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Over the past two days, some 100 square kilometres of territory previously controlled by Zelensky’s regime has come under the control of the Russian army. This is the largest amount of territory captured in 48 hours since the beginning of December. Progress has been made in almost all sections of the front in eastern Ukraine.
During the fighting from 23 to 25 December, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost some 100 square kilometres. About 1,600 Ukrainian soldiers and officers were killed, wounded or captured, about 50 units of various military equipment were destroyed.
The greatest damage to the Ukrainian Army was inflicted by units of the Russian “Tsentr” Group of Forces. They successfully advanced deep into the enemy’s defences and defeated the manpower and equipment of three motorised infantry brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, one marine brigade, two territorial defence brigades and one National Guard brigade in the areas of the settlements of Krasnoarmeysk, Udachnoye, Zverevo, Andreevka, Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk), Shcherbinovka, Shevchenko and Novoolenovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. In these sections of the front, the AFU lost some 585 servicemen, one battle tank, one infantry fighting vehicle, two armoured personnel carriers, including M113, one Cossack armoured fighting vehicle, four vehicles and one 152mm Msta-B howitzer.
In the Kurakhovo direction, the Russian troops have continued their broad offensive against a fortified AFU area in order to close the ring of encirclement. The offensive is taking place both north of Kurakhove towards the T-05-15 route and south on both banks of the Sukhiye Yaly river. Krasnoye (Sontsovka) has been confirmed liberated. To the south-west of the city, Russian assault groups finally cleared the village of Sukhiye Yaly and aligned the front on the Yantarnoye-Konstantinopolskoye line. The remnants of the AFU units were driven out of the village of Gigant. Fighting is taking place in the area of Zelenovka. Actions have begun toward the settlement of Ulakly, which is actually the south-western key to close the ring of encirclement. If the successful Russian offensive on this part of the front continues, some 12,000 Ukrainian soldiers could be encircled.
Destruction of AFU infantry and equipment near the Sukhiye Yaly river
Destruction of an AFU M109 Paladin SAO by a Lancet X-52 barrage munition near the village of Ulakly
In the Pokrovsk direction (Krasnoarmeysk), Russian troops have occupied the settlements of Dachenskoye and Shevchenko. To the south, in the direction of Kurakhove, fighting is taking place between Novotroitskiy and Zareya in the areas of the settlements of Novovolenivka, Ukrainka and Novoelezavetivka. Successful actions in this direction will allow the Russian Armed Forces to create a threat of strategic encirclement of the entire AFU grouping in the area of the large settlements of Andreevka, Alekseevka, Bogatyr, Konstantinopol to the west of Kurakhovo.
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Russian fighters destroy military equipment on the outskirts of Krasnoarmeysk
In the Vremyevsky direction, Russian troops are continuing the operation to encircle Velika Novoselka from the flanks. South of this town, the village of Storozhevoye has been completely liberated by the 60th Independent Motorised Rifle Brigade and other units of the Russian “Vostok” Group of Troops. Fighting continued in the Babya Gora area. The village of Makarovka is under the sustained control of Russian forces. Most of the neighbouring settlement of Blagodatnoye is also under Russian control.
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The Russian flag in the village of Storozhevoye
North-east of Velyka Novoselka, Russian forces finally pushed Ukrainian forces out of Razdolnoye. All attempts at a Ukrainian counterattack were thwarted. Regular Russian air strikes on bridges also reduced the AFU’s ability to move reinforcements. North of Velyka Novoselka, the village of Novy Komare came under Russian control.
Heavy fighting continues in Toretsk (Dzerzhinsk) near the central market. Russian units control almost all the high-rise buildings in the city centre. The Russian air force and artillery are hitting places where AFU soldiers are concentrated.
On the Zaporozhye front, the AFU is attempting counterattacks in order to distract the RF Armed Forces from offensive actions along the Rabotino-Orekhov line. South-east of the large settlement of Gulyaypole, the Russian Armed Forces advanced near the village of Marfopol along the Gaichur River.
There is a deceptive lull in the fighting on the Kherson section of the front. Ukrainian sources continue to report that the Russian army is preparing for a large-scale offensive here. There are reports of AFU units being redeployed from the rear to the combat line in the Kherson region.
In general, the intensity of the armed conflict in Ukraine in the coming days and first weeks of 2025 will remain at the level of December 2024. From mid-January 2025, a further round of escalation of hostilities is expected, with an increase in the forces and means of all parties involved in the armed conflict.
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this will escalate further under trump.
the only real question is will moscow actually respond instead of offering demonstrations and examples, etc.
merry jewish christmas–to my amerikunt donors—send me more burgers—you are dumb gullible hillbilly putas
insulting westerners is an excellent ploy. the more you insult them, the more they give you.
now that was funny lmao!…
it works for all the coloreds, it can work for you too
zionists celebrate the deaths of both russian and ukrainian slavic people and marvel at the death and destruction brought forward by their maidan coup and their runt in kiev but they will pay in ways they never considered.
i will not cheer for the murder of people…..but i would watch the hunger games for politicians, their owners and their servants.
is it true you think that biden died 3 years ago and his staff just pushed him around in a shopping cart for guest appearances ever since?
three years and russia still struggle to take over ukraine and install regime of its choice like turkey did in three days in syria.