Ukraine war latest: Russia attacks Kryvyi Rih, injuring at least 5 people, including 3-year-old girl
Hello, this is Kateryna Hodunova reporting from Kyiv on day 1,379 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Today's top story so far:
Russian missile struck the city of Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on Dec. 3, injuring at least five people, including a child, Ukraine's Emergency Service reported.
The 3-year-old girl and a 28-year-old victim will receive outpatient treatment, while an 87-year-old woman was hospitalized in a condition of moderate severity, according to Governor Vladyslav Haivanenko. It was later reported that a 72-year-old man and a 78-year-old woman also sought medical assistance following the attack.
Three of the five injured victims required hospitalization, Haivanenko said.
The attack also set garages on fire and damaged an administrative building.
Romania reports taking out Ukrainian naval drone, Ukraine denies incident
Last updated 8:54 p.m. Kyiv time.
Romania claimed on Dec. 3 to have disabled a Ukrainian naval drone off its Black Sea coast, but Ukrainelater denied the report.
Romanian Navy divers allegedly neutralized the Sea Baby-type drone after it was deemed a threat to shipping, the Romanian Defense Ministry said.
The operation was carried out by specialists from the 39th Diving Center, supported by a Coast Guard maritime surveillance vessel. They surveyed an area approximately 67 kilometers (42 miles) east of the port of the city of Constanta, according to the report.
After inspecting the drifting object, the military confirmed it was a Sea Baby-type drone. The response team received authorization to neutralize it, and at around 1:00 p.m. local time, the drone was destroyed in a controlled explosion.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) dismissed Romania's claim, saying all Sea Baby drones involved in the Black Sea operation remain active and on combat missions.
Ukrainian operations are confined to designated areas, targeting only legitimate Russian positions, and that no Sea Baby drones have entered Romanian territorial waters, SBU told Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske.
Ukraine pushes Russian troops back near Kupiansk as Vovchansk lies in ruins in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine's military says
Last updated 8:01 p.m. Kyiv time.
Ukrainian troops have pushed Russian forces back to the northern outskirts of Kupiansk, as the city of Vovchansk lies almost completely destroyed in Kharkiv Oblast, Viktor Tregubov, head of communications for Ukraine's Joint Forces, said on national television on Dec. 3.
Tregubov denied Russian claims that their forces had captured Kupiansk, saying Ukrainian troops had cut off Russian supply lines and were continuing to "systematically" destroy Russian units.
Russia was also unable to move reinforcements into the area effectively, Tregubov added.
"We have been quite effective in creating a kill zone around the city and destroying those who try to creep in with the help of drones," Tregubov said. "No matter how many reinforcements they bring, they still have to crawl through open space, and the drone does not care how many of them are crawling there."
Tregubov described the situation in Vovchansk as far more dire, saying the city had been reduced to "crushed rubble."
Russian troops control much of the city, while Ukrainian units hold the southern sector, he added.
In rare criticism, former Russian commander says Moscow was 'unprepared' for invasion of Ukraine
Last updated 6:17 p.m. Kyiv time.
Former Russian Ground Forces commander Vladimir Chirkin criticized Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, saying Russia was "once again" unprepared for war, in an interview with pro-Kremlin media outlet RBC published on Nov. 27.
"Moreover, we had the traditional underestimation of the opponent and overestimation of our own military," Chirkin said.
Chirkin referred to Russia's reported plan to "seize Kyiv in three days," saying that Russia had "Tbilisi Syndrome," and memories of the events of the five-day war with Georgia in 2008, but in Ukraine's case, it "did not turn out that way."
"During the first few weeks, we were taught a serious, harsh lesson, and the former defense minister tried to find a face-saving exit from the situation, calling what was happening a 'gesture of goodwill'," Chirkin said.
The former commander blamed "the entire Russian intelligence community" for the withdrawal from Kyiv Oblast, saying that the country's leadership was given false information that "70% of the Ukrainian population is with us, and 30% is against us."
Ukrainian intelligence identifies over 10 companies involved in Russian Iskander M missile production that remain unsanctioned
Last updated 4:54 p.m. Kyiv time.
Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) has identified 13 companies involved in producing the Russian 9M723 ballistic missile for the Iskander-M system that are not subject to sanctions, the agency said in a Dec. 3 statement.
The non-sanctioned firms include producers of solid fuel charges for missile engines, circuit boards for the Kometa satellite antenna system, and spare parts for missile navigation systems.
Thirteen of the 49 companies involved are not subject to sanctions by any member of the international sanctions coalition, according to the statement.
At the same time, the primary contractor for state contracts related to the development and production of 9M723 missiles is the Russian Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering, with the weapons manufactured at the Votkinsk Plant.
Both entities are subject to sanctions by most of Ukraine's partner countries, the statement read.
"The weapons Russia is using against Ukraine today could be used by Russia and its allies against other countries in the future. In particular, Russia has already assisted North Korea in modernizing its KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles," HUR said.
Ukraine sets up new supply routes for forces near embattled Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast
Last updated 2:57 p.m. Kyiv time.
Ukrainian forces are establishing additional logistics routes to supply units in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast, where heavy fighting continues, the East Group of Forces reported on Dec. 3.
Search and assault operations aimed at clearing Russian troops from urban areas are ongoing in Pokrovsk. In Myrnohrad, Ukrainian units are holding defensive lines and neutralizing Russian forces on the city's approaches, the report said.
Russian troops lost 517 personnel in this sector of the front over the past day, according to the East Group of Forces.
Kyiv denies Russian breakthrough in Lyman, Donetsk Oblast, releases POW video
Last updated 2:10 p.m. Kyiv time.
