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 Ukraine has successfully tested its own long-range drone, which can cover 3,000 km. This was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his evening address.
22:27 In the Dnipro district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, as a result of an attack by enemy drones, an infrastructure facility was damaged and a fire broke out. This was reported by the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Serhiy Lysak, on the evening of March 17.
20:50 The Security Service has banned entry into Ukraine for three years to the head of the pro-Russian Romanian party SOS Romania, Diana Jovanovic Sosoache, who supports the Russian war against Ukraine. This was reported by the press service of the department.
18:05 Germany's 3 billion euro military aid package for Ukraine, which may soon be unblocked, provides for weapons supplies in both the short and long term. Federal Government spokesman Steffen Gebestreit gave details at a briefing, Ukrinform reports.
17.09 South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul called for cooperation on issues related to North Korean prisoners of war during a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiha on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea reported.
16:55 Since the beginning of the current day, 98 combat clashes have occurred on the front. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported details on the progress of the battles in an operational report as of 16:00.
16:29 The European Union is discussing providing military aid to Ukraine worth 40 billion euros. This initiative has broad support. This statement was made by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas at a briefing in Brussels.
15.51 Up to 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain under the control of the aggressor country Russia – they are either deported or forced to live under occupation. This was reported by the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak.
15:06 President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andriy Gnatov. They discussed the situation at the front and in interaction with partners on security guarantees for Ukraine.
14:30 Germany has transferred another package of military aid to Ukraine, which includes armored vehicles, drones and numerous ammunition. The full list was published by the German government.
13.56 Information that the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Kirill Ignatenko" allegedly "accused Elon Musk and the SpaceX company" of the so-called "failure of the Kursk operation" is a fake of Russian propaganda. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.
13.56 The Security Service detained a 21-year-old FSB agent in the Donetsk region, who was collecting intelligence data to prepare new attacks by the Russian Federation in the hottest direction of the front - Pokrovsky.
The man was recruited by the FSB through Telegram channels. After receiving enemy tasks, he began spying on the headquarters and strongholds of the Ukrainian troops.
Also, on assignment from the Russians, he tried to reconnoiter the coordinates of the combat positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces artillery, which is keeping under fire control the assault groups of the occupiers trying to break through to Pokrovsk.
13:49 Three children were wounded as a result of Russian shelling in the city of Pokrovsk. This was reported by the head of the Donetsk OVA Vadim Filashkin. According to him, these children had previously been evacuated to a safer region, but their parents decided to return to Pokrovsk.
13:25 A reconnaissance company of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade Magura, using Fly Eye 3.0 drones, discovered an enemy garage where Russian marines of the 155th Brigade were welding additional armor for their armored vehicles.
Over time, a HIMARS multiple launch rocket system was fired at the enemy target. As a result of the shelling, not only the workshop but also the personnel were destroyed.
13:24 A telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin may indeed take place on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said . However, he declined to comment on Trump's words about plans to discuss with Putin issues regarding territories and control over nuclear power plants.
13:19 On the evening of March 14, Russian troops launched a ballistic strike on the city of Kryvyi Rih, which damaged a judicial institution. This was reported by the press service of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine on Monday, March 17.
As noted, as a result of the shock waves, the windows and the facade of the justice system building were damaged.
13:09 In Zaporizhia, law enforcement officers detained a man who fired a pistol and threw a grenade at a patrol of police officers and TCC workers. This was reported by the regional department of the National Police. The offender was a 44-year-old resident of Zaporizhia.
12:55 Since the start of the work of the recruitment centers of the Ukrainian army, 45,657 citizens have contacted them, of which 9,379 candidates have begun the process of registration for military service. The most active are residents of Kiev and the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Lviv and Zaporizhia regions.
12:49 Russian troops have become more active in the Kupyansk and Limansk directions, in particular, they are trying to transfer equipment across the Oskol River. This was reported on the air of the telethon by Viktor Tregubov, a representative of the operational-strategic group of troops Khortytsia.
11:22 As a result of the attack by Russian drones, energy facilities in several regions were damaged. This was reported by Ukrenergo. There are consumers without power. Repair crews of the regional power company are already working to eliminate the consequences of the shelling.
11.03 Ukraine will be the determining party in monitoring the observance of the ceasefire regime, since everything is happening on its territory. But international forces may also be involved. This was stated by Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga in an interview for RBC-Ukraine .
