From "The Analyst:

FRONTLINES DEC 11/12

Russia continues to expend vast resources to achieve not a lot for the cost. However they seem unbelievably unbothered by the fact and yet still move slowly forward.

NORTH

Ukraine seems to have stabilised the northern front but as much as much because the weather is terrible, a mix of sleet, snow and frozen mud.
Russia claims to have made a small gain in the Serbianski forest - it’s a claim not yet confirmed.
Part of the problem is that all the mapping is based on satellite evaluations and on the ground reporting - but the snow and mud complicates the evidence gathering and visibility.

BAKHMUT

North of Bakhmut the Russians have made substantial gains in the hills that Ukraine has been using to keep control of the area. It’s effectively lost now. Ukraine seems to have made the choice to withdraw for whatever reason.
In addition there are Russian gains west of central Bakhmut - again new territory the Russians haven’t captured before.
Ukraine may already have lost the key defence trenches at the top of the hills above Klieshievka. This is dangerous and unwelcome.

AVDIVKA

Russians have advanced the grey zone into Stepove but they don’t truly hold it. Russian forces are trying to get into the coking plant including more infantry and BMP’s.
Additionally the Russians have made serious attempts to push out what’s left of Ukrainian forces in Marinka.
Russia’s plan seems to be to grind the Ukrainians down regardless of the costs to themselves.

ROBOTYNE
Russia has fought the Ukrainians out of a section of ground north of Novopropopivka. They reached Robotyne but were expelled.

KHERSON
The Russians keep braking into KRYNKY but the Ukrainians keep trashing them in prepared traps. They use drones to such effect the Russians are trounced before they even get anywhere meaningful.

RUSSIAN ARTILLERY ISSUES

It seems the N.Korean 152mm shells are proving to be less of a bonus than the Russians might have hoped.
Estimates that only 6 in 10 actually fire and two of those are duds seem pretty common.
One of the biggest issues is poor fuses, followed by poor quality manufacturing. The worst is by all accounts over and under charging. This means that when fired the shell can either explode in the barrel, overshoots the target or undershoots the target. Consistency is the name of the game when producing ammunition of any kind and it seems the slave labour camps of N Korea don’t offer that as a selling point. Unsurprisingly the whole ‘buy North Korean’ project has been a bit of a dud.
Meanwhile S.Korea has manufactured more shells in ONE MONTH (330,000) than the EU has managed in 6. You have to ask yourself how they can, and yet 27 counties in Europe, can’t manage it, when three of them are in the top 7 industrial nations in the world.

President Zelensky on his way back from the inauguration of the new Argentine president, is in Washington. He spoke at the National Defence University - to officers and cadet students. Introduced by SecDef Austin. He’s expected to speak with Congressional leaders today.
The administration still hopes to get a bill through before the end of the congressional sitting on Friday - a long shot. I don’t see it before mid-end January.

Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