Ukraine Update…668 days into the Russian Conflict…More US aid sent….

• A Panama-flagged bulk carrier that was heading to the River Danube port to load grain hit a Russian mine in the Black Sea, injuring two crew members, Ukrainian officials said. The incident that took place on Wednesday was the latest instance of a civilian vessel hitting an explosive in the Black Sea.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked the US for releasing the last remaining package of weapons available for Ukraine under existing authorisation, as uncertainty surrounds further aid to Kyiv. “To defend freedom and security not only in Ukraine and Europe but also in the United States, we must continue to respond to ongoing Russian aggression,” he said on social media.

• A Moscow court sentenced two men to several years in prison for taking part in the recital of verses against the Ukraine campaign during an anti-mobilisation protest last year. Artyom Kamardin, 33, received a seven-year sentence for reciting a poem, and Yegor Shtovba, 23, was sentenced to five and a half years for attending the protest.

• Ukraine’s Airborne Assault Troops said that three servicemen who Ukrainian prosecutors have said were captured and shot dead by Russian forces this month were members of the 82nd Airborne Assault Brigade. Russia has yet to comment on the allegation, the second accusation that it has killed prisoners of war levelled against it this month by Ukrainian prosecutors. Footage shared on social media of the alleged incident appears to show three unarmed figures collapsing from a stationary position after being fired upon.

• Belarus’ authoritarian president attended a meeting with children brought from Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, openly defying international outrage over his country’s involvement in Moscow’s deportation of Ukrainian children. Speaking at the event marking the arrival of a new group of Ukrainian children ahead of the New Year holiday, President Alexander Lukashenko vowed to “embrace these children, bring them to our home, keep them warm and make their childhood happier.”

• An investigation by the Associated Press newswire found that Russian occupation authorities vastly and deliberately undercounted the dead after the flooding that followed the catastrophic explosion that destroyed the Kakhovka Dam in the southern Kherson region in June. Russia said 59 people drowned in the territory it controls. But AP determined the number is at least 200 to 300 in one town alone.

• Ukraine and Hungary are preparing a meeting of Zelenskiy and prime minister Viktor Orbán in the near future, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff said, amid recent steps by Hungary that have soured ties. Andriy Yermak said on X he had had a “productive phone call” with Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto and that they had also discussed Ukraine’s progress on its path to European integration.

• A fire broke out at a multi-story building in the Black Sea port city of Odesa late on Thursday after drones were reported to be headed for the area, authorities said. Oleh Kiper, the regional governor, said in a post on Telegram that information about casualties was being verified and urged townspeople to stay in shelters amid an ongoing drone attack.

• Shelling killed two civilians and wounded five others in a village on the banks of the frontline Dnipro river in southern Ukraine, local authorities said. “Russian armed forces carried out artillery shelling of the village of Bilenke of Zaporizhzhia Region,” Ukraine’s general prosecutor said.

• Zelenskiy said that Ukraine’s alternative Black Sea export corridor – introduced after Russia withdrew from a UN-brokered deal to guarantee safe shipment of Ukrainian grain in July – had sent out 12m tonnes of cargo so far. He added in his nightly video address that the corridor had produced “particularly significant results for December, and this is felt at the level of our entire economy.”

• Zelenskiy said he discussed Ukraine’s peace formula in a call with Pope Francis. “Over 80 countries are already involved in this process at the level of their representatives. And there will be more of them,” Zelenskiy said in a post on X….

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