299th day of the war | Russia launched an unmanned strike on Kyiv | Abroad
Main December 19, 17:10:
– Putin arrived in Minsk;
– Rishi Sunak: no talks until Russia pulls out with takeovers;
– Russia launched an unmanned strike on Kyiv;
– Zelensky: Russia received another 250 “Shaheds” from Iran;
– Zelensky advised Kaya Kallas for artillery shells;
– According to Ukraine, Russia attacked Kyiv with 35 drones, of which the Air Force shot down 30;
– Danilov: Russia could carry out another three or four major attacks;
– Zelensky: strengthening the Belarusian border remains one of Ukraine’s top priorities;
– ISW: Prigozhin continues to raise the level of authority of the Wagnerites in Russia.
President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Minsk, where he will carry out important work with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. On December 19, Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Shoigu and Sergei Lavrov also arrived in the capital of Belarus.
Putin does not meet with any of the foreign leaders as often as with the Belarusian one, reports Russian service “BBC”.
But this is their first meeting on Belarusian territory since 2019 – after that, Lukashenka came to Putin. In 2022 alone, he visited Russia seven times. Political analysts have discovered that Putin’s visit to Minsk is a kind of demonstration of his benevolence towards Lukashenko, who has remained rarely seen, whom Moscow can call a staunch ally.
The December 16 report from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) continues that during his visit to Belarus, Putin wants to put pressure on the goal of reaching the analytics of the two countries, as well as create the conditions for a new offensive against Ukraine. At the same time, ISW analysts consider it extremely unlikely that Moscow points out Minsk’s peculiarities in direct combat operations against Ukraine.
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov denied that Putin was going to Minsk so that Belarus would take a direct part in the aggression against Ukraine.
“From deviation to this (it is necessary) as to an absolutely stupid fabrication,” Peskov said.
Peskov called the conspiracy theory the speculation that Belarus is trying to negotiate for itself the most favorable terms in Russian gas imports in exchange for any participation in the war.
Rishi Sunak: no talks until Russia pulls out with takeovers
Russia’s one-time call for the consumption of fire would be “completely perfect in the current conditions” – declared on Monday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, speaking in Riga at a meeting of leaders of the countries belonging to the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF).
According to him, such a call from Russia would be false.
“Russia is using it to regroup, to cover its troops, and until they leave with the capture of observations, there cannot and should not be any detections,” Sunak returned.
“Our collective determination is clear, we support and will continue to support Ukraine. And this is primarily because their security is our security,” the prime minister said.
Also how to send Russian service “BBC”Sunak pledged in 2023 to maintain or exceed the volume of military assistance to Ukraine.
The Prime Minister of Great Britain, in particular, said: “All of us were sitting – one of the closest friends and allies of Ukraine. we have to keep three priorities in mind when we think about next year.”
“I think the first thing is that it has taken place that we provide more industrial assistance and that this military assistance develops in accordance with the examples that we are facing. This means more air defense systems, this means more artillery, and this means more armored vehicles” Sunak added.
“For our part, in anticipation of the Queen’s Right, we have committed next year to maintain or exceed the amount of assistance of 2.3 billion pounds (about 2.8 billion US dollars) this year, everything is possible to continue strong support,” – said the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Russia launched an unmanned strike on Kyiv
Early on Monday morning, Russia launched a drone strike on Kyiv, causing two explosions in the city. Kyiv authorities require residents to stay in shelters.
The head of the Kyiv regional administration Oleksiy Kuleba said that due to the seizure of Russian territory, three regions were left without electricity.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, the explosions took place in the center of Kyiv. According to Ukraine, Russia also attacked drones in Nikolaev.
“The enemy is attacking the drone capital.
Zelensky: Russia received another 250 “Shahed” from Iran
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russian Federation received a new batch of Iranian drones – 250 “shaheeds”.
“This night, Ukraine again attacked with Iranian drones. 34 shaheeds. I’m talking about the number and name, quite specifically. Terrorist,” – said said Zelensky is available to detect meetings of the discovered expeditionary forces of the potential.
Zelensky advised Kaya Kallas on artillery shells
Zelensky, in the same sense, called winter “a decisive time” when one can make a decision, “the results of already natural nature to outline the restoration of our geographical density and coverage, that Russian revanchism will never again overcome the exodus of Ukraine, and therefore Europe.”
The United International Expeditionary Force is an international structural defense cooperation under the UK, formed by ten countries: in addition to Great Britain and Finland, the group includes the Netherlands, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia.
Zelensky turned out to be disastrous for the leaders of countries. Estonian Prime Minister Kai Kallas advised the president on artillery shells (155 millimeters) and spare parts for howitzers. “Let’s intensify our cooperation,” Zelensky said.
According to Ukraine, Russia attacked Kyiv with 35 drones, of which the Air Force shot down 30
According to the Ukrainian authoritiesUkraine was attacked by 35 Shahed-361/131 drones, of which 30 were shot down by air defense systems.
Russian drones attacked the infrastructure of Kyiv and damaged the roadway and a multi-storey building. Russia also launched drone strikes on other Ukrainian cities on Monday.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, as a result of Russian shelling in the Kyiv region, two people were killed.
The drone attack in Ukraine was carried out from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov.
Danilov: Russia can carry out another three or four major attacks
In an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said that Russia has enough missiles to mark another three or four major strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure.
Danilov warned that Russian forces still had enough S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to attack Ukraine.
As reminds Kyiv independentOn November 22, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov noted that Russia had used up most of its precision-guided missiles in strikes against Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the end of October that Russian troops were armed with more than 4,500 missiles in Ukraine.
Zelensky: strengthening the Belarusian border remains one of the main priorities of Ukraine
Zelensky said in his evening meeting on Sunday that strengthening the Belarusian border is still one of the tasks of protecting the Ukrainian army.
Russia sends additional military equipment to Belarus. According to The Kyiv Independent.
According to Ukraine, Russia is preparing to attack the side of the Republic of Belarus at the end of January or in the observed year.
On Friday, Russia launched another missile attack on Ukrainian cities. There are power outages in the country. According to Zelensky, nine million Ukrainians returned. It is not yet clear how Monday’s drone attack damaged Kyiv’s energy infrastructure.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on Sunday morning that heat supply to the people of Kyiv had been fully restored. At the same time, engineers continue to work on the consumption of the city’s heat supply.
On Saturday, Zelensky said that after Friday’s attack, repair work would continue without interruption.
ISW: Prigozhin continues to make efforts to raise the profile of the Wagnerites in Russia
The US-based research center the International Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has reported that the head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, continues to increase the significance of the manifestation in his research in Russia. Prigozhin is now lobbying for weight gain for Wagner fighters. On December 18, he complained that the St. Petersburg authorities were refusing to bury the Wagnerites in the soldiers’ cemetery. Prigozhin was reworked into the Duma with the massive spread of the status of a war veteran and Wagner fighters.
Assessment of the Ukrainian side of the loss of the Russian army
According to the estimate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, published on December 19, the number of workers
- 98,800 military;
- 2988 tanks;
- 5969 infantry fighting vehicles;
- 281 aircraft;
- 264 helicopters;
- 1953 artillery systems;
- 410 multiple rocket launchers;
- 212 air defense systems;
- 1657 drones;
- 653 cruise missiles;
- 4592 vehicles;
- 16 ships/boats;
- 175sales of special equipment.
Data on their losses in Ukraine are not observed.