Also Belgorod under fire
Russian unit ambushed in Donbass
12/18/2022, 9:27 p.m
Territories in eastern Ukraine continue to be fiercely contested. According to information from Kyiv, the Ukrainian army has succeeded in ambushing the enemy in the Donbass and incapacitating hundreds of soldiers. Further north, people in the Russian border area are injured in the shelling.
The Ukrainian armed forces say they have destroyed at least two Russian ammunition dumps and anti-aircraft systems in fighting in the east of the country. This was announced by the General Staff in Kyiv. The Luftwaffe flew several missions. Location information was not given. Fighting also broke out further north in the Russian border region, in which one person died and other civilians were injured.
According to the General Staff in Kyiv, heavy losses were inflicted on Russian troops in the south-east of Ukraine in fierce fighting for the town of Bakhmut in the Donbass. There, a Russian unit with a strength of 400 to 800 men fell into a carefully prepared ambush and was “put out of action,” said presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich in Kyiv. The information cannot be independently verified at this time.
London: Morale low among Russian soldiers
It is unclear whether the defeat of the Russian unit in the Donbass has anything to do with the fighting spirit of the soldiers, but according to British intelligence, low morale is currently a major weakness in the Russian armed forces. This emerges from the daily briefing of the British Ministry of Defense on the situation in Ukraine.
Accordingly, the Russian soldiers have concerns regarding the very high number of casualties, poor leadership, lack of payment, lack of equipment and ammunition and the lack of clarity regarding the goals of the war. According to the intelligence services, the two newly formed “creative brigades”, which are supposed to improve the mood in the Russian troops with music and entertainment, will do little to change the morale of the soldiers.
Dead and injured following shelling in Belgorod
In the southeast, the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk came under artillery fire several times during the day. A hospital was hit, the Russian state agency TASS reported, citing local authorities. Because of the resulting fire, the evacuation of staff and patients had begun.
According to the authorities, one person was killed and eight injured in the shelling of the Belgorod region in the north-east near the border with Ukraine. “Our anti-aircraft defense was deployed over Belgorod and the surrounding area. There are consequences on the ground,” said the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, in his Telegram channel.
There were impacts both in the city center and in a nearby chicken farm. A worker who was busy building a new stable also died there. Of the eight injured, seven had to be hospitalized and one is in intensive care. Several homes and cars were damaged.
Russia has been bombing Ukraine since the start of its war of aggression almost ten months ago. However, the Russian border regions of Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod repeatedly complain regarding attacks on their own territory. In Belgorod, for example, a large oil depot detonated shortly following the war began. Videos show helicopters attacking the facility, apparently under Russian radar. Russia accuses Ukraine of the attacks, but Kyiv usually does not comment on them.
