Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 309

Right here is the state of affairs because it stands on Thursday, December 29.

Combating

• Air raid sirens rang out throughout Ukraine as a number of areas Kyiv, had been going through a Russian missile assault. Sounds of explosions had been heard within the capital, Kyiv, the place the regional administration mentioned air protection techniques had been activated to fend off the continuing missile assault.  Authorities in a number of areas mentioned some Russian missiles have been downed.
• Russia has shelled greater than 25 settlements round Kherson and Zaporizhia, inflicting civilian casualties and damaging civilian infrastructure in Kherson metropolis and area, based on the Basic Employees of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
• Combating was significantly intense across the strategic japanese metropolis of Bakhmut in Donetsk province and Svatove, additional north in Luhansk province, Britain’s defence ministry mentioned.
• Kyiv-based navy analyst Oleh Zhdanov famous that Kharkiv metropolis and area have suffered heavy assaults, and a regional gasoline pipeline has been broken.
• Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov mentioned in a Telegram publish that town has come beneath assault twice, “presumably” from Iranian-made Shahed drones, 5 of which Ukraine’s japanese air command individually reported downing over town of Dnipro.
• Ukrainian officers are calling on residents to evacuate from Kherson amid renewed Russian assaults on the southern metropolis.
• An Australian man, Sage O’Donnell, has been killed combating in Ukraine, Australia’s Division of International Affairs and Commerce (DFAT) mentioned.

Diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed parliament to stay united and praised Ukrainians for serving to the West “discover itself once more”.
• The Kremlin rejected Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan, reiterating that proposals to finish the battle should settle for Russia’s annexation of 4 Ukrainian areas: Luhansk and Donetsk within the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhia within the south.
• Russia is not going to use Zelenskyy’s “peace system” as a foundation for negotiations and believes Kyiv continues to be not prepared for actual peace talks, Russia’s RIA information company cited overseas minister Sergey Lavrov as saying, including that Kyiv’s concept of driving Russia out of japanese Ukraine and Crimea with Western assist was “an phantasm”.
• Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, has referred to as for additional help for his nation in heading off the Russian invasion, saying “peace doesn’t fall from the sky. It must be fought for.”

Economic system

• Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin mentioned the nation’s economic system, battered by Western sanctions, shrank by greater than 2 p.c over the previous 11 months.
• UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres named a retired Kuwaiti vice admiral, Abdullah Abdul Samad Dashti, as coordinator of shipments from Ukraine as a part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.