Press digest – Ukraine

DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES

📌On the evening of 28 February, an air raid was carried out ins the Kyiv suburb – Brovary. The result was a powerful explosion. 

📌In Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Bila Tserkva, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Kamianets-Podilsky, Chernihiv, Odessa, Ivano-Frankivsk. Kherson, Cherkasy, Mariupol, and Lubny, air alarms went off in the evening of 28 February. The Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully repelled all enemy air attacks.

📌As a result of evening shelling in the Kyiv region, a rocket hit the building of the maternity ward of the Adonis clinic. Women in labor, newborns, and medical staff had been  previously evacuated to a bomb shelter and were not injured.

📌During the air attacks in Kyiv, the National Children’s Specialized Hospital OKHMATDET, the leading hospital in Ukraine treating children with cancer, was evacuated to a bomb shelter.

📌During the 1 March, air alerts continued in Kyiv, Kherson, Odessa, Cherkasy, Umansky district, Vinnytsia, Konotop, Pyryatyn, Lubny, Kropyvnytskyi, Mariupol, Rivne, Ternopil, and Volyn.

📌At 08:02 am on 1 March, the Russian invaders launched an airstrike on the central square of Kharkiv – Svoboda Maidan. The building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration was partially destroyed. As a result of the bombing, 6 people were injured, including 1 child. The number of casualties is still yet to be specified.

For reference: Svoboda Maidan in Kharkiv is the 6th largest in Europe and the 12th largest in the world.

📌In Kyiv, as a result of the evening shelling on 1 March, 2 explosions took place in the area of ​​​​the TV tower. The broadcasting equipment was damaged, the tower itself survived. As a result of the explosions, 5 people died and 5 more were injured.

 📌Russian troops launched the strongest rocket attack in Kyiv on the territory where the Babyn Yar Memorial Center, dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust, is located.

DEFENSE UPDATES

📌Towards the evening of 28 February, negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian sides concluded on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. The delegations returned to their capitals for consultations.

📌The temporarily captured city of Berdyansk returned to Ukrainian control. During the occupation of the city council, the mayor did not transfer control of the city to the Russian troops and continued to work from his shelter. The population played a critical role in liberating the city by rallying peacefully, but emphatically, until the Russian military left. Now the Ukrainian flag continues to fly over Berdyansk.

📌After an entire day of fierce shelling and fighting on the streets of the city, the mayor of Chernihiv, Vladislav Atroshenko, recorded a video message to the residents in the ruins, in which he promised that the city would stand and not surrender.

📌Ukraine has introduced a temporary visa-free regime for foreigners wishing to join the International Legion.

📌The Russian infantry continues to surrender to Ukraine troops in separate units. Today another batch of prisoners was seen in the vicinity of Kharkiv.

📌According to the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, an unprecedented cyber war is unfolding in front of our eyes with the participation of government agencies, intelligence agencies, hackers, and the entire patriotic IT community.

📌Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine.

PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT

📌FIFA and UEFA suspended the Russian national team from participation in all tournaments. UEFA also announced that they have terminated the contract with Russian Gazprom.

📌The British-Dutch company SHELL will terminate cooperation with Gazprom and withdraw from the Nord Stream 2 and Sakhalin 2 projects.

📌Public figures of Belarus, including restaurateur Vadim Prokopiev, encourage Belarusians not to participate in the war with Ukraine on the side of Russia. 

📌The best CS:GO player in the world, the captain of the NAVI CS:GO team, Ukrainian Oleksandr Kostylev supported the Ukrainian Army in the war with Russia and transferred 1.5 million UAH for it.

📌The European Broadcasting Union excluded Russia from the Eurovision Song Contest following an appeal of participating countries, led by Ukraine. The decision was supported by Denmark, Norway, Poland, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia, and Iceland.

📌The international payment system Mastercard has blocked access to sanctioned Russian banks. The company also donates $2 million to the Red Cross and Save the Children to help Ukrainians. https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/804756.html 

📌Following Mastercard’s block of access to Russian sanctioned banks and VISA MPS. In addition, the Visa Foundation will provide $2 million to UNICEF for humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians and will double all of its employees’ donations to UNICEF and the Red Cross to increase aid for Ukraine.

📌 The Michelin-star American-Spanish chef, restaurateur and founder of World Central Kitchen, a non-profit organization dedicated to catering after natural disasters, Jose Andres condemned Russia’s actions towards Ukraine. He also stated that he would help feeding Ukrainian refugees both in and out of the territory of Ukraine in the amount of 2 to 5 million dollars. Now Jose is already on the Ukrainian-Polish border.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cah9QjPpf0K/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 

📌Walt Disney, Warner Bros and Paramount are suspending the screening of their films to Russian cinemas and terminating all future releases, including the upcoming Batman premiere.

Source: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/statement-from-the-walt-disney-company-in-response-to-the-crisis-in-ukraine/ 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/warner-bros-pulls-the-batman-russia-release-1235101581/ 

📌 In different states and cities of America, rallies are being held, condemning Russia’s actions against Ukraine. Tens of thousands in NY, LA, Chicago and other cities walk on the streets with Ukrainian flags, showing strong support.

Nike makes online sales unavailable in Russia (Yahoo Finance).

Apple halts all sales of its products in Russia (NBC), also limiting Apple Pay use (Reuters).

Tweet of the day:

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

📌 The Republic of Albania joined the countries that closed the airspace for Russian aircraft. Now the number of countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, and EU Member States, raised up to 36.

📌The European Court for Human Rights demanded Russia to stop bombing civilian targets in Ukraine by applying Article 39. This article allows the Court to issue an order to  any member state while considering the merits of a complaint of a violation of the Convention on Human Rights. The order is mandatory.

📌For the first time in its history, Finland has decided to provide military assistance and is sending weapons to Ukraine: 2,500 assault rifles, 150,000 rounds of ammunition, 1,500 anti-tank weapons, 70,000 food kits.

📌For the first time since 1939, Sweden is providing military assistance – 135,000 field rations, 5,000 helmets, 5,000 body armor, 5,000 anti-tank weapons. Oslo is also providing 2,000 anti-tank grenade launchers. 

📌 Monaco supported EU sanctions against Russia.

📌Canada has banned all financial institutions from making any transactions with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

📌Russia is threatened by a potential massive closure of waterways. The United Kingdom was the first to propose the initiative and is developing a legal solution to prevent Russian ships from entering British ports.

📌The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have suspended trading in shares of Yandex, Ozon and many other Russian companies.

Event of the Day

Main messages from the speech (https://youtu.be/wxrCVUnhWsw) of the President of Ukraine in front of the European Parliament  

📌 Nobody will take away our freedom. Each square meter will be an area of freedom. Nobody will break us. 

📌We want our children to live. It seems fair to me. 16 children died yesterday. Once again, Putin will say that this is an operation. Where do our children work, which tanks do they ride ?! 

📌We have very motivated people. We are fighting for our rights, for our freedom, for our life, and now for our survival. We are fighting to be equal members of Europe. 

📌The EU will be stronger with us. Without you, Ukraine will be lonely. We have proved our strength. Prove that you are with us, prove that you are Europeans, then life will overcome death and light will defeat darkness.