17th day of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion

DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES

📌 During the 16 days of the war with the Russian invaders in Ukraine, about 1,300 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine deceased. These data were confirmed by the Office of the President of Ukraine.

📌 Over 100 air raid alerts sounded throughout Ukraine overnight. Particular concentration of the Russian air forces was observed in the Nikolaev, Kharkov, Kiev, Cherkasy, Sumy regions, as well as in Kharkov, Ivano-Frankivsk, Poltava.

📌 In Nikolaev, late in the evening on 11 March, the operating oncological hospital was under attack, during all the previous 16 days of the war the hospital uninterruptedly provided assistance and ensured the implementation of protocols for oncological patients.

📌 During the night in Nikolaev, the invaders troops of the Russian Federation randomly fired at civilian infrastructure – hospitals, boarding schools, city heating facilities, afterwards withdrawing to residential areas. As a result of night raids, 2 people were injured.

📌 Russian troops launched another airstrikes on Mariupol.

📌As of 08:00 on 12 March, the oil depot in Vasilkove is on fire again after a repeated missile attack by Russian troops. At the same time, in the Brovarsky direction towards Kiev, after a morning series of airstrikes, warehouses for storing frozen food caught fire.

📌At 11:20 local time, Russian troops fired 8 missiles at the airfield in Vasilkov. As a result of the shelling, the airfield was completely destroyed.

📌In the Okhtyrsky district of the Zaporozhye region, a Russian tank ran over a car with 3 residents while trying to evacuate. All 3 passengers, including a minor teenager, were killed.

📌A woman and her twin children suffered from shelling in Severodonetsk.

📌 Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, 79 children deceased from the actions of the Russian occupation forces.

📌Since the early morning of 12 March, rocket attacks on Chernihiv and its civilian infrastructure have continued, including aviation assaults. In the morning the city was left without electricity, gas, water and heating. “Today, Russian aircraft launched a missile attack on the Ukraine Hotel in the city center. The hotel is gone, but Ukraine still remains!”, – said the mayor of the city. In the intervals between air alerts, city maintenance services carry out repair work.

📌In the captured and temporarily occupied Kherson, Russian invaders are preparing a referendum on the creation of the Kherson People’s Republic, following the example of the DPR and LPR. This was announced by the deputy of the Kherson Regional Council. The Russian invaders call the deputies and offer them to cooperate for a reward.  Information about the upcoming “referendum” was also confirmed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba.

📌According to the Head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration, the city of Volnovakha and its infrastructure disappeared after Russian shelling. After civilians were evacuated from Volnovakha, troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine left the ruins of the city and continued fighting on the outskirts.

📌According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, “Kadyrovtsy” shot 12 wounded Russians in the temporarily occupied Borodyanka in the Kiev region. This

happened around 4:00 pm on 12 March. All the deceased were expected to be evacuated to Belarus for treatment.

📌Belarus announced that they would send 5 battalion-tactical groups to the border with Ukraine to replace their armed forces that are there now. The Ministry of Defense of the country denied that this is part of the preparation for entering the war on the side of Russia. The Defense Ministry of Ukraine believes that there is a likelihood of the direct participation of the Armed Forces of Belarus in hostilities against Ukraine.

📌Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2.6 million refugees have left the country.

This is a picture of the evacuation train’s corridor in Ukraine, from Poltava to Lviv. 17 hours in the train with all curtains closed so there’s no light to get in and the train doesn’t become a target.

CONSEQUENCES FOR RUSSIA AND BELARUS

📌 Instagram founder Adam Mosseri has officially confirmed that on 14 March the social network will be blocked in Russia. This decision will cut off 80 million people in Russia from each other and from the rest of the world, since 80% of users from Russia are subscribed to foreign accounts.

📌 Disabling Instagram in Russia by the decision of Roskomnadzor will kill Russian small and medium-sized businesses, for which Instagram was the main trading platform.

📌LINX is disconnecting key RF providers (Rostelecom, Megafon) from the international traffic exchange.

📌Two weeks of war against Ukraine cost Russia $30 billion of the GDP, Bloomberg reports.

📌According to the research agency Statista, at least 120 thousand Russians will lose their jobs after Western companies leave Russia.

DEFENSE UPDATES

📌Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:

📌The United Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to restrain the offensive operations of the Russian invaders in all directions.

📌Since the beginning of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, the 31st battalion tactical group of the enemy, which operated in Ukraine, has lost its combat capability.

📌 Separate cases are being recorded of surrender by entire units of the Russian troops.

 📌 Over the past three days, the movement of small groups of deserters in the direction of the state border has been noticed.

📌 In the Sumy region, volunteer territorial defense forces disarmed 3 Russian tanks and a self-propelled artillery mount. 

📌 In the Odessa region, the 488th regiment of the Russian army was completely destroyed.

📌The Ukrainian army liberated 2 more settlements in the Chernihiv region and one in the Luhansk region from the invaders and captured 11 units of military equipment of the Russian troops.

 📌 Near Odessa, 600 Russian marines refused to fight against Ukraine. This became known from the video of the interrogation of one of the prisoners of war of the Russian army, published by the Security Service of Ukraine.

