Ukraine War Day 31

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War In Ukraine Day 31: Overview Of Military Developments

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After the first month of Russian military operations in Ukraine left, their second stage began. The Russian military claimed the main military goal to be the complete liberation of the DPR and the LPR territories from the AFU grouping. In order to fulfill this task, the joint Russian, DPR and LPR troops continue their offensive on the Donbass front lines, and the Russian cruise missiles are targeting the AFU military facilities all around Ukraine in order to disrupt the Ukrainian military supplies to the front lines. 

So far, one of the most important battlefields in Eastern Ukraine has been the city of Mariupol. Half of the nationalist forces in the city have been reportedly destroyed. Ukrainian servicemen including members of the Azov nationalist battalion were repelled from all the outskirts and most of them were blocked in the facilities of the Azovstal plant. At the same time, the large assault of the industrial facilities is yet to be launched. Mop up operations continue in the city’s central regions.

A lot of the Ukrainian militants, are hiding in residential buildings under the guise of civilians, some are trying to leave the city on humanitarian corridors.

On the Donbass front lines, no advances were reported on March 26.

During the morning briefing, the Ministry of Defense of Russia reported that units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue fighting near the settlements of Novobakhmutovka and Novomikhailovka, inflicting fire damage to the enemy in strong points and on its reserves. During the day, no advances were reported. The Russian military is still attempting to inflict as more losses to the enemy positions as possible using its artillery and aviation.

In the evening briefing, the Ministry of Defense reported that more than 30 servicemen of the 54 mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces, 6 armored vehicles and a battery of field artillery of the 46th separate assault battalion were destroyed near Novomikhailovka during a day.

In its turn, the DPR claimed that 132 settlements of the republic have been liberated. The battles for Marinka continue and Verkhnetoretsky is being moped up. Battles are also taking place in the area of Troitsky that is under the DPR control.

In the LPR, the People’s Militia continues to attack the positions of the Ukrainian military on the outskirts of Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, as well as in the area of Popasna. No advances of LPR forces were reported for several days.

As the AFU are holding their positions near the civilian areas in the DPR and the LPR, shelling on civilians continues aon a daily basis. In the DPR, fire was opened in the direction of Donetsk, as well as the settlements of Elenovka, Yasinovataya, Gorlovka, Zaitsevo Yuzhnoye, Alexandrovka, Staromikhailovka, Makeyevka. As a result of the shelling, one civilian was killed, 54 people were injured, including four children. Damage was caused to the civil infrastructure.

In the LPR, fire was opened on two settlements, including Pervomaisk, where 9 residential buildings and the central library building were damaged.

In the Zaporozhye direction, the front line has not changed between Vasilyevka and Volnovakha -. Fighting is taking place in the area between Velikaya Novoselka and Ugledar which are under the AFU control.

In the Kiev region, Russian forces took control over the city of Slavutich after the agreement with the local administration on the demilitarization of the city. To the West of Kiev, fighting continues in Irpen and in the Makarov districts. In the eastern direction, the Russian army are holding their positions in Brovary and Boryspil. Attempts of the AFU to counter-attacks were reported ear the village of Lukyanovka.

On the suburbs of Kiev, the Russian military reportedly took control of the AFU command post in Nikolaevka. 61 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine voluntarily surrendered, more than half of them are senior officers.

The local authorities in the Sumy region confirmed the ongoing fighting in the villages of Konotop, Akhtyrsky and Sumy districts. The AFU continue their attempts to counter attack.

Situation near Kharkov and Chuguev remain unchanged. Izyum are not completely controlled by Russian troops, the mop up operation is ending on the southern outskirts. Meanwhile the front lines were pushed towards Slavyansk and Barvenkovo.

