🎙 Excerpts from President Vladimir Putin's speech at an expanded meeting of the Defence Ministry Board (December 19, 2023)

💬 The year of 2023 was a tense one for the Russian Armed Forces, and I want to say at once that our soldiers and officers, commanders at all levels courageously and professionally carried out tasks during special military operation, ensuring the country's sovereignty at the global level, nuclear missile parity and Russia's strategic security.

• The events of this year have confirmed that the West continues to wage hybrid warfare against Russia, actively providing the Kiev regime with real-time intelligence, sending military advisers, transferring modern weapons systems, including highly mobile multiple rocket launchers, long-range missile systems, cluster munitions and a large number of new UAVs. As we know, the West also planning to hand over F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine: pilots are being trained in the West.

📈 The activity of the NATO military bloc as a whole has also increased dramatically recently. Significant forces from the US, including aircraft, have been moved to our borders. The number of Alliance's troops in Eastern and Central Europe has increased. Finland, as we know, has already been drawn into NATO, and Sweden is planning to join. In fact, this means another stage in the alliance's approach to our borders.

❗️ The West is not abandoning its strategy to deter Russia and its aggressive goals in Ukraine. Well, we are not going to give up our goals of a special military operation either.

• Assessing the current situation on the ground, on the line of contact, we can say with confidence that our troops have the initiative. <...> The enemy is suffering heavy losses and has largely squandered its reserves. Incidentally, the myth of the invulnerability of Western military equipment has also collapsed.

☝️ All attempts, as they said in the West, to inflict on us a military defeat, a strategic defeat, crashed against the courage and fortitude of our soldiers.

⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️ Front #Summary for 19 Dec 2023 by 19:35⚡️

🔹In #Kherson Direction, fierce fighting continues in #Krynki. Ukrainian resources are publishing quite plausible, footage of drones hitting our armoured vehicles and TOSs. Obviously, the work of the enemy's UAVs remains dense. Despite this, it is reported that our army retook some more positions in #Krynki.

🔹In #Zaporozhye Direction, both sides are in active defence with localised battles, trying to improve their positions near #Rabotino and #Verbovoye, without large-scale actions. The work of artillery remains dense on both sides. It remains to be seen whether this section of the front will stabilise in its current position or whether our army will continue to take back positions along the #Rabotino - #Novoprokopovka - #Verbovoye line.

🔹In #SouthDonetsk Direction, on the #Vremyevka ledge, our artillery has become more active. Perhaps in preparation to move the front. South of #Novomikhaylovka, in the area of the industrial zone and the cemetery, our units have consolidated their positions. From the ground they report powerful attacks by our forces. And also that the AFU are withdrawing from the first line of defence.

🔹In #Donetsk Direction, our forces are preparing with artillery to storm the huge fortified area, the #Avdeyevka Coke Plant. Though smaller than #Mariupol's Azovstal, it was the largest coke plant in #Europe. Now the AFU are moving their units from the #Zaporozhye direction. Heavy battles are to be expected.

🔹In #Bakhmut Direction, they report that the approaches to the city have been cleared from the AFU. Our military have moved even closer to #Krasnoye (#Ivanovskoye), taking control of positions near the #Chernobylets settlement. Our military is clearing it out. Around #Kleshcheyevka, the assault on AFU fortifications continues. Near the Valyanovsky Nursery, our army forced the AFU out of the forest plantations, with a significant part of the enemy forces surrendering. The route to Chasov Yar is under our fire control.

🔹In #Svatovo Direction, the assault on #Sinkovka continues. Our military have so far failed to turn the situation in its favour, despite their numerical and technical advantage. In the scenario of a breakthrough, the AFU in #Petropavlovka will face a semi-encirclement. And this is already the approach to #Kupyansk. Therefore, the AFU are fighting so fiercely for these positions. Our positions in the forest area near #Sinkovka were subjected to massive shelling by artillery. The defeat of several APCs has been confirmed.

t.me/sitreports /@olegtsarov/#smo/
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