Strikes and trainers: Ukraine war, 19–21 December 2024

What was the shape of the war in the days leading up to 24 December 2024? The reports from 19 to 21 December point to strikes on both sides of the border and a British proposal on training.

Strikes on Ukrainian cities

On 20 December, Russian missile strikes hit civilian infrastructure in Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv, Ukraine. At least one person was killed and eight others were injured. Kryvyi Rih had been under a series of Russian artillery and air attacks during the war.

Strikes inside Russia

The same day, a Ukrainian missile strike killed six people and injured 10 others in Rylsk, in Kursk Oblast, according to acting Kursk Oblast governor Alexander Khinshtein. Russia said it would raise the strike at the United Nations Security Council. The reports placed the strike within the 2024 Kursk offensive.

On 21 December, at least seven Ukrainian drones struck Kazan, Russia. Six of them reportedly hit residential areas, including a 32-storey apartment building.

A British proposal

On 19 December, British defence secretary John Healey announced a proposal to send military advisors to train Ukrainian forces. The proposal came as the United Kingdom continued the support for Ukraine it had given since the full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022.

What the run of events showed

Taken together, the reports describe an exchange of long-range strikes. Civilian areas were reported hit in Ukrainian cities and in Russian ones. Russia sought a diplomatic forum, the UN Security Council, to raise the Rylsk strike. Meanwhile, Britain's training proposal pointed to support that would extend beyond equipment. Casualty figures in the reports are small compared with the geographic spread of the targets, which ranged from Kyiv and Kryvyi Rih to Rylsk and Kazan.