Christmas Week War Update (Dec. 27)
Today Putin met with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and the commanders of Groups Center and East.
Putin’s meeting was livestreamed and TASS posted a text summary:
Putin was informed of the liberation of Huliaipole in Zaporizhia and Dimitrov in the Donetsk People’s Republic.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation took control of the Huliaipole defensive region of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Russian leaders stated that kept the initiative in the Special Military Operation.
Russian forces have completed destruction of the UAF in Dimitrov.
Troops of the Russian Federation have progressed the offensive in the Dnepropetrovsk region.
Russian forces are clearing remaining Ukrainians in Huliaipole.
Video footage of operations in Huliaipole released by the Ministry of Defense:
Ukrainian Drone Attacks
Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports in the Moscow region closed their airspace today due to incoming Ukrainian drone attacks. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin stated that Russian air defenses shot down 26 drones in total.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported shooting down 111 enemy drones in the period of 3:00pm to 6:00pm. The attack killed one civilian motorist in the Belgorod region.
Continuing Counterattack on Kupyansk
As I reported in my last post, the situation in Kupyansk is as clear as mud. Russian military sources report the situation is “difficult” while other sources are more hysterical. I don’t think there is enough information to make any concrete statement for now, but it is a logical direction for the UAF to send mobile reserves, even at the expense of other fronts.
There is also speculation about what reserves Russia has available to hold onto Kupyansk, as they don’t have a particularly large edge in terms of boots on the ground. There is also snowfall, which makes the use of drones and other aviation more difficult.
Diplomatic Developments
Head of Ukrainian military intelligence Kirill Budanov claimed that February of next year would be the most favorable time for reaching a peace deal, due to “military considerations, the optimal season and other considerations.”
In the same meeting I mentioned earlier, Putin stated that Ukraine is not in a hurry to reach a settlement through peaceful means, and judging from the successes he heard about in the commanders’ reports today, it is not in Russian interests to for the UAF to withdraw from the regions it is currently occupying.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the ongoing wave of attacks against Ukrainian military infrastructure are their response to the UAF’s “terrorist attacks on civilian objects.”
In apparent compliance with Russian and now American insistence on new elections, Zelsensky’s Servant of the People party (yes, Zelensky registered the name when he started the TV show of the same name) wants to hold a hybrid event consisting of in-person and online voting. Critics from opposition parties claim that this will be an opportunity for Zelensky to falsify the results.
Note that Russia already does online voting, and Ukraine has the government app to do something similar, though this fact alone doesn’t confirm or deny accusations of Zelensky intending to cheat.
Meanwhile, more criminal activities from the deputies in the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada have been reportedly exposed.
Economic News
The Ministry of Industry and Trade reports that the TU-214, Russia’s first homegrown airliner built entirely from import substitutions, has potential buyers lined up in the first quarter of 2026.
Gazprom reports that the gas reserves of the Baltic states are now less than half full, with more than two months of winter still ahead. Remember that the Baltic Tigers had freed themselves from the tyrannical burden of Russian energy last February.
Priest Pavel Ostrovsky complained in an interview with Sputnik Radio about proposals to allow Sharia-compliant interest-free banking in the Russian Federation. “We are a Christian country, what do we need this for?”
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