(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Ukraine Invasion Day 663: RU preparing vote fraud again in occupied oblasts [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-12-17 During the day, the Russian fascist invaders launched 2 missile and 25 air strikes and fired 25 times from rocket salvo systems. Russian terrorist attacks killed and injured civilians, destroyed and damaged civil objects.–Armed Forces of Ukraine report, 18:00, 17 December 2023 Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Finland and the wider NATO alliance in a statement ostensibly meant to dismiss concerns about the threat Russia poses to NATO in an interview with Russian state TV on Dec. 17. Russian forces conducted a series of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine on the night of December 16 to 17. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched a Kh-59 missile from occupied Crimea and Kherson Oblast and an Iskander-M missile.[49] The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces also launched 20 Shahed-136/131 drones from Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Krai as well as Cape Chauda, occupied Crimea.[50] Ukrainian officials reported that Ukrainian forces shot down the Kh-59 missile and all of the drones over Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhia, and Khmelnytskyi oblasts.[51] Ukrainian Air Force Spokesperson Colonel Yuriy Ihnat stated on December 17 that Russian forces targeted Kherson City and Starokostyantyniv airfield in Khmelnytskyi Oblast.[52] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on December 16 that Ukrainian forces have destroyed 104 out of 112 Russian Shahed drones launched at Ukraine in the past week.[53] www.understandingwar.org/... x Many Ukrainian warriors will spend Christmas & New Year's in cold, wet, rat-invested trenches, trying to stay alive with limited ammunition against a much better-armed enemy. Please US Congress, lift their spirits by passing new aid to Ukraine next week, not next year. pic.twitter.com/OoKQPcosgE — Michael McFaul (@McFaul) December 17, 2023 Putin continues to express a world view in which Russia must impose its will without any compromise or face existential consequences. Putin stated in his interview with Rossiya 1 that he was naive in the 2000s and thought that the West understood that there was no basis for confrontation with Russia.[38] Putin accused the West of continuing to fight Russia as it had done with the Soviet Union because it had not rethought the Cold War era structures that the West had constructed.[39] Putin also accused some in the West of pursuing the full destruction and balkanization of Russia, framing Putin’s perceived geopolitical confrontation with the collective West in existential terms.[40] Putin has built a world view over two decades of rule in which dissatisfaction with the West has grown into a hardened zero-sum view of Russian and Western power.[41] Putin has increasingly expressed a narrative alleging that there is a concerted decades-long Western effort to diminish Russian power and inflict a permanent strategic defeat upon it, and he has grouped any geopolitical setback however minor into that narrative.[42] Putin’s worldview suggests that Putin regards anything less than full Western surrender to Russian grand strategic objectives as insufficient.[43] www.understandingwar.org/... x This is the path to victory in Ukraine. From @DmytroKuleba Also, there isn't an alternative path, because - as Putin said again this week - Russia does not want a ceasefire and does not want to negotiatehttps://t.co/qMn5n02CFT — Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) December 17, 2023 Key Takeaways: Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Finland and the wider NATO alliance in a statement ostensibly meant to dismiss concerns about the threat Russia poses to NATO. Putin’s reassurances about his peaceful intentions toward NATO ring hollow in the context of the threats he and Kremlin pundits have recently been making against NATO member states. Putin has been seeking to curtail and weaken NATO for two decades and continually demands changes to the alliance that would amount to dismantling it. Putin’s interview indicated that he continues to perceive the West as weak, contrasting with his confidence in the growth of Russia’s power over the past two decades. Putin is increasingly invoking a purposefully broad, vague, and pseudo-realist conception of Russian sovereignty in an effort to justify Russian goals to impose Putin’s will in Ukraine and beyond. Putin continues to express a world view in which Russia must impose its will without any compromise or face existential consequences. The Kremlin's repeated rhetoric about its hostile intent towards NATO, coupled with Russia’s potential future military capabilities in the event of Russian victory in Ukraine, poses a credible - and costly - threat to Western security. Russian forces conducted a series of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine on the night of December 16 to 17. Russian forces conducted offensive operations along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line, near Bakhmut, near Avdiivka, west and southwest of Donetsk City, in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area, and in western Zaporizhia on December 17 and advanced in some areas. Relatives of Russian