Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] During the day, 51 combat clashes took place.
by Ivanna Kapustyanska
The seven hundred and twenty-eighth day of large-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against our state continues.
The enemy continues to wage a war of aggression. Despite significant losses, he does not give up his plans for the full occupation of Ukraine, ignores the laws and customs of war, uses terror tactics, strikes and attacks both military and civilian objects. The enemy is actively using aviation and quadrocopters of the "FPV" type, is conducting assault operations with the support of armored vehicles, and is conducting an evening assembly of the General Staff.
The operational situation in the east and south of Ukraine remains difficult.
During the day, 51 combat clashes took place. In total, the enemy launched 3 missile and 84 air strikes, fired 71 salvo rockets at the positions of our troops and populated areas. As a result of the Russian terrorist attacks, unfortunately, there are wounded among the civilian population. High-rise and private buildings, as well as other infrastructure objects, were destroyed and damaged.
On the Volyn and Poliske directions, the operational situation has not changed significantly. There were no signs of the formation of offensive groups. Certain units of the Armed Forces of Belarus perform tasks in the areas bordering Ukraine.
In the Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions, the enemy maintains a military presence in the border areas, conducts sabotage and intelligence activities, attacks populated areas from the territory of the Russian Federation, and increases the density of mine and explosive barriers along the state border of Ukraine. The enemy carried out airstrikes in the areas of Milove, Vilkhuvatka, Hryhorivka settlements of the Kharkiv region. More than 20 settlements were hit by artillery and mortar fire, including Bleshnya, Gremyach, Yeline of Chernihiv region; Povivka, Volfine, Sumy region; Veterinary, Krasne, Lukyantsi, Gatishche, Kharkiv region.
In the Kupyan direction, the enemy made 2 offensive attempts near Synkivka and Tabaivka, Kharkiv region. He carried out an airstrike in the Petropavlivka district of the Kharkiv region. About 10 settlements came under artillery and mortar fire, including Dvorichna, Synkivka, Ivanivka, and Berestov in the Kharkiv region.
In the Lyman direction, our soldiers repelled 4 attacks near Terni and Vyimka of the Donetsk region, where the enemy tried to break through the defense of our troops. The enemy carried out airstrikes in the areas of Makiyivka, Belogorivka of the Luhansk region and Lyman, Svyat-Pokrovsk, Siversk of the Donetsk region. More than 10 settlements were affected by enemy artillery and mortar shelling, among them Makiivka, Nevske of Luhansk region and Terny, Torske, Serebryanka, Spirne of Donetsk region.
In the direction of Bakhmut, defense forces repelled an attack near Klishchiivka, Donetsk region, where the enemy, with the support of aviation, tried to improve the tactical position. The enemy also carried out an airstrike in the New York area of the Donetsk region. More than 10 settlements came under artillery and mortar fire, including Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Hryhorivka, Ivanivske, and Klishchiivka of the Donetsk region.
In the Avdiyiv direction, our defenders repelled 12 enemy attacks near Stepovoy, Lastochkiny, Pervomaisky, Nevelsky, Donetsk region. The enemy carried out airstrikes in the areas of settlements Novopokrovske, Novobakhmutivka, Stepove, Semenivka, Orlivka, Lastochkine of the Donetsk region. Shelled about 20 settlements with artillery and mortars, among them Berdychi, Semenivka, Severna, Netaylovye of the Donetsk region.
In the Mariinsky direction, the Defense Forces continue to hold back the enemy near Georgiivka, Pobeda, Novomykhailivka, Donetsk region. Here, the occupiers tried 10 times to break through the defense of our troops. The enemy also carried out airstrikes in the areas of Krasnohorivka, Katerynivka, Antonivka, Paraskoviivka, and Kostyantynivka settlements of the Donetsk region. Krasnohorivka, Georgiivka, Novomykhailivka, Paraskoviivka came under the artillery and mortar fire of the invaders.
The enemy did not conduct offensive (assault) actions in the Novopavlovsk direction. He carried out airstrikes in the areas of Urozhane and Staromayorske settlements of the Donetsk region. About 10 settlements, including Prechistivka, Zolota Niva, Staromayorske, and Urozhane of the Donetsk region, were hit by artillery and mortar attacks.
In the Zaporizhzhia direction, the Defense Forces repulsed 7 enemy attacks west of Verbovoy and in the area of Robotynoy, Zaporizhzhia region. More than 20 settlements, including Poltavka, Malynivka, Charivne, Biloghirya, Novodanilivka, Pyatikhatki of Zaporizhzhya region, were hit by artillery and mortar attacks.
In the area of responsibility of the "Odesa" anti-aircraft missile defense system in the Kherson direction, the enemy does not give up its intention to knock out our units from the bridgeheads on the left bank of the Dnieper. Yes, during the day there were 2 attempts to storm the positions of our troops. The enemy carried out airstrikes in the Krynyk and Chornobayivka districts of the Kherson region. More than 10 settlements, including Kherson, Krynky, Ivanivka, Tyaginka, and Tokarivka of the Kherson region, were hit by artillery and mortar attacks.
During the day, the aviation of the Defense Forces struck 10 personnel concentration areas and 2 enemy anti-aircraft missile complexes. Also, units of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed another Su-34 fighter-bomber and 3 reconnaissance UAVs.
Units of missile troops struck 5 areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment, 2 warehouses of fuel and lubricants, 3 control points, 8 artillery means and 1 radar station of the enemy.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title
[Korrespondent] 22:50 Washington does not believe that Russia has gained an advantage in the war in Ukraine, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: “No, we don’t think so at all. If you study the dynamics of this conflict over the course of not only two years, but in the recent "In the past, you will find that, yes, Russia is making progress on the battlefield. We saw it make progress over the weekend because Ukraine did not have the ability to supply weapons to its troops." Miller explained the shortage of ammunition among the Ukrainian military with the delay of the US Congress in approving additional funding for the needs of Ukraine.
22:34 On the threshold of the third year of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Western analysts made forecasts for the further course of hostilities. For more details, see the material Forecasts of the course of the war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation from Foreign Policy.
22:19 Canada can allocate up to $30 million for the purchase of artillery shells for Ukraine according to the proposal of Czech President Petr Pavel, CBC News reports.
20:22 The air force shot down seven Russian combat aircraft in a week, Zelensky said in an evening video message. According to him, one of the main tasks this year is to protect the sky and front-line positions from Russian air and missile attacks. The president also announced the conclusion of new security agreements with partners in the coming weeks. “This includes new defense support for our soldiers, specific financial guarantees for our state, and political interaction,” he added.
19:37 On February 24, the second anniversary of the Russian invasion, many visits of foreign leaders to Kiev are scheduled. And on February 25, a joint press conference will be held between Zelensky and other government officials, said presidential press secretary Sergei Nikiforov. “This will be a conversation about our path further, our path in 2024. There will be all the top speakers from the government, the military-political leadership, the prime minister, the head of the Verkhovna Rada, the SBU, the Main Intelligence Directorate, the Ministry of Strategic Industry, the OP and the president himself,” Nikiforov announced.
18:52 The Russians want to seize the Luhansk region before the presidential elections in the Russian Federation, said Vadim Skibitsky, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate. According to him, the task of the Russians for the next six months is to reach the administrative borders of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, as well as retain the occupied territories.
18:49 In 2023, the Drone Army purchased 300 thousand drones, of which 100 thousand are FPV, and 90% of them were produced in Ukraine, said the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Mikhail Fedorov. According to him, in 2024 the pace of procurement will increase, since there is a budget and a large request from the Defense Forces.
18:41 The Russians fired at the village. Ivanovka, Petropavlovsk territorial community, Kharkov region, one person was injured. Also, as a result of the shelling, one person died in the village of Dvurechnaya, the prosecutor’s office said.
18:28 The Russians began to transfer their units from Avdeevka to other sectors of the front, said deputy commander of the 3rd Brigade Maxim Zhorin. According to him, a difficult situation is expected in other directions - in particular, in Kharkov and in the South.
17:43 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the framework for negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU will not be ready for the European elections, which will be held in early June.
17:40 The Russian army hit the village of Rakovka with a drone, Berislavsky district, Kherson region, two people were wounded, OVA reported. Also in the morning, the Russians fired at a residential building in Dudchany - one person was injured.
