December 29 2024


Ukrainian Defense Forces spokesman, Vladislav Voloshyn, reported that there was another failed Russian raid in the Dnipro area. Russian troops attempted to land on Kozatsky Island near Kherson. Voloshyn reported that the Russians faced losses, including boats, watercraft, and personnel. The Russians failed to capture the island. These islands are important as they lie in the "gray zone" between the right and left banks of the Dnipro River, and controlling them could help Russia in its future attempts at making a landing on the right bank of the river. He also stated that there are currently around 600,000 Russian soldiers in the occupied territories of Ukraine.


Three Russian officers were killed in a missile strike in the Zaporizhzhia region. They met in a parking lot near a memorial. The officers were targeted with HIMARS missiles armed with cluster munition warheads. Afterward, Ukrainian drones attacked the evacuation team. The officers killed were Captain Dmitry Nagornyi, Captain Grigory Krokhmalov, and Captain Yuriy Fomin. Five Russian vehicles were also destroyed.


According to French media outlet RTL, Ukrainian pilots and ground crews have completed their training on French Mirage 2000-5F fighter jets.  France might give Ukraine between 12 and 20 of these jets, with the first three coming in early 2025. The planes are being updated to carry weapons that can hit ground targets, including SCALP missiles and AASM Hammer bombs that Ukrainian pilots already know how to use. The training lasted six months and was part of France's promise to help Ukraine, which President Macron announced in June.


On December 25, 2024, the Russian tanker Eagle S allegedly damaged an underwater cables between Finland and Europe. During inspection, a broken anchor was found potentially linked to the damage. The Eagle S is part of Russia's shadow fleet and was carrying a full cargo of unleaded gasoline. Finnish authorities later discovered spy equipment on the ship after boarding it, including special transmitters and receivers connected to the ship's systems, drawing excessive power that caused occasional blackouts aboard the ship. The equipment was stored on the navigation bridge and included suitcases and laptops with Turkish and Russian keyboards. The crew dropped sensors in the English Channel, and similar equipment was later found on another Russian tanker, the Swiftsea Rider. The Eagle S is currently detained by Finnish authorities.


Greece will provide 24 Rim-7 Sea Sparrow missiles to Ukraine. The missiles came from the reserves of the Greek Navy and Air Force.


Russia cut off gas to Transnistria. They claim it is due to the failure to pay for previous shipments, but Ukraine was probably going to cut gas off to them anyways on January 1st.


Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on December 27 that his government may retaliate against Ukraine if it stops transiting Russian gas to Slovakia after January 1. Retaliation could include refusing to supply Ukraine with power during power outages. Slovakia still chooses to be heavily dependent on Russian gas and it could face extra costs of around €220 million for alternative sources. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister pointed out that Ukraine actually pays for the electricity Slovakia provides and that Russia and Slovakia are the only 2 countries in the world threatening to freeze Ukrainian civilians. The Minister also pointed out that Slovakia is part of the common European energy market and must obey laws and is subject to decisions by the European Commission, who he called upon to “respond to Slovak threats.”


On December 28, Putin signed laws increasing the punishment for armed rebellion, “terrorism” and “extremism.” The changes include raising the minimum sentence from 15 to 20 years and denying parole for those receiving life sentences. The grounds for labeling someone an extremist have been expanded. “Aiding the enemy” can now be punished with sentences of up to 15 years. The rules governing “volunteer formations" have been changed so that members of them can be punished for disobeying orders, resisting a superior, leaving a unit or place of service without permission, desertion, voluntary surrender, and other crimes. The Russian Federal Service for Financial Monitoring has been given increased surveillance powers to monitor people for “extremism” and “supporting extremism.” There are new laws targeting "initiating color revolutions,” “falsifying history,” “terrorism,” and supporting the idea of “decolonization.”

From Rustem Umerov’s Facebook page:

    “In 2024, Ukraine significantly advanced its defense-industrial complex. The drone industry in our country experienced remarkable growth, reaching unprecedented production scales this year.
Ukrainian drones accounted for 96.2% of all UAVs supplied to the Defense Forces this year.
Thanks to domestic production orders from the Ministry of Defense, we are meeting the key needs of our warriors while reducing dependence on partner supplies.
In 2024, Ukrainian manufacturers produced and assembled:
🔹 Over 1.5 million FPV drones (together with the SSSCIP)
🔹 Strike copter bombers
🔹 Kamikaze aircraft
🔹 Reconnaissance wing drones
🔹 Long-range deep-strike drones
These figures demonstrate a new level of efficiency in collaboration between the state and Ukrainian UAV manufacturers. Cooperation with domestic enterprises will remain our priority in 2025.
We support Ukraine’s economy and provide our warriors with the best weaponry for victory”

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that North Korean troops fighting in Kursk Oblast have suffered over 1,000 casualties over the past week and are used in human wave attacks. He said the North Koreans seem heavily indoctrinated and carry out hopeless attacks, and that many commit suicide instead of allowing themselves to be captured. He speculated that this happens because their families will probably be targeted and punished if they surrender.


The AP reported that the US will announce $1.25 billion in military aid to Ukraine on Dec. 30, according to unnamed U.S. officials.


The ISW reported that Russia has significantly increased its production of Shaheds. The Alabuga drone production facility in Tatarstan is Russia’s primary production site for Shaheds. Russia has built two new workshops and installed anti-drone nets over the buildings. They have also created a direct rail line between Russia and China to make it easier to supply drone components. Due to sanctions, Russia is having to rely on inferior Chinese made engines in its drones. The Alabuga facility produced 5,760 drones between January and September 2024. This is more than double the number produced in 2023. Russia is also manufacturing decoy drones similar to Shaheds. About 10,000 decoy drones are expected to be produced by the end of 2024.


The Russians have set up classes in the occupied territories of Ukraine to teach teenagers how to build drones for the Russian military. These classes have full support from the “governments” installed by the Russians, including the Ministries of Education in those regions. Russia is looking to expand these programs, and keep them running at least through 2030.


The UK Ministry of Defense published a statement saying that Russia seems to be switching to a strategy of larger but less frequent missile attacks. The longer pauses give more time for Russia to build up their stockpiles and increase the likelihood of success.


On December 28, the entire city of Pokrovsk was left without power. The cause of the outage was unknown as was the timeframe for restoring electricity.


Ukrainian energy company DTEK received its first shipment of liquefied natural gas from the United States, the vessel carrying it docked in Greece. The ship delivered 100 million cubic meters of gas, equivalent to 1 TW of electricity according to DTEK. “Working with Greek and other partners, the LNG will now be re-gasified and exchanged through European Union and Ukrainian gas networks," DTEK's website reports. D.Trading, DTEK's pan-European trading subsidiary, said that it is bringing in this first cargo via Greece due to war-related restrictions on LNG transits into the Black Sea and Ukraine directly. Instead, it will use regasification terminals like Revithoussa together with cross-border pipelines such as the Vertical Corridor initiative, which transmits gas between Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The shipment is part of broader efforts to enhance Ukraine and Europe's energy security by reducing reliance on Russian-supplied gas, DTEK said.


Battlefield reports. Mostly gathered from social media posts made by soldiers. Each is a quote with an attribution. These should be organized by region and the regions are organized from North to South.

Lyman Direction

-30-35% of Terny is under Russian control. The enemy continues to put pressure on the settlement of Terny, as it is quite important for further military operations in the Lyman and Siversk directions. Russians indeed control about 30-35% of Terny, but it's mostly a desert landscape now, just ruins that are impossible to secure a foothold in.

Here they are also attacking using civilian vehicles and pickups, but without success so far. The problem is that by spring 2024, there was almost nothing left of Terny, and I'm afraid to imagine what it's like now. It's good that the Russians can't secure their positions, but our guys still need to somehow hold all of this. - Officer Alex


-Lyman direction: East of Terny, Russian forces, supported by two armored vehicles, attacked toward the southern part of the settlement, where they came under fire from Ukrainian forces. According to information from the ground, the enemy failed to secure positions, but continues attempts to break through to the southern part. -Petrenko_IHS

Kramatorsk Direction

-Soon there will be powerful battles in the Kramatorsk direction. We are preparing FPV and bombers, guys, we will earn a lot of "points". - Stanislav Osman

Bakhmut Direction

-On the Bakhmut direction, all Russian attacks were repelled. We continue to maintain control of our positions, unfortunately have 300 [300 is slang for wounded] comrades (evacuations of the guys are being conducted). Thank you for the purchased vehicles that are evacuating our brothers, you specifically have saved many lives. We are very grateful to you -Bakhmutskyy

-As for [Chasiv Yar], the podars tried to get through on equipment, but they were stopped." -Bakhmut Demon

Toretsk Area

-In Toretsk, we managed to partially stop the Podarys and force them to fight, and in some places, we managed to counterattack and recapture positions, but we are not talking about moving forward, but rather tactical actions aimed at containing the enemy. The guys are holding Toretsk -Officer Alex


-"Situation in Toretsk: In the central part of the city, Russian forces continue attacks toward the waste heap of Mine No. 10 along 3rd Maisky and 2nd Maisky lanes, and Khimicheskaya and Podolskaya streets.

