The situation at the front
At the forefront, local oncoming battles are still going on. The American Institute for the Study of War writes that Russian troops want to establish an operational pause in order to deprive Ukraine of the initiative and launch a large-scale counteroffensive in the spring.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, now the Russian military is trying to attack mainly in the Bakhmut and Avdievsky directions, in the rest they are more defensive.
At the same time, in the occupied territory of the Lugansk region, Russia is reorganizing individual units, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is done in order not to pay compensation to the families of the victims due to the "disbandment of the unit."
The Ukrainian military say they are repelling all attempts at attacks, including in the Yakovlevka area north of Soledar – Russian "military correspondents" said that it was already occupied, and Wagner PMC fighters took it. They have been trying to seize Yakovlevka since the spring. However, military expert Konstantin Mashovets notes that "according to some information" the Russians have already entered Yakovlevka, which "worsens the position of the tactical group of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine defending Soledar."
The propaganda Telegram channel WarGonzo claims that Russian artillery has become more active in the Zaporozhye direction: it hit the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Plavny, Zheleznodorozhny, Dorozhnyanka and Hulyaypole. The same is in the Ugledar direction: in the area of Ugledar, Vremivka, Zolotaya Niva and Prechistovka.
In the Svatovsky direction, according to the propaganda Telegram channels, oncoming battles have been going on for several days in the Kremennaya area – the Russian army is trying to “slowly advance”, but “it cannot advance in a normal way, only in short bursts of 500-1500 meters.” WarGonzo claims that oncoming battles are also taking place in the Krasnopopovka area – the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to break through and, relying on this, threaten Svatovo.
shelling. Attack on Sevastopol
In the morning, Crimean Telegram channels began to write about the work of air defense over Sevastopol. Later, the "governor" of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said that a warship of the Black Sea Fleet shot down a drone over the sea. “Our military, as always, worked well,” he reported, but did not give details.
The day before, pro-Russian Telegram channels reported an attempt by Ukrainian drones to attack the Crimean Belbek airfield near Sevastopol. They were shot down on the way.
In addition, the Ukrainian media reported on explosions at the military airfield of the occupied Berdyansk, Zaporizhia region – all fire engines and ambulances that are in the city were sent there. According to the authorities, three powerful explosions were heard in total, and a huge fire started. At the same time, the occupying authorities say that this is a fake.
On December 5, drones attacked two Russian military airfields at once, where Tu-95MS, Tu-160, Tu-22M3 strategic bombers are based, which strike at Ukraine. These are "Engels" in the Saratov region and "Dyagilevo" in the Ryazan region. NYT, citing a high-ranking Ukrainian official, wrote that Ukraine launched the drones. The Russian Defense Ministry said three soldiers were killed and four wounded in the attack. Military commissar-propagandist Alexander Kots wrote that the first strike was allegedly delivered by the Soviet Tu-141 Strizh UAV, which "flyed almost 650 km unhindered over Russian territory."
Russia, meanwhile, continues shelling Ukrainian territories. On the night of December 8, she launched a missile attack on Kupyansk, Kharkiv region: a missile to the S-300 complex hit the administrative building, no one was injured. In addition, the Russian military fired missiles at Nikolayev. Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions were also shelled.
The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, argues that the massive attacks of the Russian army on the energy system of Ukraine do not affect what is happening at the front in any way, first of all, this is a blow to civilians. “They are trying to break the will of the Ukrainian people. [The shelling] not only does not break it, but only strengthens the resistance.”
Armament deliveries. Cluster munitions for Ukraine?
Ukraine has asked the US for cluster munitions banned in more than 100 countries, CNN reported , citing several US and Ukrainian officials. The channel notes that the White House has been thinking about “one of the most controversial requests” for several months and still has not rejected it. Sources say that the request may be considered if US stockpiles of weapons are critically low. Cluster munitions are banned by the 2010 convention, but Russia, Ukraine and the US have not signed it.
The media wrote many times about their massive use by the Russian army in the shelling of Ukrainian cities, including on civilian targets. Ukraine also used them, but to a lesser extent, noted Human Rigths Watch.
With the help of cluster munitions, Ukraine could neutralize the quantitative superiority of Russia in artillery, CNN notes. According to Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko, the request for supplies is "extremely important, because it will really change the situation on the battlefield, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine will end the war much faster."
Cluster munitions are dangerous because, when they explode, they scatter many smaller bombs that are dispersed over a large area – civilians suffer from this. They may not explode immediately, and people may die even if hostilities end.
At the same time, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that over the past month, 7 types of Ukrainian-designed and manufactured drones have been put into service. Previously, the army took into operation 1-2 such drones per year. The media are suggesting that it was the new Ukrainian drones that struck the Russian airfields.
Russia destroyed more HIMARS than Ukraine delivered
Over the past two days, the Russian Ministry of Defense, according to statements, destroyed two M270 MLRS MLRS launchers and 70 ammunition for them in Krivoy Rog, and in the DPR, an M142 HIMARS MLRS and 48 ammunition for it; at Shevchenkovsky and Grigorovsky in the Zaporozhye region – 5 launchers M270 MLRS and M270 MARS-II, in the area of Ilyichevka – 2 installations M142 HIMARS. That is, on December 7 and 8, Russia allegedly destroyed 10 MLRS units of the HIMARS type.
In total, the representative of the department, Igor Konashenkov, has already reported on 39 destroyed HIMARS-type systems. Only now they delivered 33 missile systems to Ukraine.
Wagner vs Mozart
The founder of the American private military company Mozart, retired colonel of the US Marine Corps Andrew Milbourne, in an interview with Nesweek, said that Prigozhin's PMC Wagner seems to have a new goal – to kill Mozart members who train Ukrainian soldiers and help evacuate civilians in including near Bakhmut, where there are fierce battles.
See also The Insider military summary for December 7: “Russia attacks Ukraine with Geraniums, heavy fighting near Bakhmut, US looking for missiles for Kiev. What's going on at the front.