A Comprehensive Compilation of Key Events in the Russia-Ukraine War on Day 674

Here is the situation on Friday, December 29, 2023.

Fighting

• Ukraine’s general prosecutor reported that two fishermen were killed in a village along the Dnipro river after Russia shelled the area. Five people were also injured in the attack.
• A Panama-flagged bulk carrier, en route to one of Ukraine’s River Danube ports to load grain, hit a Russian mine in the Black Sea. This caused the ship to lose speed and control, resulting in a fire. Two crew members were injured, and the captain intentionally ran the ship aground to prevent it from sinking. Ukraine plans to use tugs to bring it into port.
• Ukraine’s air force successfully shot down seven out of eight Shahed drones launched by Moscow during the night. The drones were brought down in three central and southern regions of Ukraine.
• A fire broke out at a multistory building in Odesa, a Black Sea port city, after it was hit by a downed drone. The governor of Odesa regional, Oleh Kiper, stated that information about casualties is still being verified and urged residents to seek shelter due to an ongoing drone attack.
• The Russian Defence Ministry announced that it had foiled a Ukrainian drone attack over Crimea, a region that Russia seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Politics and Diplomacy

• The United States has proposed that the Group of Seven (G7) countries explore ways to seize $300 billion in frozen Russian assets. This proposal, backed by the United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada, aims to have options ready for G7 leaders to consider at a potential meeting around February 24.
• A Moscow court has sentenced two men for participating in a poetry recital critical of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Poet Artyom Kamardin received a seven-year sentence for reciting the poem, while Yegor Shtovba was sentenced to five and a half years for attending the anti-mobilization protest. The sentences were met with shouts of “Shame!” from supporters, and some individuals were later detained by the police.
• Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko attended an event organized by the government for a new group of children brought from Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine. This move has sparked international outrage due to Belarus’s involvement in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed Ukraine’s peace formula in a call with Pope Francis. Zelenskyy highlighted that more than 80 countries are already involved in the process. The next discussion on the framework will take place in Davos, Switzerland. The peace formula requires Russia to withdraw all its troops from Ukrainian territory, including regions it has occupied since 2014, before talks can begin.
• Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, had a productive phone call with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to discuss a meeting between Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the near future. While all European Union states except Hungary have agreed to start accession talks with Ukraine, Hungary has blocked a new EU budget that would provide aid to Ukraine.