Russians ‘hastening attacks’ on eastern fronts, says Ukrainian military

“They are in a hurry. They started their offensive in early October, and at the beginning of October, more active combat actions were taking place on all fronts.”

“Currently, they have short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans. However, these plans are constantly postponed because they forgot to include the Ukrainian Armed Forces in those plans, which will not let them do it,” said Fitio.

The invaders have long been planning to capture Kupyansk and Chasiv Yar, but “for the third month now, they are practically stuck in the same place.”

Fitio also pointed out that the occupiers have increased the use of drones on the Bakhmut direction.

“The number of drones is higher. On average, the use of enemy drones on the Bakhmut direction varies from 30 to 50 units.”

Fitio reported an increase in shelling in the Bakhmut area, to a level twice as much as on the Lyman-Kupyansk section of front. He added that there are continuous battles going on in the Bakhmut sector.

Earlier, he reported that there were 62,000 Russian servicemen in the Bakhmut sector.

Russian offensive actions are ongoing on the Kupyansk, Lyman, and Bakhmut directions, the Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Dec. 19.