Day 294: December 14Today a lot of news is coming from almost all parts of the front line.First of all, when it comes to the Battle for Bakhmut, it seems like the Russians did not abandon their plans of taking control of the Champagne Winery. Yesterday I told you that the Russians just assaulted Siniat factory and moved south into the residential area, but today, they have also moved north towards the Champaign factory. This means the fights are taking place in three places simultaneously, which is quite intense. Given the recent losses of Wagner forces due to precision strikes, such an increase in intensity is highly likely to be temporary. The Russians likely understood that by moving slowly in this particular area, they were playing by the Ukrainian rules, who have established multiple fallback positions here, so they likely decided to make a final push, establish control over the eastern bank of the pond and decrease losses in the long run.When it comes to the northern part of the region, today, the Russians destroyed the second railway bridge that connected Bakhmut with Soledar and Siversk. As you remember, previously, they destroyed the smaller one that led only to Soledar, and today they also reportedly destroyed the bigger one that went through Soledar to Siversk. This has significantly diminished the ability of the Ukrainians to maneuver along the front line. Fortunately, Ukrainian Military Command reported that the rotation process has still been completed, so the Ukrainians have plenty of time to organize their logistics by the time they need to make their next move.The Ukrainians are doing the same to the Russians in the south. A few days ago, in Melitopol, a bridge that connects eastern and western Zaporizhia regions was destroyed. Images show that spans of the M14 bridge across the Molochna River have collapsed. Russian occupation officials claimed that the damage was done by Ukrainian saboteurs who detonated around 20 kg of explosives. Russian officials also claimed that the bridge attack did not affect Russian logistics routes between Melitopol and Crimea. And this is true because this bridge has nothing to do with Crimea – this bridge destroyed the main connection between Melitopol and Berdyansk. Unfortunately, there is a second bridge around 10 km down the stream that is big enough to handle heavy equipment. When the Ukrainians destroy the second bridge as well, the Russians will be forced to go through Tokmak, and Tokmak is located only 25 km from the front, which makes it extremely difficult to transport a lot of equipment without parts of the convoys being destroyed.Today the Russians also launched a drone attack on the capital of Ukraine. Kyiv has experienced two waves of attack. The Russians launched around 15 Shahed drones, targeting energy facilities. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, 13 drones were successfully shot down.US officials stated that the Pentagon is finalizing plans to send Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine. The US officials expect to receive the necessary approvals in around two days. It is still unclear how many Patriot missile systems the Pentagon plan would provide Ukraine, but one thing is clear for sure – the Russians will have a harder time conducting their missile and drone attacks.The Ukrainian military is now also more protected against Russian hacker attacks because Estonia helped Ukraine to build a military cyber security facility. As you might remember, last month, Russian hackers allegedly hacked Ukrainian Delta Combat Detection Mechanism. Even though there is little evidence that the attack was successful, it is still a great cause for concern, as they could have potentially leaked all Ukrainian artillery positions. But with the new cyber security facility that Estonia has been helping with for more than eight months, such attacks should become less of a threat.Interestingly, even though Russia started a full-on war against Ukraine, only 2% of its cyberattacks targeted Ukraine. Based on the recent Microsoft Digital Defense Report, 55% of cyberattacks originating in Russia targeted the United States, 8% targeted the United Kingdom, and 3% targeted Canada and Germany.When it comes to industries, 29% of Russian-sponsored attacks targeted the IT sector, 18% nongovernmental organizations, 12% governmental and educational establishments, and 5% financial. So, if you are working in IT, finance, or governmental establishments, then you run a significant risk of suffering a cyber-attack.