North of the multi-story residential blocks, the enemy has advanced along Lesia Ukrainka Street and continues attacks toward waste heap No. 1 of the Toretska mine. The situation remains dynamic. -Petrnko_IHS


-In the AR, for several days in a row, the podars have been carrying out assault operations with infantry, looking for weak spots. Now work is also underway, they have become more active from the direction of Nesteryanka, the guys are destroying them with drones. -Stanislav Osman

Pokrovsk Direction

-Pokrovsky direction.
The enemy continues infantry assault operations in the Novovasylivka - Novoelizavetivka - Ukrainka area, movement is mainly along forest belts, mainly involving automotive equipment such as Loaf, Niva for transporting ammunition and provisions.

They are trying to move through the forest belts in the above-mentioned areas to place ATGM crews. They are also trying to set up minefields, because they are very afraid of our equipment.

The advance to Pokrovsk and its probable assault are, quite expectedly, on pause, while the Podarys are engaged in expanding the salient. -Officer Alex


-The Russians have significantly strengthened and expanded their salient near Pokrovsk and continue to expand it in all directions: to the west (Novovasilika) and to the south (Ukrainka). They continue their assaults using Soviet-era vehicles, not deploying armor for these banzai attacks, only for fire support.
The trend and situation are not encouraging -Officer Alex


-Pokrovsk direction: In the industrial zone on the eastern outskirts of Pischane, the enemy has occupied several structures and continues attacks toward Tsentralna Street.  - Petrenko_IHS

-Pokrovsk direction: We're holding at the approaches to the city, assaults every day, wave after wave. They can't do it on foot, so now they're coming with vehicles. Our FPV drones are everything 💪

Drones really handle 80% of these assaults. Not without our infantry though, they're true Lions.....

They've advanced in the direction of Novovasilivka and Novoyelizavetivka, fighting is already happening within these settlements.

And again, drones are helping... We keep working.....-Bakhmutskyy

-The Pishchane area: The enemy is already reaching the industrial zone and securing new positions on the village outskirts! Our warriors from the 425th Separate Assault Battalion "Skala" took down a group of enemy forces in the tree lines and eliminated one who had made it into the industrial zone! -Muchnoy Jugend

-Pokrovsk direction: The enemy is attacking towards Chunyshyne from the south, trying to move along the road to Pokrovsk, thereby knocking our units out of Zelenye and covering Lysivka from the west, and also forcing us to retreat to Novopavlivka. We are still holding out, but the situation could escalate in an instant! Also regarding Peschany, the mine building No. 3 is already behind the enemy! Then this will simplify the movement from Vovkovo to Kotlyne and along the railway to break through to the main road to block the roads to the city! -Muchnoy Jugend



-It is clear that the enemy will not storm Pokrovsk "frontally".
The enemy is transferring reserves to the southwest to bypass the city from the flank and cut off one of the main logistical routes of the city.

If he completes this task, he will try to enter the city, the most realistic scenario is from the Shevchenko side.

Next will be a standard massacre, a bunch of Podar infantry and cockroach assaults, it is only necessary for them to gain a foothold in 2-3 apartment buildings. -Stanislav Osman

-There are very fierce battles in the Pokrovsk direction, today the enemy is again using armored vehicles and a lot of infantry.

Intense battles force the guys to increase the costs of FPV and Mavic many times, sometimes they have to spend personal funds.

The combat commander of the 59th OMPBr approached me with a request to draw the attention of the higher command to the problem of an insufficient number of FPV and reconnaissance drones for the effective performance of tasks by pilot crews.

Norms are “good”, bureaucracy is also good, but they will not wait for a bunch of papers. -Stanislav Osman

-Pidar FPV drones were spotted in the area of ​​the Pavlohrad - Pokrovsk highway approximately 5 km from the administrative border of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, near the village of Sergiyevka. -Officer Alex

Kurakhiv Direction

-In general, after the closure of the "Uspenivka Pocket", the enemy's activity in Kurakhive has decreased somewhat, and it is unclear whether they are exhausted and waiting for rotations, or whether they are regrouping forces, but the fact remains that the enemy's activity in most of the LBZs in the direction is minimal.

Of course, small infantry groups are constantly trying to crawl through the forest plantations, but the pace and activity are clearly not the same.
The position of the troops still continues to be threatening, although this is clearly visible on the maps in public access. -Officer Alex


-Kurakhiv Direction: In the area of Petropavlivka, there's heavy movement, the enemy is located in the plantation before the village, and our FPV drones are working on them. They are trying to cross the field to attack the village from the east! There is also advancement north of Novoelyzavetivka, with the enemy controlling half of the village!

