💢Iran delivered 600 "dehlavieh" and "almas" anti-armor missiles to Armenia
💢British Ministry of Defence: Elements of Russia's 1st Guards Tank Army (1 GTA) are likely deployed along the defensive line near the Luhansk Oblast town of Svatove. The supposedly elite 1 GTA took heavy casualties earlier in the war, including during the retreat from Kharkiv Oblast in September 2022. It has now likely been partially reinforced with mobilised reservists, although remaining well below its authorised strength of over 25,000 personnel. Russia has now completed almost continuous trench systems along the 60km between Svatove and the Russian border. Despite the length of these works, however, the depth of the defences remains unclear. The effectiveness of 1 GTA and other formations' defensive operations will largely depend upon the extent of mutually supporting, fall-back positions.
💢Alexander Fomin, Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, met and discussed with Mohammad Bagheri, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian armed forces, and Shahram Irani, Commander of the Iranian Navy.
💢British Ministry of Defence: For the first time in three weeks, there have been reports of attacks by Iranian-provided one-way attack (OWA) uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs). These events remain to be verified, but it is likely that Russia exhausted its previous stock of several hundred Shahed-131s and 136s and has now received a resupply. On 6 December 2022, the Ukrainian General Staff reported shooting down 17 UAVs, including 14 Shahed-136s. On 7 December 2022, Ukrainian officials reported the use of Iranian-provided OWA UAVs targeting Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro oblasts. The last previously reported shooting down of Iranian Shahed-136s in Ukraine was on 17 November 2022. If verified, it is likely that Russia has recommenced attacks with newly delivered OWA UAV systems.
💢China and Saudi Arabia signed defense and strategic agreement. China will help Saudi Arabia in building missiles, nuclear power plants and laser defenses.
💢Japan intend to increase its defense spending by 1 trillion yen ($7.34 billion) to about 6.5 trillion yen in fiscal year 2023.
💢United States approved a plan to strengthen its military presence in the Baltic states. It envisages that US troops and military equipment units will be continuously present in Latvia on a rotating basis.