📌The Ukrainian State Emergency Service has neutralized more than 100 explosive items since the beginning of the war and rescued more than 40 people in the bombed civilian infrastructure, and also helped in the evacuation of about 500 thousand people, including more than 100 thousand children.

📌The IAEA reported that the transmission of all data from the Zaporozhye NPP has resumed. At the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the system continues to fail. There are also failures in data transmission from the South Ukrainian NPP.

📌 Unexploded ordnance, which had been there since 4 March, was found and defused at the Zaporozhye NPP.

📌More than 2,000 people went to a rally on 12 March in front of the seized building of the Melitopol State Administration in the temporarily occupied city demanding the release of the mayor of the city Ivan Fedorov from captivity. The mayor was abducted by Russian terrorists on 11 March right in the course of performing his direct duties after he refused to surrender the city to the occupying forces.

📌 A peaceful rally against the invaders troops is also taking place in the temporarily occupied Kherson.

📌Kiev is preparing for defense.

HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS AND EVACUATION UPDATES

📌As of 08:00 local time on 12 March, Ukraine agreed with the Russian side on humanitarian corridors for Sumy and the Sumy region.

📌 Also on 12 March, it is planned to continue the evacuation from Bucha, Vorzel and Gostomel in the Kiev region and Makarov and Borodyanka in Zhytomyr.

📌Russians fired on a convoy of women and children in Kyiv region. On 11 March, during an attempt to evacuate people from the village of Peremoha, Kyiv region along an agreed upon “green” corridor, the aggressors shot dead a convoy of civilians consisting exclusively of women and children. Seven people died, including one child. The exact number of the injured is currently unknown. After the shooting, the invaders forced the remnants of the convoy to return to the village and did not let them out of the village. At present, it is almost impossible to establish contact with them, as well as provide humanitarian and medical aid.

President Vladimir Zelensky’s daily statements 

📌President Zelensky addressed the Italian people by explaining the simple difference between Ukraine and Russia. “We are living. They are killing.”

📌Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia continue in video format. The positions of Ukraine are indicated by very tough previously specified directives.

PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT

📌On the Airbnb platform for short-term rentals around the world, users have already “booked” accommodation in Ukraine for 434 thousand nights to help Ukrainians who are losing their homes right now. Thus, ordinary citizens from all over the world have already helped Ukrainian hosts for a total of 15 million dollars.

📌As a sign of support and solidarity with Ukraine, a Scottish fabric manufacturer has registered a new tartan (a traditional Scottish clan ornament), which was called Ukraine forever.

📌PayPal will block e-wallets of the Russians starting 18 March.

📌 The German Commerzbank exits the Russian market.

📌The American IT company Imperva has suspended its activities in the Russian Federation and Belarus.

📌The MoneyGram payment system informed its customers and agents about the decision to suspend the provision of services in Russia.

📌The eBay platform has suspended all transactions with Russian addresses.

📌Nintendo gaming corporation decided to stop deliveries of consoles and software to Russia because of the war with Ukraine.

📌 The Billa retail chain in Bulgaria stops selling Russian-made goods.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

📌Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the current escalation and aggression of Russia against Ukraine was caused by the insufficient reaction of the world community to Russia’s occupation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

📌81% of Americans consider Ukraine a friendly country, and for 70% of them, Russia is their biggest enemy, writes The New York Times, citing a YouGov poll. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/12/upshot/ukraine-russia-ally-enemy.html?referringSource=articleShare

📌Germany plans to completely abandon use of Russian coal by the fall of 2022, and from oil by the end of this year, Robert Gaback, Minister of Economy and Energy, said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

📌More than 40 Republican senators wrote a letter urging US President Joe Biden to work closely with Poland and NATO allies to send aircraft, air defense systems and other weapons to Ukraine immediately.

📌 US President Joe Biden issued a decree allocating an additional $200 million from the US state budget to help Ukraine.

 📌 The Italian football club “Verona” organized a collection of humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

📌 Italy will transfer 23 ambulances to Ukraine.

📌 The Kuwait Red Crescent Association sent 33.5 tons of humanitarian aid, including medicines and food.

 📌 Another truck with humanitarian aid left Poland today.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba’s daily statements 

Ukraine has achieved three major victories on the diplomatic front:

1️⃣ First of all, our state won the information war, because the world does not believe in Russian narratives. Russia’s attempts to justify its aggression failed.

2️⃣ The second international victory is a change in attitude towards Ukraine and Ukrainians in the world. In particular, according to a survey by the American sociological company YouGov, 81% of Americans consider Ukraine an ally or a friendly state.

3️⃣ The third victory is the undermining of the Russian economy, which keeps the aggressor’s war machine. This became possible thanks to the systematic efforts of the anti-Putin coalition, which imposed crushing sanctions against the Russian Federation.

Tweet of the day

⚠️The Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council warns of attempts by the Russian Federation to activate paid propagandists and supporters to create leverage on the society of European countries. We are talking about “sleeper agents”, which Russia usually uses for holding actions and rallies. Their task is to destabilize the situation in order to switch the attention of EU society away from Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The other day, the Russian media advertised rallies of European truckers against the increase in fuel prices. In fact, carrier companies buy fuel for freight transportation, this does not affect the work of truckers and has nothing to do with it.

Debunking myths