Ukraine/Russland/NATO – der Sammler am 22. Dezember 2022 (m. Nachträgen)

Ungeachtet der militärischen Unterstützung des Westens für die Ukraine werde Russland seinen Krieg gegen das Nachbarland fortsetzen, kündigte der russische Generalstabschef Waleri Gerassimow an. Der Sammler am 22. Dezember 2022:

• Die Infos zum Besuch des ukrainischen Präsidenten Wolodymyr Selenskyj in Washington und die von den USA angekündigten neuen Waffenlieferungen stehen, damit die Systematik nicht durcheinander kommt, im Sammler vom Vortag.

• Nach Angaben der US-Regierung gab es inzwischen Waffenlieferungen von Nordkorea an Russland. Aus der AP-Meldung:

The White House said Thursday that the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, has taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces as it fights side-by-side with Russian troops in Ukraine.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said U.S. intelligence officials determined that North Korea completed an initial arms shipment that included rockets and missiles last month.
„We assess that the amount of material delivered to Wagner will not change battlefield dynamics in Ukraine,“ Kirby said. „But we’re certainly concerned that North Korea is planning to deliver more military equipment.“

• Ein Mitarbeiter des Bundesnachrichtendienstes ist unter dem Vorwurf festgenommen worden, Staatsgeheimnisse an einen russischen Nachrichtendienst weitergegeben zu haben. Aus der Mitteilung des Generalbundesanwalts:

Die Bundesanwaltschaft hat gestern (21. Dezember 2022) aufgrund eines Haftbefehls des Ermittlungsrichters des Bundesgerichtshofs vom 16. Dezember 2022
den deutschen Staatsangehörigen Carsten L.
in Berlin von Beamten des mit den Ermittlungen beauftragten Bundeskriminalamtes festnehmen lassen. Zudem wurden die Wohnung und der Arbeitsplatz des Beschuldigten sowie einer weiteren Person durchsucht.
Der Beschuldigte ist des Landesverrats dringend verdächtig (§ 94 Abs. 1 Nr. 1, Abs. 2 Satz 2 Nr. 1 StGB).
In dem Haftbefehl wird ihm im Wesentlichen folgender Sachverhalt zur Last gelegt:
Carsten L. ist beim Bundesnachrichtendienst beschäftigt. Im Jahr 2022 übermittelte er Informationen, die er im Zuge seiner beruflichen Tätigkeit erlangt hatte, an einen russischen Nachrichtendienst. Bei dem Inhalt handelt es sich um ein Staatsgeheimnis im Sinne des § 93 StGB.

• Der russische Generalstabschef Waleri Gerassimow hielt am (heutigen) Donnerstag sein traditionelles Jahresbriefing für die in Moskau akkreditierten ausländischen Militärattachés (auch der deutsche Attaché war dabei). Die dabei erneut erhobenen Vorwürfe vor allem gegen die USA und die NATO unterscheiden sich wenig von früheren Aussagen. Interessant ist die Formulierung the Russia–NATO line of contact für die direkte Grenze zwischen NATO-Mitgliedsländern und Russland, die durch den finnischen Beitritt zur Allianz demnächst die doppelte Länge hat: Der Begriff line of contact war der übliche Begriff für die Frontlinie zwischen ukrainischen Truppen und den russisch unterstützten – und inzwischen annektierten – Separatistengebieten im Osten der Ukraine.

Aus den vom russischen Verteidigungsministerium in englischer Fassung veröffentlichten wesentlichen Teilen der Rede:

