Russia-Ukraine war

 

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 960

As the war reaches its 960th day, here are the key developments.

Here is the situation on Saturday, October 12, 2024.

Fighting

• Russia's Ministry of Defence reported that its forces shot down 47 Ukrainian drones overnight, with 17 intercepted in the southeastern Krasnodar region, 16 over the Azov Sea, and 12 near the border region of Lursk. No immediate reports of casualties were available.

• Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Air Force stated that Russia launched 28 drones at Ukraine, 24 of which were destroyed across the Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions.

• The Ukrainian chief of staff announced that Ukrainian forces targeted a fuel depot in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region overnight, igniting a fire. Details of the strike were not provided, and Moscow has not confirmed the attack.

• Russia claimed its forces had captured the frontline villages of Zhelanne Druge and Ostrivske in eastern Ukraine, marking further territorial gains. Ostrivske lies on the eastern banks of the Kurakhove reservoir, where Russian offensive operations are concentrated, according to Ukraine’s military.

• In southern Ukraine, Russian strikes on the Odesa region overnight killed four people, including a teenage girl, and injured 10 others, regional governor Oleg Kiper reported. A two-story building was destroyed in the attack, with victims including a 43-year-old woman, a 22-year-old man, and a 16-year-old girl. Another woman succumbed to her injuries in the hospital.

• Authorities in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia, reported that one person was killed in the Pokrovsk district, where Russian forces are making advances.

• In the eastern Kharkiv region, Russian strikes over the past 24 hours left one person dead and seven others wounded, according to Ukrainian police.

• Meanwhile, a major oil terminal in the Russia-occupied Crimean town of Feodosia remains ablaze days after a Ukrainian attack, local Russian-installed officials said.

Politics and diplomacy

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced an additional €1.4 billion ($1.53 billion) in military aid for Ukraine by the end of 2024, signaling continued Western support for Kyiv in defiance of Russia. The aid, delivered in coordination with Belgium, Denmark, and Norway, will include more air defense systems, tanks, combat drones, and artillery.

• During a meeting in Berlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope that the war with Russia would end next year. 

• Zelenskyy also met with Pope Francis at the Vatican, during a whirlwind tour of European capitals, seeking assistance in securing the release of Ukrainians held captive by Russia. He invited the Vatican to participate in an upcoming conference on prisoners of war, scheduled to take place in Canada later this month.

• Meanwhile, the European Union is set to impose sanctions on 14 individuals and organizations tied to Iran's transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia, according to two European diplomats and a senior EU official. The EU is also considering measures to restrict operations of the national airline, Iran Air.

• The U.S. Treasury Department announced that Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo will visit London from October 13 to 15 to discuss further sanctions on Russia and ways to utilize frozen Russian assets in talks with senior British officials.

Courts

• A court in Russia's Sverdlovsk region has convicted Viktoria Mukhametova, an employee at a Russian tank factory, of treason for selling military information to Ukraine. She has been sentenced to 12 and a half years in a penal colony. Her husband, Danil Mukhametov, is facing a separate trial on similar charges.

• In a separate case, a military court near Moscow sentenced two men to 16 years each for setting fire to railway operating equipment, allegedly under orders from Ukrainian security services. According to the RIA Novosti news agency, the men were found guilty of "terrorism."

• Meanwhile, a Russian court in Kursk has issued an arrest warrant in absentia for CNN journalist Nick Paton Walsh, ordering his extradition for reporting from Ukrainian-held territory in Russia's Kursk region. Moscow has initiated several criminal cases against Western journalists who covered events in Kursk following Ukraine's surprise incursion in August.

• In Ukraine, prosecutors announced they are investigating the death of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna in Russian custody as a potential war crime. Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 after traveling to Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine for a reporting assignment. Reporters Without Borders reported her death on September 19, citing a letter from Russian authorities to her family.