During the night Russian attacks in Sumy oblast |Ukraine Russia, today’s war news

• The war in Ukraine reached the 279th day.
• The Dnipro Defensive Line: the natural obstacle used by the Russianswhich increase the defenses on the river.
• One day of war in Ukraine it costs as much as 30 in Afghanistan.
• Mayor Klitschko does not rule out the partial evacuation of Kiev.
• Moscow against the Pope for the interview on the Russians: We cruel, martyred Ukrainians? Perversion.

08:16 – Mayor Kiev: We will not allow Putin to steal our Christmas

We will not allow Putin to steal Christmas from us: this was promised by the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, announcing that the traditional trees will be installed in the capital to celebrate the holidays. Nobody will cancel Christmas and New Years, he assured him. The Ukrainian capital suffers from long blackouts due to Russian bombing which damaged the energy infrastructure. The Christmas trees will therefore not have lights, underlined Sergey Kovalenko, head of the Yasno company that supplies electricity to Kiev, but they will still be festive for all of us.

05:48 – Moscow transfers 15 missile systems to Belarus

Russia has transferred at least 15 Tor-M2 surface-to-air missile systems and 10 military engineering vehicles to Belarus. This was announced by Hajun, a Belarusian group that monitors the movement of Russian weapons, quoted by the Kyiv Independent.

05:47 am – Russian attacks in the Sumy oblast

Sumy oblast governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi reported that Russian forces attacked the communities of Seredyna-Buda, Druzhba, Shalyhyne and Hlukhiv in the last few hours. No casualties were reported.

05:46 am – From the pandemic to Ukraine, the mistakes of Xi Jinping’s China

(by Federico Rampini) The China a pressure cooker
. This is the result of the mistakes that Xi Jinping has accumulated in many fields: pandemic, economy, foreign policy, internal management of its power.

We Westerners must not overestimate the destabilizing potential of street demonstrations, however the challenges for the regime are real.

For a historical nemesis the same country from which the Covid pandemic started, the one that can’t get out of it and thus sees its own stability threatened.

The widespread protests in many Chinese cities they don’t seem like the premises for a new Tiananmen Square (as in 1989), let alone for a shoulder to the regime: the communist party has eliminated all conditions to build an organized opposition.

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05:45 am – Usa: war in Ukraine slows military supplies to Taiwan

(by Viviana Mazza, correspondent from New York) The massive shipments of US arms toUkraine complicate Washington’s attempt to assist militarily Taiwan
, at a time of high tensions with China. He writes it the Wall Street Journalwhich highlights how the United States has accumulated a backlog of almost 19 billion dollars in armaments destined for the island (which also includes Javelin anti-tank missile launchers and Stinger surface-to-air missiles).

These weapons are part of the so-called porcupine strategy in the event of an invasion by Beijing. In addition to some members of the US Congress, there is also concern from Taipei about the delays. Taiwan would like to require that weapons sold by the United States be delivered on timeGeneral Wang Shin-lung, the deputy minister of armaments, said last month.

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05:44 am – THE MILITARY POINT – The importance of the Dnipro defensive line

(by Andrea Marinelli and Guido Olimpio) Forecasts are one thing, reality is another. Before the invasion Western simulations suggested the Ukrainians turn the Dnipro into a defensive line abandoning the rest of the territories, this to avoid being crushed in a possible grip. Instead they are it was the Russians who had to fall back behind the natural obstacle of the river. In a few months, a total or almost total reversal.

The defenses

The observers – in particular those of the American Institute for the Study of War – signal the construction of trenches, barriers, checkpoints in different areas on the east bank, the one where the occupants are attested. A plank cuts off, to the west, the Kinburn Peninsula, an area where in recent days there have been incursions by the resistance. Other structures – also made up of the famous dragon’s teeth (concrete blocks) – were created to protect the logistic routes to the east and south. The Army has taken steps to stabilize the front, better control the sector with the arrival of reservists but also prevent an enemy offensive. The Institute for the Study of War speculates that Zelensky’s army may try to cross the Dnipro to gain new positions. The weather conditions (frost, snow, mud) at the moment are not exactly favorable and the supply problem hangs over everyone

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05:43 am – Anti-aircraft alarm on Monday evening in three regions

Air raid sirens are ringing in three Ukrainian regions, especially in the areas of Kharkiv, Dnipro and Poltava. This was reported by the local media, which speak of some explosions in Poltava and Dnipro.

05:42 am – US media, Russian leaders evaluated the use of atomic bombs in Ukraine

A series of emails attributed to one FSB molethe Russian secret service, reveals that Russian officials discussed the potential use of nuclear weapon in the Ukrainian conflict and the confrontation in the entourage of Vladimir Putin. He reveals it Newsweek, who viewed the e-mail, which would have been sent by an FSB agent, nicknamed `The wind of change a Vladimir Osechkina Russian human rights activist who runs the anti-corruption website Gulagu.ru. Starting March 4, 007 reportedly wrote regular dispatches to Osechkin, revealing the anger and discontent within the secret services at the war unleashed by the tsar. The most recent messages, dating back to November, evoke a civil war among Putin’s closest allies, according to Newsweek. In an email dated March 17, the mole hopes, although the conflict has somehow gone beyond logic and common sense, that this total madness is not committed, referring to theuse of the atom. In this and other emails between March and April, the source expresses doubts about the feasibility of a nuclear attack because he does not believe that the chain of command would follow all orders and the effects could also affect the Russia, even if the bomb is intercepted in Russian territory or does not hit the intended target. Not to mention that it would demonstrate military weakness, it would achieve nothing and it would cause such consequences that it makes no sense to consider them.

05:34 – United States sells 80 precision missiles to Finland

The US state department has approved the sale of more than 80 precision missiles to Finland for a total of 232 million dollars, as the traditionally non-aligned Nordic country prepares to join NATO following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now it’s up to Congress to authorize the supply, which includes 40 AIM 9X Block II infrared-guided air-to-air tactical missiles, known as Sidewinders, and 48 AGM-154 JSOW (Joint standoff weapon) precision gliding guided bombs, both manufactured by Raytheon.

05:33 am – Zelensky: in one week 258 Russian attacks in the Kherson region

Over the past week, Russian forces have opened fire 258 times on thirty settlements controlled by Kiev forces in the Kherson region. This was stated in his nightly video message by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, also reporting that the Russians damaged the pumping station that supplies water to the city of Mykolaiv.