The process of Ukraine’s statehood development with the assistance of Western nations has been carried out as ‘anti-Russian’ since the early 1990s. The apotheosis occurred in 2014 when a coup d’état took place and neo-fascists advocating Banderist Ukrainian nationalism took control of the government.
In southeast Ukraine, the neo-fascists sparked an internal armed struggle. They believed it was done to stifle dissent and the simple desire of the Donbass population to speak Russian.
With the direct assistance of Western nations, Ukraine has turned into a highly unfriendly state against Russia by the beginning of this year.
The civilians were being indoctrinated with intense anti-Russianism, and neo-Nazi ideology had essentially taken over as the official ideology. In an effort to retake Donbas and Crimea by force, the Ukrainian state and society were actively militarised.
The Russian Armed Forces have been conducting the special military operation since February 24 in order to remove the military danger from Ukraine.
It started with long-range, well planned attacks against airfields, air defence installations, command and control centres, ammo storage sites, and arsenals. the established groupings of troops launched an onslaught in their assigned areas of responsibility using the findings of the fire attacks.
It should be emphasized that the hostilities spread out over a vast area and were fierce from the outset.
The Lugansk People’s Republic was liberated by active offensive operations of groups of troops, the port city of Mariupol was seized with minimal losses, and full control was established over the Azov Sea coast and the territories of Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
Despite significant losses in personnel and military equipment, the enemy continued active resistance due to an increase in comprehensive military assistance from the USA and its allies, as well as mobilisation activities.
Neo-Nazis gained access to high-precision and long-range weapons at the behest of Western curators, and their use threatened to, among other things, destroy the hydraulic engineering structures of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, which could result in flooding of the Kherson region and block and destroy a portion of the southern group of forces on the right bank of the Dnepr. In this sense, a decision was made to evacuate the civilians, and troops were systematically withdrawn from this zone.
In the course of hostilities, Kiev employs terrorist tactics, including the use of civilians as human shields, preventing civilians from leaving cities through humanitarian corridors set up by the Russian side, intimidating civilians with artillery, torturing prisoners of war, bombarding cities with banned phosphorous munitions, and mining them with anti-personnel petal mines. For the Ukrainian government, assassination attempts against journalists and government officials in the regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson as well as the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics have become routine.
Using nuclear terrorism strategies this summer, Ukraine threatened Europe with a nuclear catastrophe at the Zaporozhye nuclear power station. Systematic shelling of its region was conducted almost every day. The only reason this nuclear site is still safe is because of the skilled and effective cover-up measures taken by the Russian Armed Forces.
In order to prolong the battle, the United States and its allies have been steadily boosting their military support for Kiev. The total amount of foreign funding provided to Ukraine came to approximately $100 bln.
When it comes to supplying armaments, the US, UK, Poland, and Romania provide the most.
Since the beginning of the special military operation, the West has delivered to Kiev a total of four aircraft, more than 30 helicopters, over 350 tanks, about 1,000 armoured combat vehicles, at least 800 armoured vehicles, up to 700 artillery systems, 100 MLRS, 130,000 anti-tank weapons, more than 5,300 MANPADs, and at least 5,000 UAVs for various purposes.
Despite the large-scale military and financial assistance provided by the West to the Kiev regime, as well as the deployment of mercenaries to the conflict area, the Russian Armed Forces will continue the planned special military operation to carry out all the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
As part of the operation, high-precision long-range missiles hit more than 1,300 critical facilities. This significantly reduced the combat capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), disrupted the troop command and control system, paralysed the work of the military-industrial complex, and significantly hampered military transportation.
Hypersonic weapons have been employed in battle for the first time. The Kinzhal aviation missile system has shown to be extremely efficient and unaffected by Ukrainian air defence systems.
With about 150 combat missions each day, the operational, tactical, and army aviation are doing their duties under heavy combat intensity. More than 11,000 pieces of military hardware belonging to the AFU have been destroyed.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are frequently utilized in reconnaissance and attack missions. They have been used to annihilate more than 600 targets and reveal about 8,000. (…)
Currently, the line of contact stretches for 815 km. In view of the measures taken to build up the combat capabilities of the troops, the situation on the front line has stabilised, with the main efforts of the Russian troops concentrated on completing the liberation of the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic. In addition, fire continues to be directed at critical transport and energy infrastructure facilities deep in Ukrainian territory, storage sites for fuel, missiles and ammunition, weapons and military equipment, as well as operational reserves in temporary deployment locations.
The arms control mechanism put in place over the past decades has all but collapsed as a result of the West’s activities.
Only the START Treaty is still in effect out of the complete arsenal of weapons control measures. However, as a result of the COVID restrictions, not all of this agreement’s mechanisms are operating as intended. The sanctions limits that European nations carelessly imposed on any military-to-military contacts have also exacerbated the issues.
The actions of the NATO continue to have a significant effect on the security situation in Europe. To the disadvantage of the security of European nations, the United States sees the Alliance as a vehicle to defend American interests on a worldwide scale.
Practical steps towards the early integration of Sweden and Finland into the alliance show that under the far-fetched threat from Russia, Washington is seeking to bring the NATO alliance as close as possible to Russian borders through the involvement of new satellites.
The actions of the Alliance only increase tensions and reduce the level of security precisely on the Russia–NATO line of contact.

• Das britische Intel Update:

On 19 December 2022, President Putin travelled to Minsk to hold talks with President Lukashenko of Belarus. The presidents’ discussion included talk of a ‘single defence space’.
Although Russia and Belarus prominently publicise Russian units’ deployments into Belarus, the armed forces of Belarus have likely recently taken on a significant, but more discreet role in training thousands of newly mobilised Russian reservists.
The likely use of Belarusian instructors is an attempt to partially remediate the lack of Russian military trainers, many of whom are deployed in Ukraine or have become casualties.
Although Russia and Belarus have an extensive background of military co-operation, the training of mobilised Russian personnel by Belarusians represents a role reversal.
Belarusian forces have traditionally been considered by Russia as inferior to Russian forces and their employment as trainers is an indication of overstretch within the Russian military system.

