Ukraine Update…Day 1,023…NATO…Kursk…Putin regrets…Russian Economy hurts…US Aid….

American cargo flights are arriving in Polnad with weapons, ammo, and combat equipment sent by Biden….

Trump says he will CONTINUE this….

The Ukraine STILL has a NOT ENOUGH troops problem….

The Ukraine President keeps at the NATO thing…..

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Ukraine’s diplomats the country will have to fight to persuade allies to allow it to take up Nato membership, but has described the goal as “achievable” as it searches for security guarantees to protect it from Russia.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has vowed to bring more “destruction” to Ukraine after a devastating drone attack on the central Russian city of Kazan and met the Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit of an EU and Nato leader to Moscow.

Kyiv says membership in the transatlantic military alliance, or an equivalent form of security guarantee, would be crucial to any peace plan to ensure Russia does not attack again. Nato has said Ukraine will join it one day, but has not suggested when or issued an invitation….

More…

Russia’s push for Kursk…

Outnumbered, Ukraine is clinging to the sliver of territory it still controls — bolstered in part by President Joe Biden’s recent decision to allow Kyiv to use U.S.-made missiles, known as ATACMS, to strike deeper inside of Russia. Muddy conditions and natural barriers including rivers have also helped Ukraine hold some lines. But the huge Russian deployment to Kursk has helped Moscow claw back around 40 percent of the 530 square miles Ukraine initially seized.

Putin downplayed Ukraine’s brazen incursion when it happened in August, framing it as a futile sideshow to the main fighting in Ukraine’s east. But almost five months on, as the fighting intensifies, the battle for this corner of western Russia has proved that Ukraine’s cross-border incursion marked a watershed moment in the war — even if the final outcome remains unclear.

“I can be frank with you: Even when I was creating this operation … I was very skeptical about it in general,” said Col. Dmytro Voloshyn, commander of Ukraine’s 82nd Brigade. Since, then, he said, the importance of the fight in Kursk has become “undeniable.”…

…

Still, many Russians troops stayed in Ukraine’s east to focus on seizing the strategic city of Pokrovsk. They are now nearly in reach of the city, though the advance has taken much longer than most expected. Months of grinding battles have caused significant Russian losses there and in Kursk.

And Ukraine has more reason than ever to stand its ground in Russia: Officials say if they retreat, the 60,000 troops they are fighting off will follow them back into Ukraine.

“We will not go anywhere,” Shyriaiev said….

…

“They send a tank, we destroy it, they send an APC, we destroy it, they send a BTR, we destroy it. And now they’re using motorcycle groups,” he said, referring to types of armored vehicles. “Even if we are still destroying them, they will probably still come on foot.”

Dmytro, 25, an assault company commander in the same brigade, described Russia’s tactics as “meat assaults.”

More…

…

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 22, 2024

Dec 22, 2024 – ISW Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated his latest assertion that he should have violated the ceasefire he had imposed on Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 by launching a full-scale invasion even earlier than February 2022. Ukrainian forces reportedly struck an oil depot in Oryol Oblast with drones on the night of December 21 to 22. Russian forces recently executed more Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) on the battlefield. Ukrainian forces recently regained lost positions in western Zaporizhia Oblast, and Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk and in Kursk Oblast.

Daily Kos grunt report for today…..

Russian economic issues are having people there attacking government offices like post offices, ATM and banks…

US  F-18 is hit by ‘Friendly Fire’ action from a US Navy Missile Destroyer….Pilots are ok…..