Press digest – Ukraine

DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES

📌 16 kids were killed as a result of Russian intervention in Ukraine. 

📌During these days, the Russian Federation continues to strike throughout Ukraine. Fierce fighting still continues in Kharkiv, Mariupol, Sumy, Chernihiv, Gostomel. Battles have been going on in Gherson for the second day. Irpin, Vasilkov, and Bucha are under constant shelling and the defense of Kyiv continues. Russians have attempted to bridge the Dnipro from the west into Chernomorsk and Kyiv but were repulsed.

More information here: 

📌 Russia and Belarus have launched 5 air and 16 missile strikes today.

📌 Russian diversion groups captured and shot a family with 3 children in Kyiv. 

📌Air raid sirens are going off constantly in all major cities of Ukraine. Dnipro, Odessa, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Sumy, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Mariupol, Zaporizhzhia, Okhtyrka, and Rivne were all subjected to shelling.

📌 Russian military forces are regularly attacking civilian infrastructure protected by the international humanitarian law. A residential building in Bucha near Kyiv was shot and 7 cars were blown up or burned near a residential building in the Troyeshchyna district in Kyiv. An artillery shell or missile hit a residential building in Kharkiv, killing an elderly woman. 60 residents had been hiding in the basement and were uninjured.

More information:

📌At 13:00 am local time, Russia launched a missile attack on Vasilkov, a city southwest of Kyiv. The missiles blew up an oil depot and created a threat of environmental contamination. Firefighters cannot get to the oil depot until the shooting is done.

📌As a result of the air attack on the Gostomel airport near Kyiv, the largest aircraft in the world, AN-225 “Mriia” was burned.

📌 Russian missiles hit the nuclear waste disposal site of the Kyiv branch of the “Radon Association”. 

More information here:

📌Berdyansk Airport was seized by Russian military troops. 

📌Late in the evening of February 26, the civilian rescue ship “Sapphire” was on a humanitarian mission in the area of the Serpentine islands. It was captured and scaled by Russian navy ships and all communication with the “Sapphire” has been lost.

📌At night, a gas pipeline was blown up near Kharkiv.

DEFENSE UPDATES

📌Ukraine has filed a lawsuit against Russia to the UN International Court in The Hague.

📌A hotline is now available for the relatives of Russian soldiers and officers. It has already received over 700 calls.  

More info here:

📌Six children were born in bomb shelters, including twins on the morning of February 27th, during the defense of Kyiv. All mothers and children are healthy and feeling good.

📌Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces regularly report defeating saboteur groups in Kyiv and Kharkiv. 

📌In Vinnytsia, the EOD teams of the rescue forces discovered and deactivated 2 Russian FAB-100 high-explosive air-dropped bombs. 

📌Estimated losses of the enemy.

📌The Republic of Belarus has increased the concentration of occupation troops on its territory. More information here.

📌 Hero of the day:

Vitaliy Skakun is the hero of Ukraine, who blew up the bridge at the cost of his own life

A sapper from the 35th Separate Marine Brigade died on February 24, 2022, when the Genichesk Bridge in southern Ukraine was blown up to stop the advance of a tank column of Russian troops.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine to Vitaliy Skakun (posthumously) for outstanding personal courage and heroism shown in the defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and loyalty to the military oath.

For more information here: 

📌Around 09:00 am local time, the Ukrainian Air Force destroyed a cruise missile aimed at Kyiv, launched from the Belorusian territory by aTu-22 bomber.

📌Ukrainian businesses helps the Armed Forces of Ukraine and provides free fuel to all units and medical workers.

📌A group of Chechen saboteurs moving around Kyiv in the ambulance has just been intercepted by the valiant Ukrainian military intelligence officers (GUR MOU) in Kyiv. Some were shot and others were detained.

📌Ukrainian civilians and Territorial Defense Forces are joining to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the Chernihiv region, police together with the civilians stopped Russian tanks by forming a human wall to block their way.

More information here: 

PUBLIC SUPPORT

📌Air France is suspending flights over Russia.

📌On February 27, Pope Francis in his address to the Christians condemned the president of the aggressor country, Vladimir Putin, and called on the world to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion. He began his speech with a greeting in Ukrainian: «Glory to Jesus Christ!». 

📌The translator from German newspaper Welt started crying during the translation of the last video message of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

📌Elon Musk opened Starlink terminals for Ukraine.

📌Meta blocks Russian state media platforms from monetizing their content.

📌Celebrities voice their support to Ukraine: Posts and video messages in support of Ukraine and against Russia were posted by David Lynch, Michael Bay, Jared Leto, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, Cardi B, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Madonna, Billie Eilish, Meghan McCain, Shannen Doherty, Vitalik Buterin, Gigi Hadid, Regina Spektor, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Eiza Gonzalez, Miley Cyrus, Bethenny Frankel, Ksenia Sobchak, Stephen King, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mark Ruffalo, Annie Lennox, Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Kate Middleton and Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, Ashton Kutcher, and many others. 

📌Richard Branson regularly posts updates on the situation in Ukraine and expresses his support on Twitter.

📌 Tweet of the day

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

📌More countries are closing their airspace to the Russian Federation. By now, Lithuania, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Finland, Great Britain, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Romania, Iceland, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, North Macedonia, Moldova, Latvia closed their skies. Georgian airspace has been closed since 2008. At the time of writing, Canada and the EU have also joined the pool of countries. In the EU it includes the private jets of oligarchs.

 

📌Turkey has closed the passage to the Black Sea for Russian ships and is providing humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine. 

More information here: 

 

 

📌Foreign countries have begun actively providing weapons, ammunition, medicines and other humanitarian aid to Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression:

Mr. Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State, has instructed to provide additional USD350 million to support Ukraine’s defense under conditions of epy full-scale Russian invasion

Germany will provide 1000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles

Belgium is to provide 2,000 machine-guns and 3,800 tons of fuel

Slovakia will provide 12,000 mines, 10,000 tons of fuel, 2,400 tons of aviation kerosene, 2 complexes for lifting of mines Bozena

Azerbaijan has instructed all its SOCAR gas stations in Ukraine to provide free fuel for ambulance cars and Emergency Service vehicles. An air cargo with medicines is expected to arrive tonight

Turkey provides military and humanitarian aid; in particular, it has banned the passage of Russian warships through Black Sea straits

Latvia will provide over 30 trucks with helmets, food rations, medical equipment and medicines. The aid also includes 500 tons of diesel fuel for the Ukrainian Armed Forces Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Finland, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark have closed their air space for flights of Russian aircraft

Mr. Hiroshi Makutani, Rakuten Viber CEO, has donated USD8,7 million to Ukraine

📌#StandWithUkraine. Rallies and demonstrations in support of Ukraine continue to take place in capitals, all around the world.

📌 A demonstration in support of Ukraine is taking place in Minsk, during the referendum in Belarus about joining Russia. A column is marching through the center of Minsk and chants “No war!”