10:15 The Security Service detained a 21-year-old agent of the Russian special services who was preparing coordinates for a new series of Russian air strikes on Odessa. Among the enemy's potential targets were reserve command posts and administrative buildings of the Defense Forces. In order to penetrate the Ukrainian air defense during the attack, the agent tried to identify and transmit to the occupiers the coordinates of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' radar stations.
09:30 The United States is withdrawing from a multinational group investigating Russia's crimes during its invasion of Ukraine, including the actions of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, The New York Times reports.
The case in point is the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA), created to hold Russia's leadership, as well as its allies in Belarus, North Korea, and Iran, accountable for aggression that violates the sovereignty of another country and is not undertaken in self-defense.
09:10 At night, Russia attacked Ukraine with 174 Shahed-type attack UAVs and drone imitators of various types. Air defense forces destroyed 90 drones. Another 70 Russian drone imitators were lost without negative consequences.
As a result of the Russian attack, Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kiev regions suffered.
08:56 At night, 37 Russian drones were recorded on the approaches to Kiev, 25 of them were destroyed by air defense systems, the rest were lost or left the airspace. There is no information about damage and casualties as a result of falling debris.
08:44 In the Kremenchuk district of the Poltava region, emergency power outages were introduced after the Russian drone attack. 1,035 households and 41 legal consumers were left without power.
08:20 Over the past 24 hours, 112 combat clashes took place on the front. Missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces hit six areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment, as well as an artillery weapon of the Russian invaders.
07:55 In the temporarily captured areas of the Luhansk region, the occupation administration is distributing land to the Russian military. This was reported by the Center for National Resistance.
"The occupiers continue to plunder Ukrainian land - in the Luhansk region there is a new wave of "distribution" of seized land to the "SVO" terrorists and the families of the deceased occupiers," the report says.
07:20 As of March 17, 2025, the total combat losses of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine were approximately 895,450 people (+1,210 in the last 24 hours).
04:01 A civilian was killed and two more people were wounded by Russian shelling in the Sumy region. In total, on Sunday, March 16, Russian troops carried out 114 shellings of border territories and settlements in the region.
01:20 A potential peace agreement could provide for an exchange of territories for security guarantees for Ukraine and a determination of its future status, said US National Security Advisor Michael Walz. According to him, the agreement could consider access to Ukraine's rare earth resources, maintaining an American presence, possible participation of European troops, as well as Kiev's refusal to join NATO. At the same time, he suggested that regions with a large share of ethnic Russians, in particular Donbass, could come under Russian control.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding back Russian attacks in the east and south of Ukraine.
The largest number of battles are taking place in the Pokrovsky direction. There, the Russians are attacking in the areas of nine populated areas.
Since the beginning of the current day, 98 combat clashes have occurred on the front. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report as of 16:00 on Monday, March 17.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, the enemy attacked three times in the direction of Kamyanka and Zapadnoye. Two combat clashes are still ongoing.
In the Kupyansk direction, the Russians carried out five attacks near Petropavlovka, Kruglyakovka and Boguslavka. Three clashes are still ongoing.
In the Liman direction, the invaders carried out six attacks on Ukrainian positions in the directions of Novomykhaylovka, Novoye, Olgiyevka, Zarechny and Yampolovka. Three clashes are ongoing.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy is trying to advance in the areas of Chasovy Yar, Orekhovo-Vasilovka, Stupochki and Kurdyumovka. Two of the five attacks have been repelled, the fighting continues.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy is trying to penetrate the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense in the areas of Toretsk, Dachnoye, Druzhba, Ozaryanovka, Dilievka and Leonidovka. Four attacks are ongoing, our defenders have already repelled 13 assaults by the invaders.
In the Pokrovsky direction, Russian invaders organized 31 attacks in the areas of the settlements of Vodyanoye Vtoroye, Sviridonovka, Promin, Novopavlovka, Kotlino, Udachnoye, Novoaleksandrovka, Bogdanovka and Andreyevka. The defense forces repelled 25 assaults, six clashes are still ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, our defenders repelled eight assaults. Another clash is currently ongoing. The enemy is trying to advance in the areas of Privolnoye, Vesyoloye and Konstantinopol.
In the Gulyai-Polye direction, eight enemy attacks were repelled in the areas of the settlements of Novosyolka and Novopol.
In the Orekhov direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are repelling five enemy attacks in the directions of the settlements of Stepovoye and Lobkovoe.
In the Kursk region, our soldiers repelled four enemy attacks, and five more clashes are still ongoing.
