Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:10 Zelensky said that on the way to Argentina, where he is heading to participate in the inauguration of newly elected President Javier Miley, he held a meeting with the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Jose Ulisses Correia e Silva, which became the first in the history of bilateral relations with this country.
21:18 The Office of the Prosecutor General has established that the Shahed-131/136 attack drones with which Russia is attacking Ukraine are produced by the Iranian state aircraft manufacturing company Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company.
20:02 It was possible to evacuate the last 12 people who were in the shelter from the Avdeevka coke plant, said the head of the GVA Vitaly Barabash. According to him, these are people who came to the plant at the beginning of the invasion and asked for asylum. Moreover, even after the evacuation of all employees of the enterprise, 17 people refused to leave. First we managed to persuade three of them, then two more. “As of yesterday, there were 12 of them, now we managed to persuade them all, they were all taken out,” Barabash said.
18:44 Air defense forces shot down a missile in the Krivoy Rog region in the evening, said the head of the Dnepropetrovsk Air Defense Forces Sergei Lysak. In addition, during the day the enemy attacked Nikopol with two kamikaze drones - an infrastructure facility, a warehouse building and a five-story building were damaged. No people were hurt.
18:26 Russia is recruiting foreign migrants detained during the recent sweep on the border with Finland to participate in the war in Ukraine, the BBC reports. According to the publication, there are already several cases of foreigners being hastily sent to a military camp on the border with Ukraine several days after they were detained for violating immigration laws.
18:15 Germany should be ready to help Ukraine more “if others weaken,” Scholz said. In his opinion, the war in Ukraine “will not end soon,” so it is important “that we can do what is necessary for a long time.”
17:39 The Russians fired artillery at Kupyansk, Kharkov region - two people were killed, one was wounded, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA.
15:23 Public reports report an attack on occupied Makeyevka, Donetsk region, after which a strong fire started - probably in a fuel warehouse .
14:17 There are no Russian components in Russian missiles and UAVs, said General Staff spokesman Andrei Rudenko. For example, in the X-101, except for the printed circuit board, almost all components are foreign-made.
12:49 According to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian troops were ordered to capture Avdeevka and Kupyansk before the presidential elections in the Russian Federation in order to strengthen Putin’s position.
12:02 On the evening of December 8, the Russians struck a private enterprise in Kherson. Warehouses and vehicles were damaged and products were destroyed. A fire broke out in the building, which was quickly put out by rescuers. Residential buildings were also shelled, one person was wounded, said the head of the OVA, Alexander Prokudin.
11:14 The Russian army struck Berislav, Kherson region, with a drone - one person was killed, one was wounded, said the head of the OVA, Alexander Prokudin. Over the past 24 hours, one person was injured as a result of Russian shelling in the region.
10:26 Ukraine is preparing “developments” for 2024 that will force the Russians to “leave Crimea forever,” said Defense Minister Rustem Umerov: “We have shown the whole world that we can achieve success. Despite the fact that we do not have such a powerful fleet, we forced Russia to withdraw from the temporarily occupied Crimea. The developments that we are preparing for 2024 will give us very good opportunities for them to withdraw forever from our Crimea."
09:04 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of December 9:
- personnel - about 338,120 (+900) people,
- tanks - 5632 (+6),
- armored combat vehicles - 10,519 (+11),
- artillery systems - 8058 (+1),
- MLRS - 919 (+0),
- air defense systems - 605 (+0),
- aircraft - 324 (+0),
- helicopters - 324 (+0),
- UAV of operational-tactical level - 6136 (+0),
- cruise missiles - 1585 (+14),
- ships/boats - 22 (+0),
- submarines - 1 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tank trucks - 10,598 (+7),
- special equipment - 1159 (+0).
08:39 Over the past 24 hours, the Russians carried out 64 strikes in the Zaporozhye region, one person died in Stepnogorsk, said the head of the OVA Yuri Malashko.
07:45 Over the past 24 hours, 95 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report . In particular, the Defense Forces repelled 35 enemy attacks in the Avdeevsky direction (in the areas east of Novobakhmutovka, Stepnoy, Avdeevka, Tonenky, Pervomaisky of the Donetsk region), 24 attacks in Maryinsky (in the areas of Krasnohorivka, Maryinka, Pobeda and Novomikhailovka of the Donetsk region) and 13 attacks - on Bakhmutsky (in the districts of Bogdanovka, Ivanovsky, Kleshcheevka and Andreevka of the Donetsk region).
In addition, in the Kupyansky direction, Ukrainian forces repelled enemy attacks in the Sinkovka areas, northeast of Petropavlovka and Ivanovka, Kharkov region; on Limansky - in the Spornoye region of the Donetsk region; on Shakhtarsky and Zaporozhye - in areas west of Verbovoy, Zaporozhye region. At the same time, the Defense Forces continue assault operations south of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, and in the Kherson direction they hold their positions on the left bank of the Dnieper.
04:56 Refusal to support Ukraine could result in the United States having to shed the blood of Americans, said John Kirby, coordinator of the White House National Security Council. According to him, Putin is counting on Washington to stop supporting Kyiv, and this will be a great gift for him.
Kirby stressed that if Putin wins the war in Ukraine, he will be on NATO's doorstep: "And, as I said, if you think the cost of supporting Ukraine now is high, think about how much national treasury and American blood will be spent on this, if we have to begin to act in accordance with our obligations under Article Five." He also noted that Putin had been counting on such a scenario from the very beginning of the war.