Bakhmut, Donetsk region / Photo: Associated Press
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By Pavlo Vitenko
Summary by regions
Luhansk Region
Units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled the attacks of the occupiers in the areas of Stelmakhivka, Makiivka, and Ploshanka. Enemy fire was recorded in the Kuzemivka, Novoselivske, and Stelmakhivka areas in the Kupiansk direction.
In the Lyman direction, Makiivka, Ploshanka, Kuzmine and Dibrova were hit by Russian fire. Forced passporting of the population in the temporarily occupied territories of the region continues. The situation in the region remains tense.
Donetsk Region
At night – shelling of our Ukrainian positions along the contact line. In the morning, hostilities intensified near Avdiivka.
Last day, the enemy used Grad anti-aircraft guns, artillery, and tanks. Shot at: Avdiivka (housing sector, garden society, auto depot); Vesele village (residential sector); Kamianka village (residential sector); Krasnohorivka village (residential sector); Bakhmut (housing sector);
Kurakhove (housing sector); Chasiv Yar (housing sector); Soledar (housing sector). One person died and three were injured in the region during the day.
Kharkiv Region
During yesterday, Kupiansk, Vovchansk, Dvorichna, Ohirtseve, Kislivka and several other border settlements were under fire from enemy artillery and mortars.
In Kupiansk, a building of civil industry, which is not in use at the moment, was damaged. The lyceum was partially destroyed in Dvorichnaya, Kupiansk district, and there was a large-scale fire, which was extinguished within 3 hours.
A 75-year-old man was injured in Dvorichna. Hospitalized in moderate condition.
Dnipropetrovsk Region
The Russians targeted the area with heavy artillery twice during the night. They hit Marhanets and Chervonohryhorivka communities. No victims. Several private houses, a gas pipeline and electricity network were damaged, and an outbuilding was destroyed.
Zaporizhzhia Region
During the past day, the occupiers shelled the civilian infrastructure in the area of the settlements of Dorozhnyanka, Mala Tokmachka, Gulyaipole, Orikhiv, Zaliznychne, Malynivka, Shcherbaki, Charivne, Prymorske, Mali Shcherbaki, Plavni, Novoandriivka, Biloghirya, Olhivske, Novodanylivka, Poltavka, Stepove, Kamianske
21 reports were received about the destruction of houses (apartments) of citizens and infrastructure facilities as a result of shelling by the Russian Federation. Data on the consequences are being clarified.
Kherson Region
The occupiers continue to shell Kherson, last day they attacked the central part of Kherson – they hit a house. An 18-year-old boy died of his injuries on the spot; fired at the fire department – the building was damaged. People were not injured.
In Beryslav, a whole family died during enemy shelling. The projectile hit the house where a couple lived with their 12-year-old son.
Yesterday morning, the enemy covered Chornobayivka and Komyshany with massive artillery fire. Houses, cars, agricultural premises, power lines and gas pipelines were damaged. Four people were injured in the attack by the Russians. They received shrapnel injuries of moderate severity. One injured woman was treated by medics on the spot, three people were hospitalized in Kherson hospitals. Over the past day, six people died and four were injured in the Kherson region.
UKRAINE: Over 500 Russians were eliminated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine within a day
During the day, as a result of Russian shelling, 9 civilians were killed and 11 more were injured
The Russian Army unsuccessfully advances on the Bakhmut and Lyman directions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine repulsed a number of attacks – General Staff
Zelensky spoke about the «truce» from Putin: «They want to use Christmas as a cover»
At least 50 more pieces of military equipment were sent to Belarus from the Russian Federation
WORLD: Biden will send Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine, tanks may be next – Politico
In a new aid package, the US will transfer Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine – Politico
Russia should leave the ZNPP and return it to the control of Ukraine – US State Department
The UN welcomes Putin’s decision to declare a «truce» in Ukraine for Christmas
«He bombed hospitals and churches both on December 25 and on New Year’s Day»: Biden – about the «truce» from Putin
Putin is ready for «dialogue» on the condition that Ukraine recognizes the loss of its territories: the Kremlin summarized the conversation with Erdogan
Occupying Command Encourages Rape in Occupied Territories – NYT
It was the Russian command that ordered its wards to «go and relax.»
The Russian higher command encourages the sexual violence of the occupiers against Ukrainians.
The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine told The New York Times about this.
According to Hanna Sosonska, an investigator from the Prosecutor General’s Office, investigators are finding evidence of sexual violence by Russians against the local population in all de-occupied territories.
«Everywhere: Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, Kharkiv region, Donetsk region, as well as in Kherson region,» she said.
Sosonska emphasizes that the law enforcement officers recorded the following war crimes: rape, forcing to expose themselves, sexual torture – not only of women, but also of men and children.
Iryna Didenko, a representative of the prosecutor’s office handling cases of sexual violence, said that there is a clear pattern of behavior when Russian troops occupy the territory: «Ground troops arrive, and on the second or third day rapes begin.»
According to Didenko, it was the Russian command that ordered its wards to «go and relax.» So, in one case, the occupying commander said to his soldiers: «Okay, go» and waited outside the house. One soldier was heard to say: «We’ll just beat one, and we’ll rape this one.»
In another case, eight Russian soldiers raped a man who was stopped at a checkpoint.
«These are rare cases,» Didenko said.
The prosecutor’s office has already opened 154 cases of sexual violence. The real number, she says, is «much, much higher.»
Didenko said that in one of the previously occupied villages of the Kyiv region, psychologists found that every ninth woman had experienced sexual violence. Hundreds of people suffered from sexual violence and torture in Russian prisons.
The victims of the occupiers were people aged from 80 to a 4-year-old girl who was forced to have oral sex with a soldier. There are more than a dozen cases of gang rape, forcing family members to watch sexual violence against a relative, and sexual violence against detainees.
Earlier, the occupier, who escaped from the Russian Federation to Spain, spoke about the crimes of Russian soldiers near Bucha. In particular, he confirmed the fact of the rape of a woman and her daughter in the village of Andriivka, Makariv community.
It was also reported that the Russian occupiers in Luhansk region gang-raped a 12-year-old girl.
A 75-year-old teacher from Kherson told how the occupier brutally raped her in her living room.
By Pavlo Vitenko, Ukrainian Freedom News
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