Russia will not leave ZNPP, its permanent tool of blackmail. Serhii Zgurets’ column 

The Armed Forces control a settlement on the Svatove-Kreminna highway

The section from Svatove to Kreminna has been under the control of our artillery and ground units for a long time. There was a certain pause, but now we have certain successes.

One of the directions of advance of our troops is Makiivka-Ploschanka-Krasnorichenske.  The second situation concerns the Chervonopopivka.  This settlement is located on the highway between Svatove and Kreminna.  This is quite an important place, because it will be the exit to the track that we have been talking about for a long time.  I hope that this is the case.  The General Staff confirmed this when talking about enemy strikes on Chervonopopivka.  This means that it is under our control.

We are carrying out offensive actions in the Kreminna area. The enemy, in turn, is trying to counterattack from Rubizhne to Bilohorivka in order to disrupt our military operations.  We also know that the enemy continues to build a line of defense — from Svatove to Kreminna and from Svatove to Nizhnya Duvanka and further north.  They managed to make another 10 km of "dragon's teeth'' fortifications.  They are trying to bite into our land, but in real hostilities, I think, no one will defend these teeth.  We will either bypass these barriers, or create a situation where there will simply be no infantry behind these "teeth".

Donetsk region: the situation near Bakhmut is stabilizing

When talking about Bakhmut's encirclement, these are rather phrases from the Russian social media that it is about to happen.  The battles for the city have been going on for six months and the situation is not critical.  Six by six kilometers fall into the war zone — a black maelstrom is because of gruelling battles on both sides.

Regarding the enemy's attempt to advance, if we rely on publications with geodata, the enemy is in Ozaryanivka and Kordyumivka.  They are close to each other.  Kordyumivka is a village bounded on one side by a railway, and on the other by a canal through which water flows.  This is a narrow space where the enemy has gathered forces and advanced towards the village and hopes to advance to Klishchiivka.  It is about six kilometers from the latter to Kordyumivka.  There is a large space there, which from Klishchiivka's point of view can be actively used to destroy the troops that will go there.  There will be an intensification of hostilities, because the enemy has no other way to make Bakhmut's life difficult.  After Klishchiivka, they need to go to the western route from Bakhmut , and then hope to be able to surround the town.  But these are just dreams of the enemy, which will be minimized by transferring reserves.

Also near Bakhmut, the enemy carries out tactics of mass attacks - small groups operate, but in significant numbers.  This causes heavy losses to the enemy, which have recently increased.  Due to the artillery and the actions of our infantry, the advance of the enemy is sufficiently complicated.

There are uncertainties in many settlements.  The enemy is accumulating considerable strength and, with significant artillery support, is trying to attack our defense line, and after some time break out of there. There was such a scenario in Maiorsk - the enemy first advanced, and then the armed forces knocked them out.  Control over Maiorsk complicates the advance of troops to other areas of the front.  The area around Bakhmut really remains difficult, but the situation is stabilizing. 

The enemy tried to surround Avdiivka from different sides.  The defense line is maintained and our troops will continue to defend.  This speaks of the powerful capabilities of our ground forces.

Pavlivka is under the fire control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the presence of units there causes significant casualties.  I think that Pavlivka will exist in this format for a long time.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces began to exhaust the Russian forces in the Zaporizhzhia direction

In the south, the section of the front from the Kherson region to Zaporizhzhia — the enemy must pull their troops further away from the  affected zone with the help of our artillery.  This affects the situation both in Tokmak and in Polohy. These are important road junctions.  Regular strikes of the Armed Forces force the enemy to leave these areas.  This is a sign of the beginning of exhaustion of this group.  I think this strategy of attrition will be a prerequisite for further offensives, but after understanding that the enemy cannot hold defense in these areas.

Now the enemy is pulling all its forces towards Dzhankoy. The city is used as a base to strengthen the entire group in the south.  With Dzhankoy, Russian troops can be strengthened in the direction of Armyansk or Chongar.  But we understand that these ways are not eternal and the use of artillery and aviation can cut off Crimea as a base for equipping the south.

The dynamics of Russian losses depends on the supply of weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine

If we take the dynamics of Russian losses by month, the largest losses were in March — about 15,000, then this scale began to decrease until the summer.  This dynamic coincided with the exhaustion of our artillery.  In May-June, we had a catastrophic lack of shells for it.  And then HIMARS came and the dynamics went up sharply.  In the last month, we made about 16,000.  The more great weapons we get, the more effective our troops are on the battlefield.

The Zaporizhzhia NPP is a trump card for pressure on Ukraine and its partners

The Russian occupiers will use the ZNPP as a permanent tool of blackmail.  Russian troops are inside there.  All these conversations that they will withdraw from a military point of view are not profitable for the Russians.  They need to have a guided nuclear bomb in the form of a nuclear power plant and occasionally start hype on this story about the deterioration of the situation at the station.  I'm afraid that these conversations are some excessive expectations.  They consider it in the future a source of power for both this territory and part of the Russian territory.  This is the "trump ace" for putting pressure on Europe and our partners and ourselves.

If the Russian forces withdraw from the extreme points on the left bank of the Dnipro in the Kherson Oblast, Mykolaiv will not be shelled

Information about the retreat of the Russian forces from Nova Kakhovka and Oleshky appeared today.  The artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the left bank of the Dnipro River allows active fire influence on Russian units along the line Hola Prystan - Oleshky - Nova Kakhovka. Indeed, there were reports that the enemy was trying to withdraw its forces so as not to expose them to blows. This zone will be constantly under our blows.  Withdrawing part of the troops will save them only partially.  On the other hand, if we push them back from here, we will minimize the strikes on Mykolaiv, because we need to knock out all the artillery for this.

Forecast for the week from Serhii Zgurets: the Armed Forces of Ukraine intensify movements in the Luhansk region during the cold weather

Given the fact that the ground is beginning to freeze, if it will be minus 5 and it will last, then I think that in the direction of Svatove - Kreminna, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will intensify combat operations.  When we talk about Bakhmut, I think that thanks to reserves, we will be able to repel all areas where the enemy has advanced a certain number of metres.  When we talk about the Zaporizhzhia front, everything will remain unchanged there.  And on the left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, we will continue to get rid of the enemy with the help of our artillery.