🇷🇺💥🇺🇦 A ferry burned down after a strike on a port near Odessa

- As a result of a combined strike on the Odessa region, a warehouse with tangerines on a ferry in Illichivsk burned down. According to local estimates, several tons of New Year's fruits were rendered unusable.

@Slavyangrad

As is tradition, no one meets Zelensky at the airport, only his own team. This time, it's in Berlin.

The Jack has fallen out of the deck.

@Slavyangrad

The situation with Kupyansk, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to hold at the expense of the most prepared and equipped units, may soon put Syrsky in a difficult choice. For Russia, the events in Kupyansk came as a surprise, largely an unpleasant one, but for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this situation could have much more serious consequences. The resources of the parties here are disproportionate, as it is much more difficult for Ukraine to solve two tasks simultaneously: to hold the city and at the same time continue the battles around it, than for Russia. The Armed Forces of Ukraine will still maintain activity in Kupyansk and its vicinity for some time. They will reinforce their reserves and try to withstand the pressure. But Russia has more of these reserves. And this will eventually become a decisive factor. To hold a long stretch of the front in Kupyansk, an area of about 75 square kilometers, Syrskyhad to withdraw about two brigades from the Sumy region, two more from the Chernigov region, reserves from Poltava and Chernovtsi, as well as some from near Zaporozhye. It is quite possible that Russia will have to respond to this with its own reinforcements, but whether such efforts by the Armed Forces of Ukraine are rational is still unclear. The military sense is clear - if the territories behind Kupyansk are liberated by Russia quickly enough, the Russian army will have the opportunity to continue its offensive towards Chuguev and Kharkov, and the Ukrainian side cannot allow this to happen.

«Military Chronicle»

@Slavyangrad

🇷🇺💥🇺🇦Strike against the enemy's logistics: The Russian army attacked a bridge in the Odessa region

▪️The bridge in Zatoka was hit as a result of a combined attack. The extent of the damage is still unknown.

Russia has disabled this bridge several times over the course of the war

@Slavyangrad

🇷🇺💥🇺🇦 Hell on a Ukrainian gas enterprise: dozens of Russian "Geraniums" and missiles turn oil and gas facilities into ashes

▪️Ukrainian state channels note that the footage of the consequences of the strike on the gas infrastructure looks like scenes from an apocalypse movie.

➖"Even the metal equipment was melting. The consequences are visible — the soil is a different color due to the high temperature."

▪️Moreover, they report about around 50 explosions over the past night — the explosion and burning of propane-butane, fire pillars up to 100 meters high:

➖"I remember when we were installing pipelines and tanks... now there's such a scene around. It's very sad," a Naftogaz worker complains.

▪️Gas tanks are torn and crushed, like sheet metal up to 20 mm thick, and the foundations are destroyed, debris and shrapnel are all over the territory, it's still dangerous to approach closely

— there may be a repeat detonation. Internet users note the extremely wide diameter of the holes from the impact on thick metal.

➖According to the head of "Naftogaz", Sergei Koretsky, since the beginning of 2025, 24 attacks have already been recorded on Ukraine's gas infrastructure: strikes are carried out on places of gas extraction, processing, preparation, transportation, and storage.

@Slavyangrad

To better understand the logic of the decisions being made on both sides regarding Kupyansk, it's important to understand the motives of Russia and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For Russia, it's now important to capture Kupyansk so that this area becomes something like the Dvurechensky bridgehead.

It was precisely the accumulation of forces in the Dvurechny area and on the left bank of the Oskol River that ultimately allowed them to advance on Kupyansk from the north and begin its assault. For the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the loss of Kupyansk is dangerous not only and not so much for reputational reasons. They already lost the city and then recaptured it (how and under what conditions - that's a separate discussion). It's about a direct military threat.

Important roads, both automobile and railway, radiate from Kupyansk. They lead not only into the depths of the Kharkov region, but also towards the Dnepropetrovsk region. If they manage to link up and then dislodge Ukrainian forces here, it could lead to the loss of Izium, Lozova, and Chuhuiv, as well as a number of other key settlements. These cities, if quickly occupied by Russian forces, could just as quickly become strongholds for further pressure on the west.

