Press digest – Ukraine
DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES
📌28 children died in Ukraine from the Russian Federation armed intruders. The statement was made by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Office of the President Daria Gerasymchuk. Update: at the time of sending the digest, this number, unfortunately, raised to 31.
📌On March 4, air alerts were triggered in the following regions: Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Zhytomyr, Kherson region, Vasylkiv, Rivne region, Ternopil and Ternopil region, Fastiv, Volyn, Vinnitsya, Bila Tserkva, Kropyvnytskyi and the entire Kirovograd region, Cherkasy, Lviv, Slovyansk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Gostomel.
📌Since the beginning of the day, on March 4, the Russian troops have been shelling residential private and apartment buildings and civilian facilities (schools, kindergartens, hospitals, grocery stores) in Irpin, Kharkiv, Sumy, Vasylkiv, Ochakiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr.
📌At circa 2am on March 4, as a result of missile attack by Russian troops, a fire broke out caused by a missile striking at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. Later, a detachment of Kadyrovites broke into the station and entered into battle with the National Guard. The presence of uncontrolled Chechen fighters at such type of facility could imply the possibility of nuclear terrorism and a direct threat to the entire world.
Picture of the day:
Screenshot of a live broadcast from the Zaporizhzhya NPP on fire.
📌In the village of Markhalovka near Fastiv, Kyiv region, as a result of shelling, 8 private houses burned down and 5 people died, including 3 children, 2 children were rescued from the rubble.
📌A house is on fire in the residential area Sofiivska Borschahivka (village of Chayki) near Kyiv.
📌In Mykolaiv, the battle continues all day on March 4. As of 18:00 local time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine pushed the invaders out of the city, fighting continues on the outskirts.
📌Russian invaders terrorist troops use high-explosive bombs against the inhabitants of Kharkiv. These bombs are designed to destroy strong shelters and can destroy residential building
in one go.
📌The Russian military is REGULARLY spreading fake information about evacuations from various cities. So, today similar messages threatening the lives of the civilian population were heard in Kherson and Mariupol. According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, this is done in order to use civilians as human shields during offensives.
📌In Russia, a complete information vacuum is being created for their citizens: following Facebook, Dozhd (also known as TV Rain), Meduza and the BBC Russia, Russian Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications blocked both Deutsche Welle and Radio Liberty.
DEFENSE UPDATES
📌Kherson, Melitopol and Primorsk massively rally against the Russian invaders. The Russian military is now in Kherson, but people are going to rallies even taking into account the threat to their lives.
📌During the 8 days of the war, the Ukrainian railway evacuated more than 1 million people, including foreigners, from the danger spots of the country.
📌The security of the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center in Kyiv detained the second fire spotter from the first missile strikes launched by the Russians on March 1 causing the death of 5 people and damage to the broadcast tower. Also, the first missile strike hit the former military cemetery.
📌The defeating areas are located at a distance of 20 meters from the places where the Nazis massacred Jews, Roma and Sinti representatives and other nationalities from 1941 to 1943.
📌The Armed Forces of Ukraine are holding back the Russian invader troops towards Volyn, Siversky, Slobozhansky, Primorsky directions.
📌Kyiv continues to repel the offensive of the Russian military and inflict damage on them. Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:
📌President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s daily statements:
📌Ukraine survived a night that could stop the history of Ukraine and Europe. Russian troops attacked the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant
📌Ukraine is fighting against the strongest enemy, which exceeds us in numbers and equipment. But they are a thousand light years behind normal people with honor
📌The UN Human Rights Council organized an international commission to investigate the facts of Russian war crimes against Ukrainians. Russia will be punished for its crimes
📌Russian propaganda regularly spreads false information among the Ukrainian population that the President has left the country. It’s fake. The President is in Kyiv, with his people, and continues to fight against Russia
📌According to the results of negotiations with the Russian Federation, which took place on March 3, the President continues to stand his ground and does not plan to make any concessions that could humiliate or devalue Ukraine’s struggle in this People’s War
📌The next round of negotiations is scheduled for March 7
📌At yesterday’s press conference to foreign media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin directly. “Sit down with me, talk, what are you afraid of?”. Earlier, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian president refused to negotiate one-on-one with Zelenskyy
PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
📌The attack of the Russian invaders on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant is the main topic of the European press:
The Washington Post The Guardian
CNN
The Week
📌EPAM company stops serving Russian clients and allocates $100 million to Ukrainian employees and their families.
