Latest News from the SVO: Senior Lieutenant Promoted, Drone Escort, F-16 Pilots, and More

For three days, the Russian army struck the rear targets of the enemy. Last night, targets were hit in Kryvyi Rih, Odessa, Nikolaev, Pavlograd and Dnipropetrovsk.

What broke out in Feodosia?

Last night, the enemy also attacked the Crimean port of Feodosia. We recall that part of the Black Sea Fleet left Sevastopol for Feodosia. A powerful explosion was filmed by several people – apparently not only the enemy ordnance had exploded, but something in the port had also detonated.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced this morning that the large amphibious assault ship “Novocherkask” was damaged. And on the Ukrainian side, the commander of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Mykola Oleshchuk made a statement about the defeat of this ship.

The Russian Defense Ministry later confirmed the destruction of two Ukrainian Su-24s that fired missiles at Feodosia.

Unfortunately, as a result of an enemy attack in Feodosia, one person was killed, two were injured,– said the head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov.

Later, the list of injured grew to four people. According to him, six buildings were damaged. The extent of the damage to the large landing craft is not yet known for certain. The ship is actively used to transport army cargo.

By the way, publishing photos and videos of damaged objects on social networks in Ukraine is punishable under criminal law. But our compatriots continue to regularly “provide information to enemy intelligence.” But everything is changing:

All those who posted the video of the enemy attack in Feodosia have already been identified, the special services are working,

– said the adviser to the head of Crimea Oleg Kryuchkov.

Drones have become an escort

Drones have mastered another profession – escorting captives. The paratroopers from Stavropol told about an unusual combat episode. They occupied a fortress near the village of Verbovoye in Zaporozhye. Four soldiers from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who were defending the post, surrendered.

In order not to distract the stormtroopers by escorting the prisoners to the rear, the commanding officer of the paratroopers decided to entrust the matter to the UAV operators.

Two drones were assigned to “convoy” the four people. One of the drones took off to show the way, and the captives followed. And at that time, the second drone accompanied them from above – with a VOG-25 grenade, so that there would be no stupid thoughts of escape…

The above happened on Christmas Eve according to the current Ukrainian calendar. The commander of the paratroopers with the call sign “Santa” tells about the episode:

All in all, we think these four are lucky! Merry Christmas, in kind!

“It happened! Happy victory everyone!”

On December 25, something happened that they had long talked about, waited for, and shed blood for. Marinka, a city just a few kilometers west of Donetsk, the most powerful fortified area of ​​the Ukrainian Armed Forces, created for 9 years with a single goal – to terrorize the recalcitrant capital of Donbass, is now completely in the hands of the Russian army. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported this to the Supreme Commander.

The city, with an area of ​​14 square km, is now a complete ruin. Every house was turned by the enemy into a fortified post. Emergency evacuation routes, backup passages and communications have been dug from each fortification.

Ruslan Hakiev, an employee of the WarGonzo project, talks about the brutality of the fighting here in his special report:

The closer we got to the end of Marinka, the more difficult it was to go forward: more concrete fortifications and more open, shot spaces. Sometimes the fighting took place inside the house between the floors. A group of our stormtroopers managed to enter the second floor, the Ukrainians were sitting on the first. They used TNT checkers to punch holes in the ceilings and walls and through these holes to “peek” out the soldiers from the VSU.

Experts agree that the capture of Marinka will definitely reduce the intensity of the shelling of Donetsk and allow our artillerymen to conduct fire on Kurakhovo, a city that has become a key transport hub for both the Ugledar and Donetsk groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In the medium term, Marinka will play a big role in overturning Ukrainian defenses both north and south of it,– says Vlad Shlepchenko, military observer of Tsargrad.

It is not always possible to appreciate the true scale of what happened when just looking at a map. Military correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny writes about it:

I congratulate Donetsk and together with Donetsk the whole country with this victory on the way to the great Victory!

Do you know who freed Marinka? 150th Motorized Rifle Division. The legendary one that raised the banner of victory over the Reichstag in May 1945. The 5th motorized rifle brigade (born and scorched by the war in the DPR). The 20th motorized rifle division, and this is Chuikov’s former 62nd army, which won at Stalingrad and took Berlin by storm. The military correspondent Alexander Sladkov writes about this and adds:

The 42nd Division also fought in Marinka, then brilliantly repulsed the main thrust of the Ukrainian counterattack in Zaporozhye. There were fighters from the Akhmat-Sila detachment. All these are parts and compounds of the Southern Military District of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

By the way, the Ukrainian General Staff did not confirm the capture of Marinka by Russian troops, but stopped reporting information about the battles in this city. Marinka simply disappeared from Ukrainian reports. Only the Marine direction remains.

A senior lieutenant became a major

In recent history, such cases, when a senior lieutenant immediately became a major, can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Yuri Gagarin was promoted to major by Khrushchev for the first space flight. The hero of the aerial battles in Spain, Ivan Proskurov, by Stalin’s personal decision, received large epaulettes.

One of the heroes of the battles for Marinka, the Hero of Russia, senior lieutenant Alexander Troshin, yesterday received an extraordinary rank of major by decision of Vladimir Putin. First, Troshin already commanded a battalion and held the official position of lieutenant colonel, and secondly, the president took into account the outstanding military achievements of the hero.

Heroes are usually not the most convenient people for bosses. In 2018, Troshin graduated from the Kazan Tank Command School. And in April 2022, already during the SVO, he was dismissed from the army. However, he returned to the front as an ordinary volunteer soldier.

He fights desperately and professionally. Troshin was burned three times in the tank, has seven contusions and one shrapnel wound.

His crew destroyed 5 tanks and more than 20 armored vehicles. Yesterday, after the report on the capture of Marinka, the president personally called the commander of the Troshin battalion: he congratulated him on the victory and thanked him for his service.

Where did you go, Woman?

Another remarkable drone episode. After another Russian artillery strike on the Ukrainian outpost in Krinki, a reconnaissance drone found a woman in the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a mess of corpses and dirt. She waved her hand at the drone for help.

Her people had abandoned her and our military evacuated her and provided medical aid,– said the head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo.

According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, 62 thousand women currently serve in the armed forces of Ukraine. Previously, they were only liaison officers and nurses, but today women are allowed to serve even as ordinary stormtroopers. Kiev is preparing to mobilize half a million people into the armed forces of Ukraine, and it is possible that women will also necessarily go to the front.

Is the British six better than the aviation of the Ukrainian SSR?

Hoping to somehow change the situation on the front, Ukraine is waiting for its rescue by F-16 fighter jets. Today it became known that the first Ukrainian pilots for this type of aircraft underwent a six-month training in Great Britain. There are six of them.

A further ten pilots will remain in the UK for centrifuge training and a medical training course.– reported the Ukrainian media. That is, they have not been trained…

Commenting on the first question, British Defense Minister Grant Shapps expressed himself rather arrogantly:

Combined with training from the world’s leading Air Force, this is a significant improvement over Ukraine’s current Soviet-era capabilities.

But what can these six fighters do more than the hundreds of planes that flew before?

Six Ukrainian aces will have to pass this exam in a real battle. And he will be evaluated by a strict commission – our Su-30SM and Su-35S pilots, who, since the creation of the Special Military Operations, have already accumulated so much combat experience that no American top-flight can even dream of.– noted military correspondent Alexander Kots.

However, there is an alternative option. Connect with the Volga 149.200 channel and take the overseas flight straight to Rostov-on-Don.

Translation: ES