17:34 On the night of February 21, Russian troops carried out Shahed drone strikes on two places of compact residence of internally displaced persons in Dobropolye, Donetsk region, said Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets. As a result of the hit, two civilians were injured. IDPs lived there, including children evacuated from areas of active hostilities. Some of them have been there since 2014.
17:27 Rallies of Polish farmers continue to gain momentum and are increasingly becoming anti-Ukrainian in nature. As it turned out, among the protest participants were fake farmers from the Confederation Party and an FSB agent. Read more about who is inciting the protesters in Poland in the article Putin's Farmers.
17:01 Iran transferred about 400 surface-to-surface ballistic missiles to Russia, Reuters reports, citing sources. In particular, short-range missiles from the Fateh-110 family, such as Zolfaghar, were transferred, capable of hitting targets at a distance of 300 to 700 km. Deliveries began in January after the deal was finalized at meetings late last year in Tehran and Moscow, the sources said. An Iranian military official said anonymously that there had already been at least four deliveries, with more to come in the coming weeks. They are delivered across the Caspian Sea and by plane.
16:53 Russian troops deployed 48 launchers of the Iskander missile system along the border with Ukraine, said GUR representative Vadim Skibitsky: “There were 46, now 48. They added two launchers, they made an additional tactical group, which is used for launching ballistic missiles from the territory Russia".
16:32 The New York Times writes, citing its own sources, that during the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka, about 1,000 military personnel were allegedly captured. The speaker of the Tavria operational-strategic group of troops, Dmitry Likhovy, denied this information, calling it a “propaganda narrative.” He emphasized that the sources cited by the publication are “completely untenable, because there are no such people and this is not a fact.”
At the same time, Likhovoy admitted that a certain number of Ukrainian military personnel who participated in the defense of Avdiivka are indeed listed as missing. “These statements by Russian propaganda regarding hundreds and thousands of prisoners are complete disinformation, unsubstantiated by anything. We say: yes, there are prisoners, but their number is by no means in the hundreds,” the speaker added.
15:45 Zaporozhye NPP has lost contact with the last backup external power transmission line, the IAEA reported. Now the occupied station receives electricity from a single 750 kV line, “which once again emphasizes the fragile situation with nuclear safety at the facility,” the agency noted.
Ukrenergo stated that the Zaporizhia NPP line was damaged after another Russian shelling. Ukrainian specialists have already established the nature of the damage. Energoatom clarified that currently the only external overhead line PL-750kV Dneprovskaya remains in operation, which connects the Zaporizhzhya NPP with the unified energy system of Ukraine and provides power to the station’s own needs. If this line fails, the nuclear power plant will experience another complete blackout, which is a serious violation of the conditions for safe operation of the plant and threatens an accident.
15:11 In the Orekhovsky direction, the Russians are trying to move personnel not only in small infantry groups, but also on high-speed ATVs. Attempts at enemy attacks are unsuccessful, “the enemy is hit by fire, the enemy is destroyed,” said Commander Tarnavsky.
15:02 Speaker of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Yuriy Ignat said that “now no one knows for sure” when Ukraine will have F-16s. But, according to him, “the process is underway,” Ukraine is switching to fighter jets as an emergency. He also added that Ukraine, which should not receive the latest modifications of the F-16, “will not be given 40, 70 or 120 aircraft at once.”
14:17 According to the UN, now almost 6.5 million refugees from Ukraine are seeking asylum around the world, and about 3.7 million people are internally displaced within the country. At the same time, the majority of respondents want to return home. Among refugees abroad this figure is 65%, among internally displaced persons - 72%. A year ago, the share of such people was 77% and 84%, respectively. In 2024, 11% of refugees and 15% of internally displaced persons do not intend to return home.
13:29 Zelensky said that he held a conference call where they discussed not only daily topics, but also the blockade on the Polish border. “We analyzed the situation in detail and determined our next steps. They will be very quickly,” the president noted. The participants also discussed the situation at the front, issues of supplies of ammunition, weapons, electronic warfare systems, and drones. I heard a detailed report from Syrsky on the situation in each area.
12:48 Trump called Russia a “war machine” that defeated Hitler and Napoleon: “You are really up against the war machine in Russia. Russia, what did they do? They defeated Hitler, they defeated Napoleon. Yes, they are a war machine.” He also reiterated that the invasion would not have happened under his presidency, and added that he would urge European leaders to provide more assistance to Ukraine.
12:07 EU ambassadors approved the 13th package of sanctions against Russia, said the editor of Radio Liberty in Europe, Rikard Jozwiak. According to Reuters, the new package adds almost 200 legal entities and individuals to the list, while at the same time the document does not provide for any new sectoral measures. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the new package limits Russia’s access to drones. The package is planned to be announced on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion on February 24.
12:03 The General Staff showed how the engineering troops build fortifications. "From deep trenches to minefields, we dig earth and pour concrete to provide our warriors with the best protection," the statement said.
11:50 Russian military man and propagandist Andrei Morozov with the call sign Murz shot himself after he was hounded for publishing data on the losses of the Russian army in Avdeevka. The propagandist was the author of a telegram channel, in which on January 18 he wrote that Russia lost 16 thousand military personnel and 300 armored vehicles in the battles for Avdievka. He also admitted that the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are several times lower. Other Russian "military correspondents" reported Morozov's death.
11:37 A Russian army training ground near the village of Trudovskoye near Volnovakha in the self-proclaimed “DPR” came under rocket fire, propagandists complain. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have not yet officially commented on the situation, but according to preliminary data from the occupiers themselves, more than 60 soldiers were killed as a result of the strike. Propagandists even named who was responsible for the shelling. About who “leaked” the Russians, see the article Waiting for the General.
10:52 In Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, seven people have already been wounded as a result of yesterday’s missile strikes, another person may be under the rubble, the search operation continues, said the head of the city military administration, Alexander Goncharenko.
10:45 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes that Russia managed to capture Avdiivka thanks to cooperation with Iran and North Korea, as well as increasing production and mobilizing additional forces. “We do not believe that the fact that Ukrainian troops retreated from Avdiivka will in itself significantly change the strategic situation. At the same time, it reminds us that Russia is ready to sacrifice many soldiers for minor territorial gains,” the secretary general said.
09:57 The number of those wounded as a result of yesterday's Russian missile attacks on Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, has increased to six, said the head of the OBA Vadim Filashkin. In addition, one person died in Konstantinovka. At night, the Russians fired three suicide bombers at Dobropolye - two people were wounded.
The State Emergency Service clarified that as a result of the strikes in the Pokrovsky district, four rescuers were injured - one of the drones hit the building where they lived. In addition, as a result of the missile attack on Druzhkovka, the fire and rescue department building was damaged, but no people were injured.
09:08 Budanov told The Wall Street Journal that the Russian Federation “does not have the strength” to seize the Donetsk and Lugansk regions this year. At the same time, he admitted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are now in a difficult situation due to a lack of weapons and personnel, “but Russia also has problems.” The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate claims that Russian troops are poorly trained, they spend more shells and tanks than they produce, and they also have a “clear shortage of missiles.” According to Budanov, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be able to launch a new counter-offensive in 2025.
08:39 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of February 21:
personnel - about 406,080 (+1130) people,
tanks - 6516 (+13),
armored combat vehicles - 12,338 (+70),
artillery systems - 9826 (+53),
MLRS - 992 (+4),
air defense systems - 678 (+3),
aircraft - 338 (+0),
helicopters - 325 (+0),
UAV of operational-tactical level - 7560 (+39),
cruise missiles - 1903 (+1),
ships/boats - 25 (+0),
submarines - 1 (+0),
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 12,861 (+56),
special equipment - 1558 (+7).
08:13 The defense forces destroyed the Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber, the crew was killed, said the commander of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Nikolai Oleshchuk.
07:40 Over the past 24 hours, 66 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report. In the Avdeevsky direction, the Defense Forces repelled 13 enemy attacks in the Stepnoy, Lastochkino, Severny, Nevelsky districts of the Donetsk region. In the Maryinsky direction, the Russian army made 20 attempts to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops near Georgievka, Pobeda, Novomikhailovka, Donetsk region.
