Ukraine WAR BULLETIN 16 As of March 2, 7.00 p.m. (EST)
WAR BULLETIN 16
As of March 2, 7.00 p.m. (EST)
Secret documents for the planned war with Ukraine were approved on January 18. Operation to capture Ukraine was to be executed within 15 days, 20.02. – 06.03.
Active military actions by Russian terrorist forces are threatening the largest nuclear catastrophe to unfold in Europe.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has launched an information platform war.ukraine.ua
Ukraine is currently working on three major goals in diplomatic domain: supply of military equipment, destruction of Russian economy, «Deputinisation» of the world.
UN voted for resolution “Aggression against Ukraine” that demands Russia to pull back troops from the Ukrainian territory including Crimea.
The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine has sent official letters to the 11 largest organizations in the world to isolate Russia.
First time in the last seven days of war when Ukrainian army went on the offensive was in Kyiv.
Ukraine demands the immediate creation of humanitarian corridors by international organizations.
WAR ROOM
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
On March 2, the crews of the Su-24m and Su-25 combat aircraft provided air close support to units of the UA Army, destroying Russian convoys of military equipment and manpower in Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv oblasts.
During the day, anti-aircraft missile units have destroyed three enemy jets and two helicopters.
Ukrainian military intercepted secret documents of one of the units of the battalion tactical group of the 810th separate brigade of marines of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Among the received documents are Battle Maps, Combat mission, call signs to communications, control signal list, hidden command and control tables, personnel list, etc.
Based on the acquired information, it is known that the secret documents for the planned war with Ukraine were approved on January 18, and the operation to capture Ukraine itself was to be executed within 15 days, 20.02. – 06.03.
The enemy unit was to disembark from the landing ship “Orsk” in the area of the Stepanovka-1 and execute further actions with the military units of the 58th Army of the Russian federation, namely with the 177th Separate Regiment of Marines of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The ultimate goal of these forces was to blockade and take control of Melitopol.
In Volyn, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have created a reliable defense system.
Ukrainian divisions neutralized the Russian landing party near the city of Mykolayiv.
During the current day, up to thirty fighter jets violated the airspace of Ukraine, mostly from the Republic of Belarus, and bombed the civilian population.
Russian occupying forces continue to suffer losses from the Air Force of the UA Armed Forces.
Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated Makariv, Kyiv oblast, and positioned themselves in the city.
Certain forces and means are defending the city of Kyiv, continuing to conduct systematic hostilities, and holding certain areas.
Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to report on multiple cases of surrender by groups of Russian soldiers and officers, and their refusals to continue the offensive.
Russian occupying forces violate the norms of international humanitarian law by looting and killing local people, including children. The morale of the occupying army is extremely low.
State Emergency Service rescuers and volunteers evacuated 200+ residents of Bucha (Kyiv region) from under debris. People were trapped in basements due to Russian shelling.
Operational Situation
The aggressor-state is trying to capture Energodar where the largest in Europe Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant is located. Active military actions by Russian terrorist forces are threatening the largest nuclear catastrophe to unfold in Europe.
On 2 March, the city of Zhytomyr (Zhytomyr region is next to Kyiv region and has border with Belarus) was under the Russian missiles attack. 2 civilians were killed and 12 have been injured.
The civilians of Borodyanka, Dymer and Bila Tserkva (Kyiv region) were under missile attacks as well.
The territory of Belarus is actively used by Russia for its military purposes.
Russian military vessels are blocking the access of civil ships to the North-Western part of the Black Sea along Ukraine’s shoreline.
Russia has mobilized 3.5 thousand persons in the temporarily occupied certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. They are being brought to Kherson oblast with the aim to be involved in further armed attacks of Russian Army on Ukrainian cities.
The web-sites of the governmental institutions of Ukraine suffer from cyber attacks.
The activity of Russian technical intelligence unit, which directed local sabotage groups, had been terminated in Mariupol.
Head of Kyiv Regional State Administration
Russian occupiers use Vyshgorod, Zhytomyr and Dimer-Ivankiv directions to hide and move military equipment. The enemy does not allow civilian access to food aid, and opens deadly fire. As a result, the communities in these areas experience hard humanitarian situation.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine
Enemy missiles hit the central part of Kharkiv. The City Council building, the Palace of Labor building, high-rise buildings, Main Directorate of the National Police in Kharkiv Oblast and the building of the Karazin Kharkiv National University.
There are dead and injured.
(https://fb.watch/bvgGSUjhH-/)
Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority
According to the Olbia branch of the USPA at 17:25 03.02.22 Russian Navy shelled the ship “Banglar Samriddhi” (flag of Bangladesh), which was in the harbor, port of Olvia. One missile hit the superstructure. There is a fire on board.
2 sea tugs were sent to rescue the crew.
According to preliminary data, there are no victims.
Ukrzaliznytsia
Russian terrorists have launched an air strike on the Southern Railway Station in Kyiv, where thousands of Ukrainian women and children are being evacuated.
