Ukraine saw the highest offensive intensity on the part of the Russian invasion force in December 2024, when over 250 combat clashes took place on a daily basis. At the same time, a record number of Russian casualties was recorded at an estimated 48,670.
This was reported in an interview with Ukrinform by the First Deputy Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk.
“The period with the enemy’s highest offensive intensity was recorded late 2024, in December. In certain periods, we saw a record number of combat clashes, more than 250 per day. The highest intensity, 292 clashes, was recorded on December 15. That is a lot! Accordingly, this became a huge burden on our Defense Forces, our defenders,” said Havryliuk.
He recalled that every day, Russian aviation drops an average of a hundred KAB glide bombs on the positions of Ukrainian defenders and frontline cities. At least a third of this number, and sometimes about half, is used in Russia’s Kursk region as the enemy is thus trying to push Ukraine’s units out of the area.
The First Deputy Minister also noted that the massive use of KABs is one of the main tools contributing to Russian infantry advances, and throughout the past year, Russian aviation dropped nearly 40,000 of those on the positions of Ukrainian military and frontline cities.
Havryliuk recalled that in January, Russia’s casualty toll stood at 48,240, and December 2024 saw Russia’s absolute peak casualty toll of 48,670.
The First Deputy Minister of Defense emphasized that Russia failed to achieve its strategic goal on any of the front lines, despite their fierce pressure, manpower superiority and that in multiple types of munitions, as well as air dominance.
Answering the question of how the nature of warfare has changed over the past three years, Havryliuk noted that the ongoing war should not be viewed solely in an academic context.
“As new means of destruction appear on the battlefield, the nature of warfare is changing quite dynamically. We see how the role of the latest instruments of war – unmanned systems of various types, models, and purposes – has been rapidly growing recently. We see how combat forms and methods t have changed depending on the shifts in the means of warfare. In fact, since the second half of 2023, the active use of unmanned aerial vehicles as means of destruction has been recorded. In 2024, they were already massively used by both our side and the Russian troops,” Havryliuk noted.
He added that at the same time, almost every quarter, or even more often, it is necessary to amend technical requirements of certain unmanned aerial vehicles, taking into account the effectiveness of Russia’s countermeasures.
Improving means of destruction and own countermeasures is a constant dynamic process, noted Havryliuk. Whoever does this work faster, whoever invests more in tech development, will have an edge on the battlefield, he stressed.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, 101 combat clashes were recorded along the frontlines in the past day.
Source: Russia’s highest offensive intensity recorded in Dec 2024 - deputy defense minister
