The Russian occupiers are trying to break through the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Bakhmut and Avdiiv directions, and are also strengthening the defense on the border of the Kherson region and Crimea.

This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

There they specified information about the mass shelling of Ukraine in the morning by the Russian Federation.

According to detailed information, the invaders launched 70 cruise missiles and 4 guided air missiles.

As a result of enemy strikes, several energy infrastructure facilities and residential buildings were damaged in Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhia regions.

The situation on the Volyn and Polissky directions remains without significant changes.

There are currently

enemy.

Certain units of the armed forces of Belarus and Russia will continue to be in the border areas with Ukraine. 

On the Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions

 , Russian troops fired mortars and artillery at the areas of the settlements of Zapsilya and Popivka in Sumy Oblast and Strelecha, Staritsa, Ambarne, Vilkhuvatka, Dvorichna and Krasne in Kharkiv Oblast.

In the Kupyansk direction, the

 occupiers fired tanks, mortars, barrel and jet artillery at the populated areas of Synkivka, Orlyanka, Tabaivka, Berestov and Vyshneve in Kharkiv Oblast and Volodymyrivka and Stelmakhivka in Luhansk Oblast.

In the Lymansky direction, the

 invaders fired at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with tanks and various caliber artillery near Makiyivka, Ploshanka, Chervonopivka, Dibrova, and Girsky in the Luhansk region.

In the Bakhmut and Avdiiv areas

, the  enemy is conducting assaults on the positions of Ukrainian troops.

The Russians are trying to find weak points in the defense line and make a breakthrough.

The Russian army also shelled more than 20 settlements:

• We are talking about Verkhnokamianske, Spirne, Bilogorivka, Vesele, Soledar, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut, Opytne, Chasiv Yar, Druzhba, Zalizne, Maryinka and Pervomaiske in Donetsk region.

• In the direction of Novopavlivsk, the occupiers shelled the outskirts of Bogoyavlenka, Neskuchny, Prechistivka, and Vugledar in Donetsk region. 

In the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson directions, the

 invaders fired at the positions of the Armed Forces and the civilian infrastructure of the settlements along the right bank of the Dnipro River.

More than 30 settlements were hit by enemy attacks.

In particular, Plavni, Gulyaipole, Dorozhnyanka, Olhivske, Nikopol in Zaporizhzhia and Chornobayivka, Antonivka, Kherson, Mykilske, Tokarivka and Mylove in Kherson Oblast. 

The Russians continue to strengthen the defense line on the border of the Kherson region with Crimea.

They also

in particular, the North Crimean Canal.

For this purpose, units mobilized from the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation additionally arrived.

On December 16, units of missile forces and artillery of the Defense Forces of Ukraine struck three areas of concentration of personnel, a control post and an ammunition warehouse of the occupiers.

The threat of a new offensive by the occupiers

We will remind, the day before the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhnyi warned that Russia is preparing about 200,000 new soldiers who will definitely go on the offensive: either in Donbas, or from the south, or from Belarus.

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov specified that the Russian Federation could launch a new offensive as early as February after training the mobilized forces.

According to analysts of the American Institute for the Study of War, if Russian troops try to go to Kyiv from the territory of Belarus, they are unlikely to be able to capture the city.

Read also:

• The General Staff updated the losses of the enemy during the day: the Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated 680 Russian soldiers and 4 UAVs

• Russia's new potential offensive in 2023 will be its last - Arestovich

• Zhdanov about the second attack on Kyiv: the Russians hope that after the capital, all of Ukraine will fall

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