Avdiivka Center
On December 2, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry announced that Russian artillery fire killed one civilian and destroyed two houses in the town of Chasiv Yar in the eastern province of Donetsk, according to AFP. Chasiv Yar is less than 5 km west of the frontline city of Bakhmut.
On the same day, the Ukrainian military said fighting continued around the town of Avdiivka, also in Donetsk, where Kyiv is still holding out despite a new offensive by Moscow. An estimated 1,300 civilians remain in the town.
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Avdiivka is slowly becoming the epicenter of the conflict, with fighting still raging despite the frontline remaining largely unchanged for months, according to CNN. Russian forces are said to have made tactical advances on the outskirts, while Ukraine claims to have inflicted heavy losses on the attackers.
Ukrainian servicemen in Avdiivka in November
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on December 1 that troops were acting skillfully and decisively, taking a more advantageous position and expanding the area of control in all directions. Mr. Shoigu called the offensive in Avdiivka "active defense."
The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said the minister deliberately mischaracterized the offensive effort as active defense in order to lower expectations about the Russian military's ability to achieve important operational goals.
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Russia increases troops
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the number of troops by 15%, equivalent to about 170,000 people. Thus, the maximum number of servicemen in the Russian armed forces now stands at 1.32 million.
"The increase in the full-time strength of the army is due to the growing threats to our country in connection with the special military operation and the continued expansion of NATO," the Russian military said in a statement. Moscow currently has no plans to increase the number of conscripts or carry out a new mobilization order.
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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, said more than 452,000 people have been recruited to serve in the military under contracts from January 1 to December 1, 2023.
Ukraine needs to change its military mobilization
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that Kyiv also needs to change its troop mobilization system as part of an overall strategy to improve the army's position.
The leader said that a meeting of the military command discussed developments that would bring concrete results to the combat situation in 2024. "In particular, this concerns the issue of mobilization. Everyone in Ukraine understands that changes are needed in this area. It is not simply about the number or who can be mobilized. It is about the time frame for each person who is in the army, who is demobilized and for those who will join the army, and also about the conditions," Mr. Zelensky said.
In November, the BBC cited official European Union (EU) figures showing that 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age had left the country for Europe. The actual number could be higher as many refugees are not officially registered.
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Zelensky called for changes to the troop mobilization system as he ordered a focus on defense after an unsuccessful summer offensive in the south. In an interview with the AP, Zelensky acknowledged that Ukraine had not made as many breakthroughs as expected due to the failure to receive some weapons from allies, leading to disadvantages for ground forces.
Risk of nuclear disaster
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control since March 2022, lost power early on December 2 and had to run on backup generators. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said the last two power lines connecting the plant were damaged late on December 1 and early on December 2.
"This is the eighth power outage at the Zaporizhzhia plant that could lead to a nuclear disaster," Ukraine's Energy Ministry said.
Former Ukrainian President banned from leaving the country
Ukrainian border guards prevented former President Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country on December 1 when he planned to meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, AFP reported on December 2, citing Kyiv security forces.
Mr Poroshenko, in power from 2014 to 2019, had planned several high-level meetings abroad but said his trip had to be cancelled because he was refused exit at the border.
In a statement on December 2, Ukraine's SBU security service said the former leader was denied permission to leave the country because he planned to meet Mr. Orban, an EU leader criticized by Kyiv for his pro-Russian stance.
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The SBU said Mr Orban "systematically expressed anti-Ukrainian views" and accused Moscow of intending to use the meeting for "information and psychological operations against Ukraine". Moscow and Budapest did not immediately comment.
Previously, Mr. Poroshenko was banned from leaving Ukraine, including once in May 2022 when he planned to attend a NATO-related meeting in Lithuania.
Since leaving office, former Ukrainian President Poroshenko has been investigated for treason and corruption. He denies the charges and claims the investigation was orchestrated by his political opponents.
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