Russia-Ukraine War: List of Key Events, Day 1,387 | Russia-Ukraine War

These are the key developments of the 1,387th day of the Russian war against Ukraine.

Here's where things stand on Friday, December 12:

Struggle

• Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked the Russian military after his forces reportedly took control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Siversk. The Ukrainian military responded by saying it remained under control of the city.
• News agencies were unable to verify the claims on the battlefield around Siversk, a long-standing target in Russia's campaign to capture Ukraine's entire Donetsk region.
• Moscow's forces also took control of the village of Lyman in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Russian news agencies reported, citing the Defense Ministry.
• Russia said Ukraine had launched a major air attack, with at least 287 drones shot down over several parts of the country, including Moscow. Russia's Defense Ministry said at least 40 drones were shot down over the Moscow region, where more than 22 million people live.
• Ukrainian drones have struck two chemical plants in Russia's Novgorod and Smolensk regions, the commander of kyiv's drone forces said. Ukrainian drones also struck Russia's Filanovsky oil platform in the Caspian Sea for the first time, disrupting production at the Lukoil-owned facility, according to a Ukrainian security official.
• The Russian Foreign Ministry has called on Britain to reveal what British soldier George Hooley, recently killed in Ukraine, was doing in the country.
• Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused London of helping kyiv carry out “acts of terrorism” against Russia, but provided no evidence to support her claim. Britain's Ministry of Defense said Hooley died while watching Ukrainian forces test a new defensive capability away from the front line with Russian forces.

Peace agreement

• Ukraine has presented the United States with a revised 20-point framework to end its war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that the issue of ceding territory to Russia remained a major sticking point in the negotiations.
• Zelensky said that as a compromise, the United States offers to create a “free economic zone” in the Ukrainian-controlled parts of eastern Donbass, which Russia has demanded Ukraine cede.
• “They see it as the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk region, and the compromise is supposed to be that Russian troops will not enter this part of the Donetsk region. They don't know who will govern this territory,” Zelensky said, adding that Russia refers to it as a “demilitarized zone.”
• Zelenskyy also said Ukrainians should vote on any territorial concessions in a referendum and that he discussed security guarantees for Ukraine in a video call with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff.

• Speaking at a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” – a group of 34 countries led by Britain and France that have pledged to support Ukraine against Russian aggression – Zelensky said: organize elections in Ukraine in times of war, there should be a ceasefire.
• US President Donald Trump said the United States would send a representative to participate in negotiations in Europe over Ukraine this weekend if there was a good chance of progress on a ceasefire deal.
• “We'll attend Saturday's meeting in Europe if we think there's a good chance. And we don't want to waste a lot of time if we think it's negative,” Trump said.
• Earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump had grown tired of multiple meetings that never produced an agreement on ending the war in Ukraine.

Regional security

• NATO chief Mark Rutte urged allies to step up defense efforts to prevent a Russian-led war in Europe that could be “on the scale of the war endured by our grandparents and great-grandparents.”
• In a speech in Berlin, Rutte said too many allies in the military alliance did not feel the urgency of the Russian threat in Europe and needed to quickly increase defense spending and production to prevent war.

Sanctions

• Young Russian and Belarusian athletes should take part in international events without access restrictions, the International Olympic Committee said, marking a first step towards relaxation of sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

• European Union governments have begun a process to freeze Russian central bank assets tied up in Europe long-term to avoid votes every six months on renewing the freeze, a move that would pave the way for using the money to grant a loan to Ukraine.
• Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Vincent Van Peteghem said frozen Russian assets will have to be used for Ukraine at some point, adding that Brussels “would not accept any reckless compromise” before agreeing to a deal on the issue.
• Brussels has opposed an unprecedented plan to use Russian funds frozen in the EU – mainly in Belgian banking institutions – to finance a loan to Ukraine, saying this exposes the country to an outsized risk of future legal action from Moscow.
• The Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated that the EU's “manipulations” regarding Moscow's frozen assets will not go unanswered.
• Germany's top financial court has ruled that authorities cannot, for now, sell or use an oil tanker and its cargo seized off the coast of the Baltic Sea, siding with the ship's owners in two separate cases.
• The Panama-flagged Eventin was found adrift off the coast of Germany in January after leaving Russia with around 100,000 tonnes of oil worth around 40 million euros ($47 million). German authorities suspect the ship is part of a “ghost fleet” used by Russia to circumvent EU sanctions

Economy

• Russian revenues from exports of crude oil and refined products fell again in November, the International Energy Agency said, touching their lowest level since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.