Picture of 43 week: historical visit of Zelensky to America, russia shells Kherson
Also, about the most massive attack by russian-Iranian drones, the transfer of Patriot air defense system, the final destruction by the occupiers of the drama theater in Mariupol, Zelenskyi's trip to the hottest part of the front - in our chronicle. We will tell you how the situation changed during the week from December 19 to 25.
Southern area
The positional war continues in the south. The russians are constantly shelling populated areas of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, and Dnipropetrovsk regions with artillery and tanks. The number of shellings per day reaches dozens. Kherson undergoes numerous destructions. Residential blocks, critical infrastructure facilities, educational institutions, etc. are under fire. There are dead and wounded.
However, we note that russian forces are withdrawing some units from the occupied areas along the left bank of the Dnipro River in the region. Also, the military points out that the russian invaders are probably acting according to the same scenario with regard to the temporarily occupied Melitopol, according to which they retreated from Kherson. "They first gathered around Kherson, built fortifications, then increased their numbers, leaving some settlements, then prepared for street battles, then told that everything was not lost, then took what they considered valuable from banks and other institutions.
So, russians are trying to keep their positions and advance as much as possible.
Eastern Ukraine
Heavy fighting continues in the Eastern direction. The most difficult situation has been persisting for several weeks near Bakhmut, Donetsk region. According to the summary of British intelligence, the russian armed formation "private war company Wagner" continued to attack the city with a large number of poorly trained convicts. A tense situation also persists near the settlements of Maryinka, Avdiivka, Soledar. The enemy there is expanding enormous forces and spares neither men, nor shells, nor aircraft to advance further. However, the Defense Forces of Ukraine are holding their lines, the russians have been unable to achieve any operational success.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited him on December 20 to support Bakhmut's defenders. He met with the military and awarded the defenders of the Ukrainian fortress city.
In the Luhansk region, the Ukrainian army continues its offensive on the cities of Svatove and Kreminna, located in the north of the region. Their deoccupation will significantly worsen the logistics of the Russian army in the region. As the head of the Luhansk military administration, Serhii Gaidai, noted, the Ukrainian defenders have a few kilometers left to Kreminnaya.
Enemy counter attacks are ineffective, but progress is slow due to the dense minefields of the territory.
The situation in the occupied territories
The russian occupiers dismantled the Mariupol drama theater building, where hundreds of people died in March due to a russian airstrike.
"Demolition of the ruins of the Drama Theater is an unconditional attempt to hide the physical evidence of the largest simultaneous deliberate killing of Ukrainians by the Russians since the beginning of this phase of the war. The occupiers do not even hide their intentions. Therefore, the rear and central parts of the theater are to be completely dismantled, but the front part will be left intact, as the "basis of the reconstruction". In other words, only those parts of the building that prove the bombing are being dismantled, and not the detonation from the middle invented by propaganda," said Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol.
Borders' protection
The situation on the border with Belarus remains relatively stable. The Ministry of Defense of Belarus reported that the Armed Forces had completed the measures to check their combat readiness, which began on the instructions of the self-proclaimed President Oleksandr Lukashenko on December 13. As part of them, part of the equipment was moved closer to the border with Ukraine, and the withdrawal is currently underway.
As noted in the Defense Forces of Ukraine, they do not record any changes due to the maneuvers of the Belarusian military and continue to strengthen the border with the republic of belarus.
On Monday, December 20, putin visited the country for the first time since 2019. According to the results of the negotiations, the dictators noted their "effectiveness". In their statements after the meeting, they did not touch on military topics or the war in Ukraine, only economic issues.
Analyzing the results of the meeting between Putin and Lukashenka, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) emphasized that the participation of Belarus in the war against Ukraine remains unlikely.
The territorial defense of the Sumy region destroyed a Russian subversive and reconnaissance group that crossed the state border on the morning of December 22. Also, during the week, the border regions of the region were subjected to numerous shelling.
Controlled and liberated territories of Ukraine
In Ukraine, the level of migration decreased at the end of autumn – most people in October-November wanted to stay where they lived. This is stated in the study of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. According to the results of the survey, 91% of respondents do not plan to move from their current place of residence. Among those who are going to move, 71% talk about moving within Ukraine (mostly to the west of Ukraine or "home"), and only 20% – are abroad.
At the same time, the significant migration in the first months of the full-scale war did not cause great social tension in the communities. 72% of permanent residents of communities where Ukrainians moved have a positive attitude towards internally displaced persons. Only 6% have a negative attitude towards immigrants.
Situation with critical infrastructure
On the night of December 18-19, the most massive attack by Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones took place in Ukraine. Russian forces launched 35 UAVs, 30 of which were destroyed by Ukrainian air defense forces. Most of them were aimed at Kyiv — 23 drones attacked the capital, 18 of them were shot down. However, others hit critical infrastructure sites.
