As we enter the 652nd day of the war, these are the most important developments.

Here is the situation as of Thursday, December 7, 2023.

Battle

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky He told Ukrainians that Kiev would defeat Russia and win a fair peace in an unusual early morning video that showed him making his way through Kiev to pay his respects to fallen soldiers on Armed Forces Day in Ukraine . “It was difficult, but we persevered,” he said. “No matter how difficult it is, we will do it. To our borders, to our people. To our peace. Just peace. Free peace. Despite all odds.”
• Russia launched a major drone attack on regions in the south, center and east of Ukraine, damaging private and commercial buildings and key infrastructure. Air defenses shot down 41 of 48 Iranian-made Shahed drones that took off from Russia’s western Kursk region and Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.
• Russian television showed footage of what it said was a US-built Bradley infantry fighting vehicle captured at the front in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Channel 1 reported that the Bradley, one of several dozen delivered to Ukraine this year, was disabled by Russian fire and abandoned by its crew. The broadcaster suggested that its capture would allow Russian forces to identify the vehicle’s weak points.

Politics and diplomacy

• Group of Seven (G7) leaders met virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to show solidarity and agreed to a new ban on Russian diamonds. The countries would ban non-industrial Russian diamonds from January and those sold by third countries from March, a joint statement said. The G7 includes Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• A bill to provide $106 billion in new security aid to Ukraine and Israel was blocked in the U.S. Senate as Republicans pushed through their demands for tougher immigration control measures at the U.S. border with Mexico.
• Illia Kyva, a former pro-Russian member of the Ukrainian parliament, was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison for treason and incitement to violence shot near Moscow. News agencies including Reuters and AFP cited sources saying Kyva was killed by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
• Oleg Popov, a lawmaker in the pro-Moscow regional parliament in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, was killed in a car bomb attack. Ukraine did not immediately comment on Popov’s reported death.

• The US has charged four Russian-allied soldiers with war crimes over their treatment of a US citizen who was abducted from his home in the village of Mylove in southern Ukraine in April 2022 and held captive for 10 days. The Justice Department accused the four of beating and torturing the unnamed man and staging a mock execution.
• Kathmandu district police chief Bhupendra Khatri said 10 people were arrested in connection with the illegal recruitment of young men from Nepal into the Russian army. The country called on Moscow this week not to recruit its citizens into the Russian army and to send home every Nepalese soldier in its ranks after six citizens were killed in fighting in Ukraine.
• The United Kingdom announced 46 new measures against individuals and groups allegedly involved in Russia’s military supply chains. The sanctions included companies operating in China, Turkey, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, the British Foreign Office said. The Chinese embassy in London said it condemned the move and would fight anything that undermined its interests.

weapons

• Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon as Austin announced an additional new aid package of 175 million radiation missiles. The package is provided by the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which withdraws weapons from existing US stockpiles
• A joint defense conference between the USA and Ukraine took place behind closed doors in Washington. Zelensky told delegates that Kiev was expanding domestic military production. “Ukraine does not want to rely only on partners. “Ukraine aspires and is capable of becoming a security provider for all our neighbors once it has ensured its own security,” he said.

• At the conference, representatives of the US and Ukrainian governments signed an agreement to increase weapons co-production and data sharing. Areas of focus include “air defense systems, repair and maintenance, and critical munitions production,” Jason Israel, director of defense policy and strategy for the White House National Security Council, told the audience.
• The Reuters news agency, citing documents it had seen, said Ukrainian Defense Ministry officials also presented a new list of U.S. weapons they say they need to combat the Russian military. The list included sophisticated air defense systems, F-18 fighter jets, various drones, and Apache and Blackhawk helicopters.