We remind you that in the course of 24 hours on March 16, Russia lost more than 1,200 fighters killed and wounded. The total number of Russian losses is approaching 900 thousand people.
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
Kharkov direction, units of the Sever Group of Forces have inflicted fire damage on two AFU mechanised brigades near Volchansk and Kazachya Lopan (Kharkov region).
The AFU lost up to 90 troops and 18 motor vehicles. One ammunition depot was destroyed.
The Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of one motorised infantry brigade, one mechanised brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and one territorial defence brigade near Kopanki, Novoyegorovka (Kharkov region) and Redkodub (Donetsk People's Republic).
The enemy losses were more than 225 servicemen, eight motor vehicles, one field artillery gun, and three electronic warfare stations.
The Yug Group of Forces took more favourable lines and positions. Strikes were delivered at two mechanised brigades, one infantry brigade, and one assault brigade of the AFU near Krymskoye, Aleksandropol, and Verolyubovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to more than 190 troops, two motor vehicles, and one field artillery gun. One field ammunition depot was destroyed.
The Tsentr Group of Forces continued advancing to the depth of enemy defences. Strikes were delivered at formations of two mechanised brigades, one assault brigade of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and one national guard brigade near Sribnoye, Udachnoye, Dimitrov, Shevchenko, and Uspenovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The enemy lost more than 495 troops, four armoured fighting vehicles, including one U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, 10 motor vehicles, three artillery guns, and two electronic warfare stations.
The Vostok Group's units inflicted fire damage on formations of two motorised infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and one territorial defence brigade close to Bogatyr, Federovka, and Otradnoye in Donetsk People's Republic.
Up to 140 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, and six motor vehicles of the enemy have been neutralised.
As a result of active and decisive actions, units of the Dnepr Group of Forces liberated Stepovoye (Zaporozhye region).
Strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of one coastal defence brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and one territorial defence brigade close to Tyaginka (Kherson region) and Pavlovka (Zaporozhye region).
Up to 65 troops, five motor vehicles, and one electric warfare station of the enemy have been neutralised.
Operational-tactical aircraft, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops, and artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces inflicted fire damage on military facilities of airfields, training centre of UAV pilots, as well as clusters of manpower and military equipment of the AFU and foreign mercenaries in 159 areas.
Air defence systems shot down two U.S.-made JDAM guided aerial bombs and 177 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
Since the beginning of the special military operation, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised: 658 aircraft,283 helicopters, 47,094 unmanned aerial vehicles, 601 anti-aircraft missile systems, 22,303 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,529 MLRS combat vehicles, 22,625 field artillery guns and mortars, 32,989 units of special military vehicles.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.
In the course of the offensive actions, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on units of one mechanised brigade, two air assault brigades, one naval infantry brigade, and two territorial defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Gogolevka, Gornal, Guyevo, and Oleshnya.
Operational-Tactical, Army Aviation, and artillery fire hit enemy manpower and hardware close to Gogolevka, Gornal, Guyevo, Zapselye, Loknya and Oleshnya, as well as Basovka, Belovody, Varachino, Velikaya Rybitsa, Veselovka, Vodolagi, Zhuravka, Ivolzhanskoye, Novenkoye, Sadki, Yunakovka, and Yablonovka (Sumy region).
During the day, the AFU losses amounted to more than 280 troops, two tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, two armoured personnel carriers, 12 motor vehicles, two artillery guns, two mortars, one counter-battery warfare station, as well as three UAV command posts and two ammunition depots.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 68,130 troops, 396 tanks, 319 infantry fighting vehicles, 287 armoured personnel carriers, 2,200 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,454 motor vehicles, 560 artillery guns, 52 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and seven of MLRS made by the USA, 26 anti-aircraft missile launchers, one self-propelled anti-aircraft system, ten transport-loading vehicles, 120 EW stations, 17 counter-battery radars, ten air defence radars, 56 units of engineering and other materiel, including 23 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, five bridge launchers, one engineering reconnaissance vehicle as well as 15 armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:37 The incinerating power of the Iskander
The Iskander OTRK complex crew struck the area of the concentration of manpower and equipment of the 144th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Losevka area, Sumy region —video.
20:46 FPV drone destroyed Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicle with ammunition detonation in the vicinity of Chasy Yar —video.
20:25 Military personnel of the "East" group of forces are actively destroying heavy drones of the "Baba Yaga" type and reconnaissance drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces —video.
