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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia | |
| War Bulletin March 26, 5.30 p.m. EST | |
| 2022-03-28 | |
WAR BULLETIN March 26, 5.30 p.m. EST Russia deployed Rosguard units in order to suppress the resistance of the local population in Kherson, Henichesk (Kherson region), Berdyansk (Zaporizhzhia region) and some areas of Mariupol (Donetsk region). Fire broke out in Lviv due to shelling of a fuel storage. During the week, 18 humanitarian corridors were established. A total of 37 606 people were rescued from the blocked cities. In particular, 26 477 Mariupol residents were evacuated. Foreign Minister Kuleba: We are looking for not only for tactical, but also for systemic strategic solutions that will help strengthen the global deterrence from Russia threat. WAR ROOM General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 26.03 were approximately: personnel - about 16400, tanks ‒ 575, APV ‒ 1640, artillery systems — 293, MLRS - 91, Anti-aircraft warfare systems - 51, aircraft — 117, helicopters — 127, vehicles - 1131, boats / cutters - 7, fuel tanks - 73, UAV operational-tactical level - 56. special equipment - 19. mobile SRBM system - 2. The thirty-first day of the Ukrainian nation's heroic confrontation with the Russian military invasion began. The enemy continues to conduct full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. The enemy continues to regroup and build up forces to resume offensive operations. In some areas, he does not abandon attempts to carry out assault operations, makes air raids, and tries to inflict fire damage on certain units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It he is not successful. The occupiers continue to take measures to restore the combat capability of their units, replenish ammunition and fuel in order to resume offensive actions. Due to the lack of qualified personnel, the enemy recruits personnel with low moral and personal qualities and persons prone to drug and alcohol abuse when recruiting units that have suffered significant losses during hostilities with units of the defense forces. The enemy deployed almost all russian guard units stationed in the TOT of the Crimea and in some districts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk regions, in order to suppress resistance from residents of Kherson, Henichesk, Berdiansk, and some districts of Mariupol. The occupiers are trying to intensify the activities of sabotage and reconnaissance groups in Kyiv in order to destabilize the socio-political situation, disrupt the system of public and military administration. This is due to the inability to quickly replenish losses, to carry out rapid build-up (regrouping), and the use of groups of troops to maintain the required pace of hostilities and achieve the ultimate goal of war. Given the high level of irreversible and sanitary losses of the russian armed forces and the involvement of conscripts in the hostilities, the 2022 spring conscription campaign, which begins on April 1st this year, maybe problematic. In addition, there is a tendency to sharply reduce the number of contractors in relation to conscription. Thus, the deterioration of the social component due to international sanctions and the losses during the war in the coming weeks are likely to exacerbate the problem of staffing the russian army with quality personnel. In addition, еquipment coming from storages and arsenals to occupation units trying to restore combat capability is in poor technical condition due to careless pre-operation and prolonged storage. The Defense Forces Group continues to conduct a defense operation in certain areas, conducts a stabilization operation, and performs territorial defense tasks. Thus, the grouping of forces and means of defense of the city of Kyiv continues to repel the enemy's offensive, inflict fire damage on it and maintain the previously defined defensive lines. In the Donetsk and Luhansk directions, the Joint forces group repulsed all enemy attacks and inflicted significant losses on the russian invaders. Ukrainian soldiers destroyed 8 tanks, 17 units of armored vehicles, and 11 units of enemy vehicles. The losses of the invaders in manpower amounted to about 170 people. Air defense units shot down 3 planes and 3 UAVs of the enemy. The Air Force grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has destroyed 12 enemy air targets (3 planes, 3 UAVs, a helicopter, and 5 cruise missiles) during the previous day. Shock aircraft of the Air Force under cover of fighters inflicted devastating missile and bomb strikes on columns of equipment and clusters of occupying troops. The enemy continues its full-scale armed aggression against our State, the tasks of the aggression remain unfulfilled. Preparation and relocation of additional units of the Eastern military district to the territory of Ukraine is going on. The enemy is not conducting offensive operations in the Volyn direction. At the same time there is a withdrawal from the points of permanent deployment of units of the armed forces of the republic of belarus to the proving grounds. In the Polissia direction the enemy continues to shell settlements, does not carry out active offensive operations. The enemy did not carry out offensive operations in the Siversky direction. The enemy focused his main efforts on maintaining the previously occupied frontiers, suffered losses and retreated in some directions. In the Slobozhansky direction the enemy retains the previously occupied frontiers, regroups and increases the grouping of troops in order to carry out the offensive in certain areas. He continues the shelling of the city of Kharkiv. In the Donetsk direction the enemy concentrated his efforts on maintaining his position and preparing for the offensive, was unsuccessful in his attempts to advance, and suffered losses. He continued