Two shifts in the war, seen from 18 December 2024

What did the war look like on 18 December 2024, after a day that brought both an institutional change and a targeted killing? Reports from 17 December 2024 pointed to two developments that shaped the mood.

The first was administrative but significant. NATO's Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine command centre in Wiesbaden, Germany, took over coordination of Western military support to Ukraine from the United States.

The second was violent. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's NBC Protection Troops, and his assistant were killed in Moscow by an improvised explosive device hidden inside an e-scooter. A Ukrainian source claimed that the Security Service of Ukraine was responsible. According to that source, Kirillov had been charged in absentia the day before for the use of chemical weapons, which made him a "legitimate target".

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, responded by saying that the Ukrainian leadership would face "imminent revenge".

Taken together, the reports showed a war fought in two registers: the planning of Western support from a base in Germany, and a strike in the Russian capital followed by a threat of retaliation.