On the morning of Monday, December 19, a difficult situation developed in the energy system of Ukraine. Emergency power outages began in Kyiv and 10 regions. The situation with electricity supply in Kyiv was the most difficult in the country. 80% of the population found themselves without electricity. However, critical infrastructure—hospitals, water canals, and the subway—remained alive, although the movement of trains in the subway had to be partially restricted. As of the morning of Friday, December 23, the capacity deficit in the power system has decreased somewhat but remains significant.
In total, since October 10, the Russian Federation has fired more than a thousand missiles at Ukrainian energy facilities. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Russia destroyed or damaged 50% of Ukraine's energy system with this.
Shmyhal also warned that the Russian Federation may again attack Ukraine's energy facilities in the near future so that Ukrainians face 2023 in the dark. According to energy experts, it will take seven to ten days to recover from the most difficult complete blackout. Provided that there are no new shellings, Ukraine will be able to stabilize its energy system by the summer, said the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Galushchenko.
Important events in the world that affect the war in Ukraine
On Wednesday, December 21, without exaggeration, Volodymyr Zelenskyi's historic visit to Washington took place.
This is his first foreign visit during the full-scale war. There, the President of Ukraine met with US President Joe Biden, and also delivered a speech before the United States Congress. During the speech, in which Zelensky thanked for the help and urged to continue to act together against Russia's aggression, the parliamentarians gave him a standing ovation 21 times. At the end of his speech, the President presented Congress with a battle flag from Bakhmut as a token of appreciation for the assistance.
Against the backdrop of Zelenskyi's visit, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Wednesday officially announced a new $1.85 billion military aid package for Ukraine, which for the first time includes the transfer of the Patriot air defense system. The Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems will significantly strengthen Ukraine's air defense by creating an echeloned air defense system, the command of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces emphasized. In order for the Ukrainian military to be properly prepared to work with the Patriot complex, it will take several months.
As Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated, the result of the visit to Washington was the achievement of strategic agreements that will strengthen the defense forces in key areas in the coming months. Congress also agreed to allocate about 45 billion dollars to Ukraine for the next year.
We have been supported
The finance ministers of the G7 countries, following the results of the meeting on Thursday, December 22, announced their intention to send up to $32 billion in budget support to Ukraine in 2023 and, if necessary, increase this amount.
The State Budget of Ukraine received grant funds in the amount of 2 billion dollars from the Trust Fund of the World Bank. The involved grant funding will be aimed at providing pension payments and salaries to civil defense workers, as well as paying for medical services under the medical guarantee program.
The Netherlands pledges 2.5 billion euros for all types of support to Ukraine over the next year.
Britain has announced a new package of military support for Ukraine worth 250 million pounds for 2023, primarily including artillery ammunition.
Finland has decided to transfer a new package of military aid to Ukraine for 28.8 million euros.
"The Economist" named Ukraine the country of the year for the heroism of its people and resistance to the aggressor. "Choosing the country of the year is not easy… But this year the choice is obvious. It can only be Ukraine," the publication noted.
Economic tendencies
The turnover of Ukraine for 11 months of the year is 90.1 billion dollars — more products were imported to the country than exported from it. This is reported by the State Customs Service. It is noted that during January-November, Ukraine imported goods worth 49.4 billion dollars and exported products from Ukraine worth 40.7 billion dollars. Exports decreased by almost a third compared to the same period last year. At the same time, the fall in imports was not as significant as in exports. The volume of purchases of foreign goods by Ukrainians decreased by less than 1/4.
China imported the most from Ukraine (7.6 billion dollars), Poland (5 billion dollars) and Germany (4 billion dollars). Instead, Ukraine exported the most to Poland (6.2 billion dollars), Romania (3.5 billion dollars) and Turkey (2.7 billion dollars).
Machines, equipment and transport ($13.8 billion), fuel and energy products ($11.7 billion), and chemical industry products ($8.7 billion) were imported to Ukraine the most. As for exports, the top 3 included food products (21 billion dollars), metals and their products (5.7 billion dollars), machines, equipment, and transport (3.9 billion dollars).
Solutions
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to work on creating a fund to support Ukrainian agriculture. It is noted that potential assistance to the Ukrainian agricultural sector may resemble lend-lease.
"The world needs Ukraine to produce more food. We need more calories in Africa. This is a real problem. I will look at different possibilities, but I think it should be a project created in cooperation with other governments.
We will need a common fund to support Ukrainian agriculture in difficult times, but with the understanding that eventually, these funds will be returned. That is, it is a kind of lend-lease that the Americans made during the war to help Great Britain and the Germans," Johnson emphasized.
