Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:04 Ukraine is preparing to intensify mobilization. Thus, the Ministry of Defense announced a new recruitment strategy for the army, and at the same time, videos with visits of TCC employees to gyms, cafes and restaurants are being massively published on social networks. Read more in the materialWhere subpoenas will be handed out.
21:13 Pentagon Financial Inspector Michael McCord warned in a letter to the heads of relevant committees of the US Congress that the department has until December 30 to finance military assistance to Ukraine, writes Bloomberg.
20:42 A wiretap was found in the room in which the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny could have worked. The General Staff said that on December 17, during a routine inspection, elements of equipment for retrieving information were discovered in one of the locations. More details in the materialWho wiretapped the head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine?
20:37 An officer of the Russian GRU, who worked in responsible positions, flew to the Netherlands to ask for political asylum andto testify about the Russian military crimes against Ukraineat the International Criminal Court, reported the Russian human rights project Gulagu.net.
19:59 The United States will announce a new aid package to Ukraine at the end of December, but it may be the last, said White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby: "The United States plans to allocate another package of military aid to Ukraine later this month. But it may be the last until Congress decides to increase funding. After this, we will no longer have the authority to replenish the budget.”
19:48 The European Union, in a new package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, for the first time provided for the possibility of confiscation of financial assets of a legal entity or individual, the EU Council reported.
18:53 Air defense forces shot down a Kh-59 guided missile in the Krivoy Rog region of the Dnepropetrovsk region, the Air Command of Skhid reported.
18:02 The 12th package of EU sanctions against Russia included the following measures:
- tightening control over the oil price ceiling;
- a phased ban on the import of diamonds from the Russian Federation, including those processed in third countries, and jewelry with diamonds - from January 1 to September 1, 2024;
- ban on the import of a number of other goods, such as cast iron, copper wire, aluminum wire, foil;
- a phased ban on the import of liquefied propane;
- restrictions on re-export of particularly sensitive goods and technologies to the Russian Federation;
- expansion of the list of goods prohibited for sale;
- new sanctions against individuals and 29 legal entities, including from third countries;
- extending the transit ban to all military goods;
- ban on the use of software;
- the need to notify about the transfer of funds outside the EU from Russia;
Switzerland joined the ban on the import of iron and steel from the Russian Federation.
Chemicals, lithium batteries, thermostats, DC motors and servomotors for drones, machine tools and machine parts and mechanisms have been added to the list of goods whose export to Russia is prohibited. The EU is also introducing additional restrictions on the import of cast iron and scupper, copper wires, aluminum wires, foil, pipes and rolled products with a total value of 2.2 billion euros per year.
At the same time, the EU Council added exceptions to restrictions on the import of personal items from Russia, as well as for cars with diplomatic license plates.
17:49 The Russians fired artillery at a private enterprise in Kherson, killing a security guard, said the head of the OVA, Alexander Prokudin.
17:45 The EU approved the 12th package of sanctions against Russia, said the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.
17:31 Denmark and Sweden have agreed to purchase and transfer to Ukraine an additional batch of CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, the Swedish government reported. The allocated amount is $263 million. Taking into account the unit cost of 10 million, we are talking about approximately 25 combat vehicles.
17:26 The EU will hold a special summit on February 1, 2024, at which it plans to discuss the issue of allocating 50 billion euros of additional assistance to Ukraine for a four-year period, said President of the European Council Charles Michel.< /span>
17:07 Zelensky’s visit to the United States last week took place against the backdrop of active debate in Congress about providing an aid package to Ukraine. What do the Western media write about this visit and do they consider it successful - in the materialBetrayal or support?
16:01 As a result of a clash with the DRG, which penetrated into the Belgorod region near the village of Terebreno on the afternoon of December 17, two servicemen of the Border Department of the FSB of the Russian Federation were wounded, Russian publics report.
15:50 The Helsinki District Court ordered the arrest of the former commander of the neo-Nazi group Rusich, Jan Petrovsky. He is suspected of war crimes in Ukraine and will be sent to Vantaa prison. Petrovsky will be charged until May 31, 2024. Previously, a Finnish court did not allow him to be extradited at Ukraine’s request.
15:38 Last week, a trade mission from the United Kingdom, which included representatives of the government and defense industry, visited Ukraine for the first time, the British Ministry of Defense reported. During the visit, Ukraine and Britain signed a series of agreements - in particular, on the maintenance of mine-resistant vessels, the repair of Ukrainian artillery systems, the development of drones, etc.
14:54 The Ukrainian Armed Forces are faced with a shortage of artillery shells and have curtailed some military operations due to a lack of foreign assistance, Alexander Tarnavsky, commander of the operational-strategic group of troops of Tavria, told Reuters. “There are problems with ammunition, especially post-Soviet ammunition - 122 mm, 152 mm. And today these problems exist along the entire front line. The volumes we have today are not sufficient for us, given our needs. That's why we are redistributing them. We are rescheduling the tasks that we set for ourselves and doing them less, because we need to provide them,” he explained.
The commander clarified that the defenders on the southeastern front have gone on the defensive in some areas, but are trying to advance in others. At the same time, he added that Russian troops are also facing problems with ammunition, but did not disclose details.
14:37 Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the "elite" The 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet lost at least 234 soldiers - four times more than during the ten years of war in Chechnya, the BBC reports. This figure is confirmed data from open sources. At least 18 officers were among the dead.
The actual losses of the brigade in killed could be much higher - about 470 people, and about 950 in seriously wounded people, since for every killed soldier in this war there are 1.7-2 seriously wounded, journalists calculated. In addition, there are reports on social networks about 42 missing soldiers of the 155th brigade.
