Victory Chronicles-DAY 1378

Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin staged a tightly choreographed visit to a military command post using his presence at a Russian military command post on Dec. 1 to visit and tout supposed battlefield breakthroughs and unveil plans for a so-called “security zone” along Ukraine’s border. Ukrainian officials dismissed the declarations as political theater that was crafted for foreign consumption, not reflections of events on the ground. 

Russian state agency TASS reported that commanders briefed Putin on the “liberation” of Krasnoarmiisk – the former name of Pokrovsk – and the city of Vovchansk in northeastern Ukraine. They also spoke of launching an operation toward the frontline town of Huliaipole and of “successes” in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Putin went on to call the war “a tragedy for the Ukrainian people,” a line Ukrainian analysts view as deeply cynical.

Andrii Kovalenko, who heads Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, said Moscow is preparing a wave of dramatic statements to coincide with diplomatic activity, including the visit of U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. These narratives, he said, are meant to raise pressure on Kyiv’s partners.

Kovalenko stressed that Russia has not taken Vovchansk. Ukrainian forces still hold part of the city, he said, and Kupiansk – another frequent target of Russian propaganda – also remains under Ukrainian control. 

Ukraine expects up to $16 billion in U.S. weapons next year. Ukraine hopes its Western partners will expand funding for purchasing U.S.-manufactured weapons next year that potentially will reach $12–16 billion, Kyiv’s ambassador to NATO Aliona Hetmanchuk said ahead of a minister-level meeting.

She said that the start of any talks with Russia should not be seen as a signal to slow or scale back on support. A major priority remains financing for the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL – a NATO-coordinated mechanism through which allies fund purchases of U.S. weapons for Ukraine. Hetmanchuk said about $4 billion is already pledged, and Ukraine expects that number to reach $5 billion by the year’s end.

Russia installs Christmas tree at Mariupol theater where its air strikes killed hundreds. Russian occupation authorities in Mariupol have begun raising the city’s Christmas tree beside the Drama Theater, a building that became a mass grave in 2022, when a Russian airstrike killed hundreds of civilians seeking refuge within its walls.

The exiled Mariupol City Council said the display is part of an effort to erase evidence of war crimes. Officials described it as a “bloody Christmas tree,” noting that children will now be encouraged to dance beside a place where their peers died.

Ukraine’s SpecOps forces strike Russian troop sites and ammunition depots. Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) say their units carried out overnight drone strikes on several Russian positions in the easternmost regions of  Ukraine, hitting troop concentrations and supply hubs that feed Moscow’s offensive.

The military reported that the SOF drones struck a gathering point for Russian personnel in Pokrovsk, a front-line city in Donetsk Oblast where fighting has intensified for months. It is considered the hottest spot of the Russo-Ukrainian war. 

 Another strike in the village of Biloiarivka destroyed an ammunition depot that belongs to Russia’s 51st Combined Arms Army. In the easternmost Luhansk region, a fuel and lubricants warehouse used by Russia’s 3rd Motorized Rifle Division was also hit near the village of Denezhnykove.

Key Takeaways

1. US-Ukrainian talks reportedly continued in Florida on December 1 ahead of US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin on December 2 to present the US-Ukrainian peace proposal.
2. The Kremlin is setting conditions to refrain from publicly discussing the outcomes of the December 2 US-Russian meeting, possibly in order to obfuscate Russia’s likely rejection of the US-Ukrainian peace proposal.
3. Prominent Russian milbloggers continue to undermine the Kremlin’s effort to portray a Russian victory in Ukraine as imminent or inevitable.
4. Russian forces are not yet confirmed to have seized all of Pokrovsk despite operating within the town for over 120 days.
5. Ukraine’s European allies continue to provide military aid and support to Ukraine’s growing defense industrial base (DIB).
6. The Russian military continues implementing longstanding plans to form new Russian divisions as part of the Russian military’s transition back towards a force structure based on maneuver divisions, likely in preparation for a possible future war with NATO.
7. Balloon incursions in NATO airspace continue to shut down Lithuanian airports.
8. Russian forces recently advanced in the Hulyaipole direction.

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