“186 combat clashes were recorded on 12 directions of the front”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
According to the headquarters, the most attacks were in the Pokrovsky direction – here Russian units tried 45 times to break through the Ukrainian defenses in the areas of the settlements of Chervyn Lyman, Myrnograd, Novoekonomichnye, Pokrovsk, Kotlyne, Udachne, Molodetske, Filia and towards the settlements of Novopavlivka, Nove Shakhove, Rodynske, Serhiyivka, Vilne. Two clashes are still going on.
Also, intense fighting continues in the Kostyantynivskyi direction, where the enemy attacked the positions of the Defense Forces 25 times, in the Oleksandrivskyi direction, Ukrainian defenders stopped 19 Russian attacks.
In the direction of Gulyaipil, Ukrainian defenders stopped 17 attempts by Russian troops to advance near Gulyaipol, Solodky, Dorozhnyanka, Biloghirya and towards Varvarivka – two more skirmishes are ongoing, the General Staff adds.
Combat operations continue in the North-Slobozhansk and Kursk, South-Slobozhansk, Kupyansk, Lymansk, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Orihiv and Dnieper directions.
Read also: Muzhenko explained the importance of the struggle for Pokrovsk and Kupyansk
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.