The unilateral truce announced by Moscow does not bring peace even for the Orthodox Christmas. Russian and Ukrainian forces accused each other of continuing the shelling even on Christmas Eve. Ukrainian President Zelensky congratulated newly elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy. The United States will provide a new package of arms aid to Ukraine worth more than $3 billion. The supply will include Sea Sparrow air defense missiles and Bradley fighting vehicles.
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In 3,000 in Zaporizhzhia forced to take Russian citizenship
In the city of Enerhodar, in the region of Zaporizhzhia, the Russians forced some 3,000 nuclear plant workers to take “so-called Russian passports”. This was stated by the Ukrainian military commands, quoted by Ukrinform. According to Kiev, the Ukrainian hryvnia has been taken out of circulation in the city while local businessmen are threatened with fines and asset confiscation for accepting the Ukrainian currency. The number of residential premises seized by occupiers and abandoned by those forced to flee has increased significantly, they say.
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Ukraine: GB, sector around Kreminna among the hardest contested
The fights in Ukraine they continued on a routine level even during the Orthodox Christmas period. This was reported by a tweet from the British Ministry of Defense in an intelligence update, explaining that one of the hardest-contested sectors continues to be around the city of Kreminna, in Luhansk Oblast. For the past 3 weeks, fighting around Kreminna has concentrated on the heavily forested terrain west of the city.
With coniferous woodlands providing some cover from aerial observation even in winter, both sides are likely to find it difficult to fine-tune artillery fire, British intelligence said, noting that as is typical of operations in forests, the fighting was largely reduced to infantry fighting on foot, often at close range. Russian commanders are very likely to view the pressure around Kreminna as a threat to Bakhmut’s right flank of their sector, which they see as critical to enabling any future advances to occupy the rest of Donetsk Oblast, the update concludes.
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USA, new supply of weapons for over 3 billion dollars
US to provide new arms aid package forUkraine worth more than $3 billion. The supply will include Sea Sparrow air defense missiles and Bradley fighting vehicles. This was announced by Reuters after viewing a document within the US administration. And the White House announces it. The Sea Sparrow missiles will help curb Russian missile attacks on Ukraine, which are intended to deplete Kiev’s air defenses and damage the country’s energy infrastructure.
The United States and Germany have also pledged to send Patriot missile systems to repel Russian missile and drone attacks. The RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is another air defense system available to Ukraine. It is currently in production by Raytheon Technologies and General Dynamics. The Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicle has a powerful gun and has been used regularly by the US Army to transport troops to battlefields since the mid-1980s. The US Army has thousands of Bradleys in service. The United States plans to send about 50 to Ukraine. Politico said Thursday that the Sea Sparrow system would be used on the Buk launcher, a Soviet-era weapon currently used by Ukraine.