Russo-Ukraine War - 22 December 2022 - Day 302

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A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

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The UK Ministry of Defence reported that on 19 December 2022, President Putin travelled to Minsk to hold talks with President Lukashenko of Belarus. The presidents' discussion included talk of a 'single defence space'.

Although Russia and Belarus prominently publicise Russian units' deployments into Belarus, the armed forces of Belarus have likely recently taken on a significant, but more discreet role in training thousands of newly mobilised Russian reservists.

The likely use of Belarusian instructors is an attempt to partially remediate the lack of Russian military trainers, many of whom are deployed in Ukraine or have become casualties. Although Russia and Belarus have an extensive background of military co-operation, the training of mobilised Russian personnel by Belarusians represents a role reversal. Belarusian forces have traditionally been considered by Russia as inferior to Russian forces and their employment as trainers is an indication of overstretch within the Russian military system.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day, the Russian occupiers launched 5 missile and 5 air strikes, as well as about 15 MLRS attacks, including a night attack on the civilian infrastructure of the city of Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk oblast. During the day, Russian forces shelled Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk oblast, where there are victims among the civilian population.

There remains the threat of air and missile strikes on critical infrastructure facilities throughout Ukraine. Russia continues to focus his efforts on conducting offensive actions in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions and does not stop trying to improve the tactical position in the Kupyansk and Lyman directions.

In the Volyn, Polissya, Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions, the situation has not changed significantly, and no signs of the formation of Russian offensive groups have been detected.
In the Slobozhansky direction, areas of Shevchenka, Stielecha, Neskuchne, Ternova, Starytsa, Vovchansk, Volokhivka, Stroivka and Kupyansk of the Kharkiv oblast were hit by tank, mortar and artillery shelling.
In the Kupyansk direction, Russian forces shelled the districts of Novomlynsk, Krokhmalne, and Berestove in the Kharkiv oblast, and Novoselivske and Stelmakhivka in the Luhansk oblast.
On the Lyman direction, Makiivka, Ploshchanka, Chervonopopivka and Dibrova of the Luhansk oblast were affected by the fire.
In the direction of Bakhmut, Russian forces shelled Verkhnokamianske, Bilohorivka, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, Andriivka, Oleksandro-Shultyne, Kurdyumivka, Ozaryanivka, and New York of the Donetsk oblast.
In the Avdiivka direction, the areas of Kostyantynivka, Vodyane, Nevelske, Krasnohorivka, Heorhiivka, Maryinka and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk oblast were affected by the storm.
In the direction of Novopavlivsk, Russian forces shelled the areas of Vremivka, Velyka Novosilka, Neskuchne, Vuhledar, and Mykilsky of the Donetsk oblast.
In the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions, Russia continues mortar and artillery shelling of civilian infrastructure along the right bank of the Dnipro River. More than 25 settlements were damaged. Among them - Novopil of Donetsk oblast; Stepove, Hulyaipole, Shcherbaky, Mala Tokmachka and Dorozhnyanka of the Zaporizhzhia oblast; Manhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast and Novodmytrivka, Kachkarivka, Kherson, Inzhenerne and Lvove in the Kherson oblast. At night, Russian forces also launched a rocket attack on the town of Ochakiv, Mykolaiv oblast.

On December 20 of this year, the Defense Forces struck a concentration of enemy personnel in the Mykolaivka area of the Skadovsk district of the Kherson oblast. As a result, up to 140 servicemen of the Russian occupation forces were injured and 8 Kamaz trucks with ammunition were destroyed.

According to detailed information, the occupiers lost up to 150 people killed and about 50 wounded as a result of the attack on Russian forces' field airfield in the Kakhovka district of the Kherson oblast on December 20. Up to 20 units of military equipment of various types were destroyed.

Units of missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces of Ukraine hit the control post, 2 ammunition warehouses and 3 areas of Russian concentration of manpower during the day.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reports the elimination of two Ukrainian sabotage groups in the areas of the settlements of Sladkoe and Levadne, as well as the defeat of 57 artillery units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and 93 areas where enemy troops are concentrated.

At the same time, an electronic warfare station, an M777 artillery system repair point, and three ammunition depots were destroyed. Two Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29s and Mi-8s, three drones and two rockets were shot down in the air.

Also today, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited the special military operation zone. He inspected the conditions for the deployment and provision of personnel in positional areas, heard reports from commanders and talked with servicemen. Separately, the priority of comprehensive provision of the military group with everything necessary for the successful solution of combat missions and being in the winter field conditions was noted.

The head of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, summing up the results of the year, said that at the moment the line of contact is stretching for 815 kilometers. For ten months, more than 1,300 critical infrastructure facilities have been hit on the territory of Ukraine, and aircraft, on average, made 150 sorties per day.

In addition, it was announced that Kyiv received over 350 tanks, 700 artillery systems, 100 rocket launchers, 30 helicopters and at least 5,000 drones from the West during the special operation.

The situation in Donbass

During the day, Ukrainian shelling focuses on the Petrovsky, Kievsky and Kuibyshevsky districts of Donetsk. Residential development and civil infrastructure are under attack. Also, air defense systems are working in other areas of the DPR.

The LPR, as part of the exchange of the dead, handed over the bodies of more than 100 servicemen to the Ukrainian side, receiving the corresponding number of fallen soldiers of the republic. The authorities note that the dialogue between the parties on this issue can, oddly enough, be called "constructive."