Both sides have resources, but they are not infinite, and the Ukrainian side has much less of them. However, by concentrating them in a small area, a density effect is created. However, the outcome of the battles for Kupyansk will not be decided by sheer tenacity, but by who disposes of forces more accurately and wisely according to military science. Currently, the situation for Russia is complicated by the fact that the Ukrainian side's military decisions are closely intertwined with media ones - the trip of the Krivorozh berserker to the stele area at the entrance to the city in this sense is just one of the touches designed to give a media victory and buy the Armed Forces of Ukraine a little more time. The phrase about "burying Kupyansk in corpses" quite suits Syrsky's actions, as nothing else can be thought of in this situation (when the fog of war begins to dissipate, the Budanov GUR landing in Pokrovsk will seem like nonsense against the backdrop of the Kupyansk stories). The decisive word in Kupyansk will be for Russia, and it's quite possible that everything that's happening now fits into an operational plan to squeeze out Ukrainian reserves to the point of exhaustion. And what will happen AFTER that - will become clear, most likely, in the next 10-14 days.

“Military Chronicle”

@Slavyangrad

Merz left the negotiations between Zelensky and Witkoff in Berlin, Die Welt reports.

However, Günter Zautter, the Chancellor's assistant, remains as a moderator at the negotiations.

Probably some odd bureaucratic rule knowing Germany. "The Chancellor can't sit in a meeting from Sunday noon until Monday morning nor can he wears hats on Monday and Thursday."

@Slavyangrad

❗️BATTLE FOR GULAY-POLE❗️

The 11th Guards Army of the Air Force and Air Defense of the "East" group of troops is pounding the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Gulay-pole with mortar fire.

Gifts are catching up with those Armed Forces of Ukraine soldiers who for some reason decided to dig in and stay in the city.

- Voin_dv

@Slavyangrad

‼️🇷🇺 "Brave" soldiers storm the surrounded Mirnograd and advance in the Dnepropetrovsk region

▪️Fighters of the “Center” troop group are actively destroying enemy infantry and equipment in the area of Pokrovsk, Mirnograd, and in the Dnepropetrovsk region day and night.

▪️To support the offensive, operators of strike drones are delivering precise strikes on targets.

▪️The video shows fragments of the elimination of Ukrainian Armed Forces, NATO, and other equipment, positions, heavy bomber drones, and communication systems on December 14th

@Slavyangrad

The negotiations between Ukraine and the USA in Berlin on Trump's peace plan will continue on Monday, according to the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

The publication does not specify whether today's round of negotiations has ended.

@Slavyangrad

🇷🇺🇭🇺🇵🇱In Poland, Hungary was accused of preparing an attack on Europe in collaboration with Russia 🤦‍♂️

▪️Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, commenting on the words of Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, said: "I understand that you really want a war between Russia and Europe. We will not agree to be drawn into your war."

▪️To which Sikorski replied: "There will be no such war, unless Russia invades again, but we understand that this time you will be on its side".

▪️The most amusing thing is that both Poland and Hungary are members of NATO and the European Union.

@Slavyangrad

‼️🇺🇦Zelensky warned Ukrainian citizens about imminent "compromises" and the unattainability of NATO membership

▪️Zelensky stated that he has not received an official response from the USA to his new proposals for a peace plan yet.

➖"I haven't received a response from the USA yet. I've heard a few messages through the negotiating team, but I'm open to dialogue," he said, sounding disappointed at the Bankova.

▪️According to him, the plan will not satisfy everyone — it will require many compromises:
"The most important thing is that the plan should be as fair as possible, first and foremost for Ukraine. The main thing is that it should be effective," added Zelensky

▪️The issue of Ukraine's membership in NATO remains unrealistic, so a "compromise" in the form of bilateral security guarantees is being considered:
"Ukraine's main desire was to join NATO. These would have been real security guarantees, but our European partners and the USA did not support them.
Today, bilateral guarantees between Ukraine and the USA, as well as guarantees from the EU and other countries, are an opportunity to prevent Russia from attacking again. This is already a compromise,"

He hasn't been so sad since he was forced to wear a suit

@Slavyangrad

Soldiers of the 38th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade of the 35th Army of the "East" group of forces destroyed the stronghold of the 225th Oshp of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of Gulyai-Pole. A few boys had the sense to surrender, but the rest will never return home and see their families again.

At present, units of the "East" group of forces continue active offensive actions in the direction of Gulyai-Pole, destroying dozens of enemies every day. The casualties among the Armed Forces of Ukraine could have been much lower if they had laid down their arms and not chosen death for the sake of their commanders' interests, who care only about creating a good image for Zelensky.

However, the "East" group of forces made great efforts (more than once) to convey to the enemy soldiers options for saving their lives.

- Voin DV

@Slavyangrad

The British soldier, Lance Corporal George Hooley, who died in Ukraine on December 9th as a result of an "unfortunate accident", was indeed serving in the SFSG special forces support group.

In the photo, Hooley is during one of his deployments to Afghanistan.

Para 1 is the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG), similar concept to the US Army Rangers

@Slavyangrad