TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@social.cleverlibre.org

Ukraine is suffering a powerful cyberattack.

The Kyivstar mobile and internet operator failed and Monobank also announced a massive hacker attack.

This attack caused a technical failure, as a result of which mobile communication, Internet access and Bank services became temporarily unavailable.

"The most important thing is that the subscribers' personal data has not been compromised. We sincerely apologize for the temporary inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. Our team will definitely provide compensation to those subscribers who were not connected or could not use our services," the company said.

Consequences of the Kyivstar mobile operator failure:

▪️In Lviv, there was a problem with the system of automatically turning off street lights: city services turned off the lighting lines manually, the press service of the Lviv City Council reported.

▪️In one of the territorial communities in Sumy region, the air alert notification system does not work, so the patrol police and emergency services will notify about the air alarm.

▪️The DTEK utility company reported that the numbers of their contact centers in this network are temporarily not working. The company encouraged the use of chatbots and the website.

▪️PrivatBank spokesman Oleg Serga noted that the failure will partially affect the operation of some PrivatBank terminals and ATMs, but not the entire network.

Meanwhile Monobank stated that "Everything is under control," according to Oleg Horokhovskyi, co-founder of the bank.

15 US Air Force personnel were punished for leaking secret Pentagon documents related, in particular, to Russia's war against Ukraine

The commanders of the reconnaissance squadron were removed from their positions and received administrative fines. The entire 102 intelligence group was suspended from intelligence activities. The US Air Force has also changed its regulations on access to classified data.

Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old National Guardsman, is believed to be the sole mastermind of the data leak and faces up to 60 years in prison. The punished servicemen did not prevent the leak, neglected their duties and safety, the press service of the US Air Force reports.

Teixeira shared intelligence about the war in Ukraine in the Discord chat and leaked Pentagon documents to an audience of 20-30 people. He was arrested in April 2023 and charged with six counts.

The commander of the special forces group "Artan" of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with the call sign "Saba" spoke about the "most touching moment" during his entire service - the rescue of the scout "Conan", who spent 14 hours on the high seas.

Bakhmut, Kherson, occupied territories and the deep rear of the Russian army - soldiers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from the special unit "Artan" perform tasks where "death is nearby." However, they talk about them with a smile and call them “specific.” In particular, without aviation cover, the GUR fighters returned control of the Boyko Towers in the Black Sea to Ukraine.

During one of the missions, the Artana boat came under fire from a Russian fighter. After a maneuver by the skipper, who tried to get the boat out of the fire, the Conan ended up overboard.

Good morning

https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/16363

Germany will supply 200,000 artillery shells in 2024.
https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/16350

The SBU detained a Russian agent in Mykolaiv who was correcting enemy strikes on the city

The figure tried to identify the location of the Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile systems on the territory of the region in order to prepare the enemy for missile strikes and mortar strikes.

To fulfill this task, he received a 10,000 hryvnias "advance" from the Russian "curators".

According to the investigation, the detainee is a local resident who was recruited by the military intelligence of the Russian Federation through his relatives who live in the occupied part of the Kherson region and also cooperate with the aggressor.

After completing all the enemy tasks, the occupiers promised to "evacuate" him to the Kherson region, where his parents lived.

The perpetrator is currently in custody and faces life imprisonment.

Here is the new abbreviated brace they gave me yesterday. I can chop vegetables again.

Good morning Resisters. 10 past 9 here and 30⁰. But the sun is shining.

Góodnight

Gonna quit now. Changing weather forecast. The warm front died before getting here. Another 28⁰ night. I have to attempt to revive the fire in the woodstove.

Germany will double it's aid to Ukraine to 8 billion Euros.https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/16332

It's time to support Kyiv more, not less, - Borrell

"Russia continues to attack Ukraine, but Russia's losses are increasing: it's time to support Kyiv more, not less. Today we will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, and the ministers should give me guidelines to present options at the leaders' summit," said the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell before the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the EU.

He also emphasized that it is important that military support for Ukraine continues at the European level, and not only at the bilateral level. In addition, Borrell said that "the time has come to direct all our capabilities to support Ukraine" as the Russian Federation increases its attacks.

European lawmakers send plea to US Congress on Ukraine aid - Reuters

More than a hundred senior European lawmakers will send a joint letter to their counterparts in the U.S. on Tuesday, pleading for Congress to unlock further military aid to Ukraine at a time U.S. lawmakers have struggled for a deal.

The open letter, reviewed by Reuters, was signed by lawmakers from at least 17 countries including France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Ireland, and is a sign of mounting concerns in Europe about the continuity of U.S. support to Ukraine.

It also comes just as Ukraine President Zelenskiy flies to Washington to make his case, ahead of a tight deadline for Congress, which is scheduled to go into recess for the year by Friday.

"We hear the concerns expressed by our American friends. For years, American leaders, Democrats and Republicans, have asked Europeans to take more responsibility for their own security. We agree with this legitimate request," the lawmakers, led by Benjamin Haddad, a French MP in President Macron's party, said in the letter.

