UK Defense Ministry Says Russian And Ukrainian Forces Fighting For Control Of Key Highway

Over the last five days, Russian and Ukrainian forces appear to be fighting for control of the P66 highway, north of the Russian-held Luhansk Oblast town of Kremina, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Monday.

In a Defense Intelligence update, the Ministry said that the P66 is a key supply route for the northern section of Russia’s Donbas front from the Belgorod region of Russia.

The British Ministry noted that the use of P66 highway, “has been disrupted by Ukrainian artillery since October, but if Ukraine were able to secure the route, if would highly likely further undermine Russia’s defence of Kremina.”

Relatedly, VOA reported that Russia’s Defense Ministry on Monday said that 63 of its troops were killed on New Year’s Eve in Ukrainian missile strikes on their quarters in the town of Makiivka in the Russian-controlled part of the Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

VOA said the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that, “Ukraine hit the Makiivka site with four of the six rockets fired from the precision High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that the United States has dispatched to Ukraine’s forces. Russia said it shot down two of the incoming missiles.”