Ukraine continues to kidnap: one of the senior army officers was deposed

The Ukrainian army was forced to dismiss one of its most senior commanders, following a series of failures in the war against Russia, it was reported yesterday (Saturday). General Oleksandr Tarnevsky is expected to replace General Oleksandr Lutsenko in the position of head of the operational and tactical formation of the fighting forces on the Eastern Front. This step comes at one of Ukraine’s most difficult hours in the war, as the Russian army continues to advance and capture territory, almost three years since the war broke out.Military bloggers pointed out this weekend that the Russian army is already only three kilometers away from the strategic city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The fall of Pokrovsk, which serves as an important logistical center for the Ukrainian army, would risk the fall of a wider area, because without it the local army would have a much harder time continue to manage the defense missions. Throughout the last months, very difficult battles have been going on in the region, while Russia is making consistent progress.

Over the past few months, the Russian army has succeeded in occupying many settlements in eastern Ukraine, at a rate of occupation of hundreds of square kilometers per month. Both armies are determined to try and improve their positions towards what appears to be President-elect Trump’s plan to end the fighting, most likely while freezing the situation within the existing fighting borders. In the meantime, Zelensky informed yesterday that in recent days the Russian army has begun to use North Korean forces “significantly” in fighting in the district Kursk in Russia, where Ukraine still holds an area of ​​hundreds of square kilometers.

The air battles between Russia and Ukraine continued last night as well. Over the weekend, Russia carried out one of the largest air attacks in recent months against Ukraine, with more than 90 missiles and about 200 drones launched at gas and energy facilities. Also tonight, Russia launched 108 drones, of which 56 were shot down and another 49 were shot down by electronic means.

Not only Russia attacks Ukraine intensively from the air, and tonight there was another drone attack by Ukraine on Russian territory. In the documentation published by unofficial Russian sources, it appears that a Ukrainian drone hit a military base in Grozny in Chechnya, in the Russian Caucasus region – a distance of More than 800 km from the border.

 

A closer shot of the drone attack on Grozny appeared in Russian Telegram channels.

It is reported that a base of the special operations unit was hit. https://t.co/mDhiMAfbnE pic.twitter.com/PBO45aJBl7

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) December 15, 2024

At the same time as the partial withdrawal of the Russian army from Syria, it was reported on Friday that two Russian cargo ships carrying shipments of wheat to Syria – did not reach their destination. Russian sources explained that there is uncertainty regarding the new government in Damascus and its ability to pay for the shipments. The Russians’ decision not to send the ships to Syria raises the fear of a food shortage in the country, which is trying to recover from the days of Assad’s rule.

In response to the Russians’ move to stop shipments to Syria – Ukrainian President Zelensky is trying to take advantage of the opportunity and enter the Syrian food market in their place. Zelensky announced yesterday that he instructed his people in Kiev to start developing a mechanism for exporting grain to Syria, in cooperation with the international organizations. Ukraine is one of the largest grain producers in the world, and exports grains and oils to countries in the Middle East, but to date has not done so in Syria either – which was a key ally of Russia. It is important to note that a significant part of the grain that Russia exports was stolen from Ukraine under the auspices of the war.