Press digest – Ukraine
30th day of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion
Every morning, starting March 17, a nationwide minute of silence has been declared throughout Ukraine at 9:00am Kyiv time.
“We will remember the Ukrainians who gave their lives, all the military, civilians and children” (c) President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy
DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES
📌After numerous shellings by Russian aviation, the city of Izyum in Kharkiv region was almost 100% destroyed – the infrastructure in the city center is destroyed, around city center the columns of Russian military equipment and artillery are observed.
📌About 300 people died as a result of the bombing Mariupol Drama Theater by Russian aviation. It was reported by the Mariupol City Hall with references to witnesses.
📌In Mariupol, the Russians destroyed the Children’s Rehabilitation Center. It was built in 2021 in a collaboration with the European Investment Bank.
Mariupol nowadays
📌 135 children have been killed since the beginning of the illegal war started by Russia against Ukraine. Most cases are from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Chernihiv regions. 184 children have been injured.
📌Late in the evening on March 24, Russian artillery attacked the evacuation train Kyiv – Ivano-Frankivsk in Vasylkiv, a city near Kyiv. The windows of three cars were blown out. According to preliminary data, there are no casualties.
📌Near Kharkiv, civilians who were standing in queue to receive a humanitarian aid were attacked by Russian long range weapons. Preliminarily, 6 civilians killed, 15 injured.
📌The same day, the Russians shelled on the Kharkiv airport terminal, the Metro supermarket and the hospital. The shelling killed 10 people, more than 20 people were injured.
📌According to the General Headquarter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian troops plan to resume the offensive operations in Brovary and Boryspil directions in order to block the capital of Ukraine from the east.
📌Russian army continues blocking the cities of Sumy and Kharkiv and carries on the attacks on civilian infrastructure.
📌On March 25, at night, Russian aviation fired two missiles at a military unit on the outskirts of Dnipro, the buildings were significantly destroyed, and the fires followed the strike.
📌On March 24, around 8:00 PM, in Kalinovka village near Kyiv, a missile strike by Russian aviation hit the oil depot and it caused a severe fire. The fire had been extinguished within the depot by the morning, March 25. It helped to remove the threat of the fire spreading outside the oil depot. Still, due to this and other fires near Kyiv, the environmental situation has significantly deteriorated lately.
📌The mortuaries of Chernihiv are flooded with victims. This was stated by the mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko. “We dig trenches and every day we bury 40-45 people on average. At the same time, the queue for the funeral is for a week,” he said. On top of the fact that three
morgues are overcrowded, they also do not have power capacity, therefore refrigerators are installed nearby.
📌Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, 59 churches have been damaged, the Russian occupiers destroy two religious buildings every day, according to the Ministry of Culture. Destroyed religious buildings are located in at least 8 regions of Ukraine: Kyiv, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Luhansk, Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv. Most of them are Orthodox churches. In addition, mosques, synagogues, Protestant churches, religious educational institutions, and administrative buildings of religious organizations were also destroyed.
☢️The National Security and Defense Council, citing InformNapalm experts, reports on the possible use of zarin (used for military purposes as a poisonous substance with a neural-paralytic effect) in those cities where the occupiers can not break through the defense.
☢️Russian propaganda spreads narratives about “American biolabs in Ukraine” and “pathogen leakage” from there. To remind, Russian troops have already used phosphorus weapons in Popasna. Also recently the shelling of Russian aviation caused a leak of ammonia at Sumykhimprom.
DEFENSE UPDATES
📌Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:
📌Russia is withdrawing some of their troops to own territory due to the loss of more than 50% of its personnel.
📌During the attack on the port of Berdyansk (temporarily occupied), the landing ship “Saratov” was destroyed. The landing ships “Caesar Kunikov” and “Novocherkassk” were damaged. Other losses of the enemy are being clarified.
📌On March 25, the Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated the commander of the 49th All-Military Army of the Southern Military District, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev.