In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy made two unsuccessful attempts to attack in the Sinkovka area of the Kharkov region; on Limansky - eight times attacked units of the Defense Forces near Belogorivka, Luhansk region and Ternov, Vyemka, Donetsk region. In the Bakhmut direction, two enemy attacks were repelled near Ivanovo, Donetsk region. In the Novopavlovsk direction, the enemy tried seven times to improve the tactical position south of Prechistovka and Zolotaya Niva in the Donetsk region. In the Zaporozhye direction, the Defense Forces repelled seven attacks near Malaya Tokmachka and Rabotino, Zaporozhye region. In the Kherson direction, Ukrainian forces hold their positions and repelled one assault by Russian troops.
07:15 At night, air defense destroyed 13 of the 19 Shahed attack drones that Russia attacked from Primorsko-Akhtarsk, as well as one X-59 guided aircraft missile launched from the Belgorod region, the Air Force command reported. In addition, the enemy used an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile and four Kh-22 cruise missiles (from the Rostov region). The drones were destroyed within the Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions. At the same time, some of the six unhit UAVs did not reach their targets.
07:08 The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov allegedly visited the command post of the Center group of troops in the occupied territory of Ukraine and heard a report from Colonel General Andrei Mordvichev on the order of further actions in the Avdeevsky direction.
06:29 The first group of four Ukrainian pilots will complete the F-16 training program by the summer of 2024, CNN reports. This group began training in mid-October 2023. The second group, also of four Ukrainian pilots, began training in January. The third group is currently taking English language courses. The Arizona National Guard, where the training takes place, said all pilots will complete training "between May and August, although the exact schedule depends on how they progress with the program."
00:32 Without renewed US assistance, Ukraine will have to decide which cities it can hold, said Pentagon Deputy Speaker Sabrina Singh. At the same time, she assured that as soon as Congress approves aid to Ukraine, supplies will begin quite quickly.
Direct Translation via Google Translate.
[Korrespondent] The attack on the training ground in the temporarily occupied territories, where the occupiers were massively “denazified,” was not the only one in recent times.
The Ukrainian armed forces struck a concentration of occupiers in the Kherson region - a training ground located near Podo-Kalinovka. This was reported on Wednesday, February 21, in a number of Telegram channels.
In particular, Nikolaevsky Vanek writes that the blow was struck at the moment when the leadership of the Russian group “Dnepr” arrived to check the fire training of units preparing to storm the village of Krynki.
“As can be seen in the video, joint training was carried out by units of the 328th airborne infantry regiment, 810th brigade infantry brigade and 81st saps of the Russian Federation. Minus the command staff and minus about 60 fighters right on the sand,” the message says.
Journalist Denis Kazantsev noted that their death was completely meaningless and emphasized that the Russians themselves agree to travel thousands of kilometers to be killed there.
The strike on the training ground is confirmed by Russian publics. In particular, the Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU writes that there are many dead.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck a Russian army training ground near the village of Trudovskoye near Volnovakha in the self-proclaimed “DPR.” According to preliminary data from the occupiers themselves, more than 60 soldiers were killed as a result of the strike.
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[EngMilRu] In Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces repelled seven attacks of assault groups of the AFU 14th, 32nd Mechanised, 25th Air Assault brigades, and 115th Territorial Defence Brigade close to Chugunovka (Kharkov region) and Stelmakhovka (Lugansk People's Republic). Moreover, the Russian troops repelled five counter-attacks of the enemy close to Sinkovka (Kharkov region).
Up to 30 Ukrainian troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, four pick-up trucks, and one Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been eliminated.
In Donetsk direction, units of the Yug Group of Forces improved the situation along the front line and defeated units of the 93rd mechanised, 81st airmobile brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and 241st Territorial Defence Brigade in vicinity of Belogorovka, Kleshcheyevka, and Razdolovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The losses of the Armed Forces were over 425 troops, two tanks, four infantry fighting vehicles, two armoured fighting vehicles, 20 motor vehicles, one 122mm 2S1 D-30 howitzer, as well as the AN/TPQ-36 counterbattery radar. In addition, an ammunition depot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was destroyed close to Mayaki (Donetsk People's Republic).
In Avdeyevka direction, the Tsentr Group of Forces' units took more advantageous lines and positions and inflicted fire defeat on AFU manpower and hardware of the 24th, 53rd Mechanised brigades, 59th Motorised Infantry, and 3rd Assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Rozovka and Vodyanoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
Furthermore, the Russian troops repelled seven counter-attacks launched by the Ukrainian units close to Lastochkino, Kirovo, and Pervomayskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The enemy lost up to 450 troops, one tank, four infantry fighting vehicles, six armoured fighting vehicles, five motor vehicles, one 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS vehicle, as well as one 122mm D-30 howitzer.
In South Donetsk direction, the Vostok Group of Forces repelled the enemy’s counter-attack near Novozlatopol (Zaporozhye region) and inflicted a fire defeat of the 72nd Mechanised Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 128th Territorial Defence Brigade close to Vladimirovo and Staromayorskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The enemy’s losses amounted to up to 210 troops, two tanks, three motor vehicles, as well as the AN/TPQ-37 counterbattery radar.
In Kherson direction, the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted comprehensive fire damage on the units of the 65th Mechanised, 82nd Air Assault, and 128th Mountain Assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Rabotino, Verbovoye, and Lugovoye (Zaporozhye region).
AFU losses amounted to 75 troops, one tank, two armoured fighting vehicles, eight motor vehicles, one Slovak-made Zuzana self-propelled artillery system, and two 122mm D-30 howitzers.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, and Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have engaged a fuel depot as well as AFU manpower and hardware in 123 areas during the day.
Russia's air defence systems shot down 12 HIMARS MLRS projectiles and one JDAM bomb. Moreover, 99 unmanned aerial vehicles close to Kremennaya, Rubezhnoye, and Lisichansk (Lugansk People's Republic), Yampolovka, Verkhnetoretskoye, and Staromlynovka (Donetsk People's Republic), Pologi, Veseloye, Ulyanovka, and Vasilyevka (Zaporozhye region), and Novaya Mayachka (Kherson region).
In total, 572 airplanes and 266 helicopters, 13,042 unmanned aerial vehicles, 471 air defence missile systems, 15,149 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,223 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 8,124 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 18,900 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:57 Official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 02/21/2024 to 00:00 02/22/2024.
A total of 51 cases of armed attacks by the UFU were recorded by the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC over the past 24 hours.
Two civilians were reported injured
DAMAGED:
Three residential buildings
Three civil facilities infrastructure
Eleven artillery attacks in the Donetsk direction,
A total of 37 artillery attacks in the Gorlovka direction,
Three artillery attacks in the Yasinovat direction.
A total of 181 units of various ammunition were fired.
23:00 SVO reports and analytics: Kurakhovskoe direction.
The enemy confirms the catastrophic situation in this direction. The enemy side confirms the loss of Victory and active advance in Novomikhailovka.
The Russian army is gradually breaking through the enemy’s defenses and moving towards the settlement of Konstantinovka, which is a strategic point in this direction. After the capture of which the enemy garrison in Ugledar will be operationally surrounded.
21:05 Captured Ukrainian serviceman told about forced conscription into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the devil-may-care attitude of the command, as well as the low morale of the personnel.
21:05 Explosions are also reported in Nikolaev
21:03 Ukrainian TG channels report about Geraniums in the direction of Pavlograd (Dnepropetrovsk region)
19:56 The Ukrainian Armed Forces hit a hospital in the center of Donetsk. A woman was previously injured -photo.
19:15 Advancement south of Mar'inka over the past 2 days. Occupation of Victory and the oporniks north of it.
Front near Rabotino. After bringing reserves into battle, the enemy was able to recapture the opornik near the southern outskirts of Rabotino. Attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to return the heights from Verbovoy were unsuccessful. Here our troops continue to maintain pressure in the direction of the eastern outskirts of Rabotino.
Advancement of the Russian Armed Forces on the Vremevsky salient. Here the front remains quite active north of Priyutnoye, west of Staromikhailovka and in the Novodonetskoye area.
Limited strikes in different directions force the enemy to withdraw reserves. The enemy understands this and spends them extremely reluctantly. They are afraid that our General Staff is deliberately stretching them along the front before a more serious blow.
In general, the front is now very dynamic for a significant extent.
