December 27, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The power situation across Ukraine remains "really difficult" because of the persistent risk of Russian shelling, Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said, warning that New Year's Eve could see "maximum damage to the energy system."

Speaking on Ukrainian television on Tuesday, Halushchenko said Ukraine was trying to use the time between Russian attacks to reduce the energy deficit by increasing electricity production and also to increase the capacity to transmit electricity.

During the holidays the risk of shelling could be higher, Halushchenko added. 

"There is a feeling that [Russians] have not refused to continue shelling our energy system. They are tied to certain dates. I think that the New Year is one of such dates when they will try to cause maximum damage to the energy system," he said. 

"The situation is such that it is definitely difficult to plan anything, because we do not know the volume of possible future shelling and the amount of damage it will cause to the power system."

Ukraine's state energy company Ukrenergo said Tuesday that the power deficit in the system had "slightly decreased due to the increase in the production volumes of power plants" but that "the available capacity in the system is still not enough to meet all the needs of consumers in the country" because the level of power consumption had increased at the same time.

"This is due to the gradual return to operation of power grids that were damaged during massive attacks, as well as the restoration of energy infrastructure in the de-occupied territories," Ukrenergo said in a statement. 

The number of consumers whose electricity supply has been restored at least partially has increased and the volume of industrial consumption is also growing, Ukrenergo said. 

During his nightly address on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said about 9 million people remained cut off from power in different regions of Ukraine.

Russia is expending huge amounts of resources as it tries to defend the eastern Ukrainian town of Kreminna, a Ukrainian official said. The town has been under Russian occupation since the spring and Russia keeps bringing in more troops and equipment to bolster its forces there, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Haidai, said Tuesday.

Here's what else is happening today:

The city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region is holding "courageously" despite Russian forces' concentrated efforts to advance, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Tuesday.

"Bakhmut is really our eastern fortress now. Indeed, the enemy has concentrated most of its efforts, military equipment and weapons there," Maliar said in an interview with Ukrainian television, adding:

"But you can see how courageously Bakhmut is holding, how much our soldiers inflict losses on the enemy and the enemy simply cannot advance further," she said. "There was a slight advance, but the enemy was pushed out," she added. 

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Tuesday that in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions, Russian forces had inflicted damage through firing on more than 25 settlements, including Bilohorivka, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, Bila Hora, Kurdiumivka, Vodiane, Pervomaiske, Maryinka and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged on Monday evening that the situation on the front lines of Bakhmut and other areas in the eastern Donbas region was “difficult, painful.”

The Ukrainian city of Kreminna, northwest of Lysychansk, continues to experience heavy fighting as the Russian military keeps renewing its forces there, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Haidai, said Tuesday.

"The Russian occupation troops managed to build a very powerful defense in a month, even a little more. They are bringing there a huge amount of reserves and equipment. They are constantly renewing their forces," Haidai said.  

He said the Russian military had suffered a large number of casualties "but they still bring new [personnel], because they understand that if they lose Kreminna, in principle, the entire line of defense will crumble."  

CNN has not been able to verify the number of casualties on the Russian side. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged on Monday evening that the situation on the frontlines in Bakhmut, Kreminna and other areas in the eastern Donbas region is “difficult, painful” as Russian forces use all resources available to them "to squeeze out at least some progress."

Why Kreminna matters: The town in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk region has been occupied since the spring.

Kreminna lies on a key north-south road from Svatove, which Russian troops had been using to resupply and which became even more important to them after Ukrainian troops took over Kupyansk, a resupply hub to the northwest of Kreminna and Svatove. Losing Kreminna would limit Russia's ability to resupply its troops in the key city of Severodonetsk.

Haidai said the road remained under Ukraine's fire control, which meant there was "no safe and calm way for the occupiers to bring in the equipment or ammunition towards Kreminna using this road," he said.

Ukrainian forces appeared to be on the verge of retaking Kreminna a few weeks ago, but Ukrainian officials said the approaches to the city were difficult because of extensive mining.

"Every meter is difficult, because everything there is mined and they are constantly shelling with large caliber," Haidai said, saying the situation in Kreminna was "radically different from Bakhmut."

"[Russian troops] are trying to shell more powerfully, they have occupied all the forests, they have completely mined everything and no one knows the map of minefields. Therefore, it is very difficult to advance," Haidai said.  

