Belarusian Volunteers And Ukrainian Artillerymen Destroy Russian Ammunition Depot

This is the moment Belarusian volunteers fight alongside Ukrainian artillerymen to drive out Russian invaders as they destroy an enemy ammunition depot and two mortar crews in a large explosion.

Footage obtained by Newsflash from the Kastus Kalinovsky Regiment on 21st December shows defenders targeting the warehouse and destroying it in a giant explosion.

Aerial reconnaissance of the Nikita Krivtsov UAV unit of the Kalinovsky Regiment reportedly found the occupant's ammunition depot and the mortar emplacements in a warehouse somewhere in Ukraine.

The UAV unit is named after Nikita Krivtsov, a resident of Zhodzina, a town in Belarus, whose lifeless body was found in a local forest shortly after the protests against the allegedly rigged presidential elections.

The Kastus Kalinovsky Regiment is a military formation within the Armed Forces of Ukraine that consists of Belarusian volunteers who joined together and created it in March 2022 to protect Ukraine from the Russian invasion.

The Kalinovsky Regiment said in a statement Newsflash obtained: "As a result of the reconnaissance, the unit found the occupant's ammunition storage and two mortar emplacements.

"Found and destroyed, thanks to the artillery of the ZSU [Ukrainian Armed Forces], which our unit successfully corrected.

"Long live Belarus and glory to Ukraine!"

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a "special military operation". Today marks the 302nd day of the invasion.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 22nd December, Russia had lost about 100,400 personnel, 3,003 tanks, 5,981 armoured combat vehicles, 1,978 artillery units, 413 multiple launch rocket systems, 212 air defence systems, 283 warplanes, 267 helicopters, 1,693 drones, 653 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,615 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 178 units of special equipment.

Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Washington, DC to meet with US leaders on 21st December with a plea for military aid.

Zelenskyy called the tens of billions of dollars in US military and economic assistance to Ukraine an investment in democracy and “not charity”.

And the US Congress is set to announce an additional aid package for Ukraine that would include nearly USD 45 billion (GBP 37 billion).

The Kremlin warned that increasing the supply of US weapons to Ukraine would aggravate the war.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Russia needs to prepare an "appropriate" response to NATO’s military expansion near Russian borders, including Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership aspirations, and proposed to expand the military.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that Russian forces had faced challenges with mobilization, lack of drones and new equipment.

The head of the local grid operator in Kyiv, Serhiy Kovalenko, said power outages in Ukraine's capital remain the most difficult.

He added that the situation may improve if the remaining 40 per cent of transformers do not get hit in new attacks.

Moreover, heavy fighting has been going on in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine, as Russian forces attempt to make further advances in the region.

General Staff spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said Ukrainian forces repelled attacks around more than 25 populated areas in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The bodies of seven civilians, including a teenage girl, were found in a mass grave in the village of Pravdyne in southern Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian defence minister.

In other developments, the former Russian deputy prime minister and former director of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, was wounded in the Ukrainian bombing of a hotel in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk.