by Marta Serafini and online editorial
The news of Monday 19 December live. Britain will announce a major new artillery package for Ukraine
• The war in Ukraine reached the 299th day.
• Chechen leader Kadyrov’s appeal to Muslims: let us be united against NATO.
• Zelenskyy summoned the general staff: focus on Belarus.
• The Russian oligarch Zelenov died in Antibes under circumstances that have yet to be clarified.
• Shoigu inspects Russian positions and Israel helps Kyiv with Iranian drones.
08:45 – Russian troops stationed in Belarus are ready for an exercise
Russian troops, which were transferred to Belarus in October to join a regional formation, will conduct tactical battalion exercises, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported today, citing the Russian Defense Ministry. When and where the exercises will take place in Belarus has not yet been clarified. Minsk’s defense ministry said in October that 9,000 Russian troops are moving into the country as part of a regional force grouping to secure its borders.
08:41 – Wagner’s role remains important in Donetsk’s war of attrition
The Russian mercenary group Wagner continues to play a major role in attrition fighting for Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine. This was reported by the British Ministry of Defense which reported on its military intelligence agency’s latest wartime bulletin. In recent months, the group has developed offensive tactics to exploit the large numbers of poorly trained inmates it has recruited, the ministry noted. Individual combatants will likely receive a smartphone or tablet showing their intended line of advance and target overlaid with commercial satellite imagery, the statement said. At the platoon level and beyond, commanders are likely to remain under cover and issue orders via radio, informed by video feeds from small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Individuals and sections are ordered to proceed along the planned route, often with fire support but more rarely with armored vehicles. Wagner agents who deviate from their attack routes without authorization risk being threatened with summary execution, Defense London warns. These brutal tactics are intended to conserve Wagner’s scarce resources of experienced commanders and armored vehicles at the expense of more readily available convict recruits, which the organization believes are expendable, the report said.
08:09 – Ukrainian forces: shot down 30 of 35 Russian drones launched from the Sea of Azov
The Ukrainian Air Force has announced that it shot down 30 of the 35 drones launched by Russian forces overnight. The Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones would have been launched from the east coast of the Sea of Azov, according to the same source.
08:01 – Today Putin in Belarus by Lukashenko. Kyiv is preparing to defend itself at the border
Russian President Vladimir Putin will be in Belarus today to meet his counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. This is the first visit of the President of the Russian Federation to Belarus since 2019. For the Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Serhiy Nayev, the talks will certainly serve to discuss further aggression against Ukraine and broader participation of the Belarusian Armed Forces in the operation , especially on site, in our opinion. In the daily evening video message, President Zelenskyy said that protecting the borders with Russia and Belarus is a constant priority, adding that we are preparing for all possible defense scenarios
07:21 – night of air raids and explosions in Kyiv
(Marta Serafini) From our correspondent Kyiv – New attack on the Ukrainian capital in the night. This was confirmed by the city’s military administration and the population was asked to take cover. The enemy is attacking the capital, the administration wrote on Telegram on Monday. By that time, nine enemy drones had already been shot down in Kyiv airspace, he added. He states that Russian forces used Iranian Shahed drones, which have already been used to hit the city and its energy infrastructure. An initial air raid alert began at 1:56 a.m. local time and lasted just over three hours. A second alert began at 05:24 and lasted just over half an hour. When the sirens of these alarms sound, the population is urged to take shelter, as we have reported here.
Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of Kyiv, confirmed on Monday that explosions had occurred in the capital. Several explosions were heard in the capital’s Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts, he said. Ukraine has faced several deadly airstrikes by Russian forces in the past decade since the invasion in February. Faced with a series of military setbacks this fall, since October Russia has resorted to a tactic of massive bombing to destroy power grids and transformers and plunge millions of civilians into the midwinter cold and darkness. The Russian Defense Ministry assures that these attacks target military and energy installations in Ukraine and disrupt the transfer of foreign-made weapons and ammunition.
After a major attack on several Ukrainian cities on Friday with more than 70 rockets, the national power company was forced to impose emergency shutdowns to repair the damaged power grid. In the capital, people hid in subway stations in search of warmth and shelter. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, electricity was restored to around 9 million residents on Sunday evening. Last week, Zelenskyy’s western allies promised an additional billion euros in emergency aid. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to announce the delivery of a large quantity of artillery ammunition to Ukraine at a meeting with leaders from Northern Europe, the Baltic countries and the Netherlands in Latvia today. Several Ukrainian military officials have warned that Moscow is preparing a major winter offensive to capture the capital.
04:01 – Two powerful explosions felt in Kyiv
Two massive blasts occurred overnight in the center of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, according to local sources quoted by the Kyiv Independent. Shortly before, the governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, wrote in Telegram that the air defense of the region was in operation due to a Russian attack with drones. Air raid alarms had been called in Kyiv and in various regions of central and eastern Ukraine since the early hours of the night.
01:39 am – air raid warnings in Kyiv and central-eastern regions
According to the Russian news agency Tass, air raid alarms were called in the capital Kyiv and in various regions of central and eastern Ukraine during the night. The areas affected by the warning are Vinnitsa, Poltava, Kharkiv, Cherkassy, Donetsk, Dnipro, Kirovograd, as well as Nikolayev and Zaporizhia.
00:01 – Zelensky, we are preparing for any defended scenario, even by Belarus
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported in the daily evening video message that today he had a meeting with the General Staff, at which the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions was discussed in detail,” said that the border issue was also discussed in detail. Border protection with Russia and Belarus is also a constant priority, Zelenskyy said, adding that we are preparing for all possible defense scenarios
00:00 – Britain announces new artillery deliveries for 2023
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will announce a new artillery package for Ukraine today at a summit of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in Riga, which brings together a dozen Nordic, Baltic and northern European countries. Sunak will attend JEF’s second in-person meeting, where he will urge the group to maintain or increase military aid to Ukraine in 2023, his Downing Street office said in a statement. There he will also confirm the delivery of hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to Ukraine next year under a £250 million (286 million euro) contract that will ensure a steady flow of artillery shells in 2023. The prime minister, who recalls being Europe’s largest supplier of defensive military aid to the Ukrainian army, said in the statement that he informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the new aid package last week.
December 19, 2022 (change December 19, 2022 | 08:47)
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