The Ukrainian Army General Staff confirmed an attack on "Russian military positions and equipment in the city of Chulakivk " in the southern Kherson region, indicating that "on December 31, 500 soldiers of the Moscow Army were killed or wounded ".

In Kherson, Russian forces "continue to bomb settlements along the right bank of the Dnipro River," added the General Staff, as reported by the Ukrainian media.

In the meantime , the advance of Putin's troops at Bakhmut, in Donetsk , is being complicated, where the army of Kiev has created five hundred lines of defense . This is confirmed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner mercenary group, nicknamed "Putin's cook" for his ties to the Russian president. « Bakhmut is a fortress . Our military is fighting for every house,” he said, “and after the capture of another house, it cannot be said that the defense of the Ukrainian army has been broken through.”

" The Russian army is unlikely to break through and achieve a significant breakthrough near Bakhmut in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region in the coming weeks," British Defense Ministry intelligence also said in the latest report on the war. .

«In mid-December, Russian military forces and those of the Wagner group probably increased the frequency of their infantry assaults around the city of Bakhmut, however many of these operations were poorly supported. Over the past ten days, Ukraine has committed significant reinforcements to defend the sector and the frequency of Russian assaults has likely decreased from its mid-December peak. Both sides suffered high casualties,” the British ministry reports.

Meanwhile explosions were reported at the hotel used by journalists sent to eastern Ukraine with Bild reporter Björn Stritzel suffering head injuries after being hit by shrapnel while eating dinner.