Here is the situation as it looks on Monday, December 26.
Struggle
- Russian forces bombed dozens of cities in Ukraine on Christmas Day as President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiations, a stance that Washington has dismissed as a stance due to ongoing Russian attacks.
- Russia launched more than 10 rocket attacks on the Kupiansk district in the Kharkiv region on Sunday, shelled more than 25 towns along the Kupiansk-Lyman front and hit almost 20 towns in Zaporizhia, Ukraine’s top military command said. The news agency Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports.
- Ukrainians will create their own Christmas miracle by showing that they remain undeterred despite Russian attacks that have plunged millions of people into darkness, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a defiant message.
- Russian-supplied tactical Iskander missile systems, which can carry nuclear warheads, and S-400 air defense systems have been deployed in Belarus, a senior official from the Belarusian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.
- A senior adviser to the Ukrainian president called for the “liquidation” of Iranian factories that produce drones and missiles, as well as the arrest of their suppliers, as Kiev accused Tehran of delivering more weapons to Russia.
- Explosions were heard at the Russian Engels airbase, hundreds of kilometers from the Ukrainian front, Ukrainian and Russian media reported early on Monday. The airbase was hit on December 5 in what Russia said was a Ukrainian drone strike.
Economy
- Moscow is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe via the Yamal Euro pipeline, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Alexander Novak told state news agency TASS. However, it is unclear whether the European nations connected by the pipeline — such as Germany and Poland — will be prepared to buy Russian gas again.
- Novak also told TASS that Russia will be able to produce at least 490-500 million tons of oil in 2023. While Russia’s oil exports to Europe and the West were disrupted, China and India became leading buyers in 2022.