The so-called Donetsk People’s Republic has said that it has taken out Ukrainian military positions and troops using artillery.

The footage purports to show at least three Ukrainian soldiers being targeted by artillery fire after being spotted by an enemy drone.

The footage reportedly shows some of them being hit, with the pro-Russian forces claiming that some of the Ukrainian soldiers had been killed.

The images were obtained from the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Tuesday, 13th December, along with a statement claiming: “Artillery of the 3rd Brigade hit the enemy’s manpower.

“During reconnaissance, the UAV operator of the 3rd Guards Brigade detected the movement of manpower in the area of ​​enemy positions.

“Artillery immediately opened fire on the identified targets – the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered losses in killed and wounded.”

We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 289th day of the war.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 13th December, Russia had lost about 95,260 personnel, 2,966 tanks, 5,930 armoured combat vehicles, 1,931 artillery units, 404 multiple launch rocket systems, 211 air defence systems, 281 warplanes, 264 helicopters, 1,617 drones, 592 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,549 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 170 units of special equipment.

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

Ukraine has asked Western countries to provide it with Patriot missile systems.

Denys Shmyhal, the country’s Prime Minister, has said that Western air defence systems are needed in order to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Jan Egeland, the head of Norway’s refugee council, has said that he expects hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine to flee to Europe over the winter due to “unliveable” conditions.

He said: “Nobody knows how many, but there will be hundreds of thousands more [people leaving Ukraine] as the horrific and unlawful bombing of civilian infrastructure makes life unliveable in too many places.”

The European Union has reached an agreement to send EUR 18 billion in financial aid to Ukraine.

The EU has managed to strike a deal with Hungary after the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked the deal.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked G7 leaders to hold a special global summit during the winter to bring peace to Ukraine.

Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout has become a member of the Kremlin- loyalist ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR).

The move comes after the “Merchant of Death” was freed after 14 years in US custody in a prisoner swap with American basketball player Brittney Griner.

Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of Melitopol, has said that Moscow’s forces are “redeploying” and “panicking” after Ukraine attacked the Russian-occupied city over the weekend.

Putin will not hold an end-of-year press conference for the first time in over 10 years, in what many consider to be a break with protocol as a result of the war in Ukraine.