Here is the situation on Sunday, December 15:
Fighting
- Russia has begun using North Korean troops in significant numbers for the first time to conduct assaults on Ukrainian forces battling to hold an enclave in the country’s Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
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Ukraine’s air defences shot down 58 of 132 Russian drones, the Ukrainian air force said. It said 72 Russian drones were “lost” due to the use of electronic warfare interference tactics. There were no immediate reports of damage.
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Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Ministry of Defence announced. Thirteen of the drones were downed over the Black Sea and one each over the Russian border regions of Kursk and Belgorod, it added.
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A nine-year-old child was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Belgorod, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Two other people, including another child, were injured in the attack.
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Ukrainian drones carried out an attack on the Steel Horse oil facility in Russia’s Oryol region which is a crucial source of fuel supplies for Russian troops, Ukraine’s military announced.
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Ukrainian drones struck a “fuel infrastructure facility” in Orlov, the local governor said, causing a fire to break out. Governor Andrei Klychkov said 11 drones had been shot down over the region. No casualties were reported.
Politics and diplomacy
- Zelenskyy said he had instructed his government to set up mechanisms to supply food to Syria in the aftermath of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. Since al-Assad’s fall, Russia’s wheat export to Syria has been suspended.
- Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, 54, has been appointed to head the operational and tactical group Donetsk, replacing General Oleksandr Lutsenko, the military announced, as Russia makes swift advances in the Donetsk region.