Military and Political Situation in Ukraine. Morning of March 14th, 2022
Ihor Zhdanov, Olha Mashtaler, Information Defence
Informational Defence of Ukraine provides a daily review of the military-political situation in Ukraine, morning of March 14th, 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 russian occupiers in the Slobozhanskyi direction are trying to gain a foothold on the achieved frontiers, regrouping and trying to resume offensive operations against the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy.
In the Izium direction, because of active actions of Ukrainian defenders, the enemy sustained losses.
In the Donetsk and Tavriia directions, enemy units are trying to carry out assault operations, concentrating their main efforts on advancing in the direction of Severodonetsk, and their attempts to capture Mariupol remain unsuccessful.
In the Pivdennobuzkyi direction, the enemy is trying to conduct raids and gain a foothold on the achieved frontiers.
In the Volyn direction, the enemy carried out demonstration operations by units of the Belarusian Armed Forces along the State Border of Ukraine.
In the Polissia and Siverskyi directions, units of the occupying forces carried out measures to restore combat capability and regroup troops, and improved the logistics.
In order to increase the number of groups in the Polissia, Tavriia and Pivdennobuzkyi operational areas, the russians are forming strategic reserves to our borders.
Kyiv is uniting its defences against the expected attempts of the occupiers to take the city. On March 13th, the Kyiv City State Administration assured that the capital had formed a two-week supply of necessary food for the two million Kyiv citizens who remained in the city in case of a possible blockade. The reserve fund of the capital's budget was increased from UAH 250 million to UAH 1.3 billion - for the needs of defence of the capital and civil protection of the people.
Ukrainian fighters are fortifying fortifications around Kyiv, particularly on the southern approaches to the capital.
Cases of mass refusal of russian servicemen to “travel” to Ukraine to take part in hostilities are recorded, despite promises to grant “war veteran” status, additional daily allowances and higher salaries.
Security forces detained “informants” in several Ukrainian cities who informed the russian occupiers about the movement of Ukrainian troops and the construction of fortifications.
In general, the combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 14 .03 are th following ones:
Data are being updated. The calculation is complicated by the high intensity of hostilities.
2. The russian occupiers continue to violate international humanitarian law by killing civilians in Ukraine.
Rocket and bomb strikes continue on peaceful towns and villages of Ukraine. Most victims are in regions where there are active hostilities. These are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Kherson, Mykolaiiv, and Zhytomyr regions. At the same time, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, 85 children died during the war in Ukraine. Another 100 were injured.
According to the Mariupol City Council, at least 22 bombings of the peaceful city have taken place in the last 24 hours; about 100 bombs have already been dropped on Mariupol. For the entire war period, 2,187 Mariupol residents have died from attacks by russia. The occupiers are deliberately attacking houses, crowded places, destroying children’s hospitals and the city's infrastructure. One of the pregnant women who suffered an air strike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol died together with her unborn child.
Mariupol is in a state of the humanitarian catastrophe. The occupiers are holding virtually the entire city captive and will not allow evacuation. An attempt to deliver the cargo with humanitarian aid on Sunday, March 13th, was again thwarted by the enemy, the cargo is currently in Berdiansk, on Monday another attempt will be made to deliver it.
Some countries are directly asking the russian Foreign Ministry to allow the evacuation of their citizens from occupied Mariupol. In particular, The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu made a statement on Sunday requesting the evacuation of the Turkish people (more than 80 people) staying at a mosque in Mariupol.
Because of bombing by the russian occupiers in Mykolaiiv, people were lost - it is thought that 9 people have been killed.
Besides, in the Mykolaiiv area on Sunday evening the aircraft of the russian occupiers struck a bomb on the school in the village Zelenyi Hai, therefore, people were under the wreckage. It is currently thought there are 4 dead and 3 wounded.
On the morning of March 13th, the russian occupiers fired 30 missiles at the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security in the village of Starychi, the Yavoriv district, the Lviv region. So far, 35 people have been confirmed as dead, and another 134 are in hospital with varying degrees of damage.
