As the war enters its 672nd day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Wednesday, December 27, 2023.
Fighting
- Ukraine said it destroyed the Novocherkassk landing ship in an attack on a naval base in Russian-occupied Crimea. Russia acknowledged the ship had been damaged and that the attack started a fire which was brought under control. One person was killed and four injured.
- Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, said his troops remained on the northern edge of Marinka after Russia’s defence minister said Moscow was in control of the now-ruined town, a short drive from the Russian-occupied regional centre of Donetsk. Zaluzhnyi said Marinka “no longer existed” due to the destruction wreaked upon it.
- Ukraine said at least one person was killed and four others injured in a Russian attack on a railway station in the southern city of Kherson, where about 140 people were preparing for an evacuation.
- Ukraine’s Air Force said its air defence systems destroyed 13 of the 19 drones Russia launched against Ukraine during the night.
Politics and diplomacy
- Taiwan announced an expansion to its list of sanctioned goods for Russia and its ally Belarus over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in a move the Economy Ministry said was necessary to prevent Taiwanese high-tech goods from being used for military purposes. The list includes equipment for making semiconductors as well as certain chemicals and medicines, the ministry said in a statement.