📌On March 25, at about 4:30 PM, the Russian occupiers carried out a missile strike on the territory of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Vinnytsia. In total, six cruise missiles were fired, some of them were shot down by air defenses, and the rest hit a few buildings. The consequences of the missile strike are being clarified.
📌 Photo of the day
Hands of the machine gunner at 5 AM after a night work at positions of occupiers
📌Russian militaries started facing financial problems:
👉After the promised payments to the military of the occupying army, there were problems with funding in Russian military units. As it turned out, these expenses were not included into the budget. And given the unsatisfactory state of the financial system of the Russian Federation due to the imposed sanctions, it is impossible to find additional funds in the budget.
👉Besides, in the temporarily occupied Crimea, after the payment of “business trips” to those who took part in the war against Ukraine, the available limit of military funds in February was spent completely. There are no funds for any payments in March.
👉Similar situation is happening with the payments to the war mercenaries of the Russian “Private Military Companies”. Among them, cases of refusal to leave the territory of Ukraine are becoming more frequent. The reason is non-fulfillment of the terms of the concluded contracts. The militants do not receive payments for participation in hostilities, no compensation for injuries and no promised “social guarantees”.
📌Since the beginning of the war, the Security Service of Ukraine has detained more than 350 members of diversionist and reconnaissance groups and eliminated several international channels via which a recruiting of the mercenaries to the Russian occupation forces was arranged.
📌The first NFT war museum was launched in Ukraine. The purpose of the NFT Museum is to disseminate truthful information among the global digital community and raise funds to support Ukraine. The exhibits reflect the military events experienced by Ukrainians – from the beginning of the Russian invasion to the moment of our victory. All works are presented digitally as NFT tokens and can be purchased by anyone. Proceeds from the sale of the collection will go to the official Ethereum wallet of the Ministry of Digital Transformation for humanitarian purposes.
📌Ukrainians prefer Ukrainian language more frequently than before.
According to a poll, conducted by the sociological group Rating, at the end of 2021 the number of Russian-speaking Ukrainians was 26%, and now it has dropped to 18% – thus the Russian language has ceased to be primary in another 8% of Ukrainians since early 2022:
✅ The vast majority of respondents (83%) favor Ukrainian being the only state language. Before the war, a quarter of Ukrainians favored granting the status of the state language to Russian, today this figure is only 7%.
✅ 76% of Ukrainians consider Ukrainian their native language. This figure has grown by almost 33% over the last decade (in 2012, 57% of people considered Ukrainian their native
language). And only 20% of Ukrainian citizens consider Russian their native language (ten years ago this figure was 42%).
PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
📌One of Japan’s largest oil refineries, Eneos, will suspend the purchase of Russian oil after the completing the current contracts.
📌International rating agency Fitch Ratings cancels the ratings of all Russian companies and their subsidiaries that are now under EU sanctions.
📌After the war, a German software developer SAP plans to open a research center in Ukraine, said Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The company will also “develop the digital blockade of Russia” and will gradually stop supporting its products in the companies of the aggressor country.
📌Prague will rename one of the streets close to the Russian Embassy, its new name will be Heroes of Ukraine; one of the railway bridges will be named after the Ukrainian soldier who died on the first day of a full-scale war.
📌Leading Swiss plumbing manufacturer Geberit has also decided to suspend operations in Russia.
📌Spotify completely stops working in Russia. Previously, the music streaming service only canceled Premium subscriptions, but now it is leaving completely due to new censorship laws. It is expected that the final exit will take place in early April.
📌Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Keylor Navas sheltered Ukrainian refugees in France. The footballer accommodated 30 people who fled from Russian missiles and bombs. Navas arranged sleeping places in his home.
