Mar 30: Buonasera Mag
Day 400: Melitopol Kherson Bakhumut Adviivka Sumy Crimea drones Trump Patrushev Volkov Yars RUspending Shoigu Cargill 19K Bulgaria Sweden Peskova A&Ps Gic UKDef Zelensky Maxwell Giczan Zaryn Haines
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Stories we’re following…
8 killed, 66 injured as Russia attacks 9 Ukrainian regions over past 24 hours. Russia struck 124 settlements using mortars, tanks, artillery, S-300 missiles, multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), Kh-31 cruise missiles, drones, and tactical aviation, Ukraine's Defense Ministry media center reported on March 28.
UK Defense Ministry: Ukraine pushes Wagner troops back from Bakhmut supply line. Ukraine's military has likely pushed Russia's Wagner Group fighters back from Donetsk Oblast's 0506 route in one of its recent achievements in the Bakhmut sector, the ministry said on March 29.
TASS claims, citing anonymous sources that at about 5:30, the Ukrainian Armed forces hit locomotive depot facilities and power infrastructure, causing a blackout in occupied Melitopol.
Suspilne reports on March 29 the Russian army launched 34 airstrikes and artillery strikes on the de-occupied part of Kherson region. At night, the Ukrainian military destroyed a Russian Su-24M bomber in the direction of Bakhmut, the air force reported.
ISW: Wagner Group has likely taken industrial complex in Bakhmut. Kremlin-controlled private mercenary Wagner Group forces have likely taken the AZOM industrial complex in northern Bakhmut in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update.
UK Defense Ministry: Russia suffering heavy losses in Avdiivka, making 'marginal progress'. Russian troops have prioritized an operation trying to encircle Donetsk Oblast's Avdiivka but have made "only marginal progress" in the area, losing many armored vehicles, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on March 28.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner group has admitted:
The battle for Bakhmut today has already practically destroyed the Ukrainian army, and unfortunately, it has also badly damaged the Wagner private military company.
Military: Russia's activity in Ukraine's south declines. Russia's combat activity in Ukraine's south has decreased as its troops have lost many warehouses and can't arrange resupply of weapons and ammunition, said Ukraine's Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk.
President Zelensky has said in an interview that he worries the war could be impacted by shifting political forces in Washington. In an interview with AP, published a short while ago, Zelensky said: “The United States really understands that if they stop helping us, we will not win”. AP reports:
Zelensky is well aware that his country’s success has been in great part due to waves of international military support, particularly from the United States and Western Europe. But some in the United States — including Republican Donald Trump, the former American president and current 2024 candidate — have questioned whether Washington should continue to supply Ukraine with billions of dollars in military aid.
On Putin: he is ‘informationally isolated’ and “doesn’t have allies,” Zelenskiy said, adding that it was clear to him that even China was no longer willing to back Russia. President Xi Jinping has recently attended a state visit in Moscow, and extended an invitation to Putin to visit Beijing.
Three strike companies of drones appeared in the Ukrainian army, said the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov. “Today, the first three strike companies of the UAV are already ready for battle. Together with partners, they were fully staffed. Pickup trucks, impact copters and Starlink were handed over, ”he said. He said that the UAVs will carry out reconnaissance and strike missions, as well as help guide artillery, which will allow the troops to be as effective as possible during urban battles.
“Pickup trucks will be useful for raids by mobile groups behind enemy lines, delivery of goods and evacuation of the wounded, and Starlink is an uninterrupted connection on the battlefield,” the minister added.
Nikolai Patrushev has restated that Russia intends to achieve all the aims of what it terms its “special military operation”. State-owned news agency Tass quotes him saying:
Despite the steadily increasing military assistance to Ukraine from the US and other western states, all the declared goals of the special military operation will certainly be achieved. We will achieve the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, ensure the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and the security of our population.
Russia began exercises with the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system and several thousand of troops, its defence ministry said on Wednesday, in what is likely to be seen as another attempt by Moscow to show off its nuclear strength, Reuters reports.
The Russian Central Bank lost 721.7 billion rubles - 27 times more than a year earlier, follows from its annual report, which was sent to the State Duma on Wednesday. The income of the central bank remained almost at the level of the previous year - 541.2 billion rubles against 531.3 billion. At the same time, the regulator did not receive income from operations with securities, currency and gold at all. At the same time, expenditures more than doubled - from 557 billion to 1.262 trillion rubles.
Russian Defense Ministry to increase weapons production 'seven fold'. The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it will increase its ammunition production by "seven to eight times" by the end of the year, CNN reported on March 28.
The Rostec State Corporation is considering employing prisoners at its enterprises "immediately in many areas." The issue began to be worked out after a letter from the director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Arkady Gostev, who suggested that the head of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, use convicts for the manufacture of industrial products, Kommersant writes , citing a document and an informed source.
Operatives of the Investigative Committee and the Federal Security Service detained Colonel Sergei Volkov, head of the Naval Directorate of the Russian Guard, who is suspected of supplying low-quality and faulty weapons at obviously inflated prices, said State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein. The total damage to the budget amounted to almost 400 million rubles. Searches were conducted at home and in Volkov's office. The colonel faces up to 10 years in prison.
