President Joe Biden has refused to grant Zelenskyy’s request for NATO membership. The Wall Street Journal publishes Trump’s main message from Saturday’s meeting with Macron and Zelenskyy, writing that Trump opposes Ukraine’s accession to NATO, and that European countries will have to shoulder the burden of supporting Ukraine, both with weapons and by sending European soldiers to Ukrainian territory to enforce the ceasefire.
Trump did not rule out that the United States would provide coordination assistance, but made it clear that there would be no American troops in Ukraine. Despite his opposition to Ukraine’s accession to NATO, he made it clear that he wants to see it strengthened militarily after the war and has prepared for further war scenarios. He also called on European countries to try to exert economic pressure on China. Despite his strong opposition to Biden’s decision to have Ukraine attack Russia with US missiles, some of his advisers actually support the move and see it as an opportunity to apply pressure in negotiations with Moscow.
According to Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the NATO secretary general on Wednesday to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine. Biden is determined to deliver as many weapons and ammunition as possible to Ukraine in the short time he is in office, both by plane and by ship, CNN reports. A senior administration official said: “The Department of Defense is making a ‘historic’ effort to transfer massive quantities of weapons to Ukraine over the next five weeks. Biden is expected to announce a new half-billion-dollar military aid package to Ukraine in the coming days.”
Italy is ready to participate in a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said.
France will continue to supply long-range SCALP missiles to Ukraine and considers military facilities on Russian territory to be legitimate targets for Ukrainians, the French Ambassador to Ukraine said. Emmanuel Macron will discuss the issue of deploying a peacekeeping mission on the territory of Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and peace between Ukraine and Russia at the summit of EU leaders on December 18-19. It should be noted that this discussion is inevitable due to the French president’s visit to Poland and discussions in the media on the topic of peacekeepers. And also – given Trump’s imminent rise to power in the United States and the need to prepare to discuss the situation of the war in Ukraine with him. At the same time, according to EU officials, the topic of peacekeepers is still very “raw” and at the level of an idea.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky: “Ukraine intercepted 81 missiles out of 93 launched by the Russian military, as well as 200 drones, 11 missiles were intercepted by Ukrainian F-16s” in the December 12 attack on Kiev alone. According to the IEA, five of the nine nuclear reactors in Ukraine have reduced their power due to an early morning missile attack. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sibiga said that Kiev “urgently” needs 20 NASAMS, HAWK and IRIS-T air defense systems. “Russia is trying to destroy energy resources, we must deprive it of the means of terror,” the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed.
The commander of the Donetsk OTU, Alexander Lutsenko, has been removed from his post due to the rapid advance of the Russians towards Pokrovs’k, source Financial Times. He has been replaced by Brigadier General Alexander Tarnavsky. As a Ukrainian official told the publication, Lutsenko will receive another assignment in the ground forces.
Russian troops have recently been advancing at the fastest pace since 2022. In November alone, Russian forces occupied about 702.1 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, slightly less than the area of Kiev. In addition, Russian troops have come very close to Pokrovsk, considered the “western gate of Donbass” and near which the last coking coal mine controlled by Kiev is located.
Vladimir Putin presented his government’s military priorities for 2025: “Maintaining the potential and balanced development of strategic nuclear forces as key tools for maintaining stability, protecting Russia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and working to create new systems and complexes of deterrent forces. In addition, it is important to maintain non-strategic combat forces in constant combat readiness.”
“Ensuring timely detection of the launch of US medium-range missiles and their interception. At the same time, it is necessary to solve all issues related to the serial production and use of such domestic strike systems, including hypersonic ones”.
“To more actively introduce the experience gained during a special military operation into combat training of troops, as well as into the programs of higher military educational institutions”.
“The experience of conducting a special military operation should be fully taken into account when determining the priority areas for the development of domestic weapons and equipment and the tactics of their use”.
“Through the introduction of advanced developments in the defense industry, it is necessary to form a single information circuit as soon as possible, combining means of reconnaissance and destruction at the levels of strategic, operational and tactical management”.
“It is necessary to increase the production of robotic complexes and unmanned systems of various classes and types. It is equally important to train operators, prepare them according to programs based on the experience of real combat operations”. “We need to continue to further expand military and military-technical cooperation with allies and partners, with those who are ready and willing to work with us, and this is the majority of countries in the world.”
“Social guarantees for military personnel and their families must be constantly strengthened and developed. This is the most important systemic task of the state.”
And now a look at the front line updated at 16:00 on December 16.
In the Kursk region, the Northern group of troops reports heavy fighting in the Sudzhansky district, Russian units are advancing near Guevo. There is talk in the social sphere of a massive Russian offensive.
North of Kupyansk, Russian troops continue to form bridgeheads on the right bank of the Oskil River. There were separate reports about the creation of a new landing point for the Russian Armed Forces in Masyutivka.
In Torets’k, the Russian Armed Forces advanced into the Khimkolonka microdistrict further west in the urban development. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, retreating, mined the abandoned buildings. Battles are ongoing.
In the Pokrovs’k direction according to the Russian social sphere there are battles near the Shevchenko settlement, located south of the city. It was reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were bringing reserves into battle to hold Pokrovs’k.
In Kurachove the Ukrainian Armed Forces admit the complete loss of a block of multi-storey buildings. Most of the city is under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. The battles near Kostyantynivka continue, the Uspenivka pocket is cleared by the Russian military and taken possession of it, Hannivka has been taken by the Russians. The Ukrainian Armed Forces never received the order to retreat from the command, despite the obvious encirclement.
In the Vremivka direction, battles resumed for the settlement of Novyi Komar, which is located north of the cascade of these villages. It is noteworthy that the passage of the Ukrainian Armed Forces through the water barrier near the settlement was destroyed. The Ukrainian Armed Forces moved to Novoocheretuvate.
On the night of December 15, three UAVs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked Grozny in the morning. Two of them were shot down by air defense forces. The third fell on the area where the AKHMAT-Grozny riot police of the Russian Guard of the Chechen Republic were located.
Ukrainian attacks in the Belgorod region continued over the weekend. On Saturday, one person was killed in a drone attack on a residential building in the village of Maisky. Two were injured.
In Horlivka (DPR), following the launch of an IED from a UAV of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a car on the road. One dead and one injured. The impact of NATO caliber cluster artillery shells on the road caused one dead and three injured.
Graziella Giangiulio
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