“The enemy has increased its firepower and is trying to break through the Ukrainian defenses,” the staff warned. According to Kiev, Russian troops are not slowing down in attacks in the east of the country in order to completely control the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and maintain a land bridge between the occupied Donbas and Crimea. The transfer of forces and military equipment continues in order to supplement the units that have suffered significant losses in previous battles in Ukraine.
The clashes are taking place in the area around Kherson, which Russia took control in early March. The occupiers are moving towards Mykolaiv, despite the fact that Russian troops have lost control of several positions in the area in recent days. Ukrainian troops then lost the city of Popasna – the defenders, according to the command, withdrew to more advantageous positions in the area. They fought hard with Russian forces backed by artillery and air force there for several weeks. The city was allegedly completely destroyed during them.
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The shelling threatens all over Ukraine
Kyiv warns of rocket strikes across the country. Rockets fired from annexed Crimea also hit the Odessa region in the south of the country. The Unian agency noted without further details that “the enemy continues to destroy infrastructure facilities.” The shelling is also supposed to undermine the morale of the population, according to the Ukrainian army. The port of Odessa is the target of Russian missile attacks repeatedly.
Authorities urged residents not to ignore air raids, all the more so as further shelling is very likely. According to available information, Russian P-800 Oniks missiles, apparently fired from Russia’s Bastion coastal defense systems, are primarily intended for destroying enemy ships, but can also be used against ground targets.
The neighboring Mykolaiv region also became the target of shelling at night. “Unfortunately, we have the dead and the wounded. Many districts came under fire, (missiles) arrived more than usual, “said Governor Vitaly Kim without further details, according to the Ukrinform agency. According to him, the fire was aimed at both military targets and residential areas.
Russia is also concentrating its efforts on destroying airport infrastructure in order to prevent further activities by the Ukrainian air force, including drones, and to provide ground support for the ground forces. The intensity of the deployment of tactical air forces over the northwestern part of the Black Sea has increased, the Ukrainian General Staff pointed out.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, an American-made missile defense radar station was hit by an attack near the town of Zolote in the Luhansk region, the BBC said.
Since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russia has lost a total of 25,650 soldiers, 1,145 tanks, 2,764 armored vehicles, 513 guns, 185 rocket launchers, 87 anti-aircraft weapons, 199 aircraft, 158 helicopters, 377 drones and 94 flat-flying missiles, estimated the Ukrainian staff. It is not possible to verify similar data from any of the warring parties from independent sources.
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The fighting in Azovstal continues
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said on Monday that Russian forces, supported by tanks and artillery, were conducting “offensive operations” at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where the city’s last defenders were hiding.
A Defense Ministry spokesman did not provide any further details, but said without evidence that Russian bombers could be attacked in the future.
Russia has previously denied claims by Ukrainian officials that it tried to attack a large factory on the Sea of Azov, where civilians are also hiding.
Russia has run out of precision ammunition, according to London
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Russia has increased the number of caliber bullet carriers in the Black Sea. According to the resort, Russian troops in the Black Sea now have up to fifty of these missiles at their disposal, which they can use to hit targets throughout Ukraine. Last week, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, there were three Russian surface-to-air missile carriers in the Black Sea, with a total of about twenty missiles, the Ukrainian Truth portal said.
Nevertheless, the British Ministry of Defense, referring to the findings of military intelligence on Monday, warned that Russia probably significantly depleted its stockpiles of precision ammunition. The invasion of Ukraine revealed shortcomings in the ability of Russian forces to carry out large-scale strikes, and so Russia subjected Ukrainian cities to intense bombing with little or no regard for civilian casualties.
The Pentagon also reported in March that Russia was running low on ammunition. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Borisov said on Monday that Russia had enough high-precision missiles and ammunition for the armed forces to fulfill all set tasks, Reuters reported.
However, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Borisov assured on Monday that Russia had enough high-precision missiles and ammunition for the armed forces to fulfill all set tasks. “If we believe everything that is said about it, the missiles should arrive in Russia as early as March. But they didn’t. The defense industry supplies our army with all the necessary types of missiles in the required quantities, “said Borisov, according to the Internet newspaper Gazeta.ru. According to Borisov, Russia is also developing a new generation of hypersonic missiles.
However, according to British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, the effort to replace these weapons will be “incredibly difficult” because many components come from the West. According to him, the replacement of ammunition for complex weapon systems does not take a few days, but also months. “Once you shoot them all the way Russia did, it’s a real problem for them,” Wallace said.
“It is very likely that Ukraine will break the Russian army,” he told the BBC, adding that Putin’s failure in Ukraine was “our key political mission.” to end this conflict – and in what way, “he answered when asked what the defeat of Russia would look like.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is also convinced of Ukraine’s victory. “We won then, we will win now,” he said in a speech, according to Unian Zelensky.
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Baar: The Russians are afraid to publish the objectives of the invasion
The political and cultural geographer of the University of Ostrava, Vladimír Baar, said in the program of the 1990s, that the Russians are afraid to publish the goals of the invasion of Ukraine, because it would turn out that they are unable to achieve them. He put it as an example that the initial goal was certainly to take over Ukraine, which failed. He also believes that despite the conquest of Odessa, the Russians would like to get to Moldova.
He added that China has a reciprocal stance. On the one hand, he accepts the Russian narrative that NATO is to blame. However, large state-owned enterprises adhere to Western sanctions. They are afraid that if they violate them, retaliation could come from American, European or Japanese companies. At the same time, Chinese companies are much more closely attached to them than Russian companies. “The West is clearly more important for China’s foreign trade, over fifty percent, while Russia is about three percent. So it’s a huge disparity. ”Baar stressed that China would want to take advantage of the current situation and that the weakening of Russia would play a significant role.
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