📌Microsoft suspends the sale of goods and services in the Russian Federation.
📌Ukrainian restaurateur and blogger Misha Katsurin, whose father has been living in Nizhny Novgorod (Russia) for more than 20 years and refuses to believe his son that Russia has attacked Ukraine and is shooting at residential areas and civilians, launched the “Papa, believe me” (https://papapover.com) website to help Ukrainians tell the truth about the war to their relatives in Russia and Belarus.
📌The famous Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky returned to Ukraine from Slovakia to join the Ukrainian army.
📌Russian Senator Lyudmila Narusova acknowledged enormous losses of the Russian Army in Ukraine.
📌The International Weightlifting Federation has suspended Russian athletes from international competitions.
📌The Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain made a donation to the British Emergency Committee to help Ukrainians who were forced to leave their homes due to the Russian invasion.
📌Volunteers overnight launched a website for the citizens of Belarus “Stay at home”, which describes the possible consequences of refusing to fight against Ukraine. This is a chance to save the lives of thousands of Belarusian soldiers.
📌Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney expressed support for Ukraine and condemned Russia’s aggression.
📌In response to Coca-Cola’s declared readiness to continue doing business in Russia as usual, Ukrainian national retail chains FOZZY Group and Novus announced the immediate withdrawal of the Coca-Cola products from their chains, including Fanta, Schweppes, Sprite, BonAqua, Rich.
📌The most influential advertising festival in the world Cannes Lions has banned Russia. The Festival website says that representatives of the creative industry from all countries are always welcome there, but this time Russia will not participate due to the aggression against Ukraine.
📌Wikipedia, in response to Russian Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications’ previous threat to block the website for the article “Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine (2022)”, posted this article on ALL pages of the website.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
📌The EU wants to accept Ukraine as a member as soon as possible. This was stated by the Commissioner Maros Shefcovic today, March 4.
📌Ukraine will become a contributor of the Joint Center of Excellence for NATO Cyber Defense. Estonia has already supplied Ukraine with military aid worth 200 million euros.
📌The government of the Czech Republic agreed to transfer an additional batch of weapons in the amount of 730 million euros.
📌Sweden transferred 500 million crowns to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The money has already been wired to a special account of the National Bank of Ukraine.
📌The West maximizes pressure on Russia and Belarus: Canada has increased economic sanctions, the United States has imposed additional direct sanctions against the Russian elite and their families, including against Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
📌Members of the Council of the Baltic Sea States decided to remove Russia from participation in the activities of the organization.
📌The international rating agency S&P dropped Russia’s credit to CCC. In Russia, the threat of default is increasing.
📌The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba’s daily statement:
📌Last night, the world was stirred up by the news about a fire at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant as a result of shelling by Russian invaders. Ukraine warned the international community about the irresponsible and barbaric actions of the enemy, which could lead to catastrophic consequences for all mankind.
Tweet of the day:
📌The world demands from Russia to immediately stop hostilities.
📌Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine with the same tactics that it destroyed Syria. This cannot be allowed in the center of Europe. If NATO does not urgently help Ukraine in the sky, they will have to share the responsibility for the suffering of the Ukrainian people.
📌Only combat aircraft can be an acceptable alternative to a closed sky.
📌Ukraine requests the International Committee of the Red Cross to urgently promote the creation of humanitarian corridors from cities on the verge of a humanitarian crisis, which are located in Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The creation of such corridors was agreed upon at the second round of negotiations by the parties of Ukraine and the Russian Federation.