Reserve Major General Serhii Kryvonos stated this on Espreso TV."Putin is making every effort, despite negotiations and calls for a Christmas ceasefire, to seize more Ukrainian territory. A ceasefire is not in Putin's interest, because halting the Russian army during the New Year holidays could seriously undermine Russia's offensive capabilities. The Russians would first celebrate Catholic Christmas together with the Ukrainian one, then New Year, then Russian Christmas, and this could cause serious damage. Putin understands that he has a chance to push forward and capture additional territories," Kryvonos noted.According to him, attention is currently focused primarily on Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, and the further development of the situation is a matter of time and the capabilities of our forces or the enemy's to somehow resolve this issue."I'm more concerned about the Siversk-Lyman direction. And the issue is not the desire of our General Staff to remain silent about the real situation on this section of the front, but rather the Russians' desire to advance closer to Sloviansk and take control of the commanding heights around the city. And then it's a matter of time before fighting around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk begins—this is the main problem. Because the most attractive prize for the Russians is Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, and Kramatorsk, which they want to capture relatively undamaged, preserving the industrial enterprises. For them, this is an opportunity to immediately restart production to supply the 'Russian Empire,'" the general commented.The Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff reported that since the beginning of the day on December 16, 167 combat clashes have been recorded on the Russian-Ukrainian front.