The European lawmakers, which also include Germany's Michael Roth, the chairman of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as Giulio Tremonti, his Italian counterpart, said Europeans had contributed as much as the U.S. on Ukraine since Russia's invasion.

"Moreover, military spending has risen all across Europe," they said. "American military aid however is critical and urgent."

The next round of Ukraine aid has been held up by a demand from House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans that no more funds be dispatched unless steps are first taken to harden the U.S. border with Mexico.

President Joe Biden has urged Congress to act by the year's end and Democrats in Congress were trying to win approval of about $50 billion in new security assistance for Ukraine.

"A Putin victory would embolden our enemies around the world: they are watching and hoping we grow tired. Ukrainians are fighting so we don't have to," the European lawmakers said.

Ukraine received some fine presents
https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/16324

It's Orban vs Europe
https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/16323

Russia launched 8 Islander missiles. None made it to the intended target
https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/16328

In an interview, the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Carsten Breuer, warns remarkably directly about a possible “defensive war” in Germany - FAZ

The German Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) recently spoke publicly about the need for the Bundeswehr to become “war-ready,” which earned him a lot of criticism.

Germany's highest-ranking soldier went one step further in an interview and spoke of the possibility that "we may one day have to wage a defensive war and no longer have the choice whether we want to take part in an operation far away."

Society in the Federal Republic needs to get used to this idea, explained Bundeswehr Inspector General Carsten Breuer in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

But that's not all: Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the general of the German army warned urgently against Moscow's ruler Vladimir Putin.

“The fact that Russia is arming itself at the moment and how Putin is positioning himself worries me. It should concern us all, but most importantly we need to turn those concerns into action now. “We have to become aware of how we can deal with this lasting threat,” Breuer told the daily newspaper: “In the next few years we will not be able to go back to where we were before 2022.”

“We should be afraid that Russia will win this war, that Putin will win this war. Because then we will be faced with a completely new security situation in Germany,” Defense Minister Pistorius said on ZDF’s “heute journal” on December 5th. He and Breuer are not the only admonishers.

Dr. Mölling from the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) strongly advised the West to equip the Ukrainians with the conditions for a new offensive in 2024. Otherwise, hesitation could have devastating consequences for Europe in a few years - including for Germany. “It has to be said relatively clearly that we will probably face the consequences of not helping Ukraine and thus continuing to endanger our own security in five or six years,” he stated.

Sweden announced a winter aid package for Ukraine worth 120 million euros

The money taken from Sweden's aid budget, among other things, will be used to purchase heating equipment and increase the capacity of the Ukrainian electricity grid. It is also about other measures that will help Ukrainians survive the winter, for example, the construction of shelters.

According to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, this is the largest support within the framework of Sweden's bilateral aid to Ukraine.

- The support for Ukraine is almost existential for us, says Ulf Kristersson.

Kristersson expresses concern that the long-term support for Ukraine has begun to be questioned from several quarters. Not least with the USA, by far the largest donor, the White House is finding it increasingly difficult to get its proposals through Congress.

- If the US begins to fail in its support, there is a risk that European countries will also fail, and if European support fails, it will also have consequences in the American debate. It is extremely important that the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries and others bordering Russia are on the front line to maintain agreement on aid to Ukraine, says Ulf Kristersson.

Back from Medical. Got a smaller brace with instructions to take it off several times a day and open and close my hand, stretching the tendons

From "The Analyst":

KRYNKY, AVDIVKA, OTHER NEWS

It seems the Russians got themselves into a terrible mess launching an offensive to try and regain the trenches in the forested area.
Their armour was taken out by a mix of drone types, drone-seeded mines, and Javelins.
The supporting Russian artillery fell quickly to a counter-battery attack - they have no answer to this except to move as they don’t have the radars to know where to strike. By the time they realised most of it had been destroyed.
Yet another Russian assault that had the men and the equipment but not the planning, morale or any real coordination resulting in abject failure.

AVDIVKA

Russia changed its strategy from attacking in the north and trying to hold Stepove to attacking from the south of the northern salient along the reservoirs, nearest the industrial railway station at the south east end of the coking plant.
Clearly they have started to run out of resources again having expended so many - this was almost all infantry. Exposed by having to walk on foot under full view of Ukrainian drones, with little fire support and mediocre support from BMP’s they failed miserably.
The Russian death toll, again, was high, morale is clearly low - they seem to understand they’re going into an impossible situation and make minimal effort - mostly trying to keep alive and hiding as soon as they can. It doesn’t help. Eventually they get found by the ubiquitous drones Ukraine seems to have mastered so well. Another failed effort.

Overall the Russians haven’t been having much success as much because of the mud-snow-freeze conditions. It’s just getting too difficult in many areas to move about and it looks like they’ve blasted through their available reserves at Avdivka again. It doesn’t mean they won’t try again or even stop trying, just that the pace might slow for a while.
This is no bad thing for Ukraine - its 155mm shell situation is getting worse by the day, although the 152mm production for old equipment is said to be adequate from domestic and foreign sources.

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!