According to The US National Security Adviser to the US President Jake Sullivan, the strikes of the russian army on the Yavoriv near Lviv are a sign of disappointment of the president of the russian federation in the course of hostilities in Ukraine. Instead, the russian occupiers, through their propaganda resources, claimed that 180 “foreign mercenaries” were killed during the rocket attack on the village of Starychi in the Lviv region.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyi emphasises that there was no military target in the Svyatohorsk Lavra of the Moscow Patriarchate, which was attacked by russian troops:
On March 14th, at least three civilians were killed in the bombing of Okhtyrka.
Seven people died as a result of missile strikes by the russian troops on the “Kanatove” military airfield near Kropyvnytskyi in the Kirovohrad region.
On Sunday, the occupiers also launched an artillery strike on the Puscha-Vodytsia psychoneurological boarding school. Fortunately, at the time of the shelling, the boarding school's wards and staff were evacuated to places of safety, but the boarding school complex was severely damaged.
In Chernihiv, a nine-storey dormitory was destroyed as a result of an air strike. According to preliminary information, 7 people were rescued, 1 person died and 1 was injured.
In the attack on Popasna (the Luhansk region), the occupiers used phosphorous munitions – weapons prohibited by the Geneva Convention .
3. The war crimes of the russian aggressors are becoming systemic.
The Prosecutor General's Office is currently investigating 1,717 war crimes cases of russia in Ukraine, systematising evidence of russian aggression on a nationwide platform warcrimes.gov.ua.
In Irpin, the Kyiv region, the occupiers killed a 51-year-old videographer, a former correspondent of The New York Times, US citizen Brent Renaud. Another journalist was also injured.
In general, according to the Foundation for Justice for Journalists (JFJ) since the beginning of the russia's war at least 35 attacks on journalists in Ukraine have been documented.
In occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzia Oblast, the russians abducted Serhiy Pryima, the head of the district council, and tried to abduct City Council Secretary Roman Romanov.
In the village Borivske near Severodonetsk, in the Luhansk region, the occupiers killed a well-known volunteer Oleksandr Kononov. The mayor of Dniprorudnyi Yevhen Matvieiev was abducted. In the occupied Volnovakha, in the Donetsk region, the russians killed Platon (Morhunov), a military chaplain and abbot of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
4. Residents of the temporarily occupied cities continue to heroically resist the enemy.
In Melitopol, which is temporarily occupied by the russian troops, the russian speakers with the military equipment every day warns the citizens not to take part in rallies and demonstrations. According to a video recorded on the streets of the city, Melitopol residents are “forwarding” this appeal and the occupiers in an internationally known “f..king direction”.
In Kherson, about 10,000 people took part in the peaceful action "Kherson is Ukraine". People were chanting “Go Home”, “Go home to be alive”, “Ukraine is above all”, “Glory to the nation – the death to our enemies”, “russian soldier, go to **”, “Kherson is Ukraine”, “Russia is a toilet, victory will be ours”. The occupiers opened fire. According to local journalist Kostiantyn Ryzhenko, rubber bullets were fired at people’s legs.
In russian-occupied Berdiansk, thousands of people rallied for Ukraine, chanting, “Berdiansk is Ukraine”.
The local TV channel in Enerhodar, ENTS, has stopped broadcasting during the occupation: “from now on, we have nothing to do with the content that is broadcast on television. We do not cooperate with the occupiers.”
5. The evacuation of the Ukrainian people through the humanitarian corridors continues, despite provocations by the russian invaders.
According to Deputy Prime-Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Reintegration Iryna Vereschuk, on March 14th, 2022 , the Ukrainian side opened 10 humanitarian corridors to ‘hotspots’.