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, which follows the conflict closely, said information from Russian military bloggers suggests that "Russian forces are pulling troops from various points throughout the theater to fill holes in the Svatove-Kreminna line and compensate for the continued degradation of conventional units."

An adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN that comments about peace negotiations from the Kremlin are just ways for the Russian government to buy more time and cannot be trusted.

Alexander Rodnyansky, Zelensky's economic adviser, said:

He added that the Kremlin was trying to dissuade the world from sending more military aid to Ukraine. “We must not fall into that trap,” he said.

Some context: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to “negotiate with everyone involved in this process about acceptable solutions” regarding the war in Ukraine, according to Russian state news agency TASS, citing Putin’s interview with state TV Sunday.

On Monday, Putin's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov threatened Ukraine, saying it must fulfil Moscow's proposals regarding Russia's "new territories" -- the four Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson that Russia claims to control after sham referendums in September -- or the Russian military will take action, according to TASS.

The Ukrainian government has repeatedly said it will not accept any deal that would jeopardise its territorial integrity.

For Olena Isayenko, the beeping sound her oxygen machine makes when disconnected from power is far scarier than the screeching of the air raid sirens now commonly heard throughout Kyiv.

She suffers from respiratory failure, meaning she can’t breathe adequately on her own and must receive a constant flow of oxygen through an electrical ventilator just to stay alive.

But the repeated Russian assaults on Ukraine’s power grid have left her gasping for air at times as the capital city continues to experience long blackouts. Other Ukrainians who require a constant power supply to keep vital medical devices running suffer similar fear each time the lights go out.

Green tubes carrying oxygen run across Isayenko’s face as she speaks with CNN at the home she shares with her husband, on the 15th floor of a residential block in Kyiv. Her portable oxygen machine is her lifeline. When the air raid sirens sound during blackouts, putting the elevator out of use, Isayenko, 49, is unable to get down to the block’s bomb shelter — but this worries her less than the lack of power for her ventilator.

Read more here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday he was relying on India’s help to implement a “peace formula” during a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The call comes as New Delhi seeks to boost trade ties with Moscow after becoming one of the largest purchasers of Russian oil — defying Western sanctions and providing a vital financial lifeline to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin wages an unprovoked war against its neighbor.

In a statement following the call, the Indian government said Modi had repeated his calls “for an immediate cessation of hostilities” and to “revert to dialogue and diplomacy.”

“Prime Minister also conveyed India’s support for any peace efforts,” the statement added.

Zelensky presented a 10-point peace formula to world leaders at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November. India assumed the G20 presidency this month, and will hold it until next year.

Read more here.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Ukraine must fulfil Moscow's proposals regarding their "new territories" — or the Russian military would take action, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

The four occupied territories: Russia claimed control over the four regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson after sham referendums in September, widely slammed by Kyiv and Western governments as violating international law.

But Russia has struggled with setbacks in these areas from the start — Moscow's forces were not in full control of the territories when they were rubber-stamped as part of the Russian Federation.

Just weeks after illegally annexing Kherson, Ukraine reclaimed its regional capital with the same name, liberating about 10,000 square kilometers of land and moving its Western-supplied artillery within range of Crimea.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the situation in the four occupied territories was "extremely complicated," a rare window into the challenges that Moscow faces in areas it has attempted to illegally annex.

This post has been updated to more accurately reflect Lavrov's comments.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has neutralized more than 4,500 cyberattacks on the country this year, an official said Monday.

Ilya Vitiuk, head of the SBU cybersecurity department said in a statement that Ukraine had "entered 2022 with eight years of hybrid warfare experience behind us,” adding that “at the time of the invasion, we were already ready for the worst scenarios.”

“And the massive cyberattacks that we repelled in January and February became additional 'training' before the invasion,” he said.

The scale of cyberattacks is now much wider, particularly compared to previous years, he said. In 2020, nearly 800 cyberattacks were recorded, while in 2021 it jumped to 1,400, and in 2022 the number increased more than three times.

“Today, the aggressor country launches an average of more than 10 cyberattacks per day. Fortunately, Ukrainian society does not even know about most of them,” Vitiuk said.

He added that attackers are most likely to target energy, logistics, military facilities, government databases and information resources.