Russia-Ukraine War: List of key events, day 1,031 | Russia-Ukraine war News

Here are the key events on the 1,031st day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Here is the situation for Saturday, December 21:

Fighting

• Ukraine targeted the town of Rylsk on the Russian border with Kursk on Friday, taking on missiles fired by the US in an attack that killed six people. US President Joe Biden recently authorized Ukraine to use US-launched missiles to strike deep inside Russia.
• Hours earlier, a Russian strike in Kyiv killed at least one person and damaged a building housing the embassies of Albania, Argentina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Palestine and Portugal. Moscow said the strike was in retaliation for Ukraine’s strike on Russia’s Rostov with Western missiles.
• Kyiv said on Friday it had received the bodies of 503 dead Ukrainians from Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia regions, as well as morgues inside Russia. Most of the bodies are from Donetsk, which has been hit hard by the war.

The economy

• Russia’s central bank left its interest rate at a record 21 percent, holding off on further hikes despite lower consumer inflation caused by heavy military spending and severe labor shortages.
• Business figures have criticized the Kremlin for the effects high borrowing costs have had on the economy.
• The International Monetary Fund approved $1.1bn in budget support for Ukraine on Friday, bringing the total disbursements under the institution’s ongoing aid program to $9.8bn as of March 2023.

Politics and diplomacy

• The head of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, condemned the Russian strike in Kyiv that destroyed the building that was holding many delegates. “Another horrific Russian attack against Kyiv,” he wrote in X. “Putin’s disregard for international law reaches a new level.”
• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said European leaders must change their strategy regarding Ukraine as Russia moves forward. Speaking to Hungarian state broadcaster Friday, he called for a Christmas deal in Ukraine and the exchange of up to 1,000 prisoners of war.
• Orban has been blocking, delaying or delaying the EU’s efforts to provide arms and aid and to punish Moscow for its aggression.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday he would speak again with Russian President Vladimir Putin after resuming contact with him last month, a move that drew criticism from Ukraine. Scholz said the purpose of the other calls would be to “make it clear” that Putin needs to “stop his anger and withdraw the troops”.