Don's Weekly, 23 December 2024: Part 2
by Donald Hill
(…continued from Part 1…)
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Siversk
An attack on the 10th Mountain Brigade resulted in 52 dead and 37 wounded Russian infantry, plus 5 armored transports, 13 motorcycles, four golf carts and a 120 mm mortar. At the one minute mark a Ukrainian tank shells Russian infantry.
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Bakhmut
Generally, the ZSU has managed to recover the Works in central Chasiv Yar, back on 18-19 December, and then began pushing into the Canal District. The fighting there is still going on, with nobody being certain exactly how much of that part of the town is currently controlled by whom.
Russian drones hit Ukrainian positions in central, southern, and southeastern Chasiv Yar. Rockets from a BM-21 land in western Chasiv Yar in several attacks, as did TOS-1 thermobaric attacks. More rocket attacks were conducted south of Chasiv Yar. Despite the intensity of the artillery attacks, the front lines did not move.
A Russian hiding in a hole in the canal pipeline is targeted by a drone bomb, and a Russian fighting position just east of the pipeline was targeted by a bomb dropped by aircraft.
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Toretsk
There was plenty of gA Russian airstrike struck near the Toretskaya mine.
The 100th Brigade drops drones in central Torestsk.
The Khyzhak Brigade of the special police forces attacked several Russian positions. The first attack is 800 meters behind the established front line, but it appears that Russia was not able to maintain those positions. The rest were in southern Toretsk. Notice that each FPV strike is observed by a reconnaissance drone.
Like the Russians, Ukraine relies on civilian vehicles for frontline logistics. They lose a pickup a kilometer behind the front lines. You know from the donations how important those pickups are.
A video from a month ago shows a Russian assault being destroyed by artillery.
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Pokrovsk
For all the Russian losses and the Ukrainian counterattacks, the Russians not only secured Shevchenko and Novotroitske but expanded almost a kilometer further. Some Russians reached Pishchane before they were eliminated.
The 68th Jaeger Brigade conducts a series of drone attacks around Dachenske but the first attack is GRAPHIC: A Russian soldier hides from one drone from behind a tree and tries to knock it down with a stick, he is hit from behind with another drone.
A report that a lone Russian was dropped by gunfire while walking down a road 2500 meters west of Novotroitske. The date of this event wasn’t stated.
A Russian tank was destroyed by a Javelin on the road to Ukrainka. Two kilometers south of Yasenove, a Ukrainian truck with an EW jammer was hit by two drones. On the road north of Memryk, 12 Russian logistic vehicles were destroyed.
A large building in the village of Petrivka was being used as an assembly point for assaults three weeks ago so the Ukrainian air force removed it from play.
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Kurakhove
The 46th Brigade reports that the Russians are swarming Kurakhove and drone operators are working non-stop. The Russians continue to push Ukraine out of the cauldron at a high cost in personnel and equipment.
Two kilometers southwest of Uspenivka, three Russian tanks and a BMP were damaged or destroyed. An electrical substation just south of Dachne was attacked by a Russian drone.
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Velyka Novosilka
The bridge between Novocheretovatoe and Velyka Novosilka was destroyed by a Russian airstrike. An airstrike also destroyed a bridge in Velyka Novosilka, and more airstrikes on bridges followed. A Russian BTR is destroyed in Novyi Komar. Russia is working to isolate Velyka Novosilka east of the Mokri Yaly River.
What’s more, a Russian assault in between of Blahodatne and Makarivka cut off an unknown battalion of the ZSU holding the latter: Russian reinforcements around Makarivka are attacked by drones. Extraction efforts are underway for meanwhile four days: the ZSU attempted to ease the situation by a counterattack east of Rivnopil, but lost a tank and an armoured vehicle there.
A Ukrainian report from Rozdolne stated that a battalion of 200 men from the 23rd Brigade eliminated 30 armored vehicles around Rozdolne.
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Zaporizhzhia
The 128th Mountain Brigade was sent to help out on the Kurakhove/Velyka Novosilka front. The 141st Brigade took over the defense of Kamianske and went hunting for Russians wherever they were hiding. RUMINT has it that the 141st has meanwhile pushed the enemy away from Kamianske (on the left bank of the Dnipro), and is well in the process of securing the southern side of that town.
The 108th TD Brigade hit targets 10 km behind the front line from Polohy to locations to the west.
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Kherson
Early on 20 December - from 05.00 until 08.00hrs local time - the Russians heavily bombarded Kherson (city) with fire from BM-21 and BM-27 multiple rocket launchers, and tube artillery. This was the artillery bombaradment in question. Immediately after, they attempted to cross the Dnipro by multiple assault groups near the Antonivsky bridge. ‘Although the shelling was quite indiscriminate, there were casualties and victims, there was destruction of buildings and infrastructure, the enemy was not able to reach even the middle of the Dnieper,’ said the spokesman of the Southern Defense Forces. In the words of one of defenders, ‘our guys repelled the assault…lolts of dead Russians were flushed into the Black Sea’.
A Russian commission is dealing with a regiment in the Kherson region with discipline problems, a high suicide rate and multiple incidents of sabotage of boats.
Russia struck an oncology hospital in Kherson with two bombs - and then diverse of Pudding-friends proudly bragged about this in the social media…
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Unknown Location
A Ukrainian drone explodes at the entrance to the Russian position, as recorded and posted by the Russians.
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(…to be continued…)
Thank you
Thanks for the update, moving on to section three.