Moscow and Kyiv Battle for Towns in Ukraine’s East; Ukraine on the Verge of Recapturing Kreminna From Russia; Ukraine’s Military Repels Russian Attacks Near 8 Settlements; RU Army Suffers From Widespread Desertion in Luhansk Oblast, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

WSJ: Moscow and Kyiv Battle for Towns in Ukraine’s East:

Russia continues siege of Bakhmut while Ukraine advances on Kreminna, seeking to take back more territory controlled by the Kremlin

Heavy fighting continued on Tuesday in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is pushing to seize the city of Bakhmut while Ukraine presses to wrestle back parts of the Luhansk region that Moscow has held for months.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a late-night address on Monday, described the situation in the east as “difficult and painful” but said Russia was expending substantial resources to achieve only incremental advances on the battlefield.

Russia is initiating frequent small-scale assaults in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions, but little territory has changed hands there in the previous 48 hours, the U.K. Defense Ministry’s daily Ukraine intelligence briefing said Tuesday.

Fighting in the most contested parts of the eastern Donbas region—particularly Bakhmut and the nearby town of Kreminna—has shown few signs of slowing despite harsh winter conditions.

Kreminna was one of the first towns Russia seized in April after regrouping forces that had retreated from the failed thrust toward Kyiv at the war’s outset. Control of it would allow Ukraine to secure onward routes to the strategic Luhansk cities of Starobilsk, Rubizhne and Severodonetsk.

Earlier this month, Ukraine and Russia both rejected calls for a temporary cease-fire over the holiday period, and Russia has suggested the war will go on for some time.

Serhiy Haidai, the exiled Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, which is mostly controlled by Moscow’s forces, said that Russia’s military command there had left its base in Kreminna and moved to Rubizhne, a town 8 miles to the east. Russia didn’t confirm the reports.

“Serious fighting continues,” Mr. Haidai said Tuesday, adding that Russia is moving many troops and large amounts of equipment to the outskirts of Kreminna.

The Russians “understand that a loss in Kreminna will mean their whole line of defense will essentially crumble,” Mr. Haidai said, claiming that Russia has already lost hundreds, if not thousands, of troops in the battle. —>READ MORE HERE

NY POST:Ukraine on the verge of recapturing Kreminna from Russia, official says:

Ukrainian forces are on the brink of recapturing the strategically important city of Kreminna in the east, according to a local official.

Serhiy Haidai, regional governor of the contested Luhansk region, which was annexed by Vladimir Putin after a sham referendum, tweeted Monday that the military command of the Russian forces “has left #kreminna, which the Ukrainian military is approaching…”

Haidi added that the fighting was already raging not far from the city.

In a Telegram post Tuesday, the official wrote: “the Russians understand that if they lose Kreminna, their entire line of defense will ‘fall.’”

In a Christmas Eve tweet, Haidai said that the Russian occupiers are akin to “rats on the run” who are fleeing ahead of the advancing Ukrainian soldiers.

Kreminna has been occupied by Moscow’s forces since April. Recapturing the city could lay the groundwork for the Ukrainian military to advance on the larger cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. —>READ MORE HERE

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