to attempt to storm the city of Mariupol, inflicted air strikes and carried out artillery shelling of civilian and military infrastructure. He tried to advance in order to occupy the central part of the city. The enemy continue to focus the main efforts on the capture of the settlements of Popasna, Rubizhne, and is preparing for the attack on Severodonetsk. He carried out assault operations in the Avdijivka direction and tried to develop an offensive in the direction of the settlement of Novobakhmutivka, but was unsuccessful. Units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repulsed attempts to storm the settlement of Novomayorske and attack in the direction of the settlement of Krasnohorivka. The enemy was unsuccessful, suffered heavy losses and retreated. In the Tavria direction the enemy continues to take measures to strengthen control over the occupied territories. He also carries out filtration measures, attempts to establish a strict administrative and police regime. The main efforts of the Defense Forces are focused on preventing the advance of the enemy in the directions of Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia and the defense of Mykolayiv, the maintenance of certain areas of the sea coast; protection and defense of critical infrastructure; liberation of the temporarily occupied territories. In Pivdennobuzky direction the enemy carried out engineering equipment of the positions and carried out artillery shelling of certain units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He takes measures to restore combat capability and replenish supplies. It is likely that the occupiers will not give up attempts to carry out offensive operations, sabotage, missile and air strikes on important military and civilian infrastructure. The Defense Forces of Ukraine are taking measures to defend the bases (seaports) in the Black Sea operational zone. Hiding the real number of personnel and hardware losses, the military leadership of the occupying forces is trying to convince its own population in all achieved goals set by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Due to the urgent need to replenish the losses, the occupants are carrying out the measures of covert mobilization and removal of hardware from the long-term storage. Thus, in order to staff the separate units of the 4th Tank Division from the component of the 1st Tank Army, tanks T-72 were removed from the long-term storage. According to the available information, the hardware is in extremely poor technical condition and disassembled. The Russian occupants continue actively using the transport network of the Republic of Belarus. There is an increase in the number of the air transportation of military cargo from the territory of the Russian Federation. For the most part, the enemy uses transport aircraft An-124 to transport the missiles of various types as well as ammunition. This type of delivery is used due to the blocking of railways in some directions. The population of the Republic of Belarus does not support the engagement of its own Armed Forces in the war waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. At the same time, the group of high-ranking officials and generals from the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus are lobbying for military support for the Russian aggression and the issue of the Belarusian troops sending to Ukraine. In the settlements of Kherson region there is an increase of terror of the local population by the occupants. The houses are searched to identify the Anti-Terrorist Operation / Joint Forces Operation participants, servicemen, volunteers and their families. There are numerous cases of abduction of women and the torture of local residents. Also in some settlements of Chernihiv region, the occupants are distributing forcibly the so-called "humanitarian aid" to the local population in order to create the propaganda reports by the Russian mass media. In the temporarily occupied territories, the enemy continues increasing the system of checkpoints in order to prevent the movement of local population. The enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups located in Kyiv region do not quit the attempts to penetrate in the capital. The saboteurs change into civilian clothes and use cars stolen from the civilian population. The enemy continues suffering losses in all directions. THE STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE On March 26th, at about 4:30 p.m., a fire broke out in Lviv due to shelling on the territory of one of the industrial enterprises for fuel storage. Information on victims and injured is being clarified. Rescuers from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are working on a place. https://www.facebook.com/100064736946785/posts/340771424757420/ PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE OF UKRAINE Juvenile prosecutors: 136 children died as a result of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine. As of 26 March 136 children died in our country. 