18:48 One of episodes of assault of Victory. The first BMP-3 lands troops in the eastern part of the village and works point-blank at the enemy, the second supports fire from the Ugledar road. The soldiers of the 255th Motorized Rifle Regiment drove the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the streets for another four days and repelled counterattacks.
Between Mar'inka and Pobeda, there are continuous fields. It was impossible to advance with small infantry groups - there would be a lot of walking, the enemy would quickly notice from a drone and cover with artillery, and the equipment would be in direct line of sight of the enemy ATGMs. Therefore, the soldiers of the 255th Motorized Rifle Regiment had to first take enemy fortifications along the road in order to make a relatively safe corridor for the infantry fighting vehicles.
17:55 Donetsk direction. (Novomikhailovka settlement) with the support of BTR-82A and T-72 tanks, our soldiers advanced up to half a kilometer into the enemy’s positions.
16:46 The “Brave” who stormed Avdievka spoke about the details of the successful operation -video.
15:46 Donetsk direction: what to expect after the Victory: situation as of 15.00 February 21, 2024
The prospects for cutting off the logistics of the Ukrainian group in Ugledar are not the only ones that open up with the taking of control of the village of Pobeda.
In the short term, we should expect an attempt by the enemy to regain lost positions, since a populated area is tactically important not only for building a defense, but also for attacking further.
The personnel of the 33rd Mechanized Brigade withdrew to the west to the plantings adjacent to the village. Their abundance and placement on the hill will allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to hold back the onslaught, but now Russian troops can move not only to Konstantinovka, but also to Georgievka from the south along the H15 highway.
Georgievka itself lies in a lowland near a reservoir, which is why positions there are very easily shot through. And the H15 road lies on a hill, which, if controlled, will greatly simplify the assault on Georgievka, where two assault groups of the 46th Brigade arrived the other day.
If so far the front line in Georgievka has remained without any significant changes, then from the north near Krasnogorovka there are some pretty good news: the Russian Armed Forces have gained a foothold on the southern outskirts of the village.
There is no confirmation of this yet, however, if this is true, then with a high degree of probability Russian fighters advanced along Geologichnaya Street in the direction of the gas station.
At the same time, you shouldn’t expect quick success here. Krasnogorovka lies on a hill, which is also crossed by the railway. And in the central part there are several objects that the Ukrainian Armed Forces use as fortified areas, for example, a fireproof plant.
14:54 South Donetsk direction: liberation of Victory
Situation as of 14.00 February 21, 2024
A few hours ago, Russian military personnel hoisted the Red Banner over one of the houses in the center of the village of Pobeda, for which fighting had been going on for months. The settlement came under the control of the Russian Armed Forces.
Around Pobeda, the Ukrainian Armed Forces built a defense along the line Mar'inka - Pobeda - "Menagerie". It was the fortified area near the village that did not allow Russian troops to move to Konstantinovka, located on the logistics route to Ugledar.
The importance of the settlement is emphasized by how desperately the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to hold it. Over the course of several weeks of active defense, there were paratroopers from the 79th and 95th Airborne brigades, as well as units from the 33rd Infantry Brigade, two assault groups of which were sent yesterday for a counterattack, but to no avail.
Most likely, the Ukrainian formations are trying to slow down the advance of the Russian Armed Forces by establishing strong points in the landings to the west of Pobeda - they are located on slightly higher hills, which simplifies their defense.
From Annovka and Katerynivka, the Ukrainian Armed Forces randomly fire at Russian positions, holding back the onslaught. However, the enemy’s position on the Konstantinovka-Novomikhailovka line is becoming more complicated every day, since the Russian Armed Forces are advancing further in the Novomikhailovka area.
Evidence has emerged that Russian troops were able to expand the zone of control on the southern outskirts of the village, as well as from the northeast. Considering that the “menagerie” has long been under our control, the Russian Armed Forces probably approached along route 00531.
13:55 Solntsepekov crews from the beginning of the special operation reduced the time spent at firing positions was reduced to a minimum, while increasing the deployment speed by two times, said the crew commander with the call sign Dragon.
13:05 Statement of Head of the press center of the "West" group
Units of the West group of forces continue to carry out combat missions in the Kupyansk direction.
Motorized rifle units, in cooperation with artillery and aviation, repelled four counterattacks by assault groups of the 30th and 32nd Mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Sin'kovka area.
During the counterbattery fight, operators of Lancet loitering ammunition destroyed three Gvozdika self-propelled artillery mounts, a 155mm PzH 2000 self-propelled artillery mount and a US-made M119 towed gun in the areas of the settlements of Peschanoye and Tishchenkovka.
The group's air defense systems destroyed four unmanned aerial vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including two Valkyries, Fury and Baba Yaga.
In addition, enemy losses in the Kupyansk direction amounted to up to 45 military personnel and two pickup trucks.
12:45 The settlement of Pobeda, after a three-day assault, came under the control of the Russian army. Enemy resources confirm the capture of the village of Pobeda by our army.
All enemy counterattacks were repulsed and in the morning our troops occupied the western part of the village and completely cleared the settlement of the enemy. At these moments there is a massive attack on Novomikhailovka.
11:50 Yes, looks abandoned equipment of the militants - there is a whole “zoo” of it left in Avdievka. Just outside the city, fighting continues. Units of the "Center" group of troops press the enemy further. Russian evacuation teams are working on the streets, collecting trophies.
An American-made M113 armored personnel carrier fell into a crater from a gliding bomb and remained in Avdeevka. Fleeing from the city, the enemy left behind personal belongings, weapons and armored vehicles. To pull the M113 out of the puddle, a powerful repair and recovery vehicle was needed. This American armored personnel carrier was abandoned in a completely repairable condition.
“We’ve never seen anything like this, now we’ll study it. We will check every bolt with our own hands and in the future our mechanics will restore this equipment too,” said the commander of the evacuation platoon with the call sign “Ares”.
Captured American armored personnel carriers, after restoration, will likely become museum exhibits. But the infantry fighting vehicle will be repaired and sent into battle - naturally, painting over the enemy “crosses”.
11:29 After the assault on the village of Pobeda near Mar'inka, a slight straightening of the front began. To the north (closer to Mar'inka) a number of Ukrainian Armed Forces support forces were taken.
11:17 Ukrainian Telegram channels report a rocket in the sky over the Poltava region.
11:05 Five apartment buildings in the urban-type settlement of Vergulevka in the LPR were damaged as a result of shelling from Kyiv militants, said the head of the Bryanka urban district, Evgeniy Morozov.
10:50 Detachment “Barbarian” of the special forces “Akhmat” tore off rotation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Kleshcheevka (Artemovsk direction).
“Our FPV drone flew into the machine gunner’s nest twice. Three hundred people arrived during the day... He was evacuated at night - and new forces were brought in there. The next day they were extinguished again,” the group commander with the call sign Varvar told RT military correspondent Vlad Andritsa.
10:05 The Ministry of Defense published personnel combat work of the Ka-52 in the Donetsk direction.
09:49 With a well-aimed throw, the Russian UAV operator of the 4th military base destroyed calculation of kamikaze drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kamensky, Zaporozhye region.
09:40 Captured during the assault on Avdievka, captured infantry fighting vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will serve on the side of the Russian troops. The deputy battalion commander for armaments of the Russian Armed Forces with the call sign Clever spoke about this.
09:35 The criminal Kiev regime continues to fire at the civilian infrastructure of settlements on the left bank of the Kherson region, yesterday during the day the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired from cannon artillery:
-- n.p. Peschanivka five rounds;
-- n.p. Alyosha six rounds;
-- n.p. Kazachi Lagery five rounds;
-- n.p. Rybalche two rounds;
in the village of Novaya Mayachka three rounds.
During the night, the Kiev regime continued to shell civilian infrastructure in the village. Podstepnoye, n.p. Aleshki, n.p. Kardashinka, n.p. Velikaya Lepetikha, firing a total of 15 rounds from cannon artillery.
Civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure are being determined.
09:06 The Ukrainian Armed Forces left Avdievka in a hurry - the abandoned Zenit fortification was full of NATO weapons, cigarettes and food.
RT military correspondent Stanislav Obishchenko showed a bunker where the enemy was hiding. It was built back in the Soviet years - several floors, reinforced concrete floors.
