What the week before 23 December 2024 revealed about the war
A look back at the days leading up to 23 December 2024, when coordination of Western support shifted and strikes crossed the border in both directions.
What did the days before 23 December 2024 show about the state of the war? Taken together, the reports from 17 to 21 December describe a conflict in which military support was being reorganised, civilians were being hit on both sides of the border, and the rhetoric of retaliation was sharpening.
Support changes hands
On 17 December, 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. Two days later, on 19 December, British defence secretary John Healey announced a proposal to send military advisers to train Ukrainian forces.
Strikes on cities
On 20 December, Russian missile strikes on civilian infrastructure in Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv killed at least one person and injured eight others. Kryvyi Rih had already been subject to a series of artillery attacks and air raids since the full-scale invasion began.
The same day, a Ukrainian missile strike in Rylsk, in Russia's Kursk Oblast, killed six people and injured 10 others, according to acting Kursk Oblast governor Alexander Khinshtein. Russia said it would raise the matter at the United Nations Security Council.
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 killing in Moscow
On 17 December, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's NBC Protection Troops, and his assistant were killed by an explosive device hidden in an e-scooter in Moscow. A Ukrainian source claimed that the Security Service of Ukraine was responsible, saying Kirillov had become a legitimate target after being charged in absentia the previous day over the use of chemical weapons. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, said the Ukrainian leadership would face imminent revenge.
The picture on 23 December
By 23 December 2024, then, the reported record showed Western aid being managed through a NATO structure, Britain proposing a training role, and strikes causing casualties in Ukrainian and Russian cities alike. Moscow was already promising retaliation and preparing to take the Rylsk strike to the UN Security Council.
