Russia Ukraine War Update Day 657: War in Avdiivka and Zelensky Diplomacy
The Russo-Ukrainian War has entered its 657th day. The escalation of the conflict is still ongoing, which can be seen from retaliatory missile and drone attacks. The following is the situation of the Russian-Ukrainian war on Tuesday (12/12/2023) as reported by AlJazeera: War in Eastern Ukraine's Avdiivka The Ukrainian military said Russian troops launched a new major attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, just northwest of the occupied city of Donetsk Russia. Military spokesman Oleksandr Stupun told Ukrainian television that heavy fighting took place with 610 rounds of artillery fire reported near Avdiivka over the previous 24 hours. There was no immediate comment from Russia regarding fighting in the region.
About 1,500 people remained in Avdiivka out of a pre-war population of about 32,000. Four people were injured after Russia hit Kyiv with eight long-range ballistic missiles in the early hours. The missiles were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses and people were injured after being hit by debris or broken glass. In a separate Russian attack, Ukrainian air defenses shot down 18 Shahed drones aimed south.
Speaking on the first day of his visit to Washington, US, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that failure to maintain support for Ukraine would be detrimental to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky is scheduled to meet US President Joe Biden and House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday as Republicans in the US Congress reject additional funding for Ukraine. He also met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chair Kristalina Georgieva, hours after the IMF's executive board approved a new disbursement of $900 million for Ukraine. Georgieva and Zelenskyy spoke for nearly an hour at IMF headquarters in Washington, DC. Zelenskyy thanked the IMF for its support. Georgieva noted that the council, with the exception of one country, was unanimous in supporting Ukraine. Zelensky described his brief chat with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the sidelines of Argentine President Javier Milei's inauguration on Sunday. Orban threatened to block more EU financial support for Kyiv and opposed Ukraine joining the group. EU leaders will discuss Ukraine's membership at a summit on Thursday. British Arms Support claims to have sent two mine hunters to Ukraine. The move is part of a new Maritime Capabilities Coalition, led by the UK and Norway, which aims to provide long-term military support to improve maritime security in the Black Sea. US national security spokesman John Kirby said Washington would likely announce additional military aid for Ukraine before the end of this month in the expectation that Russia would likely target Ukrainian energy facilities as the weather gets colder.
