Press digest – Ukraine
DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES
📌 On the 2 of March, air alerts continued in the following regions: Kyiv and the surrounding region, Zhashkiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and the surrounding region, Mariupol, Voznesensk, Energodar, Vinnitsa, the Lutsk and Volyn regions, Brody, Stry, Kalush, Kropyvnytskyi and the entire Kirovograd region, Lviv, Zaporozhye, Rivne, Cherkasy, Khmelnitsky, Nikolaev, Pyryatin, Mirgorod, Dnipro, Pryluky, Kamenets-Podolsky, and Korosten.
📌 In Kharkiv, rocket attacks were conducted on March 2, hitting the City Council, the Labor Palace, the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, and residential buildings. The University building was damaged during an attempt to shell the Security Service of Ukraine building and the Main Directorate of the National Guard of the Kharkiv Region.
📌President Zelensky stated last night in an interview with Reuters and CNN that the invaders are risking the destruction of the UNESCO-protected Sophia Kyivska monument in their attempts at shelling the Kharkiv Security Service of Ukraine building.
📌In Mariupol, a bomb hit the maternity hospital located on the left-bank. Mothers and children were not injured. The maternity ward returned to work after the bombing ceased.
📌In Kharkiv, the Russian military launched an airstrike on TV towers with a thermobaric bomb, banned by the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (Protocol III). The towers survived.
📌After 6 days of war, the infrastructure of Kharkov, Chernihiv, Kherson, Mariupol, Vasilkov and Bucha was partially damaged and critically in some places. The infrastructure of Kyiv and Zhytomyr suffered the most.
📌In the Black Sea Operational Zone, Russian troops are deploying groups of ship and continue to prepare for a naval landing operation.
📌Russia attacked a foreign merchant ship again. On 2 March , at 17:25, a missile hit the ship “BANGLAR SAMRIDDHU” under the flag of Bangladesh, which is located in the port of Olvia, Nikolaev.
According to the “Kyiv Metro”, at the moment, more than 15 thousand people continue to hide at the metro stations that serve as bomb shelters for the residents of the city.
📌As of 01 March, about 667 thousand refugees left Ukraine for European countries.
DEFENSE UPDATES
📌 Thousands of residents of the city of Energodar formed a human shield to protect the largest nuclear power plant in Europe – the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Thus, they are trying to prevent the invaders’ ground military equipment from reaching it. The Russian side started throwing smoke bombs at the human shield. As of 17:00 local time on March 2, the Russian convoy of equipment was stopped.
Picture of the day: the best representation of Ukraine fighting. The whole country is resisting.
📌 On the 7th day of the war, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are on the offensive for the first time. Advances were made toward Horlivka, Donetsk region, and entrenched themselves there.
📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine.
📌Citizens of 16 EU countries have already joined the International Legion in Ukraine.
📌88% of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine will be able to repel a Russian attack.
Source: Ratinggroup
📌The Bayraktars drones have been deployed in the Sumy region today. More than 100 Russian military vehicles, mainly tanks and armored personnel carriers, have been destroyed already.
📌The world should know about the courage of the Ukrainian people. An online diary of the new Ukrainian reality has been created.
Source: War.Diaries
📌In the past six days, more than six billion UAH, equivalent to 180.137.304,66 Euro were transferred to the special account of the National Bank for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Source: National Bank of Ukraine
CONSEQUENCES IN RUSSIA
📌Russia is falling into trade isolation. 101 international companies have already imposed or announced their intention to impose sanctions on the Russian market.
📌Boeing stops supply of spare parts and components and aircraft maintenance to Russian airlines. Russian ruble continues to fall.
PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
📌Boxing organizations such as WBO, IBF, WBC, WBA will not recognize and validate fights and tournaments in Russia.
📌The International Olympic Committee has decided not to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international competitions.
📌The International Volleyball Federation has canceled the 2022 Volleyball World Championship, which was supposed to take place in Russia.
📌FIDE took the Chess Olympiad from Russia.
📌German Markus Gisdol resigned as head coach from the Moscow FC Lokomotiv. “I can’t stay in Moscow when orders are being given a few kilometers away from me that cause great suffering to an entire population.”
📌ADIDAS has suspended cooperation with the Russian Football Union.
📌Ukrainian rock legend, leader of the “Okean Elzy” band, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk went to bombarded Kharkiv and recorded a video message for all Ukrainians against of the destruction of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building smashed during yesterday’s shelling (Video).
📌Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky addressed the Russians with a video message, in which he called on the population to go on anti-war rallies and save the population of Ukraine.
📌Messenger service Telegram said it would increase capacity to boost communication for people in Ukraine in the areas with weak and intermittent signal.
📌EA Sports removes Russia from FIFA and NHL games due to war in Ukraine. The Minister of Digital Information acknowledged the developer and said “Stop hiding from reality in video games for Russians while their troops kill Ukrainians.”
📌The Cannes Film Festival refused to accept the official Russian delegation and removed Russian state films in the competition program.
📌The world literature community supports Ukraine. Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Axel Scheffler, Frederic Begbeder, Nassim Taleb, Boris Akunin, the PEN – international association of writers’ demonstrated in support of Ukraine and condemned Russia for military aggression on their social networks. The Frankfurt and London Book Fairs and the Bologna Children’s Book Fair refused to accept Russian stands.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
📌The United States and Montenegro join the closure of airspace for Russian aircrafts.
📌Montenegro has also fully joined the EU sanctions against Russia.
📌Canada announced provision of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $100 million.
📌France will activate a financial package of 100 million euros to provide assistance to civilians affected by the conflict.
📌Finland has allocated 8.2 million euros for humanitarian activities to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine.
📌Latvia allocates 1.2 million euros for the needs of Ukrainian civil society, primarily to the media.
📌On March 7-8, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold a hearing on the Claim of Ukraine against the Russian Federation on violation of the Convention on the Prevention of the Genocide Crime.
📌The UK has closed its ports to Russian ships. This intention was also joined by the EU and Canada. In addition, Canada plans to extend the ban to its territorial waters as well.
📌The EU has disabled SWIFT for a number of Russian banks, including VTB, Russia, Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcom and VEB.
📌The United States will impose an oil embargo on Russia, stated by US President Joe Biden. President Biden also made an open statement calling on the International Court of Justice in The Hague to give the fastest possible response to Ukraine’s request regarding Russian aggression, as more victims are reported every day.
📌The UN General Assembly voted for a resolution that requires the Russian Federation to immediately stop the attack on Ukraine and withdraw its troops. 141 countries voted in favor, 5 voted against (Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea, Eritrea), while 35 countries abstained.