Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 968

As the war enters its 968th day, these are the main developments.

Here is the situation on Sunday, October 20, 2024.

Fighting

• Ukraine launched a series of drones targeting Moscow and western Russia, according to regional officials.
• Russian air defence units downed 110 Ukrainian drones over Russia, the Ministry of Defence said, including one over the Moscow region, 43 over the border region of Kursk, and 27 over the southwestern Lipetsk region.
• Russia’s air defence units destroyed at least one drone flying towards the capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app, while drone debris sparked several short-lived fires in Lipetsk, the regional governor said on the app. No injuries or significant damage were reported from the attacks.
• Four firefighters suffered minor shrapnel wounds in a Ukrainian drone attack in an industrial zone in the city of Dzerzhinsk in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, the regional governor said.
• Ukraine’s air defence units responded to a Russian air attack on Kyiv, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital said late on Saturday. “Stay in shelters!” Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
• Russian forces took over the village of Zoryane in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the Interfax news agency reported citing Russia’s Defence Ministry.
• North Korean troops supporting Russia in its war would be a “huge” escalation risk, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said. Ukrainian officials released a video allegedly showing dozens of North Korean recruits lining up to collect Russian military fatigues in an unknown location. United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he could not confirm reports of North Korean troops, adding such a move would be concerning.

Diplomacy

• The defence ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) nations backed Ukraine’s “irreversible” path to NATO membership. The meeting in Naples, Italy on Saturday marked the G7’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defence.
• Russia said Ukraine’s admission to NATO would make a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict impossible and lead to its escalation, the RIA news agency reported, citing Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot pledged support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “victory plan” for ending the war with Russia through negotiations, telling reporters in Kyiv that he would work with Ukrainian officials to get other countries to back the proposal as well.