This is Jared Goyette, reporting from a festive but tired Kyiv on day 1,386 of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
At the War Desk, our focus continues to be on Myrnohrad — with conflicting information about whether Ukrainian troops there are “encircled” and how safely they can rotate personnel and bring in supplies.
Top story so far:
Ukrainian troops defending the front-line city of Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast are relying on a narrow and increasingly dangerous “gray zone” corridor to move in and out of the city as Russian forces try to cut the last remaining roads, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Two servicemen fighting in the area told Ukrainska Pravda journalist Olga Kyrylenko that all usable routes into and out of Myrnohrad are under constant Russian fire.
The last remaining exit from Myrnohrad is described as a “strip of gray zone” only a couple of kilometers (about 1 mile) wide between the partially occupied village of Rivne and the occupied village of Krasnyi Lyman. Soldiers say Ukrainian brigades are taking losses as they try to rotate personnel and maintain supplies, Kyrylenko reported.
Russian forces are also increasing their presence inside Myrnohrad, while Ukrainian troops have fewer reconnaissance tools left to assess the buildup, according to the report.
This comes a week after a Dec. 3 report in the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske in which soldiers on the ground said Myrnohrad was practically encircled, with one unnamed commander in the 38th Marine Brigade saying that Myrnohrad had been encircled on the ground for the last five days, while another source told the outlet that the last successful rotation was on Nov. 12.
These reports appear to contrast with comments by Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi at a Dec. 9 press briefing, where he said that Myrnohrad “is not surrounded,” although he acknowledged that logistics had become more difficult.
At the same briefing, Syrskyi said Ukraine had regained about 13 square kilometers (5 square miles) of Pokrovsk’s roughly 29 square kilometers (11 square miles) since mid-November after previously having no troops left in the city. Ukrainian forces also withdrew from positions 5 to 7 kilometers (3 to 4 miles) outside Pokrovsk that could no longer be held effectively, he said.
Read also: As Russia takes Pokrovsk, sister city Myrnohrad stares down encirclement
Special forces release video of ‘destruction’ of ‘enemy group in the Donetsk Oblast’
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces released on Dec. 10 video of what it said was a combat mission in Donetsk Oblast during which a five-strong Russian infiltration group were killed.
“Operators of the 8th Regiment of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine during special operations in the forest area of the Donetsk Oblast successfully destroyed five Russian servicemen,” the SSO said in a post on social media.
“Taking advantage of the weather conditions, the enemy wanted to infiltrate the rear of Ukrainian positions, but the SSO prevented them from doing so.”
The footage shows a firefight in a forested area with what appear to be thermal imaging gun sights picking out and shooting Russian soldiers.
In a response both to Ukraine’s mostly-effective drone-based kill zone and the growing holes in Kyiv’s lines, Russia has almost completely shifted to using small group infantry assault tactics’ rather than large-scale mechanized attacks with tanks and other heavy armor.
Moving forward in groups of one to three soldiers, and with an emphasis on camouflage, these Russian assault teams are often not ordered to assault the first Ukrainian positions they come across, as would be expected in a traditional positional engagement.
Instead, they often infiltrate further, looking to attack Ukrainian drone teams and cause overall chaos, creating sectors where both sides’ infantry find themselves holding positions behind each other’s lines.
A diagram showing a simplification of everyday infantry tactics on the front line in Ukraine in 2025. (Nizar al-Rifai/The Kyiv Independent)
Read also: Where is Ukraine’s front line? The answer is getting harder, and more political
At least 3 killed, 17 injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine over past day
At least three people have been killed and 17 others injured in Russian attacks against Ukraine over the past day, local authorities reported on Dec. 10.
Russia launched 80 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force reported. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 50 drones. Twenty-nine drones made it through, striking seven locations
In Kharkiv Oblast, Russian attacks targeted three settlements, injuring one person over the past day, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
In Donetsk Oblast, Russian strikes injured one person, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Russian drones attacked Kryvyi Rih, killing one person, and Nikopol, injuring two others, Vladyslav Haivanenko reported.
In Sumy Oblast, two men were killed by Russian first-person view (FPV) drones and one woman was injured in two separate attacks, according to the local military administration.
In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian attacks injured three people, the local military administration reported.
In Kherson Oblast, Russian strikes injured nine people over the past day, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,183,620 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022
Russia has lost around 1,183,620 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Dec. 10.
The number includes 1,010 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.According to the report, Russia has also lost 11,404 tanks, 23,692 armored fighting vehicles, 69,182 vehicles and fuel tanks, 34,969 artillery systems, 1,563 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,253 air defense systems, 431 airplanes, 347 helicopters, 89,066 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.
From The Kyiv Independent - News from Ukraine, Eastern Europe via this RSS feed