Ukraine’s Armed Forces Commander Oleksandr Syrsky said Russia has deployed around 710,000 troops inside Ukrainian territory for its winter offensive, continuing attacks across the northeastern and eastern fronts despite heavy losses, according to Stefan Korshak of The Kyiv Independent. Ukrainian forces are holding positions along the more than 1,000-kilometer front line and have carried out local counterattacks, including reclaiming most of Kupyansk, though fighting there remains contested. Syrsky also highlighted intense combat around Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian units report repelling repeated assaults and inflicting significant Russian casualties, underscoring the high intensity and attritional nature of current operations. Korshak writes:

Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), on Wednesday said that Russia has concentrated 710,000 troops inside Ukrainian territory for its ongoing winter offensive.

Russian attacks continue in the northeastern and eastern sectors, despite heavy losses, with AFU units along the more than 1,000-km (621-mile) front holding their positions, Syrsky said on Telegram. […]

Fresh battle reports from units fighting in the Kupyansk sector, tracked by Kyiv Post, confirm recent successful Ukrainian counterattacks and the transfer of most of the city’s central districts from Russian to Ukrainian control, but combat is still in progress. […]

Syrsky said the hottest sector of the front – around the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region – was still being subjected to repeated Russian attacks, despite heavy losses.

According to AFU data, Russian forces suffered 1,740 killed and wounded across all fronts on Dec. 16, marking a near one-day casualty record for the war.

Ukraine’s USF, in a Tuesday statement citing strike and reconnaissance units operating in the Pokrovsk sector, credited rising Russian personnel and vehicle losses to clearing weather and reduced fog and rain, which has allowed Ukrainian drone pilots to fly more intensively since the weekend. […]

A Ukrainian military situation report on Wednesday morning says Kyiv’s forces had repelled 82 Russian assaults in the Pokrovsk sector over the past 24 hours.

A video from the 46th Air Assault Brigade in the Pokrovsk sector showed a 10-vehicle armored column – including two tanks, two BMP infantry fighting vehicles, an MTLB swamp transporter, two quadcycles, and a car – advancing east of Pokrovsk on snowy roads and coming under artillery fire. […]

The report claimed 8 vehicles were destroyed and that retreating infantry suffered at least 49 killed or wounded from follow-up mortar and drone strikes, including attacks by bombers and FPV drones.

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