In the south of Ukraine, in areas controlled by the Russian military, civil-military administrations have begun to be created. Their tasks include the management of territories and settlements, as well as the solution of issues of vital activity of the population. In particular, in the Kherson region and the south of Zaporozhye, where Russian television is already operating and rubles are widely used.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, on March 25 and 26, Russian air defense systems shot down three Ukrainian Air Force planes in the air over the village of Vishnevoye — two Su-25 and one Su-24, and another Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopter was shot down by Russian air defense over the village of Staraya Basan.

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MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Military Situation In Ukraine On March 26, 2022 (Map Update)
• Russian Kalibr Missiles Flying To West: Ukrainian Lviv Under Fire (Videos)
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UK Defence Secretary Punked on Ukraine

Audio of British Def. Sec. Wallace entertaining Ukrainian nuclear ambitions on phone call w/ a prankster he believed to be the Ukrainian PM was just released. The MoD insists YouTube take it down, calling it Russian propaganda —and “a substantial risk to UK National security”.

Watch the entire Twitter thread:

Full Video 

George Bush and Tony Blair lack the moral authority to lecture Russia on Ukraine

George Bush and Tony Blair lack the moral authority to lecture Russia on Ukraine — RT World News: George Bush and Tony Blair, who started the disastrous Iraq war, are now criticizing Russia’s military operation in Ukraine

 

Coming from the leaders who started the bloody Iraq war, it’s hypocritical, to say the least

Current and former Western leaders who have achieved eternal notoriety for launching the Iraq War, as well as other military disasters, are clearly the wrong people to lecture Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

As George W. Bush and Tony Blair are emerging from political retirement to pontificate on Russia’s “authoritarian bullying” against Ukraine, the question arises: does such a surreal spectacle underscore the public’s notorious short-term memory, or does it prove the media’s vast power to shape public opinion in favor of its latest agenda? All things considered, it’s most likely a wicked combination of the two noxious ingredients.  

Whatever the case, it defies reality that these former US and British leaders, whose past military exploits have been described in some quarters as actual war crimes, are now weighing in on the legitimacy of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, or any other conflict for that matter. To put it another way, Bush and Blair acting like long-haired anti-war activists is a bit like Greta Thunberg shaking the pop-poms for the coal industry.

Consider, for example, the convoluted comments uttered by George W. Bush on the same day that Russia started its military operation in Ukraine: “Russia’s attack on Ukraine,” the official statement reads, “constitutes the gravest security crisis on the European continent since World War II.”  Bush, who presided for eight long years in the disastrous War on Terror, bellowed like a Puritan preacher that he condemns Vladimir Putin’s “unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine.”

“The American government and people must stand in solidarity with … the Ukrainian people as they seek freedom and the right to choose their own future,” he added from the pulpit.

While it might be true that the quickly unraveling events in Ukraine represent the “gravest security crisis” since the last world war, it is simply naïve to believe that so-called ‘Russian aggression’ is solely responsible for that grim state of affairs. Indeed, it would be disingenuous to discuss the tragedy now unfolding in Ukraine without including a 12-inch-long footnote on US-led NATO, the 30-member military bloc that is now, to put it in more anthropomorphic terms, ‘kissing Russia’s border’. Putin spoke out against these unwanted advances back in 2007 at the Munich Security Conference when he pointedly asked Western leaders “against whom is this expansion intended?” Instead of providing an acceptable answer, NATO opted to grow its membership by another four countries.  

Then, without an ounce of self-awareness, Bush proclaimed that the Ukrainian people have a right to “choose their own future.” While few people would argue against such modern common sense, where was that judicious counsel back in 2014, when high-ranking US officials like Victoria Nuland and John McCain were literally on the ground in Kiev, fomenting the fires of political strife that ultimately ended with democratically-elected president Viktor Yanukovych forced from office and replaced with US-backed Petro Poroshenko? While people will argue for years to come over Russia’s eventual course of action, which took much of the world by surprise, it cannot be denied that Western meddling in Ukrainian affairs helped to bring the situation to a boil.

