Victorious news of the 300th day of war: Zelenskyy in Bakhmut, Ukraine is country of the year, and 10,000 Starlinks

Zelenskyy visits Bakhmut, where the fiercest fighting continues

On Tuesday, December 20, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Bakhmut, where he awarded the Ukrainian military.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a working trip to the Donetsk region to meet with the Ukrainian military defending Bakhmut, where fierce battles with the Russian forces are taking place.

The president visited the forefront positions of one of the mechanized brigades on the outskirts of the city, listened to its commander’s report on the operational situation, logistics and proposals for further actions. In the course of the trip, the president presented state awards to the servicemen of mechanized, motorized infantry, mountain assault, tank, artillery and airmobile units.

Ukraine produces artillery shells for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

"The Ukrainian army mostly fights using Soviet artillery systems. Unfortunately, there are not many Western artillery weapons in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Ukraine faces the problem of establishing its own serial production of calibers that are lacking on the front line. These are 122 mm and 152 mm caliber shells," said Natalia Sad, Ukroboronprom spokeswoman.

According to the spokeswoman of the weapon manufacturer, Ukraine has launched production of shells in many cities.

"To be able to supply shells to our artillery, we have launched serial production in Ukraine. Previously, we imported these shells from abroad, looked for them in the warehouses of our partners. However, the warehouses are exhausted, and the volumes that we get every month are not enough. We have the support of our allies and will increase the production of shells at foreign facilities, that is, abroad," added Sad.

Ukraine will receive more than 10,000 Starlink terminals

Ukraine has agreed with the American company Space Exploration Technologies Corp. on the supply of more than 10,000 Starlink satellite communication terminals. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

The batch will arrive in the coming months. Fedorov clarified that the contract has not yet been concluded, but the governments of several EU countries are ready to help with the purchase of terminals. He stressed that all financial issues have been resolved.

Ukraine receives USD 2 billion grant from the World Bank

The state budget of Ukraine received grant funds in the amount of USD 2 billion from the World Bank Trust Fund. 

This is the second tranche of the grant totaling USD 4.5 billion.

The funds were provided by the United States through the World Bank Trust Fund under the  Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance (PEACE) in Ukraine project.

"The grant funding will be used to provide pension payments and salaries to civil protection workers, as well as to pay for medical services under the medical guarantees program," the ministry of finance explained.

Ukraine is the country of the year

The Economist praised Ukraine "for the heroism of its people, and for standing up to a bully" and stated that this year the title can be awarded only to Ukraine. The magazine notes that usually it is difficult to choose the country of the year, but this time the choice was obvious.

"Ukrainians have also demonstrated resilience. When there is no tap water at home, they melt snow. When there is no electricity, they find heat and light in cafés with diesel generators, or sleep in the offices where they work, many of which now have bomb shelters and bottled water. The horrors Putin keeps inflicting on them do not seem to have dented their morale," The Economist writes.

Ukrainian aviation conducts 10 strikes on Russian personnel and 12 strikes on equipment

Aviation of the Defense Forces of Ukraine during the day has launched 10 strikes on the Russian concentrations of personnel, weapons and military equipment and 12 strikes on the air defense positions. This was reported by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The units of the missile troops and artillery of the Ukrainian Defense Forces hit a Russian ammunition warehouse, 3 control points and 8 manpower concentrations.