“Over the past 24 hours, 219 combat clashes have been recorded at the front, with the highest intensity in the Pokrovsky and Gulyaipil directions, reports the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Russian troops carried out dozens of airstrikes and thousands of shellings, but the Ukrainian military is holding its position and repelling the attacks of the aggressor”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“Yesterday, the enemy carried out 53 air strikes, dropped 151 guided air bombs. In addition, it carried out 2,941 attacks, including 111 from rocket salvo systems, and engaged 5,273 kamikaze drones for destruction… Over the past day, aviation and missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces hit seven areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment and one control point of the enemy’s UAVs,” the message states.
Most attacks were recorded in the Pokrovsky direction in Donetsk region and the Gulyaipil direction in Zaporizhzhia.
“In the Pokrovsky direction, our defenders stopped 46 assault actions of the aggressor in the areas of Nikanorivka, Rodynske, Pokrovsk, Sukhetske, Kotlyna, Udachne, Molodetske, Filia and in the direction of Ivanivka, Hryshiny, Toretsky, and Novopavlivka.
In the direction of Gulyaipil, our defenders stopped 44 enemy attempts to advance in the areas of the settlements of Gulyaipole, Sweetka and towards Dobropill, Zeleny, Pryluk and Varvarivka,” the report says.
Fighting also continued in the South-Slobozhansk, Kupyansk, Lymansk, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Kostyantynivsk, Oleksandrivsk, and Orichivsk directions.
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.