According to Reuters: in the coming days the United States will announce the latest $1.2 billion military aid package to Ukraine from the Biden administration. While the issue of Ukraine’s possible entry into NATO is now the responsibility of Donald Trump’s team. This was stated by the special assistant to the president of the United States and director for European affairs of the National Security Council, Michael Carpenter. He doubts that this will happen next year, although negotiations could begin. NATO is considering the possibility of stationing European troops on Ukrainian soil, and the issue was discussed during the meeting of the Secretary General of NATO with President Volodymyr Zelenskyj.
One of the first events where Ukraine’s future could be decided could be the meeting in Ramstein that will take place in January, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced, citing a conversation he had with Portuguese Defense Minister Nuno Maelo.
According to the New York Times, “Europe itself will not be able to send peacekeepers to Ukraine without the participation of the United States,” citing Jeremy Shapiro, director of research at the European Council on Foreign Relations. The NYT writes that Trump is considering sending 40,000 European troops to the demarcation line in Ukraine after the end of hostilities. It notes that “such a proposal would provoke outrage in Berlin and London, where the refusal to send troops has been an article of faith since the early days of the war.” “There will not be an 800-mile buffer zone between Ukraine and Russia. Europe could not do that without the support of the United States. But this is a great example of political theater,” Shapiro says.
China may join the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, but not as the main mediator, US President Sullivan’s national security adviser said. The White House chief’s adviser noted that Trump’s recently expressed idea that China could help develop conditions for a just peace in Ukraine “is not crazy.”
A South Korean parliament member cited intelligence documents: at least 100 North Korean soldiers died in clashes near Kursk. According to him, North Korean soldiers are having a very difficult time in the war against UAVs. Also on the subject of North Korean soldiers on the Russian Kursk front: “Russia has now attracted no more than 12,000 North Korean soldiers,” Zelensky said. “No DPRK soldiers have been captured yet, but we have seen videos of those killed, practically all of them with Russian passports, we are recording all this. We also have a video where Russians are burning their faces to hide them,” he said. (Editor’s note: Regarding the death, deployment, and mutilation of North Korean soldiers, there are only unverifiable Ukrainian sources at the moment.)
Volodymyr Zelensky, also said: “Ukraine will not agree to reduce its armed forces as part of possible peace negotiations.” “He stressed that the Ukrainian army should be strong and the largest in Europe.” “Well, this means that the time for peace negotiations has not yet come.” Zelensky also responded to Putin: “This man [Putin] is just an old dreamer. He lives in another world, in his own.” “The Istanbul Accords never existed. There was only an ultimatum from Russia to seize our territories,” he said.
Ukraine is starting to receive the first US funds at the expense of frozen Russian assets, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said on December 20. “The World Bank will allocate $2 billion through the DPL mechanism. The day before, the Board of Directors of the Bank approved the distribution of funds. And today the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine signed the corresponding agreements with the World Bank,” he added.
General Igor Kirillov, who died in an explosion in Moscow, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia, TASS reports.
In Kursk, the general director of the Corporation for the Development of the Kursk Region, Vladimir Lukin, was arrested in the investigation into corruption in the construction of defense facilities, Lukin is accused of abuse of power, the court said. Nearly 2 million rubles in cash and a collection of luxury watches were found during a search in his home.
The Russian government will allocate more than 8.8 billion rubles to support the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. The corresponding orders were signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, according to the Cabinet of Ministers website.
The Russian military in response to the actions of the Ukrainian side on Friday morning launched a strike with high-precision weapons against targets in Ukraine, including the Luch enterprise in Kiev, the Russian Defense Ministry said. “In response to the actions of the Kiev regime, supported by Western curators, a collective strike with long-range high-precision weapons was carried out this morning on the SBU control center, the Kyiv Luch design bureau, which designs and produces the Neptune, missile systems, Vilkha MLRS land-based cruise missiles, as well as the positions of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system,” the Russian Defense Ministry wrote in a statement.
“The objectives of the strike were achieved. All objects were hit,” the military said.
And now a look at the front line as of 15:00 on December 20.
On December 19, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that six American-made ATACMS operational tactical missiles and four Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles were used in attacks on the Kamensky Combine enterprise in the Rostov region. “These actions of the Kiev regime, supported by Western curators, will not go unanswered,” the Defense Department warned. It is not clear whether this was the use of the Oreshnik or a massive missile strike.
The head of the Rylsk district of the Kursk region told RIA Novosti that the city of Rylsk was subjected to massive rocket fire by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on December 20, resulting in at least five deaths, 26 injured. According to the Russians, NATO weapons were used. In the Kursk region, Russian forces advanced with heavy fighting in forest plantations in the north of Sudzhansky district and in the Cherkasy Konopelka area.
In Novoivanovka there is no Ukrainian military presence, it is saving strength for counterattacks: 2 Ukrainian counterattacks in the direction of Novoivanovka and Daryino were thwarted by Russian troops, although the Ukrainian groups for counteractions no longer consist of 30 people with an attached tank, but of 12-14 soldiers and BRT. The Ukrainian forces are putting up strong resistance, slowing down the progress of the Russian military. FAB-3000 strikes by Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft destroyed 2 concentrations of personnel and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the settlements of Gornal and Malaya Loknya.
North of Kupyansk, Russian forces are expanding the bridgehead on the western bank of the Oskil River, continuing attacks in the southern part of the village. Dvorichna towards the center. South of Kupyansk, Russian forces advanced on a wide front in the direction of the Zahryzove – Lozova settlement.
Heavy fighting is underway in Toretsk. In the central part of the city, Russian troops continue attacks north of the waste heaps of the Tsentralnaya mine, along Svetlaya and Mirnaya streets, and north of the block of multi-storey buildings in the direction of the Avangard stadium.
In the south of the Pokrovsk direction, Russian forces advanced towards Ukrainka from Pushkine and Novoolenivka, and the next “pocket” between the villages is taken by the Russians and the Ukrainian military is driven out.
The Russian attack in Kiev on December 20 hit the Goloseevskij district, damaged the office building, the road surface and the gas pipeline five cars caught fire. In the Dnepr district: unfinished building damaged. In the Solomensky district, as a result of the shelling a fire broke out in the building. A “fall of debris” was also recorded in the Shevchenko district of the city hit by debris from a Ukrainian defense missile embassy of Portugal, no injuries.
Southwest of Kurachove, the forces of the 39th Guards Brigade of the 68th AK took the settlement Kostiantynopolske and Zelenivka. In Kurachove itself, the Ukrainians recognize the serious advance of the Russian armed forces: almost all the high-rise buildings are under Russian control. The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in official press releases calls the situation “complicated”. In the early afternoon of December 20, the Khortitsa Armed Forces Group announced the withdrawal from positions south of the city of Kurachove in Donbass to avoid encirclement by Russian forces.
In the north of the Vremivka “pocket” Rozdol’ne was taken, battles for Novy Komar are underway, Russian Armed Forces managed to gain a foothold in it.
According to Osinter estimates, the Russian attack in Kiev hit the building of the Central Security Service “A” of the SBU between the streets. Antonovich and V. Vasilkovskaya. Four explosions heard in the Ukrainian capital.
Graziella Giangiulio
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