The air bombs used by the Russian Armed Forces penetrated all of this, although it was assumed that the bunker could withstand a nuclear strike.
“It was difficult to break through here, but we did it. I'm glad that we finally took it [Avdievka]. They had a good fortification here, but we broke off their horns,” said one of the fighters.
08:57 The enemy records the activation of our troops in the Svatovsko-Kremensky sector. This was reported by a military expert, retired Lieutenant Colonel of the LPR NM Andrey Marochko
“The RER forces have established that the enemy is noticing the activation of our troops in the areas of the settlements of Makeevka (LPR), Nevskoye, Terny, Yampolovka, Torskoye, Serebryanka, Belogorovka. The number of attacks is increasing. Data is also being transmitted about the regular growth in the number of our contingent,” Marochko wrote in the Telegram channel.
08:19 The M-113 tracked armored personnel carrier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed by units of the Russian Armed Forces in the Avdeevsky direction -photo.
08:16 Over the past 24 hours, the UFU has committed crimes against civilians of the DPR.
Ukrainian militants fired artillery at Kuibyshevsky, Voroshilovsky, Kirovsky, Petrovsky and Kievsky districts of Donetsk, Chervonogvardeysky district of Makeyevka, as well as Nikitovsky district of Gorlovka, using MLRS and 155mm caliber artillery, including with a cluster warhead.
As a result of artillery attack of the territory of the DPR by Ukrainian militants within 24 hours, a woman born in 1955 was killed, and 10 people, women born in 1989, born in 1951, and born in 1973, were injured of varying degrees of severity. and born in 1982, as well as men born in 1989, born in 1991, born in 1952, born in 1970, and born in 2005.
In total, six residential buildings and six civilian infrastructure facilities, as well as 6 vehicles, were damaged by DPR shelling.
08:02 Soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces told how the Russian flag was hoisted over the administration building of liberated Avdievka.
According to the group commander with the call sign Artist, they passed by the building while clearing the block of Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters. They didn’t have the flag with them, so they asked the command to drop it from a drone.
“There was still a lot of enemy around, even artillerymen were working on neighboring buildings, there were arrivals, but this did not bother us,” said a military man with the call sign Khrom.
08:02 Governor of the Kherson region Vladimir Saldo thanked the naval infantry of the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade for the liberation of Krynok. Corresponding address from the head of the region published in the Telegram channel.
“A low bow to you, heroes, from all residents of the Kherson region and my personal deep gratitude,” wrote Saldo.
08:00 Summary on the morning of February 21, 2024:
Yesterday evening there were reports from the Kherson direction that part of the settlement. Krynki still remains with the enemy, small groups of Ukrainian Armed Forces are sitting in basements, and the destruction of enemy boats on the river continues. Dnieper.On the Zaporozhye front, the enemy retreated from the settlement. Rabotino, located in the lowlands, to the heights, continues to defend the flanks of the front sector. Our units are advancing.
South of Maryinka, our troops occupied the village Pobeda, but clashes with the remaining groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue in the village. There are battles in Novomikhailovka, and in Georgievka (west of Mar'inka) the Russian Armed Forces are also continuing their offensive.
The zone of control of the Russian Army to the west of liberated Avdeevka is expanding. There are reports of battles near Lastochkino. Some front-line soldiers regarded statements about minimal losses in the battles in the Avdeevsky direction as a harsh propaganda technique, leveling the severity of the battles and the merits of their units.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Alexander Vasiliev Chief editor of IA Regnum
[REGNUM] Like all normal people, Tucker Carlson does not eat McDonald's products unless absolutely necessary. But extreme need happened.
It is necessary to somehow explain in a very accessible way to the mass American citizen that his country is sliding into the abyss of a world nuclear war. The most popular US politician, Donald Trump, has repeatedly stated about the inevitability of an apocalyptic outcome (if the confrontation with Russia is not stopped).
To try to save his country (and at the same time the whole world), the most popular US television journalist and Trump ally had to eat a burger. And do it in snowy (as it should be) Moscow. A Moscow burger from public catering with a name that was strange even to the Russian ear turned out to be no worse than an American burger. Potatoes, grown, according to Carlson, in the famous potato expanses of Siberia, turned out to be no worse. Carlson reported all this in a specially filmed video.
However, the tasting of the cola he bought was not included in the video and remained without comment.
Skeptics will probably say that this is because the domestically produced drink cannot be compared with the original. At least some Muscovites, who carefully preserve Soviet consumer traditions, buy “real” Coca-Cola secondhand in oriental sweets shops, winking conspiratorially at the colorful Asian merchants.
I can’t even imagine what Trump would say if Carlson brought him from Moscow a red bottle made not even in Iran, but directly in Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban - an organization, by the way, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation. But in Moscow you can buy something like this.
After tasting the Russian burger, Tucker indulged in family memories. It turns out that his father was present at the opening of the first Moscow McDonald's on Pushkinskaya Square.
“My father was there,” Carlson said. "He worked in the US government and came to Russia... I remember this time well, I was in college. It was considered a triumph of the West over the East."
This was a triumph. At the American fast food restaurant, Soviet people formed a line that rivaled in length the line at Lenin's Mausoleum.
In patriotic journalism, it is customary to blame the perestroika gloom of fellow citizens - they traded a great power for cola, hamburger and chewing gum with jeans. Let us leave aside how humiliating this accusation sounds for the power itself. Let the dead bury their dead.
Let's say from today: they exchanged such a “power” for Coca-Cola and did the right thing.
Late Soviet artists had a separate genre - our man is there. Abroad. A classic example is Albert Levin’s monologue “Francois” performed by Vladimir Vinokur. A Soviet worker “to exchange experience” comes to France and shares his impressions:
“You’re also not a master at Francois’s farm. I was in your store opposite your house. Still, there are delicacies: processed cheese, liver sausage and stewed meat. And most importantly, there is no queue! Why aren't you dialing? Oh, and you also have 80 types of beer? And we have only one - diluted “Zhigulevskoe ”...” And so on.
The author of the text, by the way, moved to New York in the mid-1990s, where there is processed cheese, liver sausage and 80 types of beer without a queue.
And now an American goes to a French supermarket in Moscow, films the abundance of cheeses, sausages and beer on the shelves and, leaving with a cart full of groceries, declares: “A visit to a Russian grocery hypermarket and an opportunity to take a look at what prices are here and how people live.”, radicalizes you against our leadership. At least that’s what I felt – radicalization.”
Do you hear that, right? An American becomes radicalized against his government by stopping for processed cheese, liverwurst and beer at the first Moscow supermarket he comes across. What is this if not a triumph over the West?
Of course, we must not fall into pride and think that victory in the historical confrontation is in our pocket by birth. Like, we are Russian and we are lucky. God opposes the proud.
Yes, we can suffer defeat on the battlefield, as we suffered it from the Mongols in the steppes near Kalki-Kalmius, and leave Sevastopol, as we did in 1855 or 1942. Our elites may waver and be seduced, as in February 1917. Even our people, even though they have had their share of troubles, as in October 1917, can become exhausted from hardships and believe foreign agents who, instead of these hardships, promised a quick and simple kingdom of God on earth. All this, alas, cannot be completely ruled out, if only to keep oneself in good shape.
There's one thing we won't do again - we won't sell our birthright for cola, liverwurst and lentil stew.
History tells us that if Russians really want something, they will get it. “And we won’t stand behind the price.”
A huge continental power with no access to a warm sea suddenly wanted to build a fleet. And she built it, cutting windows into all the desired water areas. She wanted to turn the steppe, which had been scorched by the sun for thousands of years, into a granary, forge and health resort. And she populated and improved Novorossiya. Devastated by a war unprecedented in the history of mankind, she decided to get ahead of the richest people on the planet on the way to cosmic infinity. At least for six months, at least for a month. And she got ahead.
The creation of a consumer economy in Russia was the same historical challenge, which Russians took seriously, young and old. And they did it.
The Soviet sphere of service and trade was not even zero, a negative value. It was an icy abyss, an airless space. Something between the swamps on which St. Petersburg was built, the Wild Field, which was turned into Novorossiya, and the near-Earth orbit populated by our satellites and orbital stations.
And on the day when Russia stood up against the West, putting its future on the line, when the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet sank to the bottom, and the troops experienced problems with space communications and reconnaissance, our service and trade sphere became that clamp, that steel hook on which we can lean on and stand up to our full height.
