Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 18:59 Zelensky said that he held the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief: “Different issues, different aspects of defense. Military questions. Veterans' questions. Brigade questions. Issues of fortifications. Issues of weapons production. We are working separately to implement all our agreements with partners on new weapons production.”
17:30 Bild military columnist Julian Röpke writes that Ukraine’s new military strategy is “kill, kill and kill,” with the goal of attacking and even holding areas unfavorable for defense not installed.
According to his information, Ukraine is postponing plans to recapture the occupied territories, and the new goal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is to inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy’s manpower. Thus, the main priority becomes not even defense, but “the elimination of as many Russian soldiers as possible with minimal losses to one’s own forces.” The publication’s source in the Ukrainian army confirmed that “now there is no more pressure or need to force the issue, the goal is simply to inflict maximum losses on the enemy.”
16:18 Ukraine, through the mediation of Qatar, returned three more children, the Presidential Office reported. Two of them were taken out of the occupied territories, another child was on the territory of the Russian Federation and was reunited with his mother on the territory of Georgia.
15:04 Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that he expects “even greater assistance in mobilization work” from local authorities: “We must change approaches to preparing those liable for military service and population to national resistance. All our people must be trained and prepared. We expect even more assistance from local governments in mobilization work.”
12:57 Donetsk public pages report a large-scale fire in the Budenovsky district. Localresidents publish online videos of black smokewhich is visible from different points. According to Ukrainian media, the attack hit a warehouse of fuels and lubricants. In turn, Russian media write about the shelling of a gas station in Donetsk.
12:38 Ukraine plans a new counter-offensive in 2024 - and it will obviously be like this , as Zaluzhny planned it for this summer, writes Die Welt. The publication notes that Ukraine still has access to more than 95% of all weapons systems supplied by the West. They were not used in the counteroffensive, journalists say.
10:35 Bild writes, citing intelligence data and sources, that Russia allegedly plans to occupy Ukrainian territory outside the four already illegally annexed regions during 2024-2026. In particular, Moscow intends to capture the entire territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and up to the Oskol River in the Kharkov region by the end of 2024. In turn, the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that these goals coincide with the current local offensive operations of the Russian army in the Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkov regions.
In addition, according to Bild, Russia wants to capture a significant part of the Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkov regions, including Kharkov, in 2025 and 2026. The Russian Federation also plans to hold the current front line in the Kherson region along the Dnieper River and is concerned about preventing the advance of Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine towards Crimea.
According to ISW analysts, information about Russia's mid- to long-term plans to occupy Ukrainian territory beyond the four illegally annexed territories is also plausible given that Russian officials, including Putin, have recently returned to expansionist rhetoric and Russian troops continue to offensive operations in order to expand their positions in the Kharkov region.
The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov, recently stated that Russia now supposedly has no plans to wage war in 2025. “Perhaps by the end of 2024, if nothing changes, they will adjust it. But so far they have no such plans,” says Budanov.
09:11 In the Primorsky district of Mariupol, partisans blew up the car of a Russian military officer from one of the Caucasian units, said advisor to the mayor of the city Pyotr Andryushchenko. The officer is currently in a hospital in Mariupol. The explosion occurred synchronously with yesterday's strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the location of the Russians, which made it possible to hide it from the attention of the police and the FSB until hospitalization.
08:29 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of December 16:
- personnel - about 344,820 (+930) people,
- tanks - 5720 (+14),
- armored combat vehicles - 10,667 (+13),
- artillery systems - 8100 (+1),
- MLRS - 920 (+0),
- air defense systems - 605 (+0),
- aircraft - 324 (+0),
- helicopters - 324 (+0),
- UAV of operational-tactical level - 6238 (+12),
- cruise missiles - 1609 (+1),
- ships/boats - 22 (+0),
- submarines - 1 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tank trucks - 10,710 (+11),
- special equipment - 1190 (+1).
08:23 Over the past 24 hours, 96 military clashes took place at the front,the General Staff reported in the morning report . In particular, in the Avdeevsky direction, the Defense Forces repulsed 20 enemy attacks east of Novobakhmutovka, Avdeevka and another 14 attacks east of Stepnoye, south of Severny and Pervomaisky in the Donetsk region. In the Bakhmut direction, Ukrainian forces repelled 18 attacks near Bogdanovka, Ivanovsky, Kleshcheevka and Andreevka in the Donetsk region, and in Maryinsky - 13 attacks in the Krasnohorivka, Maryinka and Novomikhailovka areas of the Donetsk region.
In addition, in the Kupyansk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled enemy attacks in the Sinkovka area of the Kharkov region; on Limansky - east of Ternov, Yampolevka, Donetsk region and Makeevka, Lugansk region; on Shakhtarsky - near Staromayorsky, Donetsk region; on Zaporozhye - west of Novopokrovka and south of Rabotino, Zaporozhye region.
In the Seversky and Slobozhansky directions, the Russians are conducting active sabotage activities in order to prevent the transfer of Ukrainian troops to threatening directions.
07:59 Air defense at night destroyed 30 of 31 attack drones of the Shahed type, which Russia attacked from three directions - Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Seshcha, Kursk, the Air Force command reported. Drones were destroyed within the Dnepropetrovsk, Kyiv, Vinnitsa, Chernigov, Sumy, Poltava, Cherkassy, Kherson, Zaporozhye, Nikolaev and Khmelnytsky regions.
05:25 Russia attacked Kyiv for the sixth time since the beginning of the month. According to the head of the KGVA, Sergei Popko, judging by the weapons used, the Russians seem to have returned to the tactics of May 2023. Then they constantly changed, combined, alternated types and types of airborne weapons. The same scenario is observed during attacks on the capital in the first half of December: attack UAVs, cruise missiles from strategic bombers, Iskanders, Daggers fly to Kyiv one by one, replacing each other.
Tonight the enemy again attacked the capital with Shahed attack drones. The UAVs flew in groups, waves and from different directions. All enemy targets were destroyed by air defense forces. There were no casualties as a result of the air defense and falling debris.
03:41 Governor of the Kursk region Roman Starovoyt said that "drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine" allegedly attacked the Dmitrievsky and Zheleznogorsky districts, there were no casualties. In the village of Krupets, Dmitrievsky district, the attack occurred in the area of the railway station in the city of Dmitriev - the compressor station was damaged. In the Zheleznogorsk region, drones damaged a power line supplying one of the Mikhailovsky Mining and Processing Plant facilities.