Information about the victims is being clarified.
(https://www.facebook.com/Ukrzaliznytsia/posts/5242618482438564)
POLICY
President of Ukraine
During his address Zelensky stressed that Ukrainians are the nation that in one week destroyed enemy plans.
All the Russian troops capture by Ukrainians say the same: they don’t know why they are here.
“Even though there are tenfold more of the enemies, their moral is decreasing. More and more enemy troops are running back to Russia under fire of everything that shoots.
Ukrainians can hit the enemy not only with weapons. I admire the civilians in all towns around the country that do not let the occupants in by blocking the roads with their bodies. You all have seen the video from Melitopol’ where Ukrainians protested against Russians that temporarily entered our city. If Russians are entering any town, they will stay there temporarily, I am sure of that.
Russian occupants are not soldiers of a superpower; these are confused children that were used. Take them home.
Every occupant must know that they will not get anything here. Sending more military equipment and more Russian people will not change anything. No matter where they go, they will be killed. Ukrainians will show the enemy that we do to not let go of what is ours. For us, Ukrainians, this is a Patriotic War.
Almost 9000 enemy troops killed in one week. In Mykolaiv direction enemy uses tens of helicopters to airlift dead and wounded that are 19 – 20 years old. However, most of them are spread all over Ukraine. Our country does not want to be littered with dead soldiers. Tell your commanders that you want to live. We must restore peace as soon as possible.” stressed Zelenskyy.
The President of Ukraine reported on talks with government leaders from Norway and Israel, president of Kazakhstan, president of the EU council, prime minister of Canada, and president of Poland.
Aftermath of the UN General Assembly showed stunning results for Ukraine. 141 countries supported a resolution that demands Russia to leave Ukraine. Only 4 voted against.
Zelenskyy also elaborated on his meeting with heads of regions and cities of Ukraine. Authorities were working hard to organize the corridors to get Ukrainian civilians out and bring medicine in.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Briefing
Ukraine is currently working on three major goals in diplomatic domain:
1. Supply of military equipment (even by those countries that have never done it before);
2. Destruction of Russian economy;
3. «Deputinisation» of the world.
Ukraine created an anti-war coalition with 86 countries and 15 international organizations as of now. 19 countries supply military equipment, 10 countries make macro financial donations, 22 countries give humanitarian aid, and 16 countries confirmed to help transport more than 1000 volunteers to fight for Ukrainian army.
Russia is trying to establish partnerships with at least 3 countries that could help Kremlin make it through economic crisis. Ukrainian diplomats will stay in touch with those governments to ensure their decision not to support the aggressor.
During the briefing Kuleba stressed “There is an urgent need to strengthen the Air Force. Ukraine is working with a number of countries to close the skies over the country and there is already some progress in this regard.”
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs informed that he had a call with British colleague Liz Truss, during which they discussed potential solutions for loopholes that Russia could use to stay within global economy. Among other European partners, Spain decided to aid defense equipment. This help will flow more smoothly now due to opening of European Peace Fund.
38 countries closed the sky for Russian planes, Canada and the UK do not allow Russian boats in their ports. UN voted for resolution “Aggression against Ukraine” that demands Russia to pull back troops from the Ukrainian territory including Crimea (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21314169-unga-resolution). This is one of the largest resolutions in the world that was co-authored by 95 and supported by 141countries.
The world leads an information war against Putin’s regime by banning Russian media resources and firing Russian public figures. The most powerful impact, is made by large corporations that stop operations in Russia. Those include but are not limited to DHL, Apple, Google, Twitter, Lenovo, Spotify, Tesla, BMW, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Adidas, and Nike. Those, as well as other sanctions, will take place until we ensure complete absence of Russian army in Ukraine.
(https://www.facebook.com/UkraineMFA/videos/772126277084920/)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has launched an information platform. for foreign audiences concerning the war in Ukraine war.ukraine.ua
The main goal of war.ukraine.ua is to provide verified information about the situation in Ukraine, to share specific ways to support Ukraine and also to show the human dimension of the resistance.
“This website is de-facto a live documentation of war developing before the eyes of the entire world”, stressed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
On the website you can currently find information and answers to the following key questions and themes:
- Understand why Russia is invading Ukraine
- Find out, through verified information, what is happening in Ukraine right now. The site provides the latest updates from official sources
- Learn how you can help the Ukrainian people.
- Discover the real faces behind Ukraine’s resistance.
(https://www.facebook.com/UkraineMFA)
Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office
In the North-West of Kyiv, the enemy tries to break into the city. Ukrainian artillery successfully stopped the attack, so Russian soldiers are now regrouping. Chernihiv and Sumy direction are significantly slowed down by Ukrainian soldiers and locals. In Kharkiv, Russian troops work in the city as well as target it with heavy rocket-propelled grenade launchers. As far as we understand, they were given orders to break into Kharkiv.