The Third Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces denied Russian claims of a breakthrough in the city of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast, releasing a video on Dec. 3 showing a captured Russian soldier.
In the released footage, a soldier with the call sign "Ptitsa" ("Bird" in English), identified as a member of the 37th Regiment, said Russian military correspondent Timofey Yermakov publicly revealed his unit's location in Lyman.
The disclosure enabled Ukrainian forces to capture some Russian troops and destroy part of his unit, he said.
"The corps' units repel about 40 (Russian) assaults a day on the approaches to Lyman and do not allow the enemy to enter the city," Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi, commander of the corps, said.
Russian forces have attempted dozens of small-group infiltrations on Lyman's outskirts over the past month, with soldiers either killed or taken prisoner during the operations, the statement read.
Ukraine strikes Druzhba oil pipeline again, HUR source says, despite Hungary, Slovakia's appeal
Last updated 1:59 p.m. Kyiv time.
Ukraine attacked the Druzhba oil pipeline on Dec. 1, despite Hungary and Slovakia previously urging Kyiv to refrain from further attacks.
The Druzhba pipeline, one of the world's largest with a capacity of 2 million barrels per day (bpd), is a critical conduit for oil from Russian fields to European refineries. It remains a lifeline for Hungary and Slovakia, the only EU countries still importing Russian crude through the system.
The Dec. 1 attack on the oil pipeline was carried out near the village of Kazinskie Vyselki in Tambov Oblast on the Taganrog-Lipetsk section of the pipeline, a source in Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
According to the source, remote-controlled explosives, combined with additional combustible mixtures, were used to destroy the oil pipeline section.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims.
NATO allies pledge over $1 billion for US arms for Ukraine
Last updated 1:33 p.m. Kyiv time.
Five NATO allies confirmed on Dec. 3 new purchases of U.S. defense materiel for Kyiv under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL).
During a meeting of allied foreign ministers in Brussels, two joint upcoming PURL packages, each worth $500 million, were announced: one co-financed by Germany, Norway, and Poland, and another by Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "has not yet shown any real willingness to negotiate," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in Berlin on Dec. 3, prior to his departure for Brussels.
"That is why we are maintaining pressure on Russia, and, as allies in NATO, intend to increase it further."
Ukraine's top negotiators to again meet Trump's envoys after Moscow talks, Zelensky says
Last updated 12:52 p.m. Kyiv time.
Ukrainian negotiators will meet European national security advisers in Brussels on Dec. 3 to discuss peace efforts before holding another meeting with U.S. envoys, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, will brief European officials on Russian-U.S. talks in Moscow on Dec. 2 and "discuss the European component of the necessary security architecture."
The comments follow a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to Moscow to discuss a revised U.S.-Ukraine peace plan with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, who participated in the talks, described the meeting as "very useful, constructive, and highly substantive," but noted that no concrete agreement was reached.
Russian oil depot, fuel tanks damaged amid reported drone strikes in Tambov, Voronezh oblasts
Last updated 11:42 a.m. Kyiv time.
After an alleged Ukrainian drone strike overnight on Dec. 3, a fire broke out at an oil depot in Russia's Tambov Oblast, and fuel reservoirs were damaged in the Voronezh Oblast, local media and authorities reported.
Tambov regional governor Yevgeny Pervishov said debris from a drone fell on an oil depot in the settlement of Dmitrievka, sparking a blaz. Telegram channel Astra reported that the Nikiforovskaya oil depot was targeted in the drone attack.
Ukrainian and Russian Telegram channels circulated footage they said showed an explosion and fire, though the images could not be independently verified.
Ukraine's General Staff confirmed on Dec. 3 that units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck the Dmitrievka oil depot, saying that the facility is used to supply the needs of the Russian army.
Voronezh regional governor Alexander Gusev said that four drones were detected and destroyed in two districts of the region. He added that in one of the areas, several fuel tanks were "slightly damaged." No casualties or fire were reported.
At least 5 killed, 26 injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine over past day
At least 5 people have been killed and 26 others injured in Russian attacks against Ukraine over the past day, local authorities reported on Dec. 3.
Russia launched 111 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force reported. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 83 drones. Twenty-seven drones made it through, striking 13 locations, while debris from downed drones fell on one additional site.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Russian drones attacked the town of Ternivka overnight on Dec. 3, killing two men, aged 43 and 50, and injuring three others. Russia also targeted the Nikopol district over the past day, injuring 13 people, Governor Vladyslav Haivanenko reported.
In Donetsk Oblast, Russian attacks killed a person and injured another in the city of Kostiantynivka. Another strike killed a person in the city of Sloviansk. The settlements of Vodianske, Lyman, and Oleksandrivka also came under attack, leaving three civilians injured, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.
In Kherson Oblast, Russian attacks killed one person and injured three others over the past day, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.
In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a Russian strike against the Zaporizhzhia district injured a 46-year-old man, the local military administration reported.
In Kharkiv Oblast, a 73-year-old man suffered injuries as a result of the Russian attack against the village of Kivsharivka, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
In Odesa Oblast, a Russian drone strike targeted an energy facility, injuring an energy worker who was hospitalized in serious condition, Governor Oleh Kiper reported.
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,176,230 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022
Russia has lost around 1,176,230 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Dec. 3.
The number includes 1,200 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
According to the report, Russia has also lost 11,393 tanks, 23,682 armored fighting vehicles, 68,688 vehicles and fuel tanks, 34,780 artillery systems, 1,555 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,253 air defense systems, 430 airplanes, 347 helicopters, 86,231 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.
