As we enter the 659th day of the war, these are the most important developments.

Here is the situation as of Thursday, December 14, 2023.

Battle

• At least 53 people, including six children, were injured after Russia launched an attack Rocket attack on Kyiv, the second in a week. The city’s air defense shot down the missiles – Iskander-M and S-400 – but the falling debris blew out windows of apartment blocks and a children’s hospital and destroyed parked cars. Of the injured, 18 were taken to hospital.
• A hacking group called Solntsepyok claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile network, after millions of people were left without phone access or airstrike alerts. Kiev believes the group is linked to Russian military intelligence. Kyivstar began restoring voice services to some people on Wednesday.

Politics and diplomacy

• With the heads of state and government of the European Union meet on Thursday In order to decide whether to officially start accession negotiations with Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was on a visit to Norway after returning to Europe from the United States, said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had no reason to do so To block Kiev’s membership in the 27-member country group. Zelensky said he was “very direct” when he had a brief conversation with Orban in Argentina on Sunday.
• Orban, a conservative nationalist who is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU and is blocking 50 billion euros in financial aid to Kiev, appeared unmoved. “Our position is clear. “We do not support Ukraine’s rapid EU accession,” Orban wrote in a post on Facebook, claiming that Ukraine’s membership serves neither Hungary’s nor the EU’s interests.
• Meanwhile, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland promised Zelensky that they would “stand with Ukraine for as long as necessary.” The five countries have provided around 11 billion euros worth of aid to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022 and agreed to continue providing comprehensive military, economic and humanitarian support. “Russia must end its aggression and immediately and unconditionally withdraw its armed forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders,” they said in a joint statement.
• Other EU leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, reiterated their support for Ukraine, with Scholz suggesting that the EU make enlargement decisions by majority rather than unanimity should meet. Newly elected Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would try to persuade Orban to change course. “Apathy toward Ukraine is unacceptable,” Tusk said, adding that he would try to convince “some member states.”

• A German court heard that Russia paid Carsten Linke, a former German Foreign Intelligence Service (BND) soldier, at least 450,000 euros in return for information about weapons the West was using to arm Ukraine. Linke and his accomplice, a Russian-born German diamond dealer named Arthur Eller, are charged with treason.

weapons

• German politician Scholz emphasized that the goal of the West’s continued military support for Ukraine is to strengthen Kiev’s defenses to such an extent that Russia will “never dare to attack again.”