Here are the key developments on the 1,027th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Here is the situation on Tuesday, December 17:

Fighting

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that “initial reports suggest that Russia is trying to conceal the losses of North Korean personnel,” after Ukraine’s military intelligence said on Monday its troops had killed or wounded at least 30 North Korean soldiers.
• Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told reporters that a United States assessment found “North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk” and the US has “indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded”.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred questions about North Korean casualties to the Russian Ministry of Defence, which did not immediately comment, the Associated Press news agency reported.
• Russian Minister of Defence Andrei Belousov claimed that Russia’s forces had seized a total of almost 4,500 square kilometres (1,737sq miles) of Ukrainian territory this year and were now capturing about 30 square kilometres (11.5sq miles) of territory each day.

Humanitarian situation

• The United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA, reports that nearly 12,000 residents who remain in the Ukrainian towns of Pokrovsk, Kurakhove and Chasiv Yar – located just a few kilometres away from the front line – are facing drinking water and gas shortages in freezing winter conditions after local utility operators suspended services.

Politics and diplomacy

• Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the UN Security Council that a plan to audit US funding for Kyiv by US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, “spells trouble for the Ukrainian leadership”.
• The European Union Foreign Affairs Council adopted its 15th sanctions package against Russia, with the new round of sanctions targeting North Korean officials and, for the first time, Chinese firms making drones for Moscow.
• The EU sanctions also targeted 52 ships that are part of a vast “shadow fleet” Moscow is reportedly using to transport oil, gas and stolen Ukrainian grain.
• Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Zelenskyy’s office, said that sanctions against Russia’s oil fleet were “useful” but “too late”, with two Russian oil tankers spilling thousands of tonnes of fuel oil into the Azov and Black Seas after they were damaged in rough seas.
• Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a post on Telegram that Ukraine’s agreement to allow Russian gas to transit through his country to European customers “will not be extended” when it comes to an end on January 1, 2025.
• A former FBI informant pleaded guilty to lying about a supposed bribery scheme involving US President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

US President-elect Donald Trump is meeting the CEO of TikTok as the social media giant fights plans to have it banned in the US.

Trump was due to meet Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday, the BBC’s US partner CBS News reports, citing sources familiar with the meeting.

A law passed earlier this year means TikTok will be banned unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, before 19 January.

The company has made an emergency application to the US Supreme Court to have the ban delayed.

The US wants TikTok sold or banned because of alleged links between ByteDance and the Chinese state, links that both TikTok and ByteDance have always denied.

The bill introducing the law said it was intended to “protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications”.

Trump opposes the ban – despite supporting one during his first term – partly on the grounds that it could help Facebook, which he has accused of aiding his 2020 election loss.

Trump’s second term, however, won’t begin until he is inaugurated on 20 January, the day after the deadline set out in the law.

In its filing to the Supreme Court, submitted on Monday, TikTok asked for a “modest delay” to the enforcement of the ban to “create breathing room” for a review by the Court and to allow the incoming administration to “evaluate this matter”.

It described TikTok as “one of the most significant speech platforms” in the US and said the ban would do “immediate irreparable harm” to the company and its users.

Earlier this month, the company’s bid to have the ban overturned was rejected by the federal appeals court, which found that the law was the “culmination of extensive, bipartisan action by the Congress and by successive presidents”.

At a press conference on Monday, Trump said his administration would “take a look at TikTok”.

“I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok, because I won youth by 34 points,” he said.

“There are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that. TikTok had an impact.”

A majority of 18 to 29-year-olds backed Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, in November, but the vote did see a significant swing towards Trump among young voters since the 2020 election.

Trump only joined TikTok in June, but gained millions of followers on the platform over the course of the campaign.

CPJ says the Israeli military ‘continues to act with total impunity when it comes to the killing of journalists’.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has denounced Israel’s killing of four Palestinian journalists in Gaza over the past week as the Israeli military intensifies its bombardment of the besieged territory.

The United States-based watchdog said in a statement on Monday that the international community has failed to hold Israel accountable for its actions amid the growing death toll of journalists and civilians in Gaza.

“At least 95 journalists and media workers have been killed worldwide in 2024,” CPJ’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg said.

“Israel is responsible for two-thirds of those deaths and yet continues to act with total impunity when it comes to the killing of journalists and its attacks on the media.”

The remarks came a day after Israeli forces killed Ahmed al-Louh, a 39-year-old Palestinian journalist who worked for Al Jazeera as a cameraman, in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Over the previous days, Israel also killed journalists Mohammed Balousha, Mohammed Jabr al-Qrinawi and Eman Shanti.

