As we enter the 657th day of the war, these are the most important developments.

Here is the situation as of Tuesday, December 12, 2023.

Battle

• According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces launched a massive new offensive against the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, northwest of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk. Military spokesman Oleksandr Stupun told Ukrainian television that there had been heavy fighting near Avdiivka in the past 24 hours and 610 artillery shelling had been reported. There was no immediate comment from Russia on the fighting in the region. About 1,500 people still live in Avdiivka out of a pre-war population of about 32,000.
• Four people were injured after Russia attacked Kiev with eight long-range ballistic missiles in the early hours of the morning. The rockets were fired by Ukrainian air defenses and people were injured after being hit by the debris or shards of glass.
• In a separate Russian attack, Ukrainian air defenses shot down 18 Shahed drones aimed at the south.

Politics and diplomacy

• On the first day of his visit to Washington, DC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said support for Ukraine cannot be maintained play into your hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky will meet with President Joe Biden and House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday as Republicans in the US Congress oppose additional funding from Ukraine.
• Zelensky also met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva, hours after the fund’s board approved a new $900 million disbursement for Ukraine. Georgieva and Zelensky spoke for nearly an hour at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC. Zelensky thanked the IMF for its support. Georgieva noted that the board unanimously supported Ukraine with the exception of one country.
• Zelensky described his brief conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the sidelines of the inauguration of Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday as “candid.” Orban has threatened to block further European Union financial support for Kiev and opposes Ukraine joining the group. EU leaders will discuss Ukraine’s membership at a summit on Thursday.
• The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had arrested 18 people.Agents and accomplicesUkrainian intelligence claimed he was part of a network of assassins targeting pro-Russian figures in occupied Crimea and eastern parts of Ukraine. Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
• The EU has added six people and five entities to its Iran sanctions list for allegedly supporting Russia in its large-scale invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions include Shahed drone maker Shakad Sanat Asmari, its CEO, its deputy CEO and its chief scientist. Other companies involved in the production of drones have also been targeted.
• Russia’s Central Election Commission said March’s presidential election would include voting in four regions of Ukraine, some of which did occupied and annexed last year. Ukraine, which rejected the annexation along with most members of the United Nations General Assembly, has already declared that any Russian vote in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions is null and void and that it will prosecute any observers sent to monitor it will choose.

weapons

• The UK said it had transferred two of these Mine hunters to Ukraine. The move is part of a new Maritime Capability Coalition led by the United Kingdom and Norway that aims to provide long-term military support to strengthen maritime security in the Black Sea.
• U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby said Washington was likely to announce additional military aid to Ukraine before the end of the month, anticipating that Russia would likely target Ukraine’s energy facilities as the weather turned colder.