This failure to appreciate the complexity of the situation from Moscow’s perspective was obvious in another gratuitous lecture to Russia, this one courtesy of the former UK prime minister, Tony Blair. Writing in the Daily Mail, Blair kicked off his warmed over clichés with some cheap Nazi analogies (“Hitler led a Europe-wide fascist movement. Putin’s war is a one-man mission”) before arguing that the West needs to “increase the supply of weapons to Ukraine, particularly its SAM (surface-to-air missile) capacity – and give a commitment that arming Ukraine will be ongoing.”

Clearly, Western leaders seem totally committed to courageously fighting the Russians down to every last Ukrainian.

More to the point, haven’t we learned from past disasters that leaders like Blair and Bush simply cannot be trusted?

As early as 1999, Tony Blair already had blood on his hands, figuratively speaking, in the Kosovo War, which saw NATO forces attack Yugoslavia without a mandate from the UN Security Council. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, some 500 Yugoslav civilians were killed over the course of the relentless 78-day NATO bombardment, which even managed to hit the Chinese Embassy, resulting in three deaths.

Disastrous as it was, the Kosovo War was just a dress rehearsal for one of the greatest humanitarian crises of modern times – the 2003 Iraq War. Amid some of the largest protests ever recorded, throngs ascended on capitals around the planet in a last-ditch effort to halt Bush and Blair’s march to war after accusing President Saddam Hussein – without a shred of evidence – of harboring weapons of mass destruction. In Rome, a crowd of three million gathered on February 15, 2003 to protest against the impending invasion, a feat that got the Italian capital entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for ‘largest anti-war rally’. 

Bush and Blair arrogantly ignored this display of democracy in action, however, commencing with a ‘shock and awe’ campaign against Baghdad on March 19, 2003. To paraphrase Mark Twain, truth was still lacing up its boots while the Iraqi people were dying from outright lies, no thanks to a corporate-owned media industrial complex that refused to challenge the WMD claims until much later.

Responding to revelations that the American and British leaders had essentially lied their way into the Iraq War, the writer Michael Massing proposed a very good question to journalists after the dust had finally settled: Why didn’t the mainstream media tell us more “about these deceptions and concealments in the months when the administration was pressing its case for regime change – when, in short, it might have made a difference?”

Not until the publication of the Iraq Inquiry in 2016, long after some one million Iraqis had been displaced, killed, and injured as a result of the illicit invasion, was it determined that “the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort.”

In addition to finding that Blair had “deliberately exaggerated the threat posed by the Iraqi regime,” the Chilcot inquiry revealed a private letter sent to George W. Bush from the UK prime minister that stated, “I will be with you, whatever.” With those words it is a bit easier to understand why Blair was dubbed “Bush’s poodle” in less supportive circles.

On a personal note, I believe that Russia, which has been forced to watch its ‘near afar’ transform practically overnight into a NATO training ground, is politically mature enough to discuss its controversial actions in Ukraine with just about anyone. However, when the conversation has all the hallmarks of a censored social media post, which permits pot shots and apparently even calls for violence against Russians, then the discussion will not get very far.

At the same time, Western leaders, both present and past, are certainly in no position to lecture Russia on its current behavior, whatever one may think about it. In fact, Western leaders, who ignored Moscow’s warnings for decades, must take their share of responsibility for the turmoil that is now happening in Ukraine. Only once they admit that to themselves will Russia, Ukraine, and the West be able to turn the page on this horrible chapter in its relations and move on. 

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Russian Armed Forces Advance 6 Km in Donbass, Ukraine

 

Russian Armed Forces advance another 6 kilometres during offensive in Donbass

10:26 22.03.2022 translated from tvzvezda.ru

According to the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defence Igor Konashenkov, at the moment a battle is being fought with units of the 128th separate mountain assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The units of the Russian Armed Forces advanced another six kilometres during the offensive in the Donbass. This was announced by the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defence Igor Konashenkov. “The units of the Russian Armed Forces, developing the offensive, advanced another six kilometres and captured the settlement of Urozhaynoye. Now they are fighting with units of the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Konashenkov said.

