Ukraine, Opposing Russian Occupation

December 25. (Presidential Office of Ukraine)

"{The situation there [in the Eastern Donbas] is difficult, painful. The occupants are spending all the resources available to them — and these are significant resources — to squeeze out at least some progress."

"As of this evening, about 9 million people are cut off in different regions of Ukraine. But the number and duration of outages is gradually decreasing. I am grateful to each and every person who ensured this result."

"Today, I held a special meeting with government officials on the situation in the energy sector and infrastructure. We are preparing for the next year — and not only for the winter months. There are threats that must be eliminated. There are steps to be taken. And the state will definitely make them."

"Air defense is preparing, the state is preparing, and everyone must be prepared. Please pay attention to the sirens."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

Ukrainian soldiers with the 43rd Heavy Artillery Brigade fire a rocket from a self propelled cannon on the front line in Bakhmut on Monday, 26 December. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

 With his return back to Ukraine, President Zelenskyy spoke of his forces "working toward victory", contradicting Russian President Putin's warning no end to the war would occur until Russia's military aims were achieved. On his trip to Washington, President Zelenskyy was awarded a new $1.8 billion military aid package to which he pledged "we'll overcome everything". Strategic agreements with Washington, he announced later to Ukrainian ambassadors, would strengthen Kyiv's defence forces for the year to come.

Mr. Zelenskyy also thanked the Netherlands which pledged up to $2.65 billion for 2023 to  help in financing military equipment and the rebuilding of critical infrastructure. Relentless Russian artillery, rocket and mortar fire is continuing in Ukraine's east; airstrikes on the eastern and southern fronts are also ongoing. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin stated the war would end once the "special military operation" reached "the goals that the Russian Federation has set. A significant headway has been made on demilitarization of Ukraine".

Of course in that same sense, Ukraine has succeeded in its self-defence in making headway in 'demilitarizing' Russia. There are all the Russian tanks and other military hardware Ukraine destroyed, along with the battlefield hardware that Russian troops abandoned in their haste to retreat before the forward action of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. And finally all the missiles shot down by Ukraine that Russia has sent whizzing over Ukrainian towns and cities.

According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces fired multiple rocket launchers "more than 70 times" across Ukrainian geography in one night alone [Russia busy 'demilitarizing' itself, depleting its missile stockpiles], while battles raged fiercely around the city of Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk province. Bakhmut and Lyman in neighbourimg Luhansk region together with the Kharkiv region have borne the brunt of Russian strikes, explained the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 

In a 24-hour period. up to 61 Russian rocket, artillery and mortar fire attacks were launched in the Kherson region with regional Kherson Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych posting that Russian forces attacked from dug-in positions on the Dnieper river to hit educational institutions, apartment blocks and private homes. Russian strikes on Kherson have been constant since the Ukrainian military succeeded in freeing the city from Russian occupation.

Russia continues to target civilian areas, with Ukrainian forces repelling Russian ground attacks on or close to 19 settlements in Ukraine's north and east. A district hospital in the city of Volchansk, Kharkiv region, was struck by Russian shelling. Several factory buildings housing Russian troops in the occupied city of Tokmak in southern Zaporizhzhia region on Thursday were hit with several blasts, sparking a fire. 

 

In the city of Melitopol a car used by Russian occupation forces exploded, a day after a car bomb killed the Russian appointed head of the village of Lyubymivka in Kherson region. 

For months, Ukrainian guerrillas have operated behind Russian lines in the occupied south and east of Ukraine. Their target: Kremlin-installed officials, institutions and key infrastructure, like roads and bridges. And in Mariupol, its famed theatre, the site of a deadly airstrike where up to 600 people were killed sheltering in the theatre transformed into a bomb shelter, its remaining walls are being destroyed. Moscow faces accusations of destroying evidence of its war crimes.

Today, Monday 26 December, a Ukrainian drone struck within Russia. It was shot down by Russian air defences when it approached a military airfield in Saratov Oblast, deep inside Russian territory, in the western port city of Engels, some 500 miles southeast of Moscow, located on the Volga River. Nothing is more geared to making Moscow furious with indignation; than that Ukraine would dare to strike Russian territory. This was the second such drone strike on the city, which houses the Engels-2 military airfield, a strategic bomber airbase.

"[The attack was the] consequence of what Russia is doing." 

"If the Russians thought that the war would not affect anyone in the deep rear [of Russia] or anywhere else, they were deeply mistaken."

"Therefore, as we see, such things are happening more and more often, and let's hope that this will only benefit Ukraine."

Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat

The Engels air base has been repeatedly used by Russia to carry out missile strikes on various targets in Ukraine   Reuters