Picture of 41st week of war: explosions at russian airfields, UA air defense repulses massive shelling, new EU sanctions
Also, about the difficult battles for the fortress city of Bakhmut, the restoration of electricity supply in the country and the worldwide recognition of the "Ukrainian spirit" - in our chronicle. We tell you how the situation changed during the week from December 5 to 10.
Southern area
For several weeks now, the situation in the south of Ukraine has remained unchanged. A complex positional war is going on. In the Kherson region, the russians hold their lines on the left bank of the Dnipro river and continue shelling the settlements on the right bank of the river, which are controlled by Ukraine. The civilian population critical and civilian infrastructure suffer from artillery and missile strikes.
Despite the shelling in Kherson and in the de-occupied territories of the region, restoration work continues. The oblast receives humanitarian aid both from other regions of Ukraine and from international partners.
On the last occupied territory of the russian federation in the Mykolaiv region — the Kinburn spit — a military operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues in a silent mode. The General Staff does not comment on the progress of its implementation. On December 7, the russians shelled Mykolaiv for the first time since November 11, the day when Ukrainian troops entered Kherson. The local authorities noted that the russians were specifically moving to a position close to the new front line in order to randomly shell Mykolaiv.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, the occupiers hold occupied positions, constantly shelling Ukrainian settlements, industrial and civilian objects. Thus, on the night of December 5, russian troops attacked industrial and energy infrastructure facilities in Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih with missiles. Among them, three rockets hit the metallurgical plant "Arcelor Mittal Kryvyi Rih" – the largest enterprise of this type in Ukraine.
Eastern area
The heaviest fighting continues in the Donetsk direction, near the towns of Avdiivka and Bakhmut. The situation there is difficult but under Ukraine's control. The occupiers continue to gradually advance in these areas, and enemy assault groups are trying to break through into Ukrainian positions. However, the russian troops have not yet had any operational success. Despite the tactical achievements of the occupiers on the southern borders of the Bakhmut direction, the Ukrainian army is holding back the russian offensive with great efforts, as well as controlling critical routes that can serve as retreat routes.
In Luhansk region, Russian troops continue to defend their positions on the line between the towns of Svatove and Kreminna from Ukrainian attacks. It is also reported that the Russians have completed the construction of an almost continuous system of trenches of 60 km between Swatov and the state border of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Despite everything, the Armed Forces continue to advance, trying to seize a key logistics hub in the north of Luhansk Oblast.
The situation in the occupied territories
In the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk region, Luhansk region, Kherson region, Mykolaiv region, and Zaporizhzhia, the situation remains extremely difficult for the civilian population. The occupiers do not care about the preparation of cities for the cold weather and generally care little about the state of critical infrastructure. Instead, measures to "evacuate" (actually deport) the local population deep into the Russian Federation continue. In particular, occupation officials forcefully take Ukrainian children from the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions to Russia under the pretext that the children need special medical care.
Armed resistance to the russian authorities and Ukrainian collaborators continues. So, on December 6, local "defector" Mykola Volik was blown up in Melitopol – he is currently in the hospital.
Borders' protection
In the north of Ukraine, on the border with Belarus, the situation remains unchanged. The General Staff of the Armed Forces notes that no signs of the formation of enemy offensive groups have been detected. Although the training of individual units of the enemy still continues at the training grounds. So, in order to keep the troops ready for deployment, the deadline for checking the combat readiness of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus has been extended until December 12.
Belarusian border guards deliberately send refugees from Iran and Pakistan to Ukrainian borders for intelligence purposes, reports the Center of National Resistance. In this way, the Belarusians check vulnerable and insufficiently protected areas of the border with Ukraine, which can be used for the passage of enemy sabotage-reconnaissance group. The enemy uses similar tactics on the border with Latvia. The wall that is already being built on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border will be able to help us counter such tactics
At the same time, Belarus lifted the ban for civilians to visit forests in the south of the Gomel region, effective from April 2022. At that time, the map of prohibitions and restrictions on visiting forests coincided with the scheme of movement of military equipment of the Russian Federation. It is still too early to draw conclusions as to why this was done. This can be both a deliberate demonstration of seemingly peaceful actions, and evidence that Belarus is not planning an attack on Ukraine in the near future.
Controlled and liberated territories of Ukraine
In Ukraine, preparations are underway for a possible large-scale blackout due to shelling by the Russian Federation. Thus, it became known that in the event of a power outage, the national telethon and five radio companies would have the opportunity to work for at least three more days, and mobile operators must also ensure the ability to provide communication for three days.
The National Bank of Ukraine obliged banks to determine a list of at least 35% of branches that will work in the event of a blackout and to provide them with everything necessary to work in such a mode.