19:40 Russian Ministry of Defense:
At about 16:50 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of Belgorod region
18:52 UAV operators hit enemy artillery
Drone operators of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army of the West Forces Group destroyed an artillery gun, mortar and antenna of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Khar'kov region –video.
18:15 Telegram channel «Fisherman»:
Zaporizhzhya direction: liberation of Stepovoye and battles on the Shcherbaki-Malye Shcherbaki line
– The offensive of the Russian Armed Forces, which began in early March, is developing in the Zaporizhzhya direction: today the Russian Ministry of Defense officially announced the liberation of Stepovoye.
More details about the situation in the Zaporizhia direction:
– After several days of artillery work, by March 10, the Russian Armed Forces fighters advanced towards Stepovoye under cover of fog and were able to take the settlement without losses. This was achieved, among other things, thanks to the radio game.
– The enemy remained confident until the very end that Stepovoye remained under its complete control, although footage refuting this appeared on March 11. During this time, Russian servicemen were able to set up several ambushes on nearby roads for members of the Ukrainian formations who were unaware of this.
– At the same time, the Russian Armed Forces managed to advance to Shcherbaki and Malye Shcherbaki, where fighting is currently underway. Russian troops launched attacks in that area back in January, but then these were more of a diversionary measure.
– In case of further successes in this area, the heights to the west of Orekhovo may come under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. And this, in turn, will open up new opportunities for action in the Novoandreyevka area, as well as Malaya Tokmachka or even Gulyaipole.
17:48 Drone operators of the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Leningrad Military District smoke out Ukrainian soldiers from shelters —video.
17:24 A 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS crew from the 58th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Dnepr Forces Group destroyed a stronghold of a Ukrainian Armed Forces company —video.
16:59 Accurate hit on self-propelled gun of the Armed Forces of Ukraine The crew of the Lancet loitering munition of the Sever group destroyed the Bogdana self-propelled gun of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kha'rkov region —video.
16:29 Russian Ministry of Defense:
From 13:30 to 14:30 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
Two UAVs over the territory of the Kursk region and
One UAV over the territory of the Belgorod region.
15:56 Sumy direction:
At night the enemy attempted to approach our positions, but as always was eliminated -video.
15:25 Strike FPV drone crews of the Center group of forces continue to destroy enemy manpower concentrations, mortar and artillery crews of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Drone operators support the advance of the group's assault units in the Krasnoarmeysk direction —video.
14:50 Strike "LeMUR" at the shelter of Ukrainian militants in the Kherson region -video.
14:23 A tank crew of the 1st Separate Guards Motorized Rifle "Slavic" Order of the Republic Brigade destroyed a stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnoarmeysk direction with fire from a closed firing position —video.
13:18 A crew of the Molniya UAV from the 11th Engineering Brigade hit a group of enemy FPV drone operators in the Chasov Yar area —video.
12:19 Russian Ministry of Defense:
Around 09:30 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of the Belgorod region.
11:44 A shooter with the call sign "Luna" showed the results of his unit's combat work during the liberation of the settlements of Kositsa and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye —video.
11:27 Everything has been worked out to the point of automatism – the crews of the 152mm 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzers of the 1st Guards Tank Army of the West Forces Group carry out combat missions to destroy equipment and manpower of the Ukrainian Armed Forces every day –video.
10:45 FPV drone crews from the Rubicon Center catch up with the retreating enemy —video.
10:27 Telegram channel «Fisherman»:
Heavy street fighting continues in Dzerzhinsk in various parts of the town, where the Russian Armed Forces have managed to stabilize the situation. The positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces are a "layered pie", where only a few houses can separate the sides, which sometimes leads to confusion on the ground due to the complex front line.
– More details on the chronology of the battles in the area: The most difficult situation remains in the eastern part of the Zabalka microdistrict, where Ukrainian formations are trying to gain a foothold every day.
– At the same time, while fierce clashes are taking place in the city, to the southwest the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to advance in the Panteleimonivka area.
– Russian troops, in turn, attack on the western flank along the line of Vodyanoye Vtoroye – Zelenoye Pole, gaining a foothold on the southern outskirts of Tarasovka.
- At the same time, in the area of the Staronikolaevsk wedge, the front has been static for the last year. The enemy has prepared an echeloned line of defense over several years, which is not advisable to take head-on.
Success in the Tarasovka area from the west and in the direction of Romanovka in the east will allow "to close the pincers" around the Ukrainian Armed Forces' fortified area, avoiding unnecessary losses.