Hours before an Israeli air strike killed Shanti along with her husband and children in Gaza City on Wednesday, the Palestinian journalist wrote on social media: “Is it possible we’re still alive until now?”

According to local health authorities, Israel has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza. It has also levelled large parts of the enclave and imposed a suffocating blockade, leading to deadly hunger across the territory.

United Nations experts and rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

With no foreign reporters allowed to work in Gaza, Palestinian journalists have been the only witnesses describing the atrocities to the outside world. And that, rights advocates argue, has put them in the crosshairs of an Israeli military operating without regard to legal and ethical norms.

According to the Gaza Government Media Office, Israeli forces have killed 196 Palestinian media workers in Gaza since the start of the war last year. CPJ, which has not included some media workers in its tally, puts the death toll at 133.

On Sunday, Al Jazeera condemned the killing of al-Louh, accusing Israel of carrying out a “systematic killing of journalists in cold blood”.

Al-Louh was the latest of several Al Jazeera-affiliated journalists killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war. He was killed on the first anniversary of the killing of another Al Jazeera cameraman, Samer Abudaqa, in an Israeli attack.

Earlier this year, Israel also killed the network’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and his companion cameraman Rami al-Rifi in a targeted attack.

The Israeli military has not denied targeting al-Louh and other Al Jazeera journalists. Instead, it has tried to employ a familiar excuse to justify their killing – accusing them, without evidence, of being members of Palestinian armed groups, which the network has vehemently denied.

On Sunday, the Israeli military claimed that al-Louh was a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, providing no proof to back the allegations.

Israel had also said that al-Ghoul was a member of Hamas and later released an apparently fabricated document as supposed evidence, which claimed that al-Ghould received a Hamas military rank in 2007 – when he would have been 10 years old.

Since the outbreak of the war on Gaza, Israel has alleged – mostly without evidence – that its attacks on Palestinians are part of its campaign against Hamas.

The Israeli military has also bombed schools, hospitals and displaced people’s camps, claiming that it was targeting Hamas fighters.

Iran’s National Security Council has paused the implementation of the controversial “hijab and chastity law”, which had been due to come into force on Friday.

President Massoud Pezeshkian called the legislation “ambiguous and in need of reform”, signalling his intention to reassess its measures.

The proposed new law – which would introduce harsher punishments for women and girls for exposing their hair, forearms or lower legs – had been heavily criticised by rights activists.

The strict dress codes imposed on women and girls, which have been treated as a national security priority by the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran for decades, have previously triggered protests.

Under the new law, repeat offenders and anyone who mocked the rules would face heavier fines and longer prison sentences of up to 15 years in jail. It would also mandate that businesses report anyone who violates the rules.

Human rights groups had expressed alarm. Amnesty International said Iranian authorities were “seeking to entrench the already suffocating system of repression”.

During the presidential election in July, then candidate Pezeshkian openly criticised the treatment of Iranian women over the hijab issue.

He promised not to interfere in their personal lives, a stance that resonated with many Iranians, especially from a younger generation frustrated by the government’s rigid control.

Masoumeh Ebtekar, a former vice-president for women and family affairs, also criticised the law, saying: “The new legislation is an indictment of half the Iranian population.”

The hijab debate gained further momentum last week when Parastoo Ahmadi, a popular Iranian singer, was arrested after streaming a virtual concert with no audience present on YouTube while not wearing the hijab.

The concert quickly went viral and the arrest of Ahmadi and her bandmates sparked widespread backlash. Facing public outcry, authorities released them the following day.

Tensions surrounding the hijab have remained high since nationwide protests in 2022 triggered by the death of Mahsa “Zhina” Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died in police custody after being detained for allegedly violating the dress code.

Over the past two years, many young Iranian women have defiantly removed their hijabs in public, challenging the government’s authority.

Last week, more than 300 Iranian rights activists, writers and journalists publicly condemned the new hijab law, calling it “illegitimate and unenforceable” and urged Pezeshkian to honour his campaign promises.

Despite pressure from hardline factions close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, many younger people in Iran appear to be unafraid to confront the regime’s restrictions.

Pezeshkian’s supporters believe the new hijab law will fail to discourage young women from defying it and could even worsen the situation.

However, supporters of the legislation have pressured the president to move forward, criticising the National Security Council’s hesitation and demanding that he sign the law to clear the path for its enforcement.

The decision to pause its implementation suggests the government fears it could trigger another wave of mass protests, like those seen two years ago.

In the Damascus suburb of Darayya, the scale of destruction is staggering. It was destroyed in the wake of the 2011 uprising. Once home to half a million people, only 50,000 remain. Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr shows what a challenge it will be for Syria’s new leadership to rebuild.