He also spoke about the successes of the DPR group. According to Konashenkov, it wedged four kilometres deep into the defences of the 25th Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the moment, fighting is underway to capture the settlements of Kamenka, Novoselovka Vtoraya and Verkhnetoretskoye. Also, as Konashenkov noted, the DPR units advanced up to five kilometres in the direction of Kurakhovo. 

“Units of the Donetsk Republic destroyed a company of the 53rd separate mechanized brigade and units of the assault battalion of the 54th separate mechanized brigade of Ukrainian troops , having captured the settlements of Slavnoe, Trudovskaya, Chelyuskintsev Mine and Maryinka,” said the official representative of the Russian Defence Ministry. 

Konashenkov added that three Ukrainian tanks, four infantry fighting vehicles, four artillery pieces and six off-road vehicles were destroyed in the area during the day.   

In addition, Igor Konashenkov said that the aviation of the RF Armed Forces hit 137 military targets of Ukraine per day . 

Material prepared by: Timur Sherzad, Nikolai Baranov

Situation Update in Ukraine for Tuesday March 22 2022

 The following is from Telegram:

(appologies for the formating - copy 'n paste job.)

 

Сolonelcassad
forwarded from
Voenkor Kitten Z

Military expert Boris Rozhin with a brief summary of the results of the operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine on March 22, 2022, specially for the Voenkor Kotenok Z @voenkorKotenok channel:

one.

Mariupol.

Street fighting. According to the DPR, about half of the 14.5 thousand personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the time of the formation of the boiler in a combat-ready state remained in Mariupol. The rest were killed, wounded, missing, captured or infiltrated into the Zaporozhye region.

2.

Marinka.

Storming the village. The troops are slowly advancing, but there is still a lot of work to be done before the complete clearing of this fortified area.

3.

Ugledar.

The troops are approaching the settlement. Velyka Novoselka from the south, as well as pushed through the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and advanced to the settlement. Novomikhailovka. Carbon has not yet been taken.

4.

Avdiivka. 

No significant changes. The counterattacking units of the 25th brigade were knocked out of the settlement. Verkhnetoretskoe. There are fights in the area of ​​the settlement. Novoselka-2.

five.

LPR.

No changes in Lisichansk, Severodonetsk and Popasna. Units from Chechnya have been deployed to the front to take part in the cleansing of settlements.

6.

Raisin.

Fights, but it's too early to talk about some kind of turning point. Strikes on the Slavyansko-Kramatorsk agglomeration intensified, and strikes were also made on the railway junction in the settlement. Pavlograd and objects in the village Lozovaya.

7.

Kharkov.

No significant changes. Fighting north and east of the city. The main battles, as before, are going somewhere on the outskirts

8.

Kyiv.

No big changes. Despite the "counteroffensive", today Ukraine admitted that the RF Armed Forces control Bucha, Gostomel and part of Irpin. And the main task of the enemy is to hold the settlement. Irpin. They also sucked the “overcome in Makarov” out of their finger, hanging the Ukrainian flag there, like a couple of weeks ago in the “taken Bucha”. At the same time, there is no video that would confirm the full control of the RF Armed Forces over Makarov. To the west of Kyiv, medium-intensity fighting continued to the north-east of the settlement. Brovary. Chernigov - no change.

nine.

Nikolaev-Odessa.

New serious strikes on the city. The port infrastructure is seriously damaged. Several objects and clusters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed. There are no active offensive actions. In the Odessa region, according to a number of reports, the Admiral Makarov frigate destroyed the Ukrainian ship Neteshyn, which laid mines.

10.

Zaporozhye.

The Kamenskoye-Orekhov-Gulyaipole direction is getting stronger. There is a regrouping of forces. But the offensive is unlikely to begin before the cleansing of Mariupol. Nikopol - no change.

