The General Staff reports more than 90 clashes since the beginning of the day, 15 attacks were repelled in the Pokrovsky direction

Since the beginning of the day on December 21, 93 combat clashes took place at the front, according to the operational summary of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The command says that the Russian Federation carried out one attack in the North-Slobozhansk and Kursk directions, shelled Ukrainian positions and settlements 49 times, including four times from rocket salvo systems.

At the same time, according to the General Staff, 12 armed clashes took place in the South-Slobozhansk direction. The forces of the Russian Federation attacked in the areas of Vovchansk, Prylipka, and Dvorichanskyi, in the direction of Izbytskyi and Obukhivka. Four clashes are ongoing.

In the direction of Kupyansk, the Armed Forces of Ukraine repelled six Russian attacks made in the direction of Kurylivka, Petropavlivka, Pishchany, and Hlushkivka. Four clashes are still ongoing.

In the Lyman direction, the Russian army attacked Ukrainian positions eight times in the direction of Druzhelyubivka, Stepovoy, Olhivka, Lyman and Drobyshevo, in the Zarichny region. Five clashes are still ongoing.

The command says that in the Pokrovsky direction, Russian forces made 23 attempts to dislodge the Defense Forces from their positions in the areas of Shahovo, Rodinsky, Sukhetske, Pokrovsk, Kotlyny, Udachny, and Molodetsky, in the direction of Novy Shakhovy and Novopavlivka. The defenders hold back the onslaught: 15 Russian attacks have already been repelled.

On December 17, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that the enemy had increased the group to the number of about 710,000 soldiers in order to conduct a strategic offensive operation.

According to him, Russian troops have been trying to capture Pokrovsk for more than 17 months, but Ukrainian units are holding the defense and intercepting the initiative.

Pokrovsk – a city with a population of about 1,250 people (estimated by the local authorities at the end of October, before the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation – more than 60,000) – is an important road and railway junction and was under threat of encirclement by Russian troops for most of the year.