“Since the beginning of the day, 80 combat clashes have been recorded on the front, the largest of them – in the Pokrovsky direction, where Ukrainian defense forces repelled 27 attacks by Russian troops”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
Most of the Russian attacks were recorded in the Pokrovsky direction. Here, since the beginning of the war, the Russian army has made 27 attempts to dislodge Ukrainian defenders from their occupied positions in the areas of the settlements of Chervyn Lyman, Sukhetske, Zatyshok, Rodynske, Mirnograd, Pokrovsk, Kotlyne, Udachne, Molodetske, Filia, and towards the settlements of Hryshyne, Ivanovka. The defense forces are holding back the enemy’s onslaught and have already stopped 20 attacks.
According to the headquarters, intense fighting is also continuing in the Gulyaipil direction – here the Defense Forces repelled 16 Russian attacks in the areas of Uspenivka, Gulyaipol and in the direction of Dobropill, Varvarivka, Zeleny and Pryluk. Five more clashes are still ongoing.
Fighting also continues in the South-Slobozhansk, Lymansk, Slovyansk, Oleksandrivsk and Prydniprovsk directions
At the moment, no Russian offensive actions have been recorded in the Kramatorsk and Orihiv directions.
The Ukrainian General Staff informs that in the direction of Kupyansk, since the beginning of the day, Russian troops have twice tried to advance in the direction of Kurylivka and Kupyansk.
Instead, the 7th Corps of Airborne Assault Troops reported that in the Kupyansk direction 77, a separate airmobile Naddnipryan brigade of the DSHV foiled the enemy’s attempt to carry out an assault using the Soyuz gas pipeline. The enemy tried to use the gas pipeline for a hidden exit and further accumulation of forces.
Also, according to the DSHV, since the beginning of the new year, the enemy has been building up pressure in the Pokrovsk agglomeration – due to the impossibility of the defense of Ukrainian troops in the zone of responsibility of the 7th Corps of the ShR DSHV, the Russian forces are trying to take detours, in particular, to bypass the agglomeration through Hryshyn and Rodynske.
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According to the American Institute for the Study of War, Russian forces increased their average rate of advance in 2025 thanks to the new operational pattern, but did not achieve their priority objectives in the specified time frames.
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, the Russian troops have been trying to capture Pokrovsk in Donetsk region for more than 17 months, but Ukrainian units are holding the defense and intercepting the initiative.