“The military says that the Russian forces attacked 10 times in the Yuzhno-Slobozhansk direction, in the areas of the settlements of Vovchansk, Staritsa and in the direction of Grafsky, Nesterny, Krugli”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“A total of 126 combat clashes took place since the beginning of this day. The Russian invaders carried out 78 airstrikes, dropping 199 guided aerial bombs. In addition, 5,355 kamikaze drones were brought in to attack and 2,985 attacks were made on the positions of our troops and populated areas,” the new operational report says.
The military says that the Russian forces attacked 10 times in the Yuzhno-Slobozhansk direction, in the areas of the settlements of Vovchansk, Staritsa and in the direction of Grafsky, Nesterny, Krugli. Two skirmishes are currently ongoing.
“On the Kupyansk direction, the enemy tried five times to dislodge our units from their occupied positions in the area of Pishchany and in the direction of Kurylivka, Petropavlivka, and Borivska Andriivka. In the Lyman direction, the Defense Forces repulsed four assaults in the Yampol area and towards the settlements of Stavka and Oleksandrivka. One battle continues,” the General Staff emphasized.
At the same time, it is known that in the Pokrovsky direction since the beginning of the century, the Russian Federation has attacked 39 times in the areas of Nikanorivka, Rodynske, Chervyn Liman, Kotlyna, Udachne and in the direction of Filia and Novopavlivka.
“There were 16 clashes in the Gulyaipole direction, in the areas of the settlements of Gulyaipole, Zelene and in the direction of Varvarivka and Dobropill. Two of them are currently ongoing. Gulyaipole, Vozdvizhivka, Verkhnya Tersa, Zaliznychne, and Dolinka were hit by enemy airstrikes,” the command summary says.
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.
Fighting in Pokrovsk has been going on since October 2025, when the Russian army managed to break through to the city after several months of fighting on its slopes. Almost immediately, Russian soldiers began to be recorded in Pokrovsk’s satellite city of Mirnograd. On the map of the DeepState project, most of both are now under the control of the aggressor, the rest is in the “gray zone”. The Pokrovsky direction, according to the reports of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, constantly leads in terms of the number of Russian assaults.