199 children were injured. Children suffered the most in Kyiv oblast - 64, Kharkiv oblast - 44, Donetsk oblast - 50, Chernihiv oblast - 38, Mykolaiv oblast - 28, Luhansk oblast - 25, Zaporizhzhia oblast - 17, Kherson oblast- 20, the capital - 16, Zhytomyr oblast- 15, and Sumy oblast - 14. On March 25, 2022, a 9-year-old child was killed, and another was injured in a shelling by the Russian military in the Donetsk oblast. On March 24, 2022, the 13-year-old girl from the settlement in the Mykolaiv oblast, as a result of artillery shelling by the Russian military, received numerous face wounds. On March 23, 2022, due to the shelling of the pedestrian bridge in Chernihiv by the occupiers, a family with an 11-year-old boy received bodily injuries in the form of shrapnel wounds. The daily bombings and shelling damaged 570 educational institutions, 73 of which were utterly destroyed. The worst situation is in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kyiv, Kherson, Chernihiv oblasts, and Kyiv city. In addition, more than 40 children's facilities were affected by enemy fire, including medical facilities, art schools, sports facilities, and libraries. These data are not conclusive, as it is impossible to inspect shelling sites in areas of active military actions and temporarily occupied territories. https://www.facebook.com/100064585280174/posts/337807875048719/ DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF UKRAINE - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine On 25 March almost 3,000 people evacuated from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia by their own transport. Another 4,000 Mariupol residents were centrally evacuated from Berdyansk by buses. https://cutt.ly/3Dew2yk MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF UKRAINE During the past 24 hours, State Emergency Service (SES) units carried out 1,223 visits, including 392 visits to eliminate the consequences of shelling of settlements and civilian infrastructure by Russian troops, 12 people were rescued, 208 fires were eliminated. Pyrotechnics neutralized 269 explosives and surveyed an area of 540 hectares. 1,327 settlements have been de-energized, the SES installed 8 generators to provide emergency power supply to social facilities, including 5 to supply electricity to hospitals. https://www.facebook.com/mvs.gov.ua POLICY President of Ukraine By restraining Russian actions, our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to the idea: talk is necessary - address by Volodymyr Zelenskyy I want to begin this address with words of congratulations to the employees of the Security Service of Ukraine. I am grateful to everyone in the Service who during 30 years of our common history broke the plans of enemies and worked in the interests of the Ukrainian people only. During this month of hostilities, 77 employees of the Security Service were awarded state awards. Two of them were posthumously. Thanks to their courageous actions in the battles near Makariv, Kyiv region, the enemy headquarters and more than 20 occupiers were destroyed. Today I signed a decree on state awards to 63 law enforcement officers of Ukraine. Seven of them were awarded posthumously. Over the past week, our heroic Armed Forces have dealt powerful blows to the enemy, significant losses. They say that the Minister of Defense of Russia has disappeared somewhere... I am grateful to our defenders who showed the occupiers that the sea will not be calm for them even when there is no storm. Because there will be fire as on those Russian ships that departed this week on the famous route from the port of Berdyansk. The number of Russian casualties in this war has already exceeded 16,000 killed. Among them are senior commanders, including commander of one of the occupying armies and deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet. The Armed Forces continue to repel enemy attacks in the south of the country, in Donbas, in the Kharkiv direction and in the Kyiv region. By restraining Russia's actions, our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: talk is necessary. For the sake of the result, not for the sake of the delay. Ukrainian sovereignty must be guaranteed. Ukraine's territorial integrity must be ensured. That is, the conditions must be fair. And the Ukrainian people will not accept others. During the week we managed to establish 18 humanitarian corridors. A total of 37,606 people were rescued from the blocked cities. In particular, 26,477 Mariupol residents were evacuated to Zaporizhzhia via the humanitarian corridor. The situation in the city remains absolutely tragic. The Russian military does not allow any humanitarian aid into the city. They only use Mariupol residents in fakes for their propagandists. Pretending to start giving something to people. I will continue to inform the nations of other countries in great detail about such disgusting cynicism of the occupiers, about all the war crimes of Russia against the civilians of cities of Ukraine. Everyone on the planet needs to know what Russia is doing, so that the responsibility for crimes against the Ukrainian people becomes inevitable and as severe as possible for the Russian military. During the week alone, I addressed the parliaments of Italy, Japan, France and Sweden. I spoke at the summits of NATO, the G7 and the leaders of the European Union. Each of these speeches attracted maximum attention in the respective countries and in the world as a whole. The reviews show that the Ukrainian position was heard. You know perfectly well what a powerful system of state propaganda Russia has built. They have been spending tens of billions of dollars on it. But they did not take into account one thing. Where the path of lies needs to be paved with money and the result is not guaranteed, the path of truth is difficult, but the path of truth paves itself. The main thing is to be honest. I had a conversation today with Turkish President Erdogan. The results of the NATO summit were discussed. Of course, we also talked about the efforts that could bring peace closer to Ukraine and end this senseless Russian invasion of a foreign land. There is important news from our government officials. First. They have already started paying pensions for April. In the followings day a wave of payments will cover the entire state. Second. Under the eSupport program, more than 20 billion hryvnias have already been paid to people who have lost their jobs or the opportunity to have business. The amount of payment is 6,500 hryvnias. Third. The construction of temporary housing in Ukraine is envisaged within the new program of support for IDPs. I would like to express special gratitude to our journalists today. To all those who ensure the work