Russian media reports said that the Russian army launched a strong offensive in the direction of Donetsk Avdeevka, and shot down more than a dozen Ukrainian drones in Kharkov and Kherson regions, as well as in Donetsk and Luhansk. In addition, Russian forces used high-precision air-based missiles to strike a large ammunition depot in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.
The Ukrainian army, on the other hand, was forced to give up positions it had already occupied under the pressure of powerful firepower. Some analysts believe that future offensives and defenses between the two sides in that direction are expected to intensify.
The U.S. Institute for the Study of War, on the other hand, believes that the Russian army may have withdrawn its personnel from positions near the front line in the Zaporozhye region. Analysts believe that the movement of Russian troops in the Zaporozhye region may indicate that the Russians aim to reduce the impact of the ongoing strikes by the Ukrainian army against them.
However, it cannot be ruled out that the Russian troops are redeploying.
It is worth noting that the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region has been the focus of Russian-Ukrainian fighting for months. Russian forces have tried to capture the city, while Ukrainian forces have tried to hold it.
The bitterly cold weather has plunged the combatants into a war of attrition and trench warfare that has been grueling, with casualties averaging in the hundreds per day.
From photos released by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, it can be seen that the front-line trenches are full of mud and water, and the soldiers not only have to hold the trenches for a long time to fight, but also have to sleep in the mud.
The combat environment on the front line is really not friendly to the Ukrainian army, and in this case, many soldiers have appeared to be war-weary, began to refuse to go to war, and threatened that they would not be Zelensky's cannon fodder.
Infantry companies under the U.S. Army's 58th Brigade shouted at Zelensky via video, with the company commander saying that their ranks had suffered extremely heavy casualties but had not been given timely help, and that many over-wounded soldiers had died outright before being sent to rear hospitals. Soldiers have complained about the lack of equipment, medical assistance and other problems on the front lines.
At this juncture, U.S. President Joe Biden said at a news conference that if Russian President Vladimir Putin had the will to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he would hold talks with him after consulting with NATO allies.
On the surface, it seems that Biden is actively creating conditions for the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks, but in fact it is just playing "logic", after all, the current U.S. and Western military aid to Ukraine has not stopped.
Recently, the German government website released news that Germany is preparing to provide Ukraine with an additional seven German "Cheetah" air defense tanks.
Reuters also mentioned that German Chancellor Wolfgang Schulz had inspected Ukrainian soldiers at a military training base in Oldenburg, Germany, in August to see them train in the use of such weapons. He was photographed in front of a Cheetah air defense tank.
What's even funnier is that Schultz also echoed Biden's call to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Schultz called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and for a speedy withdrawal of troops.
Putin, for his part, said Germany's and other Western countries' sweeping policy of aid to Ukraine had been highly destructive, and that they had prompted the Ukrainian side to reject the peace talks and commit even more serious crimes against the civilian population in the eastern part of the country.
It is clear that Russia will not eat this up, and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is not in a condition for peace talks for the time being.
Recently, Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, called for the destruction of Russia at a security forum in Kiev on January 1st.
In response, Deputy Chairman of the Federal Assembly Dmitry Medvedev said that Kiev's declared goal was not to save Ukrainian democracy, and that there was no need for Russia to respond to Danilov's remarks "because they are pure nonsense."
Extended reading:
Media: Bakhmut into a "meat grinder battlefield" Russian attack "reckless"
Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine, has become another focal point of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. more than five months ago, the Russian army after the capture of North Donetsk and Lisichansk, the deployment of heavy military forces to take down the town. five months later, is still one of the focal points of the battle between the two sides. one of the focal points of the fighting. Both sides have invested vast resources in fighting for inch by inch of land here, and the media have exclaimed that it has become a World War I-style meat grinder of a battlefield.
"Ukrainian troops near Bakhmut are fighting in 'World War I' trenches," Russian television station Glavny reported, adding that Ukrainian troops in the frontline trenches near Bakhmut, known in Russia as Artemovsk, are fighting in 'World War I' trenches. Ukrainian militants complained about the poor condition of their positions - they had to fight in knee-deep muddy water.