13:59 Zaluzhny denied claims of a "stalemate" at the front. At the same time, he did not answer the journalists’ question whether Ukraine was planning an offensive in winter: “This is a war, I cannot say what I am planning and what we will do. Otherwise, it will be a show, not a war, the price of which is human lives. This cannot be discussed under any circumstances.”
Zaluzhny also criticized the dismissals of military commissars, which Zelensky carried out this summer after corruption scandals. When asked how the removal of the heads of regional TCCs affected the effectiveness of mobilization, the commander-in-chief replied that “they were professionals, they knew how to do it, but now they are gone.” According to Zaluzhny, now the mobilization process should not be strengthened, but “simply returned to the framework in which it worked before.”
13:05 Putin managed to turn the exit of Western companies from the Russian market into a “gold mine”: if companies want to leave the Russian Federation, the Kremlin sets conditions “that are beneficial to its government , its elites and its war,” writes The New York Times. According to the newspaper, over the past year these exits brought the Russian military treasury at least $1.25 billion.
12:26 Ukraine will be able to cope independently without Western funding for “a couple of months,” said IMF head Kristalina Georgieva. She called on the West to "quickly" provide tens of billions of dollars to Kyiv as delays would jeopardize the country's economic recovery. At the same time, Georgieva praised the Ukrainian authorities for the way they “revitalized the economy,” curbed inflation and strengthened the tax base. However, further delays could force Kyiv to return to “destabilizing policies” - such as printing money.
11:58 F-16 fighters are unlikely to help Ukraine in the fight against Russian ballistic missiles, said Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat: “Ballistics are ground-based installations that can trigger at any point and release the missile. The F-16 cannot work against them. It can destroy aerodynamic targets, as well as work against ground and surface targets."
11:13 The Russian Black Sea Fleet hid almost all the “serious” weapons in Novorossiysk. ships, including carriers of Caliber cruise missiles, reports the Crimean Wind monitoring group. In particular, ten of the 12 Caliber carriers are in the port, as well as three patrol ships, four large landing ships and three minesweepers. Satellite images for December 17 were published by OSINT researcher MT Anderson.
10:37 The EU leadership is considering the possibility of depriving Hungary of its voting rights in order to overcome Budapest’s veto on aid to Ukraine, the Financial Times writes, citing European officials. We are talking about punishment under Article No. 7 “for violations of the rule of law,” which can lead to the suspension of voting rights.
However, there are a number of difficulties on the way to such a radical solution, the publication notes. Firstly, it may be blocked by another EU country. Moreover, "many countries are nervous about using what is essentially the EU's biggest weapon against a member state." Therefore, the priority, as European officials say, is not “punishment,” but rather persuading Orbán to relinquish his veto. Failing that, the 26 other EU members could negotiate a deal on Ukraine on their own, although this would take time and offer only a short-term solution.
09:59 The EU will adopt and publish the 12th package of sanctions against Russia today, December 18, writes Politico. According to diplomats, the bloc's 26 member countries have signed the package, and "a formality remains."
09:35 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that Putin's statements that Russia is not interested in invading NATO are very similar to the Kremlin's insistence at the end 2021 and early 2022 - including on the eve of a full-scale invasion - that Russia does not intend to attack Ukraine.
Analysts say the Kremlin's rhetoric about its hostile intentions toward NATO, combined with Russia's potential future military capabilities if it wins in Ukraine, poses a serious security threat to the West. If the Russian Federation were able to achieve its stated maximalist goal of the complete surrender of Ukraine, which would likely lead to a Russian military occupation of Ukraine, Russia could deploy forces to the NATO border from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean.
08:21 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of December 18:
- personnel - about 347,160 (+1090) people,
- tanks - 5783 (+44),
- armored combat vehicles - 10,752 (+60),
- artillery systems - 8175 (+38),
- MLRS - 926 (+3),
- air defense systems - 610 (+1),
- aircraft - 324 (+0),
- helicopters - 324 (+0),
- UAV of operational-tactical level - 6290 (+12),
- cruise missiles - 1610 (+0),
- ships/boats - 22 (+0),
- submarines - 1 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tank trucks - 10,822 (+56),
- special equipment - 1198 (+4).
08:18 Over the past 24 hours, 64 military clashes took place at the front,the General Staff reported in the morning report . In particular, in the Avdeevsky direction, the Defense Forces repelled 16 enemy attacks east of Novobakhmutovka, Stepnoy, Avdeevka and another 11 south of Tonenky, Nevelsky and Pervomaisky of the Donetsk region.
In addition, in the Kupyansk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled enemy attacks in the Sinkovka areas and east of Petropavlovka, Kharkov region; on Limansky - near Makeyevka, Lugansk region and east of Ternov, Donetsk region; on Bakhmutsky - in the Bogdanovka, Kleshcheevka and Andreevka districts of the Donetsk region; on Maryinsky - in the Novomikhailovka area of the Donetsk region; on Zaporozhye - west of Verbovoy and Rabotino, Zaporozhye region.
07:03 Air defense at night destroyed all five Shahed-type attack UAVs that Russia attacked from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk area, the Air Force command reported. Drones were shot down within the Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk, Vinnitsa and Khmelnytsky regions.
00:20 The issue of Washington's continued provision of assistance to Ukraine will be decided next year, said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. "I talked to the people at the White House negotiating table five days ago. We are not even close to an agreement,” he noted. Graham explained that Republicans refuse to vote on aid to Ukraine until a compromise is reached on immigration policy in the south.
Currently, only $1 billion remains for the purchase of new weapons for Ukraine, recalled the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Oksana Markarova.