Carlson flew away. But the supermarket remained. Fast food is here to stay. The shopping mall remains. Fitness center remains. And as long as these pillars of the consumer economy stand from the shocked Kremlin to the walls of motionless China, we can be sure: no donkey loaded with hamburgers will defeat our fortress Russia.
#1
Many people want to get out of Russia two years into the war. A Russian YouTube put out a video yesterday of him looking for a wheel bearing for his truck. He searched and searched for an American made wheel bearing, eventually finding an American Timken bearing. He bought a Russian bearing as a backup but showed how inferior the Russian one was compared to the Timken. He said he dreams of taking his family out of Russia if he ever could find a way without getting arrested. Until then he uses an alias on his Youtube channel and does not disclose where he lives in Russia. He learned English watching old American Hollywood movies. He says many Russians are like him.
#2
My first Czech au pair girl learnt English from her university computer programming classes in the last years before before the fall of the Berlin Wall. My last au pair girl, the only one who was Polish, learnt hers watching “Beverly Hills, 90210” and Pretty Women. The two in the middle got their English from proper classes, then came to me for fluency and polish. Wonderful, thoughtful girls, all four of them.
#3
^^^. The Russian said his favorite American movie to learn English from was "The Gods Must Be Crazy". A great movie about a remote African tribesman who happened to be under the flight path of a small plan whose occupants tossed a coke bottle out that almost hit the tribesman on the head. He thought it was sent down from the gods. Jealousy over who had possession of the coke bottle almost destroyed the peace and tranquility of the tribe. A great movie. Trailer below:
Borodenko : We do not need you! If we want Coca-cola, we invent it ourselves!
C.R. MacNamara : Oh, yeah? In 1956 you flew a bottle of Coke to a secret laboratory in Sverdlosk. A dozen of your top chemists went nuts trying to analyze the ingredients. Right?
Mishkin : No comment!
C.R. MacNamara : And in 1958, you planted two undercover agents in Atlanta to steal the formula. And what happened? They both defected! And now they're successful businessmen in Florida packaging instant borscht. Right?
Peripetchikoff : No comment!
C.R. MacNamara : Last year you put out a cockamamie imitation "Kremlin-kola!" You tried it out in the satellite countries, but even the Albanians wouldn't drink it. They used it for SHEEP DIP! RIGHT?
Mishkin : No comment!
C.R. MacNamara : So either get down to business or get off the pot!
Peripetchikoff : My dear American friend, if we are to live together in peaceful coexistence, there must be a certain amount of give and take.
C.R. MacNamara : Oh, sure - we give and you take.
Peripetchikoff : What is the matter - you do not trust us?
C.R. MacNamara : No comment!
Peripetchikoff : Well, Comrades, what are we going to do? He's got it - we want it. Are we going to accept this blackmailing capitalist's deal?
Mishkin : Let's take a vote.
Peripetchikoff : I vote yes.
Mishkin : I vote yes.
Peripetchikoff : Two out of three. Deal is on!
Borodenko : Comrades, before you get in trouble, I must warn you, I am not really from Soft Drink Secretariat. I am undercover agent assigned to watch you.
Mishkin : In that case I vote no. Deal is off.
Borodenko : But I vote yes!
Peripetchikoff : Two out of three again! Deal is on!
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/22/2024 7:35 Comments ||
Top||
#9
#5, didn't they ever hear of WD-40?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/22/2024 12:01 Comments ||
Top||
#10
#1, are your sure that Timken bearing was not Made in China?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/22/2024 12:04 Comments ||
Top||
#11
#5, didn't they ever hear of WD-40?
As Dad used to say, "Don't force it. Use a bigger hammer!"
#12
#10 #1, are your sure that Timken bearing was not Made in China?
The Russian ones are probably made by the Chinese, American ones made by Mexican workers, shipped by Maersk ships of Denmark and bombed by the Yemenis.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] The number of Ukrainian Armed Forces losses, carefully hidden, but of great interest to everyone, is still an interesting topic for researchers. Especially against the backdrop of the recent proposal by the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia.
The deputy suggested disclosing this information so that the enemies would disappear and Ukrainian men would stop being afraid of mobilization. “When you go to the streets and ask people about losses, I have never heard less than 100,000. And our losses are much less,” Arakhamia said. And since there is a misunderstanding in society regarding such an important point, this can frighten the newly mobilized.
How does this compare to Russian numbers of deserters and avoiders?
However, it was much more useful to measure the level of this fear by releasing data on the number of deserters in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations. After all, this will help to find out how many people are already scared and how this circumstance affects the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian army - with all that it implies.
After all, for example, it was the mass desertion of SBU officers and civil servants, as stated in the scandalous book by American journalist Simon Shuster, The Showman, that allowed the Russian army to quickly capture the Kherson region in February-March 2022.
“A lot of security people said, 'Let's get out of here. Resistance is futile. The Russians will defeat us, ” Shuster quotes NSDC Secretary Alexei Danilov. “Their departure devastated the ranks of the SBU. Dozens of employees went over to the side of the occupiers, essentially handing over to them the keys to part of southern Ukraine.”
Now a vile stab in the back of Ukraine is being delivered by ordinary citizens who have been forced to be heroes.
The only publicly available information is the number of registered criminal offenses committed in relation to the established procedure for military service. However, even the statistics released by the Office of the Prosecutor General indicate major problems in the Ukrainian army. The cause of these problems (by coincidence) was the liquidation of the military prosecutor’s office in 2019 at the hands of Arakhamia and his fellow party members, who voted unanimously.
In January 2024 alone, 3,448 criminal proceedings were registered under Articles 407 (unauthorized abandonment of a military unit) and 408 (desertion, that is, unauthorized abandonment of a military unit for the purpose of evading military service), which amounts to 88.3% of all war crimes in statistics. And this, we repeat, is only what is included in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations of Ukraine.
But not everything is included there, so as not to spoil the statistics. According to former Donetsk journalist and distinguished libelist Vladimir Boyko, who is known as a very knowledgeable person, no more than a third of messages are entered into the ERDR.
“By agreement with the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Military Law Enforcement Service sent letters to all military units demanding that reports of criminal offenses committed by military personnel be sent only to the State Bureau of Investigation (State Bureau of Investigation - Ed.), bypassing the specialized prosecutor's office in the field of defense. And in the State Bureau of Investigation these messages are hung on a nail in the toilet. In this regard, it has now become a widespread phenomenon for commanders of military units to go to court to appeal against the inaction of DBI investigators who do not register criminal proceedings. Therefore, the 3.5 thousand criminal proceedings registered in January can be safely multiplied by three,” he writes.
If we add up the number of criminal proceedings registered under Articles 407, 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in 2022 (9397) and 2023 (24,286), it turns out that as of February 1, 2024, at least 37 deserted from the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other formations. 2 thousand military personnel. Multiply by at least three - and it turns out to be more than 100 thousand people. Or maybe more, since only the mentioned VSP has accurate data, where commanders send corresponding reports for each case of unauthorized departure from duty.
It turns out that when the country’s leadership declares that a million of its best sons and daughters are already guarding the Ukrainian borders, about 300 thousand are actually fighting, and 100–150 thousand are “on the skis.” This is already almost half of the available forces. No one knows what the other half is doing, but judging by the surge in mobilization, they are clearly in no hurry to go to the front.
The reason for the mass desertion lies on the surface.
Firstly, of course, this is a banal reluctance to die and the absence of any motives to go storm some planting when the chickens at home are not fed and the wife is bored. Slogans about the frontier of the civilized world and the responsibility for protecting the whole of Europe do not warm Ukrainians. Dry numbers in the ERDR speak more eloquently than any speaker at the “single telethon”.
Secondly, no one chases deserters, they are not returned to their unit and are not punished in any way. Out of 3.5 thousand official “skiers”, at the end of January, only 21 people were informed of suspicion under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code. No one is investigating the criminal cases that military unit commanders are seeking to register through the courts.
The situation was similar in the previous two years.
Thus, in 2023, out of 24.3 thousand criminal proceedings against fugitives, suspicion was reported in only 2410 proceedings, that is, in less than 10% of cases. And even fewer cases were sent to court - 2,035 cases.
