North Ossetia in the Caucasus.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Australia had contacted Moscow ab …