As the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, noted, one of the main problems of the de-occupied territories is landmines. Terrorists deliberately try to leave them behind as many deadly traps as possible – buried "explosives", stretch marks, mined buildings, cars, infrastructure facilities, etc. According to him, "mine terror" is even crueler and meaner than missile terror, because there is no anti-mine system that could destroy at least part of the threat, as air defense does. We are talking about more than 170 thousand square kilometers of dangerous territory. The president emphasized that "mine terror" would be among the charges against russia for aggression.
Situation with critical infrastructure
On Monday, December 5, the enemy attempted another massive attack on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine. However, this time everything did not immediately go according to the plan of the Russian terrorists. In the morning, on the eve of the shelling, two bases of Russian strategic aviation — that is, the bombers that launch most of the missiles over Ukraine — were hit by unknown UAVs. Explosions rang out at the Diaghilev and Engels airfields, resulting in the damage of several planes already prepared for an attack on Ukraine.
Because of this, the standard volley for russia about 100 missiles did not take place this time — the enemy managed to launch only a little more than 70 missiles. More than 60 of them were shot down by Ukrainian air defense forces, which was, in percentage terms, the best result of Ukrainian forces during eight massive shellings of the russian federation
Despite the successes of the Armed Forces, rockets hit energy facilities in Kyiv, Vinnytsia, and Odesa regions. Also, on Tuesday, December 6, the Russian Federation repeatedly shelled several energy infrastructure facilities. All this led to the appearance of a deficit in the energy system at the level of 19% of the projected consumption and massive emergency power outages. The worst situation occurred in Odesa, where on the day of the shelling, there was no light in almost the entire city. However, the very next day, the water supply and drainage in Odesa were fully restored, and about 90% of the townspeople received heat again. Now the situation with the light remains tense but not critical. Repair work is ongoing.
Another shelling of the enemy could not break the integrity of the Ukrainian energy system. As of Friday, December 9, the state of the power system remains critical but under control. The capacity deficit in the power system is still significant. Emergency and restoration work continues throughout Ukraine in high-voltage and distribution networks, as well as at power plants. Weather conditions (freezing of wires, rain and snow) negatively affect the condition of high-voltage and distribution networks and complicate repair work. As the energy company Yasno noted, this attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure set the energy system back a week.
Important events
On December 5, the decision of the Council of the EU on the price limit for Russian oil and the ban on sea transportation of Russian oil to third countries entered into force. The ceiling price for oil and oil products and oils originating from or exported from Russia is set at $60 per barrel. And it is possible to view.
On December 7, the European Commission announced the ninth package of sanctions against Russia for its war against Ukraine, which it proposes to member countries to approve. About 200 individuals and companies are proposed to be added to the sanctions list, including military personnel, representatives of the defense industry, members of the State Duma and Federation Council, ministers, governors and politicians.
We are supported
- NATO is considering using leftover funds from a fund previously used to support Afghan security forces to provide support to Ukraine. It is about the sum of 3.4 billion dollars.
- The EU intends to increase the size of the European Peace Fund, which is used to finance the supply of weapons to Ukraine, by at least 2 billion euros. 24 countries of the European Union submitted their proposals for participation in the new mission to train the Ukrainian military.
- The USA will allocate an additional 275 million dollars to Ukraine. military aid The funds will be spent on a large amount of ammunition and high-tech systems to counter drones.
- The Netherlands will transfer to Ukraine transformers, switching components and cables necessary for the restoration of the energy infrastructure.
- France handed over 100 medium power generators to support the Ukrainian energy sector.
- Slovakia approved a new military aid package for Ukraine. It will include ammunition, fighters, warm things, etc. Also, in December, the country plans to transfer about 300 power generators to Ukraine.
- Canada will send equipment to help in demining worth about 11 million dollars to Ukraine.
- In Georgia, the "Share the Light" grassroots initiative collected funds for 200 generators for Ukraine in eight days.
Economical trends
Despite the war, Ukraine's agro-industrial complex was able to maintain its position on international markets in many respects. As noted in the Ministry of Economy, Ukraine exported 50.9 million tons of agricultural and food industry products for a total amount of 21.1 billion dollars in 11 months of this year. It is 16.7% less in volume, and 13.7% less in value than in 11 months of last year.
At the same time, Ukraine has exported 13 million tons of agricultural products since the start of the "grain corridor". That is, most of it was exported in another way, mainly by railway. The export of agricultural products is a very important source of foreign exchange for the country, so this is very good news for our economy.
Solutions
A group of Ukrainian IT specialists from the company Cody Ukraine created the Svitlospot service, which allows you to search for the nearest places to work where there is electricity and Internet access. These can be co-working spaces, restaurants, coffee shops or other establishments. The service can be very useful for those who work remotely.
Currently, the service provides information about co-working spaces and other facilities in Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Uzhgorod, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Vyshgorod, Bushtyno and Brovary. It is constantly updated. An updated version with a map is planned to be launched soon.