The precise number is yet to be confirmed, but a few Russian aircrafts were destroyed. Most of Ukrainian military checkpoints stay in place, and one of them – Horlivka – even managed to advance to the East. This is for the first time in the last seven days of war when Ukrainian army went on the offensive.
Mariupol’ is relatively calm, but the occupant will be trying to break into the city. Our soldiers keep the situation under control.
Kherson continues to be fought for, the city streets periodically have shootings. Fake news about given up local government were supposed to disorient local citizens, but we keep the situation under control.
Enemy’s movement toward Mykolaiv was stopped by successful operations of the Ukrainian army in the area of Bashtanivka town.
A large number of Russian equipment was destroyed by Kryvyi Rih.
The presence of Russians by Zaporizka nuclear power plant in Enerhodar might turn into ecological threat, so local government held negotiations with the occupants to inform them about the danger of shootings in the area.
Based on the last few days, we noticed that small groups of occupants are giving up, abandoning their equipment, and are running away. Only larger groups with leaders that stay in touch with Russian authorities are continuing to fight. Number of such groups is in minority. Russia tries to make up for losses by sending cadets to fight, which means that they are running out of capable soldiers. Their strategy is poorly executed partially because we heard that Belorussian army will join Russian troops. There is no official statement on that regard, but it’s being checked.
Ukrainian artillery was standing strong yesterday. In Kharkiv, Ukrainian soldiers destroyed the 200th brigade, the most elite group of militants among Russian troops.
The Kalibr cruise missiles are not used anymore because our enemy ran out of them. Iskander are being used now. They have certain advantages and disadvantages – Iskander missiles can harm civil populations, but they are not very powerful. Since Russians are scared of attacking us during the day, they mostly attack at night in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Kharkiv. Numbers of victims is soon to be announced by the President of Ukraine. The shelling of the TV tower and Babyn Yar, a jewish cemetery, were large strategic mistakes due to massive future responses of international communities.
Office of the President of Ukraine
The President of Ukraine signed a decree on the establishment of the Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian and Social Affairs assistance to citizens in difficult life circumstances caused by armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
(https://www.facebook.com/president.gov.ua)
ECONOMY
National Bank of Ukraine
Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine Kyrylo Shevchenko addressed the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which serves as a central bank for central banks, asking to terminate the membership of the Central Bank of Russian Federation (CBRF).
Excluding the CBRF and imposing sanctions against the Russian Federation by all international financial institutions is an important step in response to Russian aggression.
“I would like to ask you to consider the possibility of suspension of the Bank of Russia’s membership in the BIS, its Committees, working groups. Taking into account the status of the BIS in the world finanсe, this sanction from your side will help us fight the aggressor on the financial battlefield,” underligned the NBU Chairman in his letter to the BIS leadership.
Kyrylo Shevchenko also proposed to reconsider granting the NBU membership in the organization.
(https://www.facebook.com/NationalBankOfUkraine)
Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine
Complete infrastructural isolation of Russia: work on the international front
The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine has sent official letters to the 11 largest organizations in the world in the field of infrastructure.
It is an appeal to the international community to take the necessary measures to close the airspace for the aggressor country, access to seaports, as well as the exclusion of Russia from international organizations.
Among the addressees – the world’s largest and most influential organizations in the field of air, sea, rail transport, as well as construction and tourism:
▪ International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association (IBTTA)
▪ Airports Council International (ACI)
▪ United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
▪ International Union of Railways (UIC)
▪ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
▪ Ministry of Transport of the United Kingdom
▪ United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
▪ Danube Commission
▪ International Air Transport Association (IATA)
▪ US Federal Aviation Administration
▪ International Transport Forum (ITF)
(https://www.facebook.com/100064745704510/posts/321540096680845/)
Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine
Ukraine demands the immediate creation of humanitarian corridors by international organizations in Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson oblasts to evacuate civilians and, above all, children.
The Russian invasion caused the greatest humanitarian catastrophe in Europe since World War II. Enemy troops openly inflict constant missile, bomb, and artillery strikes on peaceful cities, housing infrastructure, and educational institutions.
Millions of Ukrainian citizens – especially women, children and the elderly – suffer from shelling, lack of food, water and medicine. The enemy does not distinguish between military and civilian targets, including striking artillery and missiles at kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities.
Ukraine has already appealed to international organizations that have a mandate to create “green corridors” for the population to leave the war zone. So far, three requests have been sent to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Red Cross, but unreasonable denials have been received.
Ukraine insists on the need to immediately create humanitarian corridors by eligible international organizations in parts of Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson Oblasts.
What is required:
- immediate delivery of medicines, medical equipment, drinking water, food, warm clothes and heating accessories;
- evacuation of the civilian population, especially children;
- provision of access for medical and social workers to Ukraine to help all those who need it, including the most vulnerable (children, sick people, people with disabilities) and single people.
