Daily Briefing from Ukraine

·      Top 5 Headlines

·      Ukraine Summer Offensive Summary

·      President Zelensky’s Message of the Day

Top 5 Headlines

1.    Russian dictator Vladimir Putin tried to persuade Wagner fighters to join the Russian military and continue fighting against Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the aborted Wagner mutiny, attempted to downplay his armed rebellion to protect himself from accusations of attempting a coup against Putin.

2.    "There is no choice: Russia will have to launch a nuclear strike on Europe," said a leading Russian propagandist on the Kremlin’s main propaganda website, RIA Novosti. Dr Sergiy Karaganov, a political scientist affiliated with the Russian Security Council, called on the Kremlin to consider a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the EU.

3.    Ukraine and Britain may track the grain that Russian occupying forces steal and export from Ukraine’s territory. A bilateral Ministerial meeting also looked at monitoring the quality of the soils that were flooded following the Kakhovka dam’s destruction.

4.    Denmark announced the start of training for Ukrainian pilots on Western F-16 fighters. Its Minister said that Denmark "has taken the step of starting a training and further education effort for the Ukrainian pilots” and that “[Denmark] will also consider whether we should make a concrete donation to Ukraine of the Danish F-16 fighters. The anticipated training period is six to eight months of training before the possible donation of Danish F-16s could proceed.

Other Topics of Interest

Zelensky Condemns Russian ‘Inhumane’ Christmas Attack on Energy Grid

More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and over one hundred attack drones targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Christmas morning.

5.    24,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained by the EU, according to its High Representative for Foreign Affairs. "And, of course, the goal of 30,000 [trained soldiers. – ed.] by the end of the year will be achieved long before the end of the year," Joseph Borrell said. 

Ukraine Summer Offensive Summary

Snapshot

Ukrainian troops recorded gains: the village of Rivnopil; a bridgehead over the Dnipro River, and; a strategic bridgehead outside Bakhmut. 

Zone A. TO518 / Mokri Yaly River Axis - boundary of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions

·      “Defence forces have brought Rivnopil back under our control. We are moving ahead,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar wrote on Telegram. Rivnopil would be the 9th village recaptured by Ukrainian forces during the offensive and enlarges recaptured territory to 130 square kilometers.

·      Pro-Russian sources confirmed that Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia administrative border area, according to ISW.

Zone B. Western Zaporizhzhia

·      The Russian MoD claimed Russian forces repelled Ukrainian ground attacks near Robotyne, south of Orikhiv in western Zaporizhzhia region, while Ukrainian military spokesmen stated that Ukrainian forces advanced by an unspecified one and a half kilometers into the zone.

Zone C. Bakhmut

·      Over the weekend, Ukrainian infantry units pushed forward between 500 and 1,000 meters outside the city of Bakhmut.

·      The Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky stated that Ukrainian forces cleared a strategic Russian bridgehead across the Siversky-Donets Donbas canal some 8 kilometers from Bakhmut.

Other Zones & Activity, including Kherson, Avdiivka and Mariinka.

·      Ukrainian forces have crossed the Dnipro River and retaken territory on the left bank in the Kherson region. According to pro-Russian Telegram channels and geolocated data cited by ISW, Ukrainian troops have seized the village of Dachi, opposite the city of Kherson, and near the destroyed Antonovsky Bridge. They have dug in and are seeking to establish a bridgehead, the channels said.

·      Russian troops are redeploying equipment from the left bank of Kherson region to Crimea, as looting intensified in the occupied territory, according to Serhiy Khlan, a member of the Kherson Regional Council.

·      Ukrainian troops advanced half a kilometer and captured “several Russian positions” outside the village of Krasnohorivka, near Mariinka in Donetsk region, which has been under Russian control for nine years, said Valeriy Shershen, press officer for Ukraine’s eastern command.

·      The number of Russian attacks on the positions of Ukraine’s National Guard on the Kupiansk and Lyman fronts has more than doubled over the past week, according to Ruslan Muzychuk, spokesman for Ukraine’s National Guard, but Ukrainian forces reportedly recaptured lost positions in the Serebianka forest.

·      Russian troops opened fire on the Volnovakha district’s village of Novyi Komar in the Donetsk region. One civilian was reported killed and one injured, according to the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

·      Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks northwest of Svatove and south of Kreminna, according to ISW.

·      Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line, according to ISW.

President Zelensky’s Message