When the military prosecutor's office was destroyed in Ukraine, supporters of this reform assured that military police would appear in its place. However, in the end, the investigation of war crimes was transferred to the State Bureau of Investigation, a purely civilian institution. The investigator from there cannot enter the territory of the military unit (as the formidable military prosecutors did, opening the door with their feet), they will not even pass the checkpoint on the way to the combat zone. To do this, you must first obtain the appropriate permission from the military, who thus have power over the visiting scribbler.
At the same time, for one investigator, for example, in the investigative department of the Kramatorsk State Bureau of Investigation, which investigates war crimes within the former Donetsk garrison, there are 600, or even 800 criminal proceedings. So they won’t even make attempts to go somewhere and get some kind of password. When a suspect accused of murder is at hand in a pre-trial detention center, and somewhere far away in his native Carpathian village there is a “skier” who threw down his weapon and left his post, the choice is obvious.
IA Regnum's interlocutors claim that on trains coming from the east, you can easily meet people in military uniform who are as free as the wind. Thus, even moving around the country is not difficult for them, since for this they need to turn on the entire mechanism of the law enforcement system. And the deserters then call their former brothers in arms, who continue to serve, and happily tell how good it is at home, provoking new escapes.
In addition, the “twin cities” have an additional argument. Military prosecutors dealt not only with deserters, they were the authority to which a soldier could complain about his father-commanders. The reaction was immediate and merciless.
Suffice it to recall how in February 2016, at the Shirokiy Lan training ground, the personnel of a mechanized company were abused - for five days, the mobilized servicemen did not have normal food, drinking water, a sufficient number of tents and even beds - they slept in the mud. The fighters were all of age, therefore, unable to withstand such an attitude, a delegation of 46 people went on foot to the military prosecutor in Nikolaev.
As a result, the commander of the 53rd separate mechanized brigade, Colonel Valery Vodolazsky, who committed such an outrage, spent 10 days in the guardhouse, because the military prosecutor drew up an administrative report on him and sent him to court. Besides him, nine more officers were punished. The court found not guilty only the deputy commander of the Vostok operational command, Valery Zaluzhny, who was responsible for combat training.
Now Ukrainian soldiers can only talk about the hardships and deprivations of military service, as well as cases of violation of the law, in Tik Tok. Any problems of this kind that happened in 2016 at the Shiroklansky training ground are the work of the drowning people themselves. Only they were supplemented by shells and bombs falling on their heads. Military personnel can only respond to the bestial attitude towards themselves: to move away and try not to get caught again. And you can shout “glory” to Ukraine at home on the sofa.
[REGNUM] The 728th day of the special military operation (SVO) was marked by a discussion of an article by the American edition of The New York Times (NYT) about an impressive number of Ukrainian soldiers who went missing or were captured during the retreat in Avdievka, Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). With reference to unnamed military personnel who made the calculations, the media reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) were missing from 850 to 1,000 people.
NYT sources also admitted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ retreat from Avdievka was poorly planned and began too late. In turn, the authors of the article note: the loss of control over the city could aggravate the weakening of the morale of the Ukrainian military. This was preceded by a failed counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the removal of commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny.
The fact that the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Avdievka on February 17 and 18 amounted to 2,400 troops was said the day before, on February 20, at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
“Two battalions,” the Supreme Commander-in-Chief specified the scale of losses.
Meanwhile, the Russian Viking special forces unit, while clearing Avdievka, discovered US-made mines and grenades thrown by Ukrainian troops during their retreat. Judging by the fact that the ammunition was included with everything necessary for its use, a unit soldier in a conversation with RIA Novosti suggested that the MON-50, for example, came to Avdievka from an official shipment from NATO warehouses.
The Russian Armed Forces also achieved success on the right bank of the Dnieper. The Ministry of Defense reported on February 21 that artillery paratroopers of the Dnepr group of troops destroyed a drone control center and a warehouse with motor boats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces there. It is noted that attacks on targets were carried out from 152-mm howitzers 2A36 "Gyacinth-B".
Servicemen of the 110th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who were located in Avdievka (DPR), left this settlement due to fatigue without prior approval from the command, The Washington Post (WP) newspaper reported on February 21, citing Ukrainian fighters.
According to journalists, units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces left the city chaotically, without any plan. One of the newspaper’s interlocutors clarified that some Ukrainian military personnel received orders to take positions that were destroyed or taken by Russian troops.
He also emphasized that the servicemen who left the city were very exhausted, since they had been serving for almost two years without rotation. The commander of one of the detachments of the 53rd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted that not all Ukrainian soldiers were able to get out of Avdievka.
He added that fleeing the city had psychologically broken some Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters.
As Regnum reported, The New York Times previously wrote that during the retreat of Ukrainian troops from Avdievka, up to one thousand military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were captured or went missing.
On February 17, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the liberation of the city by the Russian army. The head of state, in turn, expressed gratitude to the Russian Armed Forces and congratulated them on their important victory.
On February 19, it became known that Russian troops had delivered more than 20 wounded Ukrainian soldiers, abandoned by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during their flight, to the hospital from Avdievka.
The failure of Ukrainian intelligence resulted in the flight of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Avdievka. This opinion was expressed on February 21 by retired Ukrainian Army General Sergei Krivonos on the Pryamoy TV channel.
“It would have been possible to defend Avdievka for quite a long time, but due to the maneuver of the Russian military, with the help of which they reached our rear, the reliability and stability of our defense was undermined,” he said.
Krivonos also pointed to the failure of Ukrainian intelligence, which failed to detect the advance of the Russian Armed Forces into Avdievka, which then cut off the Ukrainian units located in the city, which became the reason for the loss of control over the village.
As Regnum reported, on February 20, Krivonos said that Ukrainian soldiers were captured while fleeing Avdievka due to poor evacuation. The retired general called this problem a systemic one for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Zhang Hong, a researcher at the Institute for the Study of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said on February 19 that the Armed Forces of Ukraine, after the surrender of Avdievka, are unlikely to decide to launch a counteroffensive again. According to the expert, after fleeing the city, Ukrainian troops found themselves in a stalemate.
Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov ! said on February 21 that the Russian army liberated Avdievka in a fairly short time. The military man noted that this was preceded by a long period of preparation for the offensive.
The command of the Ukrainian troops sacrificed elite units during the surrender of Avdievka, and this turned out to be a wasted sacrifice. This opinion was expressed on February 21 by a Russian tankman with the call sign Bely who participated in the liberation of the city.
“The Ukrainian command sacrificed its elite unit “Azov” so that the rest would leave. It was wrong, they left their elite in Avdievka for no reason,” TASS quoted him as saying.
The military man said that during the liberation of Avdievka, the crews of Russian tanks carried out targeted strikes from closed positions on fortifications and houses with Ukrainian fighters, and at that time other units of the Russian army came to their rear.
“We just squeezed them, they had no choice. If they had not left, they would have remained there forever,” the tanker explained.
As Regnum reported, on February 20, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu revealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin the details of the operation to liberate Avdievka. The minister clarified that the General Staff managed to carry out the operation with minimal losses and the Russian army carried out up to 450 high-precision air strikes per day on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions in the city. Shoigu noted that the Russian Armed Forces created unbearable conditions for the Ukrainian army in Avdievka and forced the enemy to flee.
He also said that this military operation would go down in the history books, and added that after the liberation of the city, the offensive would continue in a western direction.
On February 21, the military of one of the assault detachments of the Russian Armed Forces group “Center” told the details of the installation of the Russian national flag on the building of the Avdievka city administration. According to them, the flag was delivered to the installation site using a drone.
Later that day, the Chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, ! said that the Russian army was able to liberate Avdievka in a fairly short time. He clarified that before this there was a long period of preparation.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Security Service of Ukraine has equipped torture chambers in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian Armed Forces city of Zaporozhye. Chairman of the public movement “We are together with Russia” Vladimir Rogov spoke about this on February 21.
“In Zaporozhye, SBU torture chambers are equipped in the basements. Torture continues,” he said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Rogov clarified that people are constantly disappearing in the city and there is no information about the fate of missing anti-fascists.
After the liberation of Zaporozhye from Ukrainian troops, all crimes of the Kyiv regime will be recorded, and they will become the basis of the case for consideration in the tribunal, the head of the movement added.
