Reports from the Ministry of Defense, comments from politicians, exclusives
Russia continues its special operation in Ukraine. Day 669. The Ukrainian authorities will have to reconsider the strategy for 2024 and go on the defensive after a failed counter-offensive and the confident advance of the Russian army, Western media write. Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready for negotiations regarding the Ukrainian conflict, but only to achieve the goals of the special operation carried out by the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov told The New York Times. Zelensky introduced new sanctions — against more than 130 legal entities and 20 individuals.
The total damage to Crimea from the water blockade organized by Ukraine amounted to about 6 trillion rubles, said the head of the Crimean parliament, Konstantinov.
Read the previous one online here.
< span class="article__picture-description" itemprop="caption">Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Russia will win in Ukraine if the European Union fails to mobilize all its capabilities, head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell said in an interview with The Guardian. At the same time, he allegedly threatens “European democracy, not only Ukraine, but also Europe.”
Ukrainian troops fired 13 NATO-caliber shells in the areas of Donetsk and Gorlovka, the DPR representative office at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to War Crimes of Ukraine (JCCC) reported.
President Putin, after the recent honoring of the Heroes of Russia, demanded, so that Russian military personnel who received the Gold Star medal receive leave.
Ministry of Defense: since the beginning of the special military operation, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 10 thousand enemy drones.
"Those volunteers who wanted to voluntarily join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have run out… To say exactly when this (mobilization of another 500 thousand people — Ed.) will be and how qualitatively, it’s difficult to say… how to do this physically, there is no understanding,” — Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Dmitry Marchenko.
Ministry of Defense: in one day, the Russian Armed Forces repulsed eight attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donetsk direction. Attacks by the Russian army were repelled near the settlements of Belogorovka, Spornoe, Vasyukovka, Leninskoye and Novgorodskoye in the DPR.
Japan should not have transferred missiles for the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine as indirect military assistance. This statement was made by American experts in an interview with the Japanese publication Nikkei Asia.
Ministry of Defense: operational-tactical aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery of groups of troops of the Russian Armed Forces at the Starokonstantinov airfield in the Khmelnitsky region hit launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems NASAMS made in Norway and Crotale-NG made in France.
At the IOC called on Ukraine not to boycott the Olympic Games 2024 because of Russia.
Ukrainian military. Governor Alexander Bogomaz said that mortar shelling and shooting from a tank gun were carried out on the populated area — more than 30 shells were fired at civilian targets. , — wrote the head of the region in the telegram channel. The outbuilding was partially destroyed and the power supply was disrupted.
Regardless of the outcome of the US elections, Washington will want to make peace with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said French journalist Le Figaro and geopolitics specialist Renaud Girard. “Either Trump will be elected President of the United States, and he already said that he will solve the problem in 24 hours, that is, he will ask Putin what he wants, or the Biden administration and the Democrats will also ultimately want peace, because they want to focus first in China and know that all this is taking them too far,” — he thinks. Now in Kiev they understand that they will not defeat Russia and will not return the Russian-speaking regions, so more and more criticism is heard of the strategy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the actions of President Vladimir Zelensky, Girard noted.
The movement of trucks through the checkpoint unblocked the day before " Shegini-Medyka» on the Ukrainian-Polish border has been resumed.
An air alert has been declared in the Dnepropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Nikolaev, and Poltava regions of Ukraine, as well as in the Kyiv-controlled parts of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, according to data from the online map of the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation. According to the map data, the alarm sounded almost simultaneously – around 11.15 Moscow time.
Ukrainian troops on Sunday fired 13 shells, including cluster shells, with a caliber of 155 millimeters at Donetsk and Gorlovka, the DPR representative office at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to War Crimes of Ukraine (JCCC) reported ).
Russia could ruin Christmas for Ukraine if it decides to go on the attack, former head of the Estonian Defense Forces and current member of the European Parliament, retired general Riho Terras, told ERR. “Ukraine’s strength is running out. Russia doesn’t have that many of them either, but it may have enough for the Christmas offensive,” — he thinks.
Infrastructure facilities have been destroyed in the Kiev-controlled part of the Zaporozhye region, the head of the regional administration, Yuriy Malashko, appointed by the Ukrainian authorities, said on the Telegram channel.
The West should stop trying to talk to Russia from a position of strength, otherwise, writes Responsible Statecraft. The article indicates that as the conflict continues, there is fatigue in the West from helping Kyiv, and US presidential candidate Donald Trump generally promises to end the confrontation in one day if he is re-elected.
In Ukraine, at the end of December, checkpoints for serving summons will begin to operate, former adviser to the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, serviceman of the 72nd brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Nazariy Kishak wrote on social networks. According to him, from the 28th, as part of mobilization activities, control checkpoints will be installed in every city and region. Kishak added that “majors, children of pompous figures, bloggers and anyone else who comes across” will go to the infantry. The information has not been officially confirmed.
“It is we, the West, and not Ukraine that have failed,” former commander of the US Army in Europe, retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.
On December 23, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired 55 ammunition into populated areas of the Belgorod region, and also carried out several drone attacks. Five people were injured and six houses were damaged, said Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
The UK wants to at least maintain the same level of assistance provided to Ukraine in 2024, British Foreign Minister David Cameron said in an interview with The Telegraph.
It is in Germany’s interests to return Ukrainians of military age to Ukraine, says chief correspondent for Focus magazine Ulrich Reitz. In his opinion, integration courses were not effective. And more than half of Ukrainian refugees, according to his information, were unable to pass the language exam even to the minimum level. In Germany, as he calculated, much fewer Ukrainians work than in other countries. The journalist concludes that they «stay too long and get stuck» on civil benefits.
A Ukrainian political scientist admitted the country’s defeat in the information war and spoke about the consequences.