In particular, the following humanitarian corridors were opened:
- To Mariupol from Berdiansk the convoy of the humanitarian cargo and evacuation buses continues to move on the way back. 2. Borodianka - Zhytomyr. Buses continue from Piskivka. 3. Svitylnia - Brovary . 4. Peremoha - Kyiv. 5. Velyka Dymerka - Brovary. 6. Kreminna - Lyman. 7. Rubizhne - Sloviansk. 8. Popasna - Sloviansk. 9. Mountain - Sloviansk. 10. Schastia - Sloviansk.
According to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in general, almost 125,000 people were evacuated to the safe area through humanitarian corridors during all the days of the evacuation.
6. The Ukrainian government, business and citizens are demonstrating solidarity and consolidating their efforts to confront the enemy.
On March 14th, the educational process will be resumed in some regions of Ukraine, including distance learning. To make education as accessible as possible, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, together with a number of Ukrainian TV channels, are launching a joint project “Learning Without Borders”.
Four recovery funds have been launched in Ukraine economy after the war. Funds will be collected in the following areas: 1) reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure; 2) transformation of the economy; 3) resumption of small and medium business; 4) servicing Ukraine's international financial obligations.
Thanks to the efforts of Ukrenergo specialists, Ukrainian nuclear power engineers and electricians, it was possible to return the power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was seized by the russian occupiers.
Now the cooling systems of nuclear assemblies will work again. As the Minister of Energy Herman Haluschenko emphasized, “Our power engineers are really heroes, but it is impossible to ensure nuclear security in the conditions of military aggression by these heroic actions only”.
The National Police and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with the Territorial Defense, are optimising the number of checkpoints on Ukraine's roads. This will improve the movement of traffic within the country.
The Ministry of Statistics made it possible for the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine to provide online access to radio broadcasting through the application “Diia”.
The situation with passenger traffic on the Ukrainian border has stabilised: border guards state the absence of queues.
A well-known Ukrainian biathlete Anastasia Merkushyna, who has won the title of world and European champion among juniors and participated in two Olympics, has joined the ranks of border guards who, together with other forces, are defending our country from the russian occupier.
In Ukraine, a platform “Work in the rear” has been created, where those who wish can join the help of the army and people. The platform works as an exchange of volunteer work (online and offline).
7. International support and assistance to Ukraine.
As of March 13th, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that about 2.7 million people have left Ukraine since the start of the war.
Poland receives the largest number of Ukrainian refugees - according to Polish border guards, 1,675,000 people from Ukraine have been registered since February 24th. As of March 12th, Hungary received 246,206 refugees, while Slovakia received 195,980.
In connection with russia’s war against Ukraine, Ukrainian citizens can apply for “temporary protection” in the EU. It does not mean obtaining refugee status; however, persons who have received “temporary protection” in the EU can apply for refugee status at any time. This protection is valid for 1 year, and its period can be automatically extended to the next year depending on the situation in Ukraine.
Demonstrations in support of Ukraine continue in many European cities. In particular, more than 20,000 people demonstrated in Berlin on Sunday. The demonstrators marched in a large column through the city center to the Brandenburg Gate; The motto of the demonstration was “Stop the war. Peace and solidarity with the people of Ukraine”.
The vast majority (almost 80%) of EU citizens are in favour of economic sanctions against russia, despite the fact that they are painful for all.
This is evidenced by a poll conducted in Germany, France, Italy, and Poland on March 3-7th, after the introduction of the toughest packages of sanctions, the results of which are available to "European Truth".
Support for anti-russian economic sanctions in France was the lowest among the polled states, but it is also very high. 72% of French people support tough sanctions pressure (48% of them "definitely", 24% "rather"). Only 7% "do not support" at all and 9% "rather do not support" the imposed sanctions, 12% have not decided yet.
In Germany and Italy, support for the sanction is much higher - 80% declared support (57% unconditional support. In Poland, support for pressure on russia is absolute - 91% mainly support this and say “yes”, 79% for sure say “yes”).
Matti Maasikas, the Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, said that work on Ukraine's accession to the European Union has begun: “the work on Ukraine's membership in the EU has begun, the ice has melted, the process has started”.