@voenkorKotenok
t.me/boris_rozhin/35405

 

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Сolonelcassad

forwarded from

Readovka

Map of hostilities and the situation on the fronts on the evening of March 22

DNR and LNR

1. Mariupol direction. Street fighting continues in Mariupol. The enemy stubbornly and organized resists, despite the losses incurred. There is a terrible humanitarian situation in the city due to the continued practice of taking city residents hostage by the Ukrainian Nazis. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the army of the DPR are making serious efforts to save the civilian population.

2. Donetsk direction. Heavy fighting continues for Maryinka and Avdiivka. The enemy was knocked out of Verkhnetoretsk after several days of fighting. The DPR army is trying to break through to the road near Novoselka-2. The attack on Dzerzhinsk has not yet been carried out. Donetsk and other cities of the DPR continue to fire from OTRK and artillery.

3. Ugledar direction. The Russian Armed Forces and the DPR army are developing an offensive in the direction of the Maryinka-Kurakhovo highway. The first line of defense is partially broken. The enemy withdrew to the second, hoping to delay the offensive on the Novomikhailovka-Velikaya Novoselka line. The units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine defending here suffered heavy losses in people and equipment. Ugledar itself has not yet been taken.

4. LPR. The republic has, in fact, left to liberate 3 large cities - Severodonetsk, Lisichansk and Popasnaya. While the fighting continues, the accumulation of forces for a decisive offensive is underway. After the completion of the liberation of the LPR, the army of the republic will operate in the Kharkiv and Dnepropetrovsk regions, as well as help finish off the Donbass grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Ukraine

1. Izyum-Balakleya-Kharkov. There were no significant changes during the day, the most serious battles are taking place in the Izyum direction, where the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is throwing its reserves in order to prevent the development of the offensive of the RF Armed Forces on Slavyansk and Kramatorsk or towards Barvenkovo. The Russian Aerospace Forces began to process the supply lines of the Donbass group, attacking ammunition depots, fuel reserves, etc.

2. Sumy and Chernigov. There are no significant changes. Both cities are still under lockdown.

3. Kyiv. Fighting west and east of Kyiv. The city, as before, is blocked from 3 sides, according to Western intelligence, it may take 4-10 days for the encirclement of Kyiv by the RF Armed Forces after the completion of the regrouping of troops.

4. Krivoy Rog and Nikopol. During the day, no serious advance of the RF Armed Forces in the direction of these cities was noted, although the enemy points out that there is a concentration of forces on the right bank of the Dnieper.

5. Nikolaev and Odessa. There are no active offensive actions. Fire destruction of enemy troops and military facilities is carried out. A strong blow was dealt to the Nikolaev port. The Ukrainian ship "Neteshin" was destroyed near Odessa.

6. Zaporozhye. There is no significant progress on the Vasilyevka-Orekhov-Gulyaipole line. Activation of this direction is expected in a few days.

Military expert Boris Rozhin (Сolonelcassad), especially for Readovka.
t.me/boris_rozhin/35436
76.9K views
Mar 22 at 17:20

