The situation at the front
The most active battles are still going on on the eastern front. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports that the Russian army continues to advance in the Bakhmut and Avdeevsky directions . According to the Rybar propaganda Telegram channel, the Ukrainian command deployed a large number of units and equipment to hold Bakhmut – the National Guard special forces and paratroopers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine arrived there.
According to the channel, assault detachments of the PMC Wagner are advancing in urban areas in the Bakhmutsky area and in Kleshcheevka, from where the Russians allegedly knocked out the forces of the Ukrainian territorial defense.
As for the shelling, the largest were in Donetsk: one hit was on the Galaktika shopping center, and the other was one of the most discussed – on the hotel where the former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin was staying.
Rogozin received a penetrating wound of the buttocks on his birthday
On the night of December 22, Dmitry Rogozin was wounded during shelling of a hotel in Donetsk, where he celebrated his birthday. He himself claims that it was "a working meeting in a narrow circle and in a calm atmosphere." As a result, at a “working meeting” in the Donetsk restaurant “Shesh-Besh”, Rogozin received, according to Baza, “a penetrating shrapnel wound to the buttocks, left thigh and a shrapnel wound to the soft tissues of the head.” RIA Novosti, in turn, reported on a fragment of a mine that hit Rogozin in the spine, it is "non-recoverable." The head of the group of military advisers "Tsar's Wolves" was hospitalized in the Rostov hospital.
According to State Duma deputy Aleksey Zhuravlev, “no one was invited to the meeting at all,” people came to congratulate Rogozin “spontaneously”: “It is very difficult to forbid doing this. Nobody arranged any feasts.”
But the footage shows that Rogozin held a banquet in the occupied city.
As a result of the shelling, two people were killed, including Rogozin's assistant , former special forces officer Mikhail Bridasov. Seven people were injured, including the "head of the government of the DPR" Vitaly Khotsenko and the former top manager of Roscosmos Artyom Melnikov. Rogozin suggests that "someone leaked" information about his location.
The State Border Service of Ukraine made it clear that the attack on the Rogozin "decision-making center" was inflicted by the Armed Forces of Ukraine – it was a "notification" of illegal border crossing: "The border guards could not personally hand over the protocol to the violator, so caring comrades handed him over to this person during his birthday celebration" .
NYT has identified more than 20 paratroopers involved in the murders in Bucha
The New York Times published an investigation into the killings of civilians in the suburbs of Kiev, which was under Russian occupation in March. For eight months, journalists studied surveillance footage in Bucha, shots taken by local residents and reconnaissance drones, and talked to eyewitnesses. And in the end, they were able to identify 22 Russian soldiers from the 234th Guards Airborne Assault Regiment of the Airborne Forces under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Artyom Gorodilov, who were involved in the killings.
This was done using data on calls that the Russians made from mobile phones belonging to the killed and robbed Ukrainians. The newspaper also writes that the killings and executions were a targeted campaign by the Russians to "clear" the route to Kyiv and took place on the orders or with the knowledge of the authorities. Artyom Gorodilov, who in July 2021 became the best commander of the parachute regiment, received the rank of colonel after retreating from the Kiev region.
North Korea handed over the first batch of weapons to the Wagnerites
Reuters, citing a high-ranking American official, writes that the Wagner PMC received weapons from the DPRK for the war in Ukraine. “We can confirm that the DPRK has completed the delivery of weapons to the Wagner company, which paid for the equipment. Last month, rockets and shells were delivered to Russia for use by the Wagner company,” the source said.
This indicates that the role of Prigozhin's PMC in the military conflict is growing, the official notes. However, these deliveries, according to American experts, will not change the dynamics of hostilities in Ukraine.
The fact that the DPRK is supplying Russia with a "significant" amount of artillery shells was reported by US authorities in November. North Korea does this secretly: through the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
Putin was going to "click" the Patriot air defense system
Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the US decision to supply Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems: “It is not so easy to switch to new weapons systems, you need to prepare, train personnel, and have stocks of spare parts. It's not that simple. Here, they say, Patriot can be put there. Well, well, let them put it, we will click on the Patriots too. This is an old system, it does not work like, say, our S-300.”
This is not the first time Putin has cracked Ukrainian weapons — he last said so after Washington announced the delivery of HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems: “We are cracking them like nuts, dozens have been destroyed.”
So far, there has not been a single confirmation that the Russians were able to destroy at least one HIMARS installation.
A step of desperation: Belarusian instructors began to train the mobilized
According to British intelligence, Russian troops resorted to the help of Belarusian military instructors to train the mobilized, which indicates big problems in the army and its general exhaustion. So Russia is trying to fill the shortage of its instructors, many of whom died in the war. Traditionally, Russia believed that the armed forces of Belarus were inferior to the Russian ones, and the new “secret mission” assigned to the Belarusian military speaks of an overstrain of the Russian military system, intelligence notes.
Shoigu again visited the "frontline"
The Ministry of Defense reported on the visit of Sergei Shoigu "to the front" – the second in a week. Where exactly this “front” is located, the ministry, of course, did not specify. Shoigu's "inspection" was previously reported on December 18. As the GeoConfirmed project found out, the minister visited the Crimea, Shoigu’s “front line” turned out to be in the area of the village of Armyansk – this is about 80 km from the front line.
Another pro-Russian official was blown up in the occupied territory
In Kakhovka, Kherson region, a car with the "head" of the occupation administration of the village of Lyubimovka (located on the left bank of the Dnieper) Andrei Shtepa was blown up. The man died, and Shtepa's driver also died. Military commissar-propagandist Yuri Kotenok claims that "the Ukrainian DRG worked." Since the beginning of the war in Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, at least 13 officials from the occupation administrations have been killed , 18 survived the assassination attempt.
Germany will give Ukraine heavy military trucks HX
As for the transfer of Western weapons to Ukraine, it became known about the supply of MAN HX 8×8 military transport trucks from the German defense concern Rheinmetall. Germany will transfer 26 units worth 12.5 million euros to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
These machines are used to transport platforms and containers with shells and equipment. Deliveries have already begun.
Read also The Insider's summary of the main results at the front on December 21: “Zelensky flew to the United States for new weapons, Shoigu demands more soldiers. The main thing about the war in Ukraine.