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 6th, based on an analysis of open sources.

1. The Armed Forces of Ukraine firmly hold the lines of defence and in some areas have counterattacked.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has released operational information on the Russian invasion as of 06:00 am, Sunday, March 6th.

According to this information, the Defence Forces are conducting a defence operation within the Southern, Eastern and Northern zones in order to repel the attack of the occupying forces of the invader, inflict maximum losses, prevent their invasion, maintain areas of the state and create favourable conditions for the Defence Forces. They defeat and regain control of lost territories and repel strikes by enemy air attacks.

The joint forces are conducting a defence operation in the eastern parts of the Donetsk district. The main efforts were focused on defending Mariupol and inflicting fire damage on the enemy’s overwhelming forces.

Other groups are conducting a defensive operation and conducting defensive battles in Slobozhanskyi and in the eastern part of the Tavriya directions. In particular, units of the Air Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stopped enemy columns trying to advance towards the Dnipropetrovsk region from Balakliia. An operation to defend Chernihiv is underway in the Siverskyi region.

In the Primorsky direction, the Ukrainian Army’s efforts are aimed at defending bases and seaports on the Black Sea. Therefore, in the Mykolaiiv area The Armed Forces of Ukraine seized a considerable quantity of armoured and automobile equipment of the enemy.

According to operative data of the General Staff, the total combat losses of the enemy from February 24th to March 6th were approximately: combatants - more than 11 thousand people, tanks - 285 units, BBM - 985 units, artillery systems - 109 units, MLRS - 50 units, air defence - 21 units, aircraft - 44 units, helicopters - 48 units, automotive equipment - 447 m, light speedboats - 2 units, fuel tanks - 60 units, UAVs operational - tactical level - 4 units.

Data are being updated. The calculation is complicated by the high intensity of hostilities.

Since the beginning of the russian invasion on February 24th, 100,000 Ukrainians have joined the territorial defence. The Minister of Defence of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov said 66,224 men have returned from abroad to defend Ukraine.

According to the well-known investigative Bellingcat journalist Hristo Grozev, the russian invaders in Ukraine have almost exhausted their resources for hostilities, they will run out in a few days. New deliveries will be very difficult.

During the war, the Ukrainian Army destroyed russian military equipment worth 331.2 billion rubles, or about $ 3 billion.

2. The russian occupiers continue to terrorise the civilian population of Ukraine.

russian forces continue to terrorize the civilian Ukrainian population by firing rocket and bean strikes at Ukrainian cities and villages. The aggressor also disrupts the passage of peace through humanitarian corridors.

On March 5th, civilian infrastructure facilities in Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Bucha district of the Kyiv region and Korosten district of the Zhytomyr region suffered the most massive consequences of hostilities over the past 24 hours.

During the past 24 hours, SES (State Emergency Service of Ukraine) units had 198 visits to eliminate the consequences of shelling of settlements and civilian infrastructure by the russian troops, and 64 people have been rescued. Bomb Disposal Units (the pyrotechnics) of the State Emergency Service carried out 63 operations and neutralized 605 GNPs (explosives).

Since the beginning of russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, SES units made about 2,200 trips to eliminate the consequences of shelling of settlements and civilian infrastructure by the russian troops, and 280 people were rescued. Bomb Disposal Units of the SES made 545 involvements and neutralized 1,329 GNP.

russian aircraft continue to bomb Okhtyrka’s infrastructure and critical facilities. On March 5th, the russian aircraft destroyed the city food base, building materials warehouse and a parking place. The housing sector came under fire.

One person was killed and two were injured in a russian missile strike on the private sector in Korosten, the Zhytomyr region.

In Izium in the Kharkiv region, which has been under devastating shelling by the russian occupiers for several days, water supply and mobile communications have been established, and “green corridors” are being prepared. russian aircraft continue to bomb Kharkiv, including the city centre.

Russian troops launched an air strike on Bila Tserkva, damaging more than 20 houses.

In the Kyiv region, the prosecutor's office has launched criminal proceedings over the shelling of a car by the occupiers, which killed two people.

Yesterday, March 5th, the occupiers fired on the humanitarian corridors. Thus, the evacuation of Mariupol was postponed for security reasons because russian troops continue to shell both Mariupol and its suburbs. russian troops also fired on the evacuation “green corridor” to evacuate residents of besieged Mariupol on March 5th. Mariupol has 400,000 citizens who were taken under control by the russian occupiers.

On the morning of March 5th, the evacuation of civilians from Volnovakha was suspended due to the actions of the russian invader’s forces. However, about 400 residents were evacuated in the afternoon.

Ukraine collected 30 trucks with humanitarian aid for the residents of the Kherson region, but the occupiers do not allow delivering it.

3 . Ukrainians continue peaceful resistance.

The citizens of Ukraine are resorting to peaceful means of protest against the occupiers, even in the towns and villages occupied by the invaders.