Military expert Boris Rozhin with a brief summary of the results of the operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine on March 22, 2022, specially for the Voenkor Kotenok Z @voenkorKotenok channel: one. Mariupol. Street fighting. According to the DPR, about half of the 14.5 thousand personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the time of the formation of the boiler in a combat-ready state remained in Mariupol. The rest were killed, wounded, missing, captured or infiltrated into the Zaporozhye region. 2. Marinka. Storming the village. The troops are slowly advancing, but there is still a lot of work to be done before the complete clearing of this fortified area. 3. Ugledar. The troops are approaching the settlement. Velyka Novoselka from the south, as well as pushed through the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and advanced to the settlement. Novomikhailovka. Carbon has not yet been taken. 4. Avdiivka. No significant changes. The counterattacking units of the 25th brigade were knocked out of the settlement. Verkhnetoretskoe. There are fights in the area of ​​the settlement. Novoselka-2. five. LPR. No changes in Lisichansk, Severodonetsk and Popasna. Units from Chechnya have been deployed to the front to take part in the cleansing of settlements. 6. Raisin. Fights, but it's too early to talk about some kind of turning point. Strikes on the Slavyansko-Kramatorsk agglomeration intensified, and strikes were also made on the railway junction in the settlement. Pavlograd and objects in the village Lozovaya. 7. Kharkov. No significant changes. Fighting north and east of the city. The main battles, as before, are going somewhere on the outskirts 8. Kyiv. No big changes. Despite the "counteroffensive", today Ukraine admitted that the RF Armed Forces control Bucha, Gostomel and part of Irpin. And the main task of the enemy is to hold the settlement. Irpin. They also sucked the “overcome in Makarov” out of their finger, hanging the Ukrainian flag there, like a couple of weeks ago in the “taken Bucha”. At the same time, there is no video that would confirm the full control of the RF Armed Forces over Makarov. To the west of Kyiv, medium-intensity fighting continued to the north-east of the settlement. Brovary. Chernigov - no change. nine. Nikolaev-Odessa. New serious strikes on the city. The port infrastructure is seriously damaged. Several objects and clusters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed. There are no active offensive actions. In the Odessa region, according to a number of reports, the Admiral Makarov frigate destroyed the Ukrainian ship Neteshyn, which laid mines. 10. Zaporozhye. The Kamenskoye-Orekhov-Gulyaipole direction is getting stronger. There is a regrouping of forces. But the offensive is unlikely to begin before the cleansing of Mariupol. Nikopol - no change. @voenkorKotenok

Military expert Boris Rozhin with a brief summary of the results of the operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine on March 22, 2022, specially for the Voenkor Kotenok Z @voenkorKotenok channel: one. Mariupol. Street fighting. According to the DPR, about half of the 14.5 thousand personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the time of the formation of the boiler in a combat-ready state remained in Mariupol. The rest were killed, wounded, missing, captured or infiltrated into the Zaporozhye region. 2. Marinka. Storming the village. The troops are slowly advancing, but there is still a lot of work to be done before the complete clearing of this fortified area. 3. Ugledar. The troops are approaching the settlement. Velyka Novoselka from the south, as well as pushed through the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and advanced to the settlement. Novomikhailovka. Carbon has not yet been taken. 4. Avdiivka. No significant changes. The counterattacking units of the 25th brigade were knocked out of the settlement. Verkhnetoretskoe. There are fights in the area of ​​the settlement. Novoselka-2. five. LPR. No changes in Lisichansk, Severodonetsk and Popasna. Units from Chechnya have been deployed to the front to take part in the cleansing of settlements. 6. Raisin. Fights, but it's too early to talk about some kind of turning point. Strikes on the Slavyansko-Kramatorsk agglomeration intensified, and strikes were also made on the railway junction in the settlement. Pavlograd and objects in the village Lozovaya. 7. Kharkov. No significant changes. Fighting north and east of the city. The main battles, as before, are going somewhere on the outskirts 8. Kyiv. No big changes. Despite the "counteroffensive", today Ukraine admitted that the RF Armed Forces control Bucha, Gostomel and part of Irpin. And the main task of the enemy is to hold the settlement. Irpin. They also sucked the “overcome in Makarov” out of their finger, hanging the Ukrainian flag there, like a couple of weeks ago in the “taken Bucha”. At the same time, there is no video that would confirm the full control of the RF Armed Forces over Makarov. To the west of Kyiv, medium-intensity fighting continued to the north-east of the settlement. Brovary. Chernigov - no change. nine. Nikolaev-Odessa. New serious strikes on the city. The port infrastructure is seriously damaged. Several objects and clusters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed. There are no active offensive actions. In the Odessa region, according to a number of reports, the Admiral Makarov frigate destroyed the Ukrainian ship Neteshyn, which laid mines. 10. Zaporozhye. The Kamenskoye-Orekhov-Gulyaipole direction is getting stronger. There is a regrouping of forces. But the offensive is unlikely to begin before the cleansing of Mariupol. Nikopol - no change. @voenkorKotenok