Russia prepares new offensive actions, may attack from the North or the  East.

Russia is not planning to end the war against Ukraine but will continue offensive operations on various fronts.

Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, quoting Andrii Cherniak informed that according to Ukrainian military intelligence estimates, the Russians will try to continue conducting offensive operations next year. They have not managed to achieve their goal on any of the fronts. They understand that they are losing, but they do not plan to end the war.

e stressed that defenders are ready for any invader action.

Cherniak also expressed a belief that the Russians will try to hold the land corridor to Crimea and seize the whole of Donetsk Oblast.

At the same time, he believes that the invaders will not be able to cross the Dnipro River to recapture the city of Kherson.

Russian forces hit Kramatorsk, one person wounded.

Russian forces attacked the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on the afternoon of 3 January, wounding one person.

Russia keeps nuclear weapons carriers in Crimea.

The Defence Intelligence sees that carriers of nuclear weapons that are ground-based, air-launched and sea-based are located in the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea at the moment.

It refers to vessels, submarines, aircraft and ground systems that can carry out nuclear attacks. Russia potentially has this opportunity.

The occupiers have performed certain works at the Feodosiya-13 facility in the village of Krasnokamianka in order to prepare it for preserving nuclear weapons; however, it is unknown whether these works have been completed already.

Zelenskyy Discussed Defenсe Cooperation with UK Prime Minister.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spoken by phone with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, during which they spoke about defence cooperation.

"Together with the prime minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak, we discussed further defense cooperation. We agreed to intensify our efforts to bring victory closer this year already. We already have concrete decisions for this," Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, Rishi Sunak addressed the Ukrainians amid the announcement of a new assistance package to help Kyiv eliminate landmines, promising to continue supporting Kyiv.

This includes more than 1000 VALLON metal detectors and 100 bomb de-arming kits to Ukraine.

The UK will allocate 2.3 billion pounds sterling for assistance to Ukraine in 2023.