As for Kurakhiv itself: The enemy has been able to advance 1.5 km towards the power station (TES), but they are unable to secure the power plant yet. According to the plan, they will continue moving towards the KTZ (pipe factory). The only advancement in the enemy’s direction is near Rozliv, where they took a square with plantings, and there are still 5 more plantations before reaching the village. - Muchnoy Jugend

-Kurakhiv Direction: The enemy is currently showing particular activity around three key villages: Slovyanka, Petropavlivka, and Shevchenko. Capturing any of these villages will lead to further enemy advancement along the Vovcha River towards Andriyivka. In doing so, they aim to cut the communication between Andriyivka and Yaseneve. In fact, this road won’t play a significant role, but the road from Oleksiivka to Andriyivka will be the main supporting route for the defense of the village!The enemy is also trying to bypass Kurakhiv from the south to apply pressure on the power station from both sides, thus pushing us out of this narrow strip. We continue to hold the enemy at the Konstantynopil area, with the goal of advancing towards Yantarny. To the west of Konstantynopil, the enemy has taken control of Hihant. We are holding Ulakly-Kostyantynopil-Rozliv, but the pressure on the last village has increased, so further enemy advances should be expected. Overall, the situation is seriously escalating, and additional, fresh reserves will be essential here. -Muchnoy Jugend

-Attention fighters in the Kurakhiv direction!
I would like to inform you that the entire route from Bogatyr to Dachny (towards Kurakhove) is strewn with PFM (petal) mines, the tunnels were mined about 2 hours ago, the guys have -1 box, everyone is alive, but keep in mind that this is the main and almost the only artery to Kurakhove and the enemy will use all possible means to complicate logistics. -Officer Alex


-In the Zelenivka area on Kurakhiv, things are somewhat better than in the entire direction, the enemy is not having any success, unlike Kurakhovo, the capture of which, unfortunately, is already a matter of time...

Regarding the southern direction, the Zelenivka area, for reference, over the past 10 days, in a 2-3 km wide area, only about 100 enemy corpses have been officially confirmed and recorded (there are photos for each). -Officer Alex

Kherson Direction

-Despite the shelling, the podar have become more active on the islands in the Kherson direction, the guys are having nightmares about them every day, like in a shooting gallery)

Of course, the podars will not take Kherson, even with their resources it is an unrealistic task to make a bridgehead on the right bank, unless they are fooled, and they will not be, because the natural and artificial obstacles there will be very difficult for them. But terrorizing the city with artillery and stretching our resources along the front is a more realistic task. -Officer Alex


-It's so satisfying to watch footage of [Russians] struggling in the swamps on the islands at the Dnipro's estuary. These idiots keep trying to gather there, constantly relocating people to establish a foothold or something resembling a base. It's such stupidity to deploy personnel to those islands because it's all swamps and reeds—it's impossible to stay there, let alone establish a position. We gladly let them in, but nobody comes back out. -Officer Alex

Posted by Russian blogger vdv_za_chestnost_a_spavedlivost. This is a post he says was sent to him by a Unit in the Kherson area.

This part was written by the blogger:

-In our Dnepr Group, Teplinsky’s paranoid idea about forcing [crossing] the Dnieper continues to circulate. Now our military units are being filled with floating craft and preparing these floating craft for crossing.

This part was written by his source:

-We are preparing at full speed! 12 BMPs were brought in 2 weeks ago.
Mech units fiddled with them, shamanized them, and re-motivated them.
On Thursday, a commission from the administration came to check the readiness. As a result, out of 12 vehicles, only 3 passed the technical and fire readiness check.
The mechs were smashed to pieces, and the guys and I, to be honest, breathed a sigh of relief.
Now they should bring in another 12 BMPs in January.
These 9 mechanized companies will check for defects, get spare parts for them and then it's fire. In general, we are waiting again. We are preparing to celebrate the New Year, for now on the left, but by the end of January we will definitely be on the right!"
From the blogger again:

-Well, tell us, dear subscribers, why the hell are we being forced to jerk off fate with this forcing
Fuck... everything is in shit, there is nothing, all the equipment that comes in is “killed”.


Other Observations:

-It was the third week of active combat operations by the DPRK military; so far, NOT ONE radio intercept has been recorded, and no means of communication were found during the inspection of the [dead]. They don't even communicate with each other during assaults, and the Russians don't consider it advisable to communicate with commanders and drone operators either, because no one will understand them anyway)

Stupid meat that Kim Jong-un sold to Putin and forgot about them, and if they dare not die and surrender - death to their families. -Officer Alex

-The situation with drones has really improved significantly.
I can't speak for all units, but in ours and some others I know, Mavics and FPV drones have become a regular tool rather than a luxury.

Of course, we still have some gaps in the shortage of 'birds' that we have to fill with donations, but these are no longer the same scales. Most of the charitable contributions from people are now directed towards purchasing pickup trucks, equipment for work, repairs for machinery, and various consumables. -Stanislav Osman

Quote of the Day:

“Wise random hedgehogs at bars are modern-day Oracles of Delphi, except drunk and sometimes leaving abruptly when it's their turn for karaoke.”

― Kelly Williams Brown, Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps