Kamikaze drones attack Kyiv, Borshchevik vs. Starlink, missile strikes in Russian regions. What happened on the front line on December 19?

According to propaganda channels, including the state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, Russia has already occupied the center of the city. A prominent military observer in the Russian propagandist Telegram channel Rybar claimed that a Russian motorized rifle brigade is advancing through the center of Marinka. VGTRK reporter Alexander Sladkov also claimed that Russia had occupied most of the city. According to Sladkov, the difficulties in Russia’s advance are caused by mud, which sticks to the boots weighing “five kilograms each,” as well as minefields and open space. AFU correction drones are able to easily identify Russian positions and redirect their artillery fire accordingly, Sladkov added.

AFU reserve colonel and military expert Roman Svitan told The Insider that positional battles have occurred in Marinka for the past eight years. The Russians occupy up to “the middle of the city,” the AFU then knocks the Russian units out, and they retreat along Aleksandrivka, meaning the “Marinka grouping” is constantly moving. The AFU has now indeed withdrawn from the eastern part of the city, confirms Svitan, as the Russians have destroyed it and ground down the fortifications. The Russians have entered Marinka only halfway, and the AFU is pounding them with artillery – similar situations have occurred more than once over the past eight years, the expert says. According to Svitan, staying on the defensive in this area of Marinka is convenient – the AFU is now engaged in “positional warfare,” maintaining a level of active defense.

It is now difficult for the Ukrainian army to maneuver because of the weather, the expert notes. According to Svitan, Ukrainian troops can advance in the agglomerations near Svatove and Kreminna, which have two roads from Kupiansk – the railway and highway to Svatove and the road from Chervonopopivka to Kreminna. The AFU can move along the road, while nothing is happening in other directions except for the occasional artillery duel due to bad weather conditions, assured Svitan. He claims that “reverse movement” is to be expected in the near future – the center or the whole of Marinka will turn over to Ukraine, and then Russia will go on the offensive again.