The head of the Vatican, Pope Francis, in his public speech on Sunday, the anniversary of his election to the Pope’s throne, made a statement in support of Ukraine.
He also called the actions of the russian army “barbaric” during the siege and bombing of Mariupol: “This week, the city named after the Virgin Mary - Mariupol - has become a martyr city in a fierce war ravaging Ukraine. There is no reason to justify the barbaric killings of children, innocent, and unarmed civilians.”
The US is trying to influence China to use its influence on russia to persuade it to de-escalate the war. In general, China has traditionally taken a moderately pro-russian stance, including not supporting sanctions imposed on russia. The country also refused to classify Russia’s activities in Ukraine as an invasion.
Talks between the US President’s adviser Jake Sullivan and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Committee Yang Jiechi are scheduled for March 14th in Rome.
The United States expects to hand over a large consignment of weapons worth $ 200 million to Ukraine in the near future, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems and small arms. The aid was approved by the US President on March 12th.
Kazakhstan will also provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine - it will be sent on two flights on March 14th and 15th via Poland. The total weight of aid is 28 tons.
8. The fourth round of Ukrainian-Russian talks.
The fourth round of Ukrainian-Russian talks will take place on March 14th.
Adviser to the President's Office Mykhailo Podoliak said that the agreement between russia and Ukraine “should include several positions. First of all, the positions concerning the cessation of the war, a peace agreement: how peace will be guaranteed. And here we return to the key point around which everything is built - security of Ukraine, so that such situations will not happen again.”
Leonid Slutsky, a member of the russian delegation at the talks with Ukraine, made it clear that the "peace" talks are difficult and have not yet yielded significant results, but he hopes that some progress will be presented in the signed documents.
9. Provocations and fakes of russian aggressors.
So far, the russians have invented a new fake - the names, surnames and numbers of cars of the officers, who are called “saboteurs and traitors”, are reported in communications, as the Security Service reports.
“The Russian occupiers cannot defeat the Ukrainian military in battle, so they are increasingly using insidious methods.
In particular, there have been cases when information about alleged traitors and saboteurs has been specially inserted into the information field, their names and car numbers have been published - with a call to detain immediately. Often such “attacks” are directed against law enforcement officers and the military.
The goal is to provoke clashes and shootings between the defenders of Ukraine.”
In addition, according to the Centre for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, russian special services are planning a special operation to discredit Ukrainians living in the russian federation.
According to Ukrainian intelligence agency, the russian occupiers have opened 14 centers for recruiting mercenaries in Syria for the war against Ukraine. Russia is also training people from other unrecognised territories, such as Transnistria, Abkhazia, and Ossetia.
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10. Sanctions against russia are intensifying, and more and more companies are leaving the russian trade market.
russia continues to detain people who took part in anti-war rallies on March 13th. In general, according to OVD- Info, since February 24th, when the war in Ukraine began, 13,853 people have been detained during anti-war rallies in russia.
Due to sanctions against the central bank, russia has lost access to half of its gold and foreign exchange reserves. The chairman of the Ministry of Finance of the russian federation Anton Siluanov declared, reports Medusa. “We have a total reserve of about 640 billion dollars, about 300 billion dollars of reserves are now in a state in which we can not use them,” - said the official.
Korean carmaker Hyundai has suspended a sponsorship deal with Chelsea over sanctions against club owner Roman Abramovich.
Toyota Ukrainian office claims that the Japanese automaker has stopped production and import of cars to russia.
The world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) waives all financial income from its stake in the russian division.
According to the statement of the German manufacturer of electro-mechanical industrial and household appliances Bosch, the supply of household appliances and production parts from the EU to russia was stopped. The company also said it was in the process of shutting down production at two plants in St. Petersburg. Bosch is also involved in humanitarian aid in the region, including donations to the German Red Cross.
The Steering Committee of the International Federation of Student Sports (FISU) has stated that russian and Belarusian athletes will not participate in FISU competitions and events until at least the end of 2022. The same ban applies to officials of the national federations of these countries.
