“Since the beginning of December 26, 112 combat clashes have been recorded on the front, the largest of them – in the Limansky direction, where Russian troops carried out 27 attacks. The defense forces stopped most of the breakthrough attempts”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“The border settlements, in particular, Kucherivka, Ryzhivka, Iskryskivshchyna, Bezsalivka, Malushyne, Volfine, Bilokopytove, Ulanov of the Sumy region suffer from artillery shelling from the territory of the Russian Federation; Bleshnya, Klyusy, Girsk of the Chernihiv region,” the summary stated as of 4:00 p.m.
For the first time in many days, the largest number of battles was recorded not in Pokrovsky, but in another direction in the Donetsk region.
“On the Lymanskyi direction, the invading army attacked 27 times near the settlements of Grekivka, Novovodyane, Seredne, Ridkodub, Kolodyazi, Shandrigolovo, Zarichne and towards the settlement of Stavka. The defense forces stopped 19 enemy advance attempts, fighting continues in eight locations.
In the direction of Kostyantynivka, the invader attacked 18 times in the areas of Oleksandro-Shultine, Shcherbynivka, Pleshchiivka, Yablunivka, Rusyn Yar and in the direction of Sofiivka. So far, six military clashes are ongoing.
In the Pokrovsky direction, since the beginning of the day, the occupiers have made 20 attempts to dislodge Ukrainian defenders from their occupied positions in the areas of Shakhove, Pankivka, Nikanorivka, Myrnograd, Rodynske, Pokrovsk, Kotlyne, Udachne, Novosergiivka, and Dachne settlements. “Five combat clashes are ongoing,” the message reads.
Battles also continued in the North-Slobozhansk and Kursk, South-Slobozhansk, Kupyansk, Slavyansk, Oleksandrivsk, Gulyaipilsk and Orihiv directions.
On December 25, the spokesperson of the Southern Defense Forces reported on the fighting in the Gulyaipol area: Russian troops are trying to “infiltrate directly to the center of the city.” A difficult situation also continues in the Dobropill, Pryluk, and Varvarivka areas, located along the logistics route from Pokrovsky, Dnipropetrovsk region, to Gulyaipol.
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.