Igor Zhdanov, the Minister of Youth and sports in Ukraine (2014-2019), a public and political figure, Maidan commandant during the Revolution of Dignity, member of the Maidan Council, candidate of political sciences, ATO volunteer, analyst of the NGO "Open Policy Foundation"

Informational Defence of Ukraine provides a daily review of the military-political situation in Ukraine, morning of March 13th, based on an analysis of open sources.

1. The russian occupiers have not achieved success in any of their operational areas and are suffering losses as a result of counterattacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the enemy continues the offensive operation against Ukraine and takes measures to restore combat capability and regroup their troops.

The russian invaders are also preparing to continue the offensive attack in the Polissia, Siverskyi, Slobozhanskyi, Donetsk, Tavriia, and the Pivdennyi Buh areas. However, there are no areas where the enemy achieved success.

The occupying forces sustained heavy losses, slowed down the pace of the offensive attacks, and stopped in the vast majority of the directions. Military and civilian infrastructure continues to be destroyed. In order to compensate for the losses, the occupiers organised the training of additional forces for conducting hostilities on the territory of Ukraine.

The enemy did not carry out offensive operations in the Volyn, Polissia and Siverskyi directions.

There is a high probability of direct participation of the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus in the military operation against Ukraine. There is air reconnaissance of objects on the territory of Ukraine with the help of UAVs, probably from the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

The occupiers continue to tax the logistics system by creating “repair bases” on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

In the Slobozhanskyi direction, the enemy carried out offensive operations in the area near  Izium, trying to move further in the direction of Slaviansk.

After the losses sustained in the area of Kharkiv, the enemy brought one of the BTGs of the sixth military army to the territory of the russian federation (the Belgorod region) to restore combat capability. At the same time, it strengthened the groupings in this direction due to the arrival of the units from the Northern Fleet.

In the Donetsk and Tavriia directions, the enemy carried out assaults and raids, but did not abandon attempts to storm Mariupol.

The enemy has had little success in the Volnovakha direction - it has captured the eastern outskirts and is trying to go ahead.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 13.03 were approximately: combatants - more than 12,000 people, tanks - 374 units, armoured combat vehicles - 1226 units, artillery systems - 140 units, MLRS - 62 units, air defence - 34 units, aircraft - 74 units, helicopters - 86 units, vehicles - 600 units, ships / boats - 3 units, fuel tanks - 60, UAV operational and tactical level - 7.

$ 5,1 billion – is a total price for the destroyed russian military equipment on March 12th.

 

According to confirmed data, the Air Defence of Ukraine on March 12 hit 2 planes, 2 helicopters, and 2 drones.

The Ukrainian army liberated two more settlements in the Chernihiv region from the occupiers and seized 10 units of enemy equipment.

10th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to capture a complex of electronic warfare of the russian army.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine also sustain losses. Unfortunately, during the war with russia, about 1,300 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed, which is 1 to 10 to the losses of the russian occupiers - more than 12,000 servicemen.

2. The russian occupiers continue to violate international humanitarian law by killing civilians in Ukraine.

As of March 12th, the Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating 1,717 criminal proceedings for war crimes perpetrated by russia in Ukraine.

Ukraine continues to lose the most valuable thing - Ukrainian children. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, during the 16 days of the war in Ukraine, 79 children have been killed and almost 100 wounded.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, russian military criminals crashed the car “Tavriia” with their tank: two adults and a boy were killed.

Civilians continue to die. The security service intercepted a conversation between the occupiers near Kharkiv, where they said they had been ordered to shoot at civilians.

On March 11th, during an attempt to evacuate from the village of Peremoha (the Baryshivskyi district, in the Kyiv region) to the village of Hostroluchcha, the occupiers attacked and killed a convoy of civilians consisting exclusively of women and children.

According to intelligence agency (GUR), the result of this brutal act is that seven people are dead. One of them is a child. The exact number of wounded is currently unknown.

Because of night shelling of Mykolaiiv, 8 people are wounded, 11 private houses are destroyed, 167 houses, hospital, 11 educational institutions are damaged.

Because of an air strike on the morning of March 12th in Chernihiv, the 2nd to 9th floors were destroyed, followed by the burning of a 9-storey dormitory. According to preliminary information, 7 people were rescued, 1 person died and 1 was injured.

On the night of March 13th, the Kramatorsk-Lviv evacuation train was damaged as a result of an air raid, one person was killed and one was injured.

The russian invaders continue to shell peaceful towns in the Luhansk region. In the evening, the occupiers fired again on the cities of Severodonetsk and Rubizhne, burning apartments, a dormitory, private houses, and a gas station. 

The russian occupiers fired 8 missiles at the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security in the village of Starychi, the Yavoriv district, the Lviv region. In Ivano-Frankivsk, the russian occupiers struck again at the airport.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has called on world leaders to release Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who was captured by the russians. The President also stated that the mayor of Melitopol was being tortured to express his support for the russian occupation authorities on video.

In the temporarily occupied Melitopol of the Zaporizhzhia region, residents went to a rally demanding to free the mayor. The russian military abducted Olha Haisumova, the coordinator of daily protests in the city, directly from the rally in Melitopol.

The occupiers are shooting their servicemen. In the Kyiv region, the “Kadyrovtsy” killed more than a dozen russian servicemen wounded in battles in Ukraine and who should have been evacuated to Belarus.

3. There was a partial evacuation of the Ukrainian people through humanitarian corridors, despite the provocations of the russian invaders.

According to the Deputy Prime-Minister, Minister of Reintegration Iryna Vereshchuk, on March 12th, 2022, the Ukrainian side opened more than a dozen humanitarian corridors to ‘hot spots’.

