Moscow announced today, Wednesday, that it plans to establish naval bases in two coastal cities that it seized in southern Ukraine, at a time when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to arrive in Washington, where he will meet his US counterpart, Joe Biden, at the White House.

In a report during a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and senior military officials, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, "The ports in Berdyansk and Mariupol are fully operational, and we plan to deploy bases in them to support ships, emergency rescue services and naval ship repair units."

The Russian Defense Minister also suggested increasing the number of combat elements in the army operating in Ukraine to 1.5 million, in addition to raising the age of military service.

Shoigu said, "It is necessary to increase the number of the armed forces to 1.5 million personnel, including 695 thousand contract soldiers."

Commenting on the war in Ukraine, Shoigu said that Russia is fighting there "concerted forces of the West", due to its financial support and arms shipments to Kyiv.

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦Vladimir Putin takes part in an expanded meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense pic.twitter.com/Pn4svaTxej

— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) December 21, 2022

For his part, Putin said during the same meeting that he is confident that Russia will win the war against Ukraine, and added in a televised speech at the Russian Ministry of Defense, "I am confident that step by step we will achieve all our goals."

Putin explained that the war is a valuable experience for strengthening the Russian army.

He compared the fighting in Ukraine to the Napoleonic Wars and World Wars I and II.

He called for accelerating the pace of rearming and modernizing the army.

And the Russian president confirmed that "at the beginning of next month, the frigate Amiral Gorshkov will be in service and equipped with new Tsircon missiles that have no equal in the world."

He also announced that the Russian fleet will receive, starting from the beginning of next month, new hypersonic missiles of the "Zircon" model, which is a weapon from the new group that Moscow has developed in the past years.

Zelensky's visit to Washington

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden is expected to receive, later today, at the White House, his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, who has not left his country since the war broke out 10 months ago, before delivering a speech to Congress in a visit described as historic.

And US presidential spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre said in a statement that this visit confirms that the United States will support Ukraine "as long as necessary."

This visit, during which he will announce new US aid to Ukraine, described as "significant", includes especially the "Patriot" missile system for advanced air defenses.

It also coincides with the war entering its 300th day.

During this visit - which is surrounded by very strict security measures and will only take "short hours" - the Ukrainian president will first hold a meeting with his American counterpart and his apparatus at the White House, before holding a press conference.


Rapid field developments

On the ground, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its forces had taken control of new heights and front lines during the battles in the Donetsk axis in eastern Ukraine.

The ministry said that dozens of Ukrainian military personnel were eliminated in Donetsk, Luhansk and the Kobyansk axis in Kharkiv.

The Russian Air Landing Forces also announced the targeting of Ukrainian radar systems with a Russian-made "Lancet" suicide drone, and published pictures on the Telegram website that it said was the moment of the targeting that took place in Kherson province in the south.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian army reported that Russian forces bombed its areas of control in Kherson more than 40 times during the past hours.

The Ukrainian army also announced the continuation of the Russian bombing of the provinces of Mykolaiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, and areas controlled by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russian forces withdraw some of their combat units

In a related context, the Southern Operations Command of the Ukrainian forces said that the Russian forces are withdrawing some of their combat units from some areas along the eastern bank of the Dnipro River to the rear battle lines.

It pointed out that this step coincides with the continuation of the Ukrainian shelling on the positions of the Russian forces in the region, and with an exchange of shelling on both banks of the river.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said that the Russian forces were able to secure a foothold, as they put it, in the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine.

She added that battles are now taking place in the city between the Ukrainian army, Wagner forces and the Russian army on the other hand.

The ministry's statement said that the Russian forces made progress, which it described as simple, on the eastern side of the city, and that they are advancing towards its residential neighborhoods.