The report said that photos of it are making the rounds on major social media platforms, showing the deplorable conditions of soldiers in the Ukrainian armed forces, who are in the mud due to the deteriorating weather, and the trenches there are reminiscent of those from the First World War.
The report also said that Russian troops continue to carry out special operations in the area, and one of the well-known results was the elimination by the Russian armed forces of the well-known Ukrainian militant Dmitry Sydorko, known under the pseudonym "Sunset," in the direction of Artemovsk.
How bad was the fighting in Bakhmut? The New York Times also reported in detail on the 27th.
"In the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian casualties seemed endless for nearly an hour: ambulance after ambulance, armored personnel carrier and private vehicle after private vehicle whizzed to a stop and moved the wounded out in front of the city's only military hospital." The New York Times said that one soldier, his face bloodied and battered, walked through the doors of the hospital, assisted by his comrades. The dark green stretcher that awaited him was one of several still stained with blood.
By about noon on the 25th, the report said, doctors counted 50 wounded, many of them soldiers, compared with a much worse picture the day before: 240 people admitted to the hospital with gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds and concussions.
One Ukrainian soldier said his unit was retreating when he was blown up by a mortar shell. And at the same time, another Ukrainian unit elsewhere in Bakhmut was attacking a Russian position.
A soldier from the 71st Brigade of the Ukrainian Army said he was wounded in both legs by a grenade that was either dropped by a drone or fired from a Russian grenade launcher as he was advancing on a Russian army trench.
"Ukrainian soldiers fresh from the front lines huddled in front of the hospital, their faces, uniforms and weapons covered with mud spots and their pants soaked by rain," The New York Times said, adding that the frigid temperatures and muddy trenches also led to injuries on both sides. Doctors at Bakhmut Hospital said hypothermia and trench foot were common skin conditions in the Ukrainian military, which result from prolonged immersion in cold water.
Ukraine has gained some initiative on the battlefield in recent months, retaking the Kharkiv region and the southern city of Kherson. But Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donbass region, remains a giant meat grinder devouring the lives of servicemen from both countries. For months, as the Russians recklessly tried to take the city and the Ukrainians tried to hold it, both sides poured huge amounts of troops and materiel into it. The result has been almost catastrophic, with the city, once home to some 70,000 people, now slowly being reduced to rubble.
The Russian army's "strong attempt to take the city" is baffling to the West - elsewhere along the 600-mile front, Russian soldiers are mostly digging winterized trenches to consolidate their positions and protect their resources.
Taking Bakhmut seemed like a natural move for Russia to take the Donbass region this summer, after Russian troops captured neighboring Luhansk, and by taking the city, it took a step toward taking the two more important Donetsk cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. One step. But that goal now seems unlikely to be realized, given the series of setbacks the Russian army has experienced in previous months, especially after losing its foothold in the Kharkov region.
The truth is that Bakhmut has nonetheless quickly become Moscow's main course of action recently. Ukrainian soldiers say recently mobilized Russian troops have been sent here in an attempt to encircle the city from the east and south.
The New York Times says recent battlefield advances around Bakhmut have been measured in yards, not miles. Every day, Russian and Ukrainian forces are either advancing or retreating, often making minimal gains at a bloody cost.
Both sides are consuming not just manpower but materiel.
"In my six months in Bakhmut, I've never seen our artillery working like it is now," said a Ukrainian soldier on the front line, referring to the number of Ukrainian shells fired.
A U.S. Defense Department official said a recurring concern for the Pentagon is that the Ukrainians are firing ammunition at an unsustainable rate, especially in places like Bakhmut, under the mistaken belief that the West's supply of ordnance is unlimited.
Since July, the fighting in Bakhmut has morphed into a war of attrition and its strategic significance has changed. Even if Russia's hopes of taking more territory here have waned, it could still make it a black hole for Kiev's resources, the New York Times analyzed, leaving Ukraine to draw from other priorities - possibly including future offensives - troops and war resources.
This may be what the West fears. But who actually wears out who, and with the situation now unclear, both sides are stuck with what they have for now.