This week, fighting continued to rage all along the front lines with some of the most intense battles being fought in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions in the country’s east, and in Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine has launched a new offensive in Kursk, advancing 2.7 kilometers on the first day of the surprise attack. Since the full-scale invasion, more than 800,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Tuesday.
Russian drone strikes have become a nightly occurrence in most of the country. Overnight on Monday, Ukraine shot down 79 out of 128 drones launched by Russia overnight. Forty-nine decoy drones disappeared off radar after likely being disabled by electronic warfare systems. The Ukrainian Air Force said it had also intercepted both of the Kh-59 missiles that Russia had sent into Ukraine.
Further reports in support of efficiency of the F-16 aircraft emerged this week. In a historic first, a Ukrainian F-16 pilot shot down six Russian cruise missiles during a single deployment, head of the Communications Directorate for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, Colonel Yuriy Ihnat revealed Tuesday. The interception took place during a major Russian aerial strike in December 2024.
Trump’s inauguration day nears. Retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, who is set to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, has postponed a trip to Kyiv until after the inauguration. Trump’s statement at a news conference Tuesday that Ukraine’s aspirations for NATO triggered Russia’s invasion mixes up cause and effect and twists reality, a reputable Ukrainian pollster said.
Trump says meeting with Putin being arranged. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said late Thursday that a meeting is being set up between him and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. “He wants to meet, and we are setting it up,” Trump said in remarks before a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Trump, however, gave no timeline for when the meeting might take place.