These were the key developments on the 1,013th day of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Here is the situation on Tuesday, December 3:
Fighting
- Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched 110 drones to attack the country overnight. Of 110 drones, the Air Force shot down 52, while at least 50 were “lost”, it said.
- Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions overnight, state news reported, citing the country’s Ministry of Defence.
Military aid and diplomacy
- Ukraine needs more air defence systems to protect its important facilities from Russian missile attacks, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
- Ukraine will need tens of thousands of uncrewed robotic ground vehicles next year to shuttle ammunition and supplies to infantry in the trenches and evacuate wounded soldiers, Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told the Reuters news agency.
- Norway’s Ministry of Defence said it would deploy F-35 fighter jets and NASAMS (short to medium-range) air defence systems to a logistics hub in Poland that coordinates military aid for Ukraine. From early December, Norway will safeguard the airspace above the Rzeszow airport and will send approximately 100 soldiers in addition to the air defence systems and fighter jets.
- German military aid to be delivered to Ukraine in December includes IRIS-T air defence systems, Leopard 1 tanks and armed drones, a Defence Ministry spokesperson said, just hours after Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the deliveries during Monday’s surprise visit to Kyiv.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a wave of pro-European Union protests in Georgia resembled an attempted Ukraine-style Orange Revolution – mass protests in 2004 that removed a pro-Russian government in Kyiv – and local authorities were trying to stabilise the situation, but Russia would not interfere.
- NATO is highly unlikely to heed Ukraine’s call for a membership invitation at a meeting of the bloc set to be held on Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing senior NATO diplomats. In a letter to his NATO counterparts ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said an invitation would remove one of Russia’s main arguments for waging its war – preventing Ukraine from joining the alliance.
- US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, held a meeting in which they discussed Russia’s use of new ballistic missiles, preparations for the next meeting of arms donors and plans for Washington’s military aid next year.
- The United States will send Ukraine $725m of missiles, ammunition, antipersonnel mines and other weapons, Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed, as President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration seeks to bolster Kyiv before leaving office in January.
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that stepping up support for Ukraine is essential to put Kyiv in a strong position for peace talks with Russia, as he conceded there could be a negotiated end to the war.
- A group of Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia targeted an investigative journalist with the Bellingcat news outlet and tried to lure him into a “honey trap” via Facebook, prosecutors have told a London court. Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tihomir Ivanchev, along with Orlin Roussev and Bizer Dzhambazov, also carried out surveillance on a US military base in Germany where Ukrainian forces were being trained.
- President Judge of the International Criminal Court Tomoko Akane said threats facing the institution, including possible US sanctions and Russian warrants for staff members, “jeopardise its very existence“. Russia issued an arrest warrant for the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan two months after the court in The Hague issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Putin is dragging Asia into the war in Ukraine with the use of Chinese-made drones and North Korean troops, German Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock said during a visit to Beijing.