“Over the past day, 126 combat clashes have been recorded at the front, reports the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The greatest pressure of Russian troops was observed in the Pokrovsky direction”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
According to detailed information, the enemy launched two missile and 65 air strikes yesterday, using 39 missiles and dropping 160 guided air bombs. In addition, it carried out 4,341 attacks, including 105 from rocket salvo fire systems, and engaged 7,601 kamikaze drones for destruction.
Most of the Russian attacks were in the Pokrovsky direction, where Ukrainian defenders stopped 34 assaults by the aggressor near the settlements of Nikanorivka, Rodynske, Chervyn Liman, Myrnograd, Pokrovsk, Kotlyne, Udachne, Molodetske, Novosergiivka, Gorikhove, and Dachne.
In the Gulyaipil direction, Ukrainian defenders repelled 17 Russian attacks near Gulyaipol and in the direction of Dobropill, and in the Kostyantyniv direction, the enemy carried out 16 attacks near the settlements of Shcherbynivka, Yablunivka, Oleksandro-Shultine, Kleban-Bik, Rusyn Yar and in the direction of Sofiivka.
Fighting also continues in the North-Slobozhansk and Kursk, South-Slobozhansk, Kupyansk, Lymansk, Slovyansk, Oleksandrivsk, Orichivsk and Prydniprovsk directions.
The enemy did not carry out any offensive actions in the Kramatorsk direction last day.
Read also – ZSU: Defense forces are blocking the advance of Russian troops in the center of Pokrovsk
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.