Here is the situation as it stands on Saturday, December 17.
Rescue operations, fighting
Emergency crews have pulled the body of a toddler from the rubble in a pre-dawn search for survivors in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih after Russia fired 76 missiles across Ukraine on Friday in one of Moscow’s largest attacks yet.
The attacks caused “colossal” damage to infrastructure in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and mainly affected the energy system, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
The mayor of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has said the city’s metro system was back in service and that all residents had been reconnected to the water supply a day after the latest wave of Russian air raids.
Ukrainian shelling of a Russian-controlled village in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine killed at least 11 people on Friday and 20 were missing, the Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing emergency services.
A woman cries in front of the building which was destroyed by a Russian attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP]
Military strategy
Moscow says its attacks are aimed at disabling Ukraine’s military. Ukrainians call them a war crime.
President Vladimir Putin has sought proposals from his armed forces commanders on how they think Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine should proceed during a visit to the operation’s headquarters, the Kremlin has said.
Diplomacy
Winter in Ukraine will be a “huge tragedy”, Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto told Al Jazeera, as he also discussed his country’s ties with Russia.
European Union states should buy arms jointly to replenish stocks after supplying Ukraine, says the bloc’s defence agency, warning the United States may not always be able to shield Europe from threats.
Insurers may refuse to cover planes flying to Ukraine or ships sailing through the Black Sea as reinsurers – who insure the insurers – propose excluding the region from policies from next month, four industry sources have told the Reuters news agency.
