Victorious news of 663rd day of war: Russian Solntsepyok destroyed in Kherson region, shells from Rheinmetall, domestic production of drones

The Crimean Human Rights Group receives the Human Rights Tulip award

The Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG) has received the Human Rights Tulip 2023 award from the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine and was nominated for an international award. This was reported by the head of the CHRG Olga Skrypnyk.

"Extraordinary people from 10 countries (Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Turkey, Latvia, Iraq and Ukraine) who protect human rights in extremely difficult conditions," Skrypnyk wrote.

According to her, her colleagues include those who have spent years behind bars for their unwavering stance or those whose relatives were killed for their resistance.

Latvia will train over 1,500 Armed Forces personnel by the end of the year

Since July 2022, Latvia has trained about 350 Ukrainian servicemen. More than 1,500 more will be trained by the end of the year.

This was stated by Colonel Mykola Huben, Head of the Doctrine and Individual Training Department of the Main Doctrine and Training Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine reports.

During a meeting in Kyiv between the delegations of the Ministries of Defence of Ukraine and Latvia chaired by the heads of the ministries Rustem Umerovs and Andris Spruds, Huben noted that since July 2022, with the assistance of the Latvian side, about 350 Ukrainian servicemen have been trained in several areas of training.

Latvia trains the Ukrainian military in such areas as basic general military training, officer-sergeant leadership training, sapper training, rifleman training, and others.

Russia cannot capture Avdiivka

The head of the Avdiivka City Military Administration, Vitaliy Barabash, believes that the Russian forces will not be able to capture Avdiivka.

He said this on Espreso TV.

“Russian troops are still trying to capture Avdiivka. Assaults and attacks on the city continue. However, they have not managed to capture the city before their dictator's year-end address. Moreover, realising that they will not be able to capture the city by this date, they started talking about capturing it by the New Year," said Barabash.

He is confident that the Russians will not be able to capture Avdiivka.

Denmark and Sweden to transfer CV90 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine

This was reported by the Swedish government.

"The Ministers of Defence of Sweden and Denmark have signed a joint letter of intent to further support Ukraine in the field of combat vehicles," the statement said.

Denmark will initially make a financial contribution of DKK 1.8 billion (about $263.6 million - ed.), and Sweden will support the procurement under an agreement signed between the Swedish Defence Equipment Administration (FMV) and Ukraine in July this year.

"The letter of intent means that the parties will work on the procurement of additional combat vehicles 90 (CV90) for Ukraine, which will strengthen the overall capability of the Ukrainian defence forces," the statement said.

Swedish Defence Minister Paul Johnson said that Copenhagen and Stockholm will use their industrial potential to ensure the supply of new CV90s to Ukraine.

"The CV90s have been and remain an important addition to Ukraine's defence since Sweden delivered 50 of them earlier this year," he added.

Over the course of the year, Sweden has delivered 50 CV90 tanks to Ukraine, which have proven to be highly effective and have been highly appreciated in Ukraine.

Russian Solntsepyok destroyed in the Kherson region

This was reported by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

"While conducting reconnaissance in the Kherson sector, the Ukrainian Armed Forces operators discovered a Russian TOS-1A Solntsepyok. The enemy repeatedly attacked the positions of the Defence Forces in the Krynok area, on the left bank of the Kherson region, with a flamethrower system," the press service writes.

After the attack, the Solntsepyok was successfully destroyed.

Rheinmetall to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with tens of thousands of different types of shells

The German defence company Rheinmetall has received an order to supply several tens of thousands of different types of shells to the Ukrainian military in 2025.

According to the company's website, the order is worth three-digit millions of euros, or more than €100 million. The new agreement continues a series of ammunition orders placed by the Bundeswehr for Ukraine and Germany. 

The framework agreement will run until 2029, with a potential order value of around €1.2 billion. The order provides for the supply of several hundred thousand shells, fuzes and metal charges.

Many UAV production facilities emerged in Ukraine

Ukraine has created some of the best conditions in the world for this and has adopted a large number of laws and regulations that have simply "killed" the bureaucracy in this area.

"So today, it is again possible to import components without inspection, as UAVs have no taxes on components. It is also possible to incorporate a company in Diia.City and pay 5 times less taxes and even book employees. In other words, a lot has been done, as the entire Defence Forces has increased funding for UAVs and new production facilities are constantly being launched. However, I can't say publicly how many thousands of FPV drones are being produced per month and how production is increasing," said Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation, in an interview with Channel 24.

"Speaking of manufacturers, I see no limit to our potential. We have a large number of talented companies that are starting to localise components that can scale and that know how to scale. And, of course, everything will depend on the amount of resources. Russia has economic potential, as it is currently investing more than our country. But we are accumulating all possible resources. You can see that everyone is working to attract partner assistance. And within the country, everything is being done to accumulate resources for the war. So everything will depend on the intensity of investment in this area," the minister explained.

In addition, Ukraine is developing robotic technologies. According to Fedorov, more than 100 developments in the field of robotic systems have been submitted to Brave1. 75 have already been verified and some of them are receiving funding.

The world's largest private intelligence and analytical company will allocate more than $23 million for Ukraine's cybersecurity

This was announced by Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

"Recorded Future is the world's largest private intelligence and analytical company. In 2024, it will help us protect critical infrastructure from Russia's military and cyber aggression. The total amount of investments in support of Ukraine next year will be more than $23 million," he wrote.