of the national telethon "United News", to all our media people, everyone who united and together with other defenders of our people provides Ukrainians with truthful information and, last but not least, confidence 24/7. Full address: https://bit.ly/36Afl6C Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a video conference with Andrzej Duda President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda held a video conference. The President of Ukraine thanked his Polish counterpart for sheltering Ukrainian refugees. Andrzej Duda said that as of now, Poland has sheltered 2.3 million Ukrainians. According to him, the country provides them with everything they need. The presidents and representatives of their offices discussed the functioning of Ukraine's energy system in Europe's single energy network. The energy ministers of the two countries were instructed to continue consultations after the talks. Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated the need to prevent shelling of Ukrainian cities from the air. The President of Ukraine expressed disappointment that Soviet-made aircraft available in Eastern European countries, in particular Poland, have not yet been handed over to our state. Although both these countries and the United States have publicly stated their readiness to make such a decision. "The price of delay with planes is thousands of lives of Ukrainians, which we are losing from missile and air strikes on peaceful Ukrainian cities," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. According to him, aircraft, tanks and long-range air defense systems would allow Ukraine to really defend freedom throughout our territory and drastically change the course of hostilities. "If the partners do not help Ukraine with planes and tanks, and they have such opportunities, there is a high risk that Russian troops will pose not only a missile threat to the territory of our neighbors - friendly Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic States, but also direct general military threat. On their borders, near their cities. And they will go further," the Ukrainian Head of State said. As the conversation between the Presidents was coming to an end, Lviv was hit by Russian missiles. Lviv is located 50 kilometers from the Polish border. https://bit.ly/3iD0CdB MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF UKRAINE Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov held talks with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The United States will unwaveringly support Ukraine on its path to victory over Russian invaders. Dmytro Kuleba: "We talked about concrete things that the United States will do, that Ukraine and other partners will do to win this victory. We were looking for not only tactical, but also systemic strategic solutions that will help strengthen the global deterrence front of the Russian Federation. " https://bit.ly/3iCiB3M Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine "We demand from Russia to return the deported residents of Mariupol and we hope for the help of the Red Cross!" - Iryna Vereshchuk Iryna Vereshchuk, expressed hope that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) would consider Ukraine's appeal on the fate of Ukrainian citizens forcibly displaced to Russia. In the appeal, our country strongly condemns the forced deportation of civilians by Russia. She also expresses her concern at the Red Cross's intention to open an office in Rostov-na-Donu to work with forced Ukrainians deported to Russia. Ukrainian citizens are separated from their families and forcibly relocated to remote regions of Russia, the appeal said. The Ukrainian government is aware that Russian troops have abducted more than 2,000 Ukrainian children and their whereabouts are unknown. There are numerous abduction cases, hostage-taking, and ill-treatment of civilians by the occupiers. In particular, in the Russian Federation, Ukrainian passports are taken away, and their departure from the Russian territory has interfered. Such actions of the Russian Federation are a clear violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the removal of individual or mass forcible transfer of protected persons from the occupied territories to the territory of the occupying state or any other country, regardless of the reasons for evacuation/resettlement. In international armed conflicts, such acts are war crimes. Therefore, the Ukrainian Government is concerned about the information about the ICRC's intention to open an office in Rostov-on-Don to work with Ukrainian citizens forcibly displaced in Russia. After all, strengthening the institutional presence of the committee in Russia may be misinterpreted by Russia to legitimize such forceful movements. And this step may encourage the aggressor state to intensify this resettlement, which will worsen the already dramatic situation. The Ukrainian side urges the ICRC to focus primarily on resolving the problem of the forced relocation of Ukrainian citizens and facilitating their rapid return. Russia should provide information about our citizens, particularly prisoners of war held by Russia, and protect them from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. "Ukraine has officially appealed to President of the ICRC Peter Maurer to obtain from Russia lists of all our citizens whom the occupiers forcibly deported from Mariupol and to provide them with the opportunity to return to Ukraine," Iryna Vereshchuk said. She assured that she would inform the public about the results of the consideration of the appeal as soon as they became known. Ukraine also asks the ICRC to intensify its efforts to ensure the safe operation of humanitarian corridors agreed with the Ukrainian government for civilians to pass from besieged cities secure areas. https://www.facebook.com/100068951448421/posts/274390434869336/ | |
| Posted by:Besoeker |