Here are the key developments on the 1,019th day of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Here is the situation on Monday, December 9:
Fighting:
- Russian air defence units destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones over three western Russia regions, the Russian Defence Ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
- Ukraine’s air force said the country’s air defence shot down two missiles and 18 drones launched by Russia overnight.
- Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Blahodatne in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s RIA state news agency reported, citing the Defence Ministry. Russia controls just less than 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022. During the same period, an estimated 370,000 soldiers were injured, he added in a post on X.
Yesterday, I visited President @EmmanuelMacron at the Élysée Palace and had a good meeting with President @realDonaldTrump.
We discussed important issues on the battlefield and in the global situation, from our frontlines to North Korea. I stated that we need a just and enduring…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 8, 2024
Politics and diplomacy:
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United States President-elect Donald Trump has called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end “the madness”, prompting Zelenskyy and the Kremlin to list their conditions.
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In an interview with NBC News, Trump also said the incoming administration would reduce aid to Ukraine, which the US has been steadfastly backing since its invasion by Russia in 2022.
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The Kremlin said Russia was open to talks on Ukraine after Trump’s call for a ceasefire. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said negotiations had to be based on agreements reached in Istanbul in 2022 and on the current battlefield realities.
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Zelenskyy said the war with Russia cannot be ended with a piece of paper and a few signatures, adding that a ceasefire without guarantees can be broken at any time.
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Zelenskyy said he told Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron during their talks in Paris that Kyiv needs an “enduring peace” that Moscow would not “destroy in a few years”.
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Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry says the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad underscores Russia’s weakness and inability to fight on two fronts.