The collapse of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense to the west of Dzerzhinsk will be a support for the Russian Armed Forces' advance to Konstantinovka from the south and its subsequent semi-envelopment from the west.
09:40 A total of 22 Ukrainian aircraft-type UAVs knocked down overnight over Russian territory.
Of these, more than half – 13 units – were destroyed over the Astrakhan region.
In addition, three drones were intercepted over Kalmykia, two over Bryansk Oblast and Krasnodar Krai, and one over Volgograd and Rostov Oblasts.
08:15 Frontline report for the morning of 17.03.2025
- Zaporizhzhya Front.They continue fighting in the area of Stepovoye, Shcherbaki and Malye Shcherbaki. Russian troops are putting pressure on the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian army is pulling reserves to this area to stop the advance of the Russian Armed Forces.
- Donetsk Front. There is a significant strengthening of the Ukrainian Armed Forces defense due to fresh reserves, some of which are Spanish-speaking mercenaries. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to build an active defense and often counterattack. Russian troops continue to put pressure on Ukrainian positions, but the additional forces transferred here and the huge number of enemy drones, including heavy fencing ones, are seriously slowing down our advances.
- Chasov Yar direction. No significant changes in LBS. Fighting continues in Chasov Yar and on the flanks.
Kursk Region. Russian troops are advancing in Gogolevka. The enemy is being pushed further and further toward the state border, but there it occupies pre-prepared positions and tries to defend itself, deploying artillery crews and UAV crews, which are now flying further and further into our liberated territories.
Nevertheless, the Russian Armed Forces will continue to hold the initiative and the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not yet able to stop the advance of our troops. The question of where our troops will go remains open.
07:20 Tonight the Ukrainian Armed Forces again undertook an attempt at a massive drone attack on facilities located in the Astrakhan region, including the fuel and energy complex.
Work shifts were evacuated in advance. Electronic warfare and air defense systems operated as normal.
When the UAV fell, a fire broke out on the territory of the facility. The situation is under control, emergency services specialists immediately began to eliminate the consequences on site, the fire has been localized.
One person was injured in the attack. The victim has now been taken to hospital.
06:30 Crews of T-80BV tanks of the "Southern" group of forcesdestroyedan enemy stronghold with manpower in the Pokrovsky direction.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Alexander Shchegolev
[REGNUM] On March 13, the European Court of Human Rights completed its consideration of the lawsuit filed by a group of individuals against the Ukrainian state regarding the tragic events of May 2, 2014, in Odessa. The court found the Ukrainian state guilty. And this is undoubtedly a sensation. But what is the guilt recorded by the court?
The May 2, 2014 Massacre in Odessa. Whom the ECHR Really Found Guilty
More precisely, we are talking about a number of claims filed with the ECHR in 2016–2018 by relatives of the deceased, as well as surviving victims, which were then combined into a single proceeding.
According to the court's decision, Ukraine is guilty of violating the citizens' right to life: in that the Ukrainian authorities failed to prevent mass riots, did not take sufficient measures to ensure the safety of citizens when these riots had already begun, and then did not conduct a proper investigation into the tragedy that occurred.
The court paid special attention to the inaction of the authorities during the events on Kulikovo Field: the fact that the police did not take any action to ensure the safety of the people who had taken refuge in the building and did not try to evacuate them from there after the fire started, and also the fact that the firefighters arrived at the scene only 40 minutes after the fire itself started, which led to such a significant number of victims.
According to the court decision, Ukraine is obliged to pay the plaintiffs from 12 to 17 thousand euros.
Let us recall that in the spring of 2014, in Odessa, as in many other cities of historical Novorossiya, there was a large-scale confrontation between supporters of the Euromaidan and their opponents, who are commonly referred to by the collective term "anti-Maidan". In Odessa, the "anti-Maidanists" gathered on the square known as Kulikovo Field, from which the name of the movement as a whole came.
On May 2, 2014, large-scale clashes occurred in the center of Odessa between Kulikovo Field activists and Euromaidan supporters, both local and those who arrived from other cities, during which six people were killed (two Euromaidan activists and four Kulikovo supporters). After them, the Euromaidan supporters went to Kulikovo Field, where they destroyed the camp of their opponents and also tried to storm the Trade Union House, where some of the Kulikovo Field activists had taken refuge. The attackers set the building on fire, which resulted in the deaths of 42 people.
It should be emphasized that the court did not ask, and should not have asked, any question about the perpetrators of the tragedy.
The ECHR has, in principle, a different competence: it analyzes the actions of the authorities