Ukraine Army command: RF attacks fallen off dramatically
Attacks by Russian Federation (RF) forces against Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) units and positions have fallen off dramatically, according to a Thursday morning statement by the Ukrainian Army.
The Army General Staff (AGS) morning situation report said RF forces have stopped advancing at practically all locations, and in some places are digging in.
An exception is the city of Mariupol, where RF forces are continuing attempts to destroy defenses there with local attacks, and artillery. Strong UAF forces hold the city and will continue to do so, the report said.
RF troops are demoralized and cases of RF soldier looting or desertion to the UAF side are increasing, the statement said.
UAF defenses, according to the report are holding at all locations, including in the south, where three days ago RF forces were still moving freely.
Southern sector RF columns current are per the report being stopped on roads leading to Kryvyi Rih, Mykolayiv, Voznesensk and the settlement of Novovorontsovka (Kherson Region). UAF forces fully control these localities, the situation report said.
Belarus
UAF intelligence has, over the past week, made public reports that forces in neighboring Belarus are mobilized and technically ready to invade Ukraine, but Belarus’ soldiers and officers are so opposed to the idea that Minsk has rejected intervention.
Significant UAF forces continue to cover Ukraine’s state border with Belarus.
Fierce ground battles in Mariupol in wake of RF’s deadly children’s hospital bombing
Fierce ground battles raged on all around the city of Mariupol’s defensive perimeter, as city workers struggled to recover from a deadly Russian Federation (RF) air force bombing of a children’s hospital, sources inside the besieged city told KP in Wednesday evening and Thursday morning interviews by telephone and email.
Three civilians in Mariupol told KP they heard the sounds of fighting all day long on Wednesday, and that they saw Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) equipment and personnel moving though the city almost continuously.
They described the situation in the city as extremely difficult, with all utilities, power, water and heating, completely off. Some food stores are still open but they are running out of supplies, they said.
News of a RF air force bombing of a children’s hospital in the center of the city was widely known in the city, and public fears of renewed RF air bombing of civilian homes and business are rising, the sources said.
One or more RF combat jets on Wednesday morning dropped at least two bombs in the very center of the port city of Mariupol, devastating a children’s hospital. Seventeen inside, including children and their mothers, were injured.
There are no UAF military sites or positions within at least one kilometer of where the bombs hit, the sources said. Ukraine’s national leadership has accused the Kremlin of targeting civilians with the goal of triggering a humanitarian crisis, in order to pressure Kyiv into concessions. RF spokespersons have said RF forces strike only military targets – a claim derided by Mariupol ground observers.
The bombing took place during a ceasefire period agreed the day previously between Mariupol city officials and RF units in the vicinity. According to the agreement, neither side would shoot so that civilians trapped in the city might escape. The bombing and subsequent other fires by RF units made civilian evacuation via a pre-agreed “green corridor” impossible on Wednesday, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsk Region administrative head, said in a statement.
RF forces cut off most major roads leading out of Mariupol by Feb. 27, the fourth day of the war. For more than a week the RF command has used artillery and ground units in attempts to tighten the encirclement of the city against fierce resistance.
Elements of the UAF’s 36th Marine Brigade and the National Guard Azov Regiment make up the backbone of Mariupol’s defenses. In contrast to most other locations where UAF and RF forces face each other, currently, in Mariupol, RF units are still attacking, official and on-the-ground sources said.
According to a UAF statement, on Wednesday, UAF Marines destroyed four RF tanks and one RF armored personnel carrier, while Azov infantry and anti-armor units destroyed another eleven armored personnel carriers. Azov-operated news feeds repeated the claims. KP was unable to confirm them independently.
RF tank crew kills former USAID worker, two others
A single shot fired by an RF tank crew operating in Kyiv’s northern suburbs killed a former USAID worker, her mother, and their driver, according to a USAID statement Thursday and Ukrainian news reports.
Valeriia “Lera” Makstetska died while trying to evacuate by car, said Samantha Power, head of USAID, in a statement.
According to Power an RF tank driving on a road, as part of an RF armored column, turned its weapon on Makstetska’s car as it was waiting for the column to pass.
Ukrainian media reported the incident widely and confirmed the details, citing eyewitnesses.
Makstetska died a few days short of her 32nd birthday. She was a Donetsk native.
A trained medic, at the time of her death Makstetska was reportedly employed by the US company Chemonics, a large and frequent USAID contractor headquartered in the Washington D.C. area.
According to Power, Makstetska declined earlier chances to evacuate as combat approached Kyiv’s northern regions, in order to provide medical help to civilians living near the battle area.
Power cited a recent message from Makstetska: “She was angry at the awful violence, but ‘so proud to be a Ukrainian and live someplace where beliefs matter.’”
Ukrainian official: Emergency generators switched on at Chornobyl – 48 hours of fuel left
Technicians at the Chornobyl containment facility have switched on emergency generators to keep the site’s cooling and monitoring functioning, but the site has only 48 hours of fuel available to operate them, a senior Ukrainian official said in a statement late Wednesday.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, said that if the generators were to run out of fuel, all equipment operated by technicians at the site would lose power.
A reactor at the Chornobyl nuclear power station exploded in 1986 following a failed atomic power generation test, spreading a radioactive cloud as far away as Sweden.
In 2016 an international consortium completed a containment shelter to seal up the reactor’s remains. Civilian engineers monitor the shelter constantly for possible changes in radiation levels and structural integrity.
Russian Federation (RF) forces overran Chornobyl on the second day of the war. According to facility management, RF soldiers are preventing anyone from going in or out of the site, effectively locking down a monitoring shift inside the facility.
