Front line
There are no special changes in the Kherson direction – mutual shelling without serious progress. At the same time, the Russian military continues to bomb Kherson directly – eyewitnesses published a video with a smoking building of the Kherson administration. Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko said that Kherson was hit at about 11:00 from multiple launch rocket systems. Two floors were damaged as a result of hitting the building of the Kherson Regional Military District. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties.
On the Zaporizhzhya front , too, no changes – the exchange of artillery strikes. In the Ugledar direction , according to the Russian propaganda Telegram channel Rybar, the Russian Armed Forces switched from offensive to defensive after an unsuccessful attempt to storm the village of Bolshaya Novoselka.
Heavy fighting continues in the Bakhmut direction . Z-channels write about the cleansing of Experienced – the southern suburb of Bakhmut. Voenkor Yuriy Kotyonok released a statement on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who says that the Ukrainians are putting up "a level of resistance that may not have been seen in the history of the last century." At the same time, it is too early to talk about the capture of Experienced by Russia, the statement says. At the same time, Rybar writes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing a counteroffensive.
Another Russian propagandist, Boris Rozhin, reports that the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Bakhmut "crackles and slowly bends, but it is, frankly, premature to talk about a breakthrough in defense or its collapse." Igor Strelkov (Girkin) notes that officially the Russian troops "have already taken" Experimental for two weeks, so now they call the battles "cleansing". According to him, there is no significant tactical progress on either side. The same on the line Svatovo – Kremennaya – no changes.
In the Donetsk direction, fierce battles are going on nearby – in Marinka, the advantage here is with the Russian military – according to the Telegram channel of "voenkor" Semyon Pegov WarGonzo, the Ukrainian garrison in Marinka is in critical condition. Strelkov calls it a "tactical-grade meat grinder."
The Ministry of Defense of Belarus , meanwhile, published a video showing the movement of mechanized units. The pro-Russian Telegram channel "Military Observer" reports that the maneuvers are connected with a sudden check of the combat readiness of the troops. Strelkov writes that the active movements of Russian and Belarusian troops may be associated with the preparation of an offensive or with an attempt to divert the forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to this direction.
Military equipment is also being pulled in at full speed: according to the project of military journalist Anton Motolko “Belarusian Gayun”, a Russian A-50U aircraft has landed in Belarus, which is used for aerial reconnaissance and target designation. Airborne early warning and control aircraft A-50U "Sergey Atayants" with registration number RF-93966 came in to land at the airfield in Machulishchi around 14:27 Kyiv time (15:27 Moscow time).
Three MiG-31K Russian Aerospace Forces also arrived in Belarus. They headed to the military airfield in Machulishchi, Belarus Gayun reports . It is these fighters that can carry the Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles and are capable of launching them at a distance of 2,000 km.
"Gerani" fired again at Kyiv and the region
Iranian Shahed-136 drones, renamed by Russia into "Geran-2", after a long absence, reappeared in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. According to the mayor of the capital, Vitali Klitschko, the air defense managed to shoot down 10 of the drones that arrived, but he did not say how many UAVs were involved in the raid.
Volodymyr Zelensky later clarified that all 13 drones that arrived in the Kyiv region were “preliminarily shot down”. An UAV attack from the Zhytomyr region is also expected, local authorities have said. The command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Russia is launching drones from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov. Radar facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine found more than ten loitering ammunition and destroyed them.
Losses
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in its official Telegram channel reported that up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, three armored combat vehicles and four pickup trucks were destroyed in the Donetsk direction. The Ministry of Defense also claims that in the area of \u200b\u200bthe settlements of Novoselka and Prechistovka in the "DNR" "up to 80 Ukrainian servicemen, three armored combat vehicles and four vehicles were destroyed", and in the area of the settlement of Kremennaya in the "LNR" a rocket of the American multiple launch rocket system was allegedly intercepted HIMARS.
The Ukrainian side announces the confirmation of the defeat on December 12 of the Russian army concentration area near Verbove, Zaporozhye region. Up to 10 units of weapons and military equipment of various types were destroyed, losses among military personnel are being specified, according to the evening summary of the General Staff. Over the current day, Ukrainian aviation has inflicted 7 strikes on areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment and 3 strikes on the positions of anti-aircraft missile systems of Russians, according to the report.