• Das Morgenbriefing des ukrainischen Generalstabs:

Operational update regarding russian invasion as of 06.00, December 22, 2022
The three hundred second (302) day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the russian military large-scale invasion continues.
To date, in almost 10 months, russia has already lost more than 100,000 personnel, 3,000 tanks and about 6,000 other armored vehicles in Ukraine.
Continuing the aggression, during the past day, the enemy launched 6 missile and 15 air strikes, including on civilian objects in the Zaporizhzhia region. Also, the enemy launched 64 MLRS attacks.
Over the past day, our soldiers repelled the attacks of the occupiers in the areas of the settlements of Novoselivske, Stelmakhivka, Ploshchanka and Chervonopivka in the Luhansk oblast and Berestove, Yakovlivka, Soledar, Bakhmut, Opytne, Kurdyumivka, Ozaryanivka, Mayorsk, New York, Krasnohorivka, Nevelske and Maryinka in Donetsk oblast.
In the Volyn, Polissya, Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions, the situation has not changed significantly, and no signs of the formation of offensive groups of the enemy have been detected.
At the same time, in the Siverskyi direction, the enemy shelled the Zarutskyi district in the Sumy oblast with multiple rocket launchers.
In the Slobozhanskyi direction, areas of Chervona Zorya, Kozacha Lopan, Vesele, Varvarivka, Starytsa, Vovchansk, Vilcha, Chernyakiv, Chugunivka and Ambarne settlements of the Kharkiv oblast were hit by tank and artillery shelling.
In the Kupyansk direction, Novomlynsk, Kupyansk, Kislivka, Kotlyarivka, Krokhmalne and Berestovka in the Kharkiv oblast and Novoselivske and Stelmakhivka in the Luhansk oblast came under fire.
In the Lyman direction, shelling was recorded near Makiyivka, Ploshchanka, Nevske, Chervonopopivka, and Dibrova in the Luhansk oblast.
In the direction of Bakhmut, the enemy fired from tanks and the entire range of artillery in the areas of the settlements of Verkhnokamyanske, Spirne, Bilohorivka, Yakovlivka, Soledar, Bakhmutske, Pidhorodne, Bakhmut, Opytne, Klishchiivka, Andriivka, Oleksandro-Shultine, Kurdyumivka, Diliivka, Ozaryanivka, Druzhba , Pivnichne, Mayorsk, Zalizne and New York of the Donetsk oblast.
Krasnohorivka, Vesele, Vodyane, Pervomaiske, Nevelske, Maryinka and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk oblast were affected by fire in the Avdiivka region.
In the direction of Novopavlivsk, the enemy fired tanks and artillery of various calibers in the areas of Vuhledar, Prechystivka, Novoukrainka, and Velika Novosilka of the Donetsk oblast.
In the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions, the settlement of Chervonohryhorivka of the Dnipropetrovsk oblast and the city of Kherson were hit by rocket and barrel artillery fire.
On December 17 of this year, a concentration of enemy personnel and equipment in the Horlivka area of the Donetsk oblast was confirmed to have been hit by fire. There, 13 enemy servicemen were eliminated, 4 of whom were officers. An amphibious assault vehicle and 3 trucks with ammunition were also destroyed. Information about the wounded is being clarified.
In order to build fortifications in the Belgorod region, the local russian leadership announced the recruitment of volunteers, for a monetary reward, for the arrangement of trenches and the installation of concrete cones.
During the past 24 hours, the Air Force of the Defense Forces carried out 14 strikes on the areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment of the occupiers. Also, our defenders shot down an enemy UAV of the „Forpost“ type and two more – of the „Lancet-3“ type.
At the same time, Ukrainian rocket launchers and gunners hit three control points and two areas where the enemy’s manpower was concentrated.

• Das Briefing des russischen Verteidigungsministeriums:

Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine (22 December 2022)
Russian Federation Armed Forces continue the special military operation.
In Kupyansk direction, as a result of the attacks on AFU concentration areas of troops and military equipment near Kucherovka (Kharkov region) and Novosyolovskoye (Lugansk People’s Republic), up to 15 Ukrainian servicemen and 2 motor vehicles have been eliminated.
In Krasniy-Liman direction, as a result of Russian artillery raid the enemy’s units concentrated near Sergeyevka (Lugansk People’s Republic) and Terny (Donetsk People’s Republic) have been destroyed. The AFU losses in this direction amounted to over 20 Ukrainian servicemen killed and wounded, 2 armoured fighting vehicles and 3 pickup trucks.
In Donetsk direction, Russian troops continue their offensive. More than 50 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 tank, 3 infantry fighting vehicles and 5 motor vehicles have been eliminated.
In South Donetsk direction, as a result of combat work of Army Aviation’s air strikes, artillery fire and active actions by Russian troops AFU units have been eliminated near Nikolskoye, Novomayorskoye and Novopol (Donetsk People’s Republic).
2 AFU sabotage groups have been neutralised near Sladkoye (Donetsk People’s Republic) and Levadnoye (Zaporozhye region).
Up to 30 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 armoured fighting vehicles and 3 pickup trucks have been eliminated.
Operational and Tactical Aviation, Missile Troops and artillery of groups of troops (forces) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised 57 artillery units of the AFU at firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 93 areas.
1 Ukrainian electronic warfare station near Vesyoloye (Kherson region), has been destroyed. One M777 artillery repair point has been destroyed near Ptichye (Donetsk People’s Republic). 3 AFU munition depots have been destroyed near Artyomovsk (Donetsk People’s Republic), Gulyaipole (Zaporozhye region) and Ochakov (Nikolayev region).
In the course of counter-battery warfare, 2 missile strikes have been carried out against Ukrainian Grad and Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems near Berdychi and Kransnoarmeysk (Donetsk People’s Republic).
The Russian Air Force’s fighter aircraft have shot down 2 MiG-29 aircraft of the AFU near Shevchenko and Bogatyr.
In addition, 1 Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter has been destroyed near Dobropolye (Donetsk People’s Republic).
3 unmanned aerial vehicles have been destroyed by air defence forces near Volodino, Torskoye and Voikovsky (Donetsk People’s Republic).
2 HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems‘ missiles have been also intercepted near Popasnaya and Baranikovka (Lugansk People’s Republic).
In total, 350 airplanes and 188 helicopters, 2,694 unmanned aerial vehicles, 399 air defence missile systems, 7,191 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 934 combat vehicles equipped with MRLS, 3,700 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 7,707 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

• Das Abendbriefing des ukrainischen Generalstabs:

Operational update regarding russian invasion as of 18.00, December 22, 2022
The three hundred second (302) day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the russian military large-scale invasion continues.
During the day, the russian occupiers launched 5 missile and 5 air strikes, as well as about 15 MLRS attacks, including a night attack on the civilian infrastructure of the city of Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk oblast. During the day, the enemy shelled Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk oblast, where there are victims among the civilian population.
There remains the threat of air and missile strikes on critical infrastructure facilities throughout Ukraine.
The enemy continues to focus his efforts on conducting offensive actions in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions and does not stop trying to improve the tactical position in the Kupyansk and Lyman directions.
In the Volyn, Polissya, Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions, the situation has not changed significantly, and no signs of the formation of offensive groups of the enemy have been detected.
In the Slobozhansky direction, areas of Shevchenka, Stielecha, Neskuchne, Ternova, Starytsa, Vovchansk, Volokhivka, Stroivka and Kupyansk of the Kharkiv oblast were hit by tank, mortar and artillery shelling.
In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy shelled the districts of Novomlynsk, Krokhmalne, and Berestove in the Kharkiv oblast, and Novoselivske and Stelmakhivka in the Luhansk oblast.
In the Lyman direction, Makiivka, Ploshchanka, Chervonopopivka and Dibrova of the Luhansk oblast were affected by the fire.
In the direction of Bakhmut, the enemy shelled Verkhnokamianske, Bilohorivka, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, Andriivka, Oleksandro-Shultyne, Kurdyumivka, Ozaryanivka, and New York of the Donetsk oblast.
In the Avdiivka direction, the areas of Kostyantynivka, Vodyane, Nevelske, Krasnohorivka, Heorhiivka, Maryinka and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk oblast were affected by fire.
In the direction of Novopavlivsk, the enemy shelled the areas of Vremivka, Velyka Novosilka, Neskuchne, Vuhledar, and Mykilsky of the Donetsk oblast.
In the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions, the enemy continues mortar and artillery shelling of civilian infrastructure along the right bank of the Dnipro River. More than 25 settlements were damaged. Among them – Novopil of Donetsk oblast; Stepove, Hulyaipole, Shcherbaky, Mala Tokmachka and Dorozhnyanka of the Zaporizhzhia oblast; Manhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast and Novodmytrivka, Kachkarivka, Kherson, Inzhenerne and Lvove in the Kherson oblast. At night, the enemy also launched a rocket attack on the town of Ochakiv, Mykolaiv oblast.
On December 20 of this year, the Defense Forces struck a concentration of enemy personnel in the Mykolaivka area of the Skadovsk district of the Kherson oblast. As a result, up to 140 servicemen of the russian occupation forces were injured and 8 Kamaz trucks with ammunition were destroyed.
According to detailed information, the occupiers lost up to 150 people killed and about 50 wounded as a result of the attack on the enemy’s field airfield in the Kakhovka district of the Kherson oblast on December 20. Up to 20 units of military equipment of various types were destroyed.
Units of missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces of Ukraine hit the control post, 2 ammunition depots and 3 areas of concentration of the enemy’s manpower during the day.