A spontaneous rally of many thousands of people against the russian occupiers took place on March 5th in the central square of Kherson near the Regional State Administration building. Protesters called on russian invaders to leave Ukraine. The occupiers began firing into the air to disperse the civilians.

The mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov said that the situation in the city is difficult with food and medicine, but despite all this, the residents of Melitopol go to rallies against the aggressor every day.

In the town of Belokurakino (Luhansk region), civilians rallied against the Russian occupiers.

Citizens of Ukraine and foreigners also help the Armed Forces of Ukraine with money. On March 5th, almost UAH 10 billion was transferred to a special account opened by the National Bank of Ukraine to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 

The funds came from citizens and businesses in Ukraine, as well as from the international community (including The United States of America, The UK, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, China, France, Canada and many other countries).

4. Ukraine's international support is growing .

According to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, there is an agreement between the largest financial institutions to allocate significant funds to support Ukraine. He said there was a decision on emergency aid and tens of billions of dollars to rebuild Ukraine after the war.

Also recently, the 30th meeting of the Steering Committee of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) took place, at which representatives of 27 NATO member states decided to grant Ukraine the status of a member of the NATO CCDCOE.

Located in Tallinn, CCDCOE is a NATO-accredited cyber security centre and think tank specialising in interdisciplinary applied research, analysis, information exchange, and cybersecurity training and exercises.

3,000 American volunteers responded to Ukraine’s call to join an international battalion to help to resist russian invasion. Most of them are from post-Soviet countries such as Georgia and Belarus, but there are also Americans who have fought in Iraq, Bosnia and other hotspots of the planet.

About 74% of Americans said the United States and its NATO allies should close the skies over Ukraine.

Similarly, 80% of Americans surveyed said the United States should stop buying russian oil.

About 77% of respondents agree that the United States should confiscate the assets of the russian oligarchs associated with putin.

5. The socio-political and economic situation in russia is deteriorating.

According to experts from the Center for Strategic Communications, there is a split among russia’s political elite over the assessment of the Ukrainian-russian war and putin's actions, including:

1. Contradictions are growing within the russian special services and security forces. The FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs do not cope with the task of protecting Russia’s information space from the dissemination of data on the losses of the russian Armed Forces in Ukraine and various publications on social networks of critical materials on the economy. Rallies and protests cannot be prevented.

2. In the Kremlin’s entourage, critical sentiments about putin are spreading among both intelligence officials and the business elite. Even putin’s closest circle does not have reliable information on where the russian dictator physically is located now,  circulating data that he is constantly moving. Only Shoigu has regular contacts with putin.

5. The economic bloc of the russian government is preparing reports on the real state of affairs, but it is unknown whether putin receives them in their original form.

According to expert estimates of the chief strategist of Clocktower Group IP Marko Papic, putin did not take into account russia's limited capabilities in trying to seize Ukraine, this mistake is likely to cost him power.

International pressure on russia is growing, which is having a negative effect on its economy. According to the head of the British Foreign Office Liz Truss, the G7 countries have agreed to abandon russian gas.

Visa and MasterCard payment services have announced that they will completely stop working in russia and will stop all card transactions in the coming days.

S&P Dow Jones Indices said it would exclude russian stocks from its standard stock indexes next week.

The international rating agency Fitch downgraded dozens of russian companies and banks, and the ratings of sanctioned banks decided to withdraw. It is noted that the ratings of 26 russian companies operating in the field of natural resources have been significantly worsened. 28 companies received negative forecasts.

Italian police impounded a yacht belonging to one of russia's richest men, Alexei Mordashov. The yacht of a businessperson, a close ally of putin, Gennady Tymchenko, was also confiscated.

Samsung is suspending supplies of all goods to russia amid russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the suspension will affect all Samsung products, including chips, smartphones, and appliances.

russian airlines Aeroflot, S7, Russia and Aurora are suspending all international flights due to Western sanctions and the closure of airspace in many countries.

Manufacturers of heavy construction equipment Komatsu and Hitachi Construction Machinery, along with Panasonic Technology Group, joined a list of Japanese companies suspending cooperation with russia on Friday.

On March 5th, the largest European oil company Shell has acquired a batch of russian oil Urals at a record discount, despite the massive refusal of russian energy resources by other companies. According to Information Defence experts, this company, as well as other corporations that remain in the russian market, may face serious difficulties in doing business in the future.

On the morning of March 6th, Shell said it would donate any proceeds from the amount of russian oil it buys to a special fund and work with other agencies to determine how best to use the money to help Ukraine.

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The heroic Ukrainian Armed Forces not only held back the enemy, but also launched a counteroffensive attacks near Kharkiv, Mykolayiiv, and other cities. russian invaders continue to terrorize Ukrainian civilians. Socio-political and economic situation in russia is deteriorating, there has been a split in its elites circles in relation to the war and putin.