Armaments, military and special equipment
Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said that Ukraine will now be able to produce 152 and 122 mm caliber shells on its own. In addition, the production of mines and other ammunition is being launched. “We are talking about thousands – this is already an industrial scale,” says Danilov.
Long-range artillery firing 155-millimeter shells was previously supplied to Ukraine by NATO countries, 152-caliber shells – a legacy of the USSR – had to be looked for in the warehouses of the countries of the former Warsaw Pact or states that once received them from the Union. But these stocks are constantly running out, so our own production plays a huge role in arming the Ukrainian army. In April, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced that the Ukrainian army was officially switching to the NATO standard for 155 mm weapons.
On December 13, it became known that the Pentagon intends to supply Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, the decision is at the “final stage of approval.” Against the background of this news, information appeared that Italy would supply a similar SAMP-T air defense system. Military analyst Kirill Mikhailov noted in a conversation with The Insider that the transfer of these complexes to Ukraine will help strengthen the country's air defense as a whole and protect itself from ballistic missiles that Iran is going to transfer to the Russian Federation.
“As for the Patriot, this is one of the best, most powerful and most long-range systems in service with NATO, the supply of such systems to Ukraine allows us to cover additional areas, transfer Soviet systems like BUKs and S-300 closer to the front line and more actively counteract Russian front-line aviation there. For example, the Wagner Su-24M aircraft was recently shot down. In addition, Patriot systems can withstand ballistic missiles to a certain extent, as was shown during the Gulf War, when they intercepted Soviet missiles used by Saddam Hussein's regime with some success. Although, of course, it is not known how effective this was, the exact data is still classified. But it is clear that since then they have most likely tried to modernize it and fix the cons.
This is important in the context of the fact that Iran is going to supply Russia with its own ballistic missiles. As spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Yuriy Ignat said, now the Armed Forces of Ukraine have no protection against such missiles, while there is [protection] against cruise [missiles] with which the Russian Federation strikes at the civilian infrastructure of Ukraine. This was noticeable when there were very serious problems with the interception of Russian ballistic Iskanders, but most likely they were almost over, like the older Tochka missiles. Iranian missiles will help bolster attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, and that's what Patriot can do about it.
As for the SAMP-T, these are also quite strong air defense systems, I think that they are even more effective than the same Soviet S-300s, although there they seem to be nominally similar in terms of characteristics. In any case, these modern systems are highly praised, the same IRIS-T, the same NASAMS. Such deliveries will make it possible to cover large cities and infrastructure nodes of Ukraine more effectively.”
Also, the supply of weapons to Ukraine may begin "one of the African countries", this was reported in the Czech company Excalibur Army, which is engaged in the modernization of T-72 tanks. An unnamed country (probably Morocco) previously ordered 30 of these tanks, but decided to abandon them in favor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thus, the company can upgrade and deliver 120 tanks, and not 90, as originally planned. The African country will receive other products of the company in return.
“The first five units of tanks for Ukraine will be received next week, by the end of the year we want to deliver 18 units,” said the director of the Czech company.
Body armor from 1974
There are updates and Russian weapons. The Armed Forces of Ukraine in one of the liberated villages of the Nikolaev region found a Russian body armor in the form of chain mail. Information about this and a photo was published by the Operational Command “South”.
“During the liberation of the villages of the Nikolaev region, the military of the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade named after Yakov Gandzyuk stumbled upon an interesting find. In one of the private houses that was captured by the Russian invaders, among other things left by the enemies, there were several Soviet body armor ZhZL-74. This bulletproof vest was developed in 1974 to replace the more outdated ZhZT-71 M at that time. It is based on the so-called scaly layout of elements 50 mm in diameter, 2 mm thick, arranged in two rows.
The characteristics of the "modern" Russian bulletproof vest confirm the reliable protection of its owner from being hit by a knife, sharpening, an awl or a knitting needle. Among the additional characteristics, attention is focused on the significant weakening from the impact of stones, axes, crowbars, and other weapons of shock-fractional action due to the rigidity of the entire structure and its parts.
Read also The Insider’s report of December 12: “ Wagner PMC storms Bakhmut, the United States will supply Patriot to Ukraine, Lukashenka began checking the combat readiness of the Armed Forces. What's going on at the front ."