Shoigu promised to increase the production of weapons by 700%. After an inspection of the production of artillery, tank, mortar shells of various calibers and unguided aircraft missiles, it was announced that by the end of 2023 the production of "individual samples" of weapons would increase by 7-8 times. This will become possible due to further modernization, expansion of capacities and increase in labor productivity, the Ministry of Defense specified .
Global commodities trader Cargill has told Russia’s agriculture ministry that it will stop exporting Russian grain from the start of the next exporting season, which begins on 1 July, the ministry said on Wednesday.
The Russian authorities are discussing the possibility of a new large-scale optimization of state institutions across the country against the backdrop of a sharp drop in budget revenues, the deficit of which by mid-March exceeded 3 trillion rubles. As planned by the Ministry of Finance, part of the staffing in these structures will be cut, which will help raise the salaries of the remaining employees.
According to the results of January-February, it lost half of its oil and gas revenues and every fourth ruble in terms of total revenues. The hole in the budget, which the Ministry of Finance planned at the level of 3 trillion rubles, could almost double by the end of the year, Deutsche Bank analysts believe.
Putin signed a decree on March 27 that legislated mobilization in the occupied territories will not have age restrictions and can be carried out without documents. According to the adviser of the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko, it is also now possible to accept people without documents to the units. That is, those who do not yet have a Russian passport (or no document at all).
Ministry confirms deportation of over 19,000 Ukrainian children to Russia. Russian forces have unlawfully transferred or deported 19,514 Ukrainian children to Russia, violating the Geneva Conventions, the Reintegration Ministry reported on March 28.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said on March 28 that the Russian military has committed 76,753 war crimes and crimes of aggression in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s all-out war. Ukrainian law enforcement agencies also said that Russia’s war against Ukraine has killed at least 465 children and wounded at least 943 since Feb. 24, 2022.
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, has urged Russians not to adopt children who she said were “stolen” from her country during the war and deported to Russia. “Once again I remind all Russian so-called ‘adoptive parents’ and ‘guardians’: sooner or later you will have to answer,” she said.
SBU: Former Motor Sich head blocked delivery of combat helicopter during invasion. Former Motor Sich President Vyacheslav Bohuslayev impeded the delivery of a combat helicopter to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense in April 2022, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) wrote on March 28.
Bulgaria may secretly send $189 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine. Bulgaria will likely sell "hundreds of thousands" of ammunition rounds to Ukraine through intermediaries, the country's former defense minister Boyko Noev told Bulgarian TV channel, cited by Euroactiv.
France to double supply of 155 mm ammunition to Ukraine. France will double its supply of 155 mm shells to Ukraine, bringing it to 2,000 per month, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu told Le Figaro in an interview published on March 28.
Sweden’s admission to Nato faces challenges as Hungary has grievances about criticism it has received from the Nordic state, and bridging this gap will require significant efforts on both sides, the Hungarian government’s spokesperson tweeted on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
VOA: US favors hybrid tribunal to punish Russian war crimes. The U.S. is in favor of a special hybrid tribunal to punish Russian war crimes in Ukraine, Voice of America (VOA) reported on March 28.
“The United States considered in detail all the pros and cons of each (kind of tribunal) and came to the conclusion that the most effective way to ensure responsibility for crimes of aggression involves the creation of an internationalized court within the judicial system of Ukraine,” U.S. State Department Global Criminal Justice Ambassador Beth Van Schaak said, as quoted by VOA.
Elizaveta Peskova increased income & complaining about sanctions
Centrum Moscow, which is owned by Elizaveta Peskova, daughter of Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, increased its revenue 70 times in the year of the war with Ukraine, earning a record 137 million rubles. This was found out by "Layout" by examining the financial statements of the company. The main clients of the company listed on the website are the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Moscow government, the Federal Agency for Fishery, and other government agencies.
In April 2022, Peskov was surprised that sanctions were also imposed on his children. He said that this is a confirmation of unfriendly steps towards Russia. According to him, after the imposition of sanctions, the children "suddenly realized" that everything he told them was true.
Peskov's daughter herself called the sanctions imposed on her "unfair" because she had nothing to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “For me, this is completely unfair and unreasonable. I was very surprised because it is strange to impose sanctions on a person who is 24 years old and who has nothing to do with the situation. I'm upset because I want to travel and I love different cultures," Peskova said.
Olga Maxwell, In Russia’s war against Ukraine, one of the battlegrounds is language itself- The Conversation
More and more Ukrainians are switching from speaking Russian to speaking Ukrainian. In the media, this language shift is frequently portrayed as recent, dating back to the Russian invasion of February 2022. But the invasion was not the trigger. It was merely an accelerator.
To understand Ukraine as a nation, it is important to understand what is behind the shift and the dynamics of the nation’s linguistic ecosystem. It is equally important to recognise that, in modern Ukraine, language practices do not necessarily predetermine cultural and political views.
The “language question” in Ukraine goes back centuries. It is deeply rooted in the history of old empires and Ukraine’s position as the “borderland” between the West and the East.
Ukraine has been subjected to centuries of enforced Russification. This has involved the systematic persecution of the Ukrainian culture and language. The place of the Russian language in the Ukrainian society is the result of official and covert language policies by the Russian empire and the Soviet Union, both of which promoted the use of Russian and discriminated against the Ukrainian language and its speakers. Generations of Ukrainians grew up speaking Russian. [continue reading]