📌The Czech Esquire dedicated the cover of the April issue to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
📌The United States has announced that they are ready to provide more than $1 billion in humanitarian aid to those affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine. In addition, the White House reconfirmed its intention to bring up to 100,000 Ukrainians and other displaced persons fleeing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
📌The United States, together with its allies and partners, is imposing additional sanctions on Russia over the war against Ukraine. The new sanctions list more than 400 individuals and legal entities, 328 members of the State Duma are among them.
📌The United Kingdom has announced new sanctions against 65 more individuals and legal entities because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Restrictions include the Russian railway and the military company Kronstadt, the main manufacturer of Russian drones.
📌The UN Security Council almost unanimously rejected to accept Russia’s draft resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. Apart from Russia, only China supported the cynical resolution.
📌Australia has imposed sanctions on 22 Russian journalists and Kremlin-linked journalists, as well as on Alexander Lukashenko and his family.
⚠️For the first time within last 30 years, France has put three nuclear submarines on simultaneous combat duty, thus strengthening the only submarine that patrols constantly.
📌German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected Russia’s demand that Europe and the United States pay for Russian gas in rubles.
📌Following the summit on March 24, the European Council is obliged to establish a Solidarity Trust Fund in Ukraine for support and recovery after the war; The Council invites its international partners to participate and calls for immediate preparation.
📌The United States will provide additional $320 million to fund democracy and human rights in Ukraine and neighboring countries.
📌Japan has imposed a ninth package of sanctions against 25 high-level officials and 81 Russian companies. Restrictions, in particular, include the freezing of assets of representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defense, as well as deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Japan has also banned the export of products to 81 Russian companies and luxury goods.
📌Lithuanian lawmakers approved a draft of the bill that equals the so called georgian ribbon and Z (symbol of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian occupation) to Nazi and communist symbols.
📌16 ambulances of the Solidarité Ambulancière France-Ukraine team and 1 ambulance from Coqueleta are heading from France to Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Donetsk, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Lviv regions.
📌The Bulgarian government has approved a decision to provide humanitarian aid to Ukrainians and Ukrainian refugees in neighboring countries in the amount of 181 thousand euros.
📌Volunteer office at the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Tallinn sent 10 cars with medicine and food, and collected more than 100,000 euros in financial aid.
📌Tallinn City Hall sends 33 pallets of food and medicines to Lviv and Kyiv.
✅Prime Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, together with the governments of Slovenia and the Czech Republic, wrote a 10-point plan how to save Ukraine for Politico. Here they are:
- Disconnect all Russian banks from SWIFT
- Introduce a unified asylum policy for Russian soldiers who refuse to serve Moscow’s criminal regime
- Completely stop Russian propaganda in Europe
- Block Russian ships in European ports
- Introduce a blockade of road transport to and from Russia
- Impose sanctions on the entire business community in Russia
- Suspend the visa issue to all Russian citizens wishing to enter the EU
- Impose sanctions against all members of the Yedinaya Rossiya / United Russia political party
- Introduce a total ban on the export to Russia of technologies that can be used for military purposes
- Exclude Russia from all international organizations
“If we fail to impose effective sanctions, we have no choice: we will have to protect the people of Ukraine with our own shields.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba’s daily statements
📌Some media quote Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments on the negotiation process with Russia. Our government is sincerely grateful to the Turkish participation and especially to President Erdogan for the political and humanitarian assistance, as well as diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. At the same time, it is important to objectively assess the situation:
🖇”The Ukrainian language is and will be the only one state language in Ukraine! There’s no consensus with Russia regarding the key four points President Erdogan has mentioned.”
🖇”Turkey, as a friend and strategic partner of Ukraine, will also continue its support on all tracks. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that imposing new sanctions against Russia and strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities are equally important factors in stopping the Russian military machine and achieving the desired progress in the negotiations. Such a tripartite strategy – sanctions, military support, negotiations – should not be questioned by anyone”
📌Tweet of the day
Ukraine was beautiful. But now it will be great, because of our people. Glorious Ukraine. Great project for recovery. For the people. For the development of our country and the whole of Europe.