mobilized personnel continue to appeal directly to high-ranking Russian military and political officials about demobilization and the return of their relatives from Ukraine. The Kremlin continues attempts to expand political infrastructure in occupied Ukraine in an effort to further integrate occupied territories into Russia. www.understandingwar.org/... x ⚡️ WAR IN #UKRAINE - DEC 17, 2023 ■ Strikes on both sides far above 7-day average (most in 12 days) ■ Fewer combat engagements however as well as settlements under artillery fire ■ 6th highest casualties on record, triple-digit equipment losses ■ Oryx: 30 day ratio of losses… pic.twitter.com/M9oVGwGFdL — Ragnar Gudmundsson 🇮🇸🇺🇦 (@ragnarbjartur) December 17, 2023 Russian Subordinate Main Effort #1 – Luhansk Oblast (Russian objective: Capture the remainder of Luhansk Oblast and push westward into eastern Kharkiv Oblast and northern Donetsk Oblast) Russian forces conducted offensive operations along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line but did not make any claimed or confirmed advances on December 17. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces unsuccessfully attacked in the Kupyansk direction near Synkivka (8km northeast of Kupyansk) and Stelmakhivka (15km northwest of Svatove) and east of Petropavlivka (7km east of Kupyansk) and in the Lyman direction near Makiivka (22km northwest of Kreminna) and the Serebyranske forest area (10km southwest of Kreminna) and east of Terny (17km west of Kreminna).[57] Ukrainian forces conducted offensive operations along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line on December 17 and made a confirmed advance. Geolocated footage published on December 17 indicates that Ukrainian forces recently advanced in northern Synkivka.[60] The Russian MoD claimed that Ukrainian forces unsuccessfully attacked in the Kupyansk direction near Synkivka and Terny and towards Vilshana (15km northeast of Kupyansk) and in the Lyman direction southeast of Kuzmyne (3km southwest of Kreminna).[61] www.understandingwar.org/... www.understandingwar.org/... Russian Subordinate Main Effort #2 – Donetsk Oblast (Russian objective: Capture the entirety of Donetsk Oblast, the claimed territory of Russia’s proxies in Donbas) Russian forces reportedly conducted offensive operations north of Bakhmut on December 17 but did not make any claimed advances. A Russian source claimed that Russian forces advanced near Vesele (16km northeast of Bakhmut), Rozdolivka (16km north of Bakhmut), and Sakko i Vantsetti (15km north of Bakhmut) on December 16.[62] A Russian milblogger claimed on December 17 that Russian forces attacked north of Soledar (11km northeast of Bakhmut).[63] www.understandingwar.org/... Russian forces continued offensive operations near Avdiivka on December 17 and recently made confirmed advances. Geolocated footage published on December 17 indicates that Russian forces made marginal gains near Stepove (3km north of Avdiivka).[72] Russian sources claimed that Russian forces advanced towards Novokalynove (5km northwest of Avdiivka) and near Krasnohorivka (3km northeast of Avdiivka), the Avdiivka Coke Plant in northwestern Avdiivka, and the industrial zone southeast of Avdiivka on December 16 and 17.[73]... The Ukrainian General Staff reported on December 17 that Ukrainian forces repelled at least 17 Russian assaults east of Novobakhmutivka (7km north of Avdiivka), Stepove, and Avdiivka and at least 13 Russian assaults near Pervomaiske (111km southwest of Avdiivka) and Nevelske (15km southwest of Avdiivka).[75] The spokesperson for a Ukrainian brigade operating near Avdiivka stated that Russian forces recently tried to advance on Avdiivka with a column of up to 10 armored vehicles and that Ukrainian forces destroyed roughly half of the vehicles.[76] The spokesperson stated that Russian forces routinely support infantry assaults with armored vehicles, specifically BMPs, and that heavy Russian FPV drone strikes are interdicting supplies to Ukrainian positions.[77] Ukrainian forces counterattacked near Avdiivka on December 17 and recently advanced. Geolocated footage published on December 17 indicates that Ukrainian forces advanced east of Nevelske.[78] www.understandingwar.org/... www.understandingwar.org/... www.understandingwar.org/... www.understandingwar.org/... x It's hard to believe that in the 21st century someone can attack and totally destroy peaceful city in the center of Europe. That's how Ukrainian #Mariupol looked in 2021 before Russian invasion. Like a winter fairy tale... 🧵 pic.twitter.com/eNVOKwj7QV — Maksym Borodin (@adnashmyash) December 16, 2023 x Russia destroying evidence by flattening occupied Mariupol torture site Advisor to 🇺🇦 Mayor Petro Andriushchenko reports Russians dismantling the 'main torture facility' in Mariupol, erasing crucial traces of 🇺🇦 suffering. https://t.co/SGO77AWAch — Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) December 17, 2023 x Russian MP Vitaly Milonov dreams about going to war. He begs Father Frost (Russian Santa) for it. Will tsar Putin grant his wish? https://t.co/eLnyhwsQbM pic.twitter.com/A1hHWxX6sq — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) December 17, 2023 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/17/2212205/-Ukraine-Invasion-Day-663-RU-preparing-vote-fraud-again-in-occupied-oblasts?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/