General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the country’s units are facing extremely fierce counterattacks from the Russian army in the Kursk region.
“For the third consecutive day, enemy forces continued to fiercely counterattack in the Kursk region,” Reuters yesterday quoted General Syrskyi as saying. Since August, Ukraine has pulled troops across the border with Russia and attacked many targets in the Kursk region. However, to date, the Kyiv government army has lost 40% of the territory Russia has controlled in the past few months.
The fronts in Ukraine ‘heat up’ in response to the new situation
In addition, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief said fighting is also escalating in Donetsk, the eastern part of the country and is the place that has seen Russian forces advance at the fastest speed this year. The Russian side continues to focus on attacking the Ukrainian army’s logistics centers in Pokrovsk City and Kurakhove City. On the same day, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced control of the village of Hannivka, north of Pokrovsk. The military blog Deep State also talked about Russian troops controlling Hannivka.
Ukrainian forces carry out an emergency drill on the battlefield in Donetsk on December 14
Further northeast in TP. Toretsk, Ukrainian units still persistently resisted the pressure of the Russian attack, according to Reuters, citing Ukrainian military spokeswoman Anastasia Bobovnikova.
Fighting between Russia and Ukraine is escalating as the United States transitions to power. Retired General Keith Kellogg, who was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, is planning to visit Kyiv and other European capitals early next month, Reuters reported on December 18. 2 well-informed sources.
Sources familiar with the matter revealed that the goal of the trip focuses on finding information for upcoming plans after Mr. Trump officially takes office. However, the trip was made immediately after January 1, 2025, reflecting the positive moves of the next administration in Washington to resolve the war in Ukraine.
Ms. Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the power transition team, did not comment on meetings planned during General Kellogg’s working trip. However, she said the President-elect prioritized resolving the Ukraine conflict after taking office.
Russia must be ready to fight NATO for the next decade
In a related development, NATO has taken over efforts to coordinate Western military aid to Ukraine from the US, according to a plan to ensure the mechanism supporting Kyiv continues to operate after the US has a new administration. Reuters reported. Although delayed by several months than expected, this move allows NATO to take a more direct role on the issue of military aid to Ukraine. NATO’s new mission command headquarters is located at Clay Barracks, a US base in the town of Wiesbaden (Germany).
Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and key European leaders in Brussels (Belgium) to discuss “next steps” in the new situation, according to AFP. During this meeting, Mr. Zelensky can discuss the possibility of deploying European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. However, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius previously warned that the deployment, if carried out, must be an initiative with Russia’s participation.
Moscow arrests suspect in assassination of Russian general
Yesterday, TASS quoted Russian investigators as announcing the arrest of a suspect in the assassination of General Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Army’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces (EChBZ), in Moscow on the morning of December 17. The suspect is an Uzbekistan citizen, born in 1995. Russian investigation agencies suspect that this person was recruited by Ukrainian special forces to carry out the assassination. Ukraine has not commented on this information.
In another development, RIA Novosti news agency quoted an announcement from the FSB on December 18 saying that the court had sentenced the man, a resident of the city of Barnaul in Russia’s Altai region, guilty of “intentional attack”. and “intentional treason”, according to AFP.
“This Russian citizen, born in 1981, contacted Ukrainian special services via social networks and expressed his desire to support the Ukrainian armed forces… As an employee of a canteen, this person was tried to poison soldiers from a group mobilized in Altai, filming the process for Ukrainian special forces,” according to the FSB’s announcement on the incident.
Also according to the announcement from the FSB, analyzes showed that the substance the above man added to food could cause acute poisoning and possibly death.