As Regnum reported, on February 20, the Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the crimes of the Kiev regime, Rodion Miroshnik, said that in Avdeevka, liberated from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to preliminary data, there were secret torture chambers and burials. According to him, the Kiev regime also kept city residents imprisoned for political reasons.
A representative of the LPR security forces said on February 10 that militants of the Ukrainian nationalist formation “Aidar” (an extremist and terrorist organization whose activities are banned in Russia) have kidnapped at least 100 residents of the region over the course of eight years. He clarified that the nationalists demanded a ransom from relatives for the abducted.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Supreme Court of the DPR convicted in absentia a soldier of the Ukrainian nationalist Azov battalion (a terrorist organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation), who gave the order to shell civilian infrastructure, the Investigative Committee reported on February 21.
The court found senior sergeant Roman Shebanov guilty of committing crimes under Part 1 of Art. 356 (cruel treatment of civilians), part 3 of Art. 30, pp. “a”, “e”, “g” and “l” part 2 of Art. 105 (attempted murder of two or more persons) and Part 2 of Art. 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (intentional damage to someone else’s property in a generally dangerous way).
“Shebanov was sentenced to 28 years in prison to be served in a maximum security colony (in absentia). Put on the international wanted list,” the message says.
The investigation established that Shebanov, during the period from February 25 to March 19, 2022, acting as commander of a howitzer-artillery platoon, duplicated command orders to the Ukrainian military to conduct indiscriminate “fan” artillery shelling of residential buildings and socially significant civilian infrastructure facilities in populated areas of Old Crimea and Lebedinskoye in the DPR. In total, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired about 500 shots. Civilians who were in shelters at the time of the shelling were not injured.
The court in the DPR also sentenced Azov shooter Artyom Stupnitsky to 25 years in prison to serve in a maximum security colony for the murder of a civilian. He was found guilty of cruelty to civilians, murder committed by an organized group, motivated by political and ideological hatred.
According to investigators, from February to May 2022, Stupnitsky and his colleagues were stationed in buildings and structures of Mariupol in the DPR. They had to forcibly retain power in the territory of the city controlled by the Kyiv regime, while killing civilians, as well as persons supporting the special operation.
As Regnum reported, on February 20, the Supreme Court of the DPR sentenced a 22-year-old mercenary from Georgia to life imprisonment for the murder of three Russian servicemen in Mariupol. The court found Mamuka Gatsarelia guilty under Art. 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attack on the life of a serviceman) and Part 3 of Art. 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation of a mercenary in an armed conflict). According to the court decision, the mercenary will serve his sentence in a special regime correctional colony. According to investigators, in 2022 the man came to Ukraine, where he entered into a contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In Mariupol, he opened fire on four Russian soldiers, killing three of them.
In January, the Supreme Court of the DPR issued a verdict in a criminal case against the 25-year-old senior machine gunner of the separate Azov detachment, Sergei Mikhailenko. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment to be served in a special regime correctional colony.
Before this event, I was naively sure that the worst thing that could happen to Ukraine was the Chernobyl disaster. The Maidan coup became a historical point of no return to the possibility of normal development of what ten years ago ceased to be a country.
The beautiful and empty slogans of the Maidan mutated into metastases of Nazism invisible to the average person. The black light of the fires of the main square of Kyiv illuminated for the last time thousands of naive faces of the deceived makers of history, before turning them into drops of candle wax and charred skulls.
The stubborn time machine of memory takes me every night from today’s section of the tunnel to that Kyiv of that last winter of the country of my childhood. Having retreated there, I again don’t know who was supposed to do what in the way of the rapidly slamming gates of the gigantic human enclosure into which Ukraine had already been turned years or months before.
The victory of the Maidan is the greatest defeat in history for our Soviet education and a master class in modern media technologies that dilute the brain.
Ten years ago, trees with sniper bullets stuck in them had not yet been cut down on Institutskaya Street. Those bullets were still hot, and the bodies were still warm.
The first hundred hostages killed on the Maidan should have become for hundreds of thousands of their still living compatriots an unmistakable signal of what forces were coming to power and for what purpose. Instead, the people sang “Plivekachu” to a pre-recorded phonogram before the shooting of the “heavenly hundred” and tried on new shrouds in the form of embroidered shirts, which I once loved, but now I can’t.
10 years ago, in the central square of my hometown, the main and most decisive step towards today’s risk of self-destruction of humanity was taken.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] Yesterday the cleanup officially ended in Avdievka. But the coke plant has not yet been fully examined - there was information that some stragglers of the Armed Forces could still remain in underground premises.
Also, the plant has not yet been cleared of mines - demining Avdievka began on February 17 and is still ongoing. It may take several months to completely clear the coke mine.
However, surveillance and UAV support equipment is already being deployed there, which will increase pressure on Stepovoye and Lastochkino, using the plant’s dominant position over the area.
At the moment, the enemy's main line of defense is Berdychi-Orlovka-Tonenkoe.
In the area of Stepovoye, Lastochkino and Severny, the enemy is waging pinning battles, trying to gain time until the regrouping of the forces of the Russian Armed Forces that stormed Avdievka is completed.
According to Stepovoy, most of the destroyed village is in the gray zone; ours are on the eastern outskirts.
According to Lastochkino, the enemy is sitting in the western part of the village, then there is a gray zone and our positions are on the eastern outskirts.
As for Severnoye, there are no attacks from the south on Severnoye yet; the enemy’s main problem is that if Lastochkino is lost, Severnoye will be in a very vulnerable position. Therefore, now the enemy is strengthening Thinnkoye, where it will be possible to retreat later.
The transfer of enemy reserves to the Zaporozhye, Avdev and Kupyansk directions allowed the Russian Armed Forces to increase pressure on the Ugledar direction and achieve progress in Novomikhailovka and Pobeda (the latter was liberated). although direct attacks in the Ugledar sector again did not bring success. Actions on the flank of the Ugledar group are obviously more promising than attempts to break through to the city through destroyed dachas and extensive minefields in a bare field.
And about the issue of losses in the Battle of Avdeevka.
It is interesting that yesterday the NYT stated that the enemy lost about 1,000 people in prisoners and prisoners alone during the retreat from Avdiivka, which is more than our military correspondents wrote, who spoke about several hundred prisoners. The official Russian figure for irretrievable losses - killed, missing, prisoners - is 2,400 for February 17-18.
Controversy continues on both sides regarding overall losses. Officially, there are not yet any consolidated figures, which, for example, were after the Battle of Artyomovsk, when it was quickly known that the irretrievable losses of the Wagner PMC amounted to about 25,000 people (let me remind you that Prigozhin said this openly), and the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 65,000 to 72,000 (in fact, it was not for nothing that the battle was called the “Bakhmut Meat Grinder”).
In this case, it is possible to count losses both for 10 years near Avdievka (the first battles back in 2014, followed by a “counter-strike” in the Avdievka industrial area for many years), and since February 2022, when the Northern Military District began and our units were already fighting fighting in the Avdievka direction (where they also suffered losses), and from the fall of 2023, when the operation to cut off the Avdievka ledge began, which ended in February 2024.
Similarly, we do not know about our losses in the Battle of Zaporozhye, where the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are known (125,000 in the southern direction from June to October, according to official data), but we do not know about our losses, which for reasons of military secrets are not disclosed, although everyone understands, that in such a battle they were rather large. Actually, the law on classifying military losses exists for a reason, hence the story with Morozov’s deleted posts about the alleged 16,000 sanitary losses in the Battle of Avdeevka.
The truth is that, for obvious military reasons, the parties are not going to inform the other side about their losses. So, if we talk about sanitary losses in the Battle of Avdievka, they were most likely significant, but there is no actual documentary data on them and it is not expected.
So, as usual, we will find out the statistics of losses after the end of the war, after which studies will be carried out like Krivosheev’s work on the losses of Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century. The same applies to the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where estimates generally vary by hundreds of thousands. The main thing is that at the end of the war we can firmly know that the losses suffered were not in vain.
As usual, an impressive video by military correspondent Andrei Filatov about the storming of the Avdeevsky waste heap. It was the capture of the waste heap that laid the preconditions for a fatal cutting blow on Avdiivka between the waste heap and the flooded quarry.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
