Russia-Ukraine War: List of Key Events, Day 1,402 | Russia-Ukraine War

These are the key developments of the 1,402nd day of the Russian war against Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Saturday, December 27:

Struggle

• The Ukrainian capital kyiv was the target of a “massive” Russian attack early Saturday, according to reports, as air defenses were operational and the military warned of imminent missile deployment. Witnesses said air defenses were in action in the city. A military Telegram channel said Russian cruise and ballistic missiles were being deployed to target the city.
• The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had captured the Ukrainian village of Kosivtseve, in the southeastern Zaporizhia region, adding that it had taken more than 23 square kilometers (9 square miles) of territory to secure the village.
• The Ukrainian military has admitted that one of its units made mistakes in an “unfortunate incident” when a group of three undercover Russian soldiers misled Ukrainian forces into abandoning a post in the town of Huliaipole, which encompasses Kosivtseve.
• Russian drones attacked ships flying the flags of Slovakia, Palau and Liberia overnight at ports in Ukraine’s Odessa and Mykolaiv regions, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said in a statement on Telegram. Kuleba said there were no casualties in the attacks.
• Kuleba also said another drone attack damaged a locomotive and a freight car at Kovel station in the northwest of the country, about 60 kilometers from the Polish border.
• A fire started by a Ukrainian drone attack in Russian port on the Sea of ​​Azov of Temryuk was extinguished, a local task force said. Temriouk Port handles LPG, petroleum and petrochemical products, as well as grain and other bulk food products.
• The Russian Defense Ministry said that over the past week its forces had shot down seven British-made Storm Shadow missiles, Russian news agencies reported.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of using ordinary apartment buildings on the territory of its Belarusian ally to attack Ukrainian targets and bypass kyiv’s defenses. “It is regrettable that Belarus is abandoning its sovereignty in favor of Russia’s aggressive ambitions,” Zelensky said.
• Poland deployed combat aircraft to intercept a Russian reconnaissance plane flying near its airspace over the Baltic Sea and said dozens of aerial objects – likely balloons used by smugglers – approached its airspace from Belarus overnight, warning that the separate incidents over the holiday period could signal provocation by Moscow.

Regional security

• Moscow is likely stationing new nuclear-capable hypersonic ballistic missiles at a former air base in eastern Belarus, a development that could boost Russia’s ability to hit European targets, two U.S. researchers have found by studying satellite imagery, according to an exclusive report from the Reuters news agency.

• The US researchers said examination of Planet Labs images revealed a rushed construction project that took place between August 4 and 12 and showed features consistent with those of a Russian strategic missile base, the report added.
• Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said Russia was “somewhat” delaying the export of Russian-made weapons and military equipment in order to prioritize deliveries to its own armed forces, according to the Interfax news agency.

Peace talks

• President Zelensky said he wanted to discuss territorial issues, the main stumbling block in negotiations to end the war, with US President Donald Trump in Florida, as negotiations on a 20-point peace framework and a security guarantee agreement nearing completion.

• Zelensky said in a WhatsApp conversation with journalists that a security guarantee agreement between Ukraine and the United States was “almost ready” and that a draft 20-point plan was 90% complete.

• In another interview with the Axios news site, Zelensky said the United States was offering a 15-year security guarantees deal that could be renewed, and that kyiv wanted a longer-term deal.
• Zelenskyy was also quoted by Axios as saying that while he is unable to push the United States to support Ukraine’s “strong” stance on the land issue in the peace proposal, he is willing to put the 20-point plan to a referendum – provided Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire to allow Ukraine to prepare and hold the vote.

• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said kyiv’s version of the 20-point plan was radically different from the one Russia discussed with the United States, according to Interfax-Russia.
• Ryabkov also accused Ukraine of trying to “torpedo” the negotiations, adding that Moscow’s ability to make the “final effort” and reach an agreement will depend “on our own work and the political will of the other side.”
• Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that President Vladimir Putin told some of Russia’s top businessmen that he might be willing to trade some territory controlled by Russian forces elsewhere in Ukraine, but that in return he wanted all of Donbass.

• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke with Zelenskyy and discussed the latest developments in the ongoing peace talks, Carney’s office said in a statement. During the call, Carney “stressed the need to maintain pressure on Russia to negotiate,” the statement added.

• Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev participated in talks with members of the U.S. administration alongside Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the talks.

Politics and diplomacy

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his nation and Russia shared “blood, life and death.” in the Ukrainian warsending New Year’s greetings to President Vladimir Putin. Pyongyang has deployed thousands of troops to Russia to help in the fight against Ukraine.

• A Moscow court has sentenced a former Russian diplomat, Arseniy Konovalov, to 12 years in a maximum security penal colony for selling secrets to US intelligence services while stationed in the United States, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

• Russian newspaper Kommersant said Konovalov worked in the United States from 2014 to 2017 and served as second secretary of the Russian Consulate General in Houston, Texas.