In particular, the following humanitarian corridors were opened: Zaporizhzhia - Mariupol; Polohy - Zaporizhzhia; Hostomel - Kyiv; Kazarovychi - Kyiv; Mykulychi - Kyiv; Andriiivka - Zhytomyr; Makarov - Zhytomyr; Borodianka - Zhytomyr; Trostianets - Poltava; Sumy - Poltava; Lebedyn - Poltava; Konotop - Poltava; Velyka Pysarivka - Poltava; Krasnopillia - Poltava. 

On March 12th, about 1,200 people were evacuated from the settlements of Mykulychi and Nemishaievo, and up to 1,000 people were evacuated from Bucha, including one seriously injured. They also evacuated 40 elderly people from a geriatric boarding house who could not move on their own. 600 people were taken out of Hostomel.

About 8,000 people were deported from Sumy. Generally 3,000 people left Krasnopillia, Lebedyn, Velyka Pysarivka, and Konotop.

Unfortunately, due to the actions of the russian occupiers, it was not possible to evacuate people or deliver humanitarian goods from some settlements.

They could not evacuate people from Enerhodar on March 12th. The russian occupiers also stopped the humanitarian aid at a checkpoint in Vasylivka, despite the previous agreements.

Also, once again there was no evacuation from Mariupol, where there is a real humanitarian catastrophe, there is no heat and energy supply or food and water there.

In general, on March 12th , despite fighting and violations of previous agreements by the occupiers, the Ukrainian authorities managed to evacuate almost 13,000 Ukrainians from the war zone through 9 humanitarian corridors.

4. International support and assistance to Ukraine.

There is a great people’s support for Ukraine in the world. 81% of Americans consider Ukraine an ally or a friendly country, while 70% of Americans consider russia as the greatest enemy. These data are provided by The New York Times with reference to the YouGov poll.

The world’s largest media published a letter from 177 Nobel Laureates in support of Ukraine, strongly condemning Russia’s criminal aggression and demanding an end to the war against Ukraine. It reported about to the Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress, President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine Borys Lozhkin.

Military assistance to Ukraine continues. US President Joe Biden has authorised the State Department to provide Ukraine with additional military assistance of up to $ 200 million. The funds will be used to purchase weapons and other military needs.

The United States is working with Europe to provide Ukraine with powerful air defences systems after the offer to hand over the MiG-29 to Ukrainian forces was not implemented.

At the same time, Russia has stated that the convoys of foreign weapons will become “legitimate targets” in Ukraine for the russian armed forces.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned the russian military against attacks on NATO-assisted cargo. However, Stoltenberg did not say that the Alliance would activate Article 5 in the event of an attack on the convoy. His words referred to a direct attack on the territory or army of NATO member states.

5. Ukrainian citizens demonstrate cohesion and provide assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi stated that we need to “give everything we need for our defence. For our defenders. This is a patriotic war. This is a national war. This is a war for our independence.”

The Cabinet of Ministers has allocated an additional 4 billion hryvnas to provide food for the staff of the Armed Forces. The government will also reimburse utility costs to community budgets that will receive migrants for free.

The Ministry of Defence together with the analytical system YouControl with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation have created an online platform "People for Ukraine".

The aim of the project is to unite and coordinate the actions of all volunteers working to meet the needs of the Armed Forces. The platform will allow the relevant specialists of the Ministry of Defence to monitor in real time the ability of volunteers to cover specific needs for the army.

Ukrainian IT companies donated $ 24.5 million to support Ukraine, or over UAH 700 million.

6. Provocations and fakes of russian aggressors.

The russian occupiers plan to hold a pseudo-referendum in the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region to proclaim the so-called “The People's Republic of Kherson”.  The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba stated that russia should be punished even more severely for this.

The separatist whims of the occupiers were strongly repulsed, at an emergency meeting of the Kherson regional council 44 deputies supported the appeal that “the Kherson region is Ukraine.” There will be no pseudo-republic in the region, - deputies said.

russia continues to stage provocations at Ukraine’s nuclear facilities. On March 11th, 12 russian civilians were brought to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, all Rosatom employees, according to a representative of the group.

The head of Energoatom Petro Kotin said that the Zaporizhzhia NPP had gathered management staff and said that Rosatom has occupied the station.

russia has told the IAEA that “the management of the Zaporizhzhia and Chornobyl nuclear power plants are being carried out by Ukraine's operational personnel”, and russian experts are “providing advisory assistance.”

The occupiers were unable to establish water supply to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Kirill Budanov, head of the Defence Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, has informed that the russian propaganda creates stories that the water problem in the occupied Crimea has been solved.

According to Budanov, “they blew up one of the dams, the water partly went, so to speak, through the North Crimean canal. But water simply cannot go by itself - this must be understood. This is a complex system of hydraulic structures that requires pumping by stations. The water did not go there and will not go”.

 

7. Sanctions against Russia are intensifying, and more and more companies are leaving the russian trade market.

More than 200 foreign companies have ceased operations in the Russian market.

American telecommunications company Motorola Solutions has suspended sales, product deliveries, and their services in russia and Belarus.

Some American hedge funds with investments from russian oligarch Roman Abramovich have been ordered to freeze his assets.

American film company Sony Pictures has suspended all departments of its film business in Russia.

The eBay platform has suspended all transactions with russian contacts due to the closure of payment providers and major delivery services.

German Commerzbank joins rivals Deutsche Bank  and is leaving the russian market under the pressure of sanctions.

From March 18th, the international electronic payment system PayPall will be unavailable to residents of russia.