Russia increases its grouping fighting in Ukraine to around 710,000 troops to conduct a strategic offensive, Syrskyi says. Russia effectively rejects peace proposals, plans to continue its offensive, official statements show. The U.S. readies new Russia sanctions if Putin rejects a peace deal, Bloomberg News says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia has increased the size of its grouping fighting in Ukraine to around 710,000 troops to conduct a strategic offensive operation, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a post to social media on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Syrskyi\u2019s remarks followed Tuesday\u2019s video conference of the 32nd Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he had informed the allies of the battlefield situation, which he said, remains complicated. Despite heavy losses and a lack of substantial operational successes, Russia does not halt offensive operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s defense forces have thrown Russian troops back from Kupyansk, in Kharkiv region. They now control almost 90 per cent of the city, he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia has been trying to capture Pokrovsk for more than 17 months, yet Ukrainian troops are holding defensive positions and are seizing the initiative against Russia, the army chief said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that Ukrainian forces had regained control of 16 square kilometers of land in the city\u2019s northern part without specifying the time period when it happened. They have also recaptured 56 square kilometers of land near Hryshyne, Kotlyne and Udachne west of Pokrovsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia increased the number of combat troops in Ukraine from 603,000 as of January, 1 to 623,000 in early April, Syrskyi said in an interview with Ukrainian news site Livyi Bereh published in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The size of the Russian grouping fighting in Ukraine stands at around 710,000 soldiers and has been unchanged for quite a while, Syrskyi said on December 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s Defense Minister, Andrey Belousov, told a gathering of senior defense officials on Wednesday that the ministry\u2019s \u201ckey task for the coming year is to maintain and increase the current pace of advance\u201d in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO is preparing its troops for a conflict with Russia by 2030, he said, adding that it \u201csets real preconditions\u201d for Russia to continue fighting in Ukraine in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belousov also called for recruitment of young people under the age of 35 to serve in the army\u2019s unmanned systems units. His statements reflect Russia\u2019s unreadiness to compromise on the goals for its invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian media said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kremlin explicitly rejected US and European offers to provide Ukraine with \u201cNATO-like\u201d security guarantees as part of a peace deal and continued to signal its unwillingness to compromise on Russia\u2019s territorial claims to Ukraine\u2019s sovereign territory, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in an update on Tuesday. The below paragraphs are quoted from the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated in an English language TV interview with ABC News on December 15 that Russia \u201cdefinitely will not at any moment subscribe to, agree to, or even be content with\u201d any NATO troops in Ukraine, even if these forces are part of a security guarantee or are members of the Coalition of the Willing. Ryabkov also reiterated that Russia would not compromise \u201cin any form\u201d on the five Ukrainian regions that Russia illegally annexed \u2014 which includes the entirety of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts and Crimea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryabkov notably stated that Russia has \u201cfive [regions] altogether,\u201d effectively reiterating the Kremlin\u2019s demand that Ukraine give up unoccupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts to Russia, and therefore signaling that Russia remains unlikely to agree to any ceasefire that would freeze the current frontline. Ryabkov reiterated Russia\u2019s theory of victory \u2014 which claims that Russia will inevitably win by outlasting Ukrainian resilience and Western support \u2014 by stating that the end of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine depends on when Ukrainian supporters \u201crecognize the inevitable outcome of [Russian] success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryabkov also stated that Russia\u2019s whole \u201cpurpose\u201d of war in Ukraine is to have Ukrainians find out that they belong in Russia, effectively restating the Kremlin\u2019s long-term goal of establishing control over Ukraine\u2019s government and its people, not just its land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov similarly reiterated on December 16 that Russia wants to \u201cend this war\u201d but seeks to achieve its goals, which ISW assesses include decapitating and replacing the Ukrainian government, destroying the Ukrainian military, and undermining Western unity. Peskov also rejected the Ukrainian-proposed and US-supported idea of a Christmas truce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kremlin has been effectively rejecting key points of various peace deal proposals, including the original US-proposed 28-point peace deal, such as reliable security guarantees for Ukraine or territorial swaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US is preparing a fresh round of sanctions on Russia\u2019s energy sector to increase the pressure on Moscow should President Vladimir Putin reject a peace agreement with Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News said on Wednesday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US is considering options, such as targeting vessels in Russia\u2019s so-called shadow fleet of tankers used to transport Moscow\u2019s oil, as well as traders who facilitate the transactions, said the people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new measures could be unveiled as early as this week, some of the people said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed the plans when he met a group of European ambassadors earlier this week, the people said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The people cautioned that any final decision rests with President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The discussions over further measures come as US and Ukrainian negotiators made some advances this week toward the terms of a potential peace accord. US envoy Steve Witkoff was in Berlin for two days of talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders over the latest proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other reports, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill that requires targeted sanctions on the individuals and companies around the world who import and move Russian-origin oil, Ukraine\u2019s Ambassador to the U.S. Olha Stefanishyna said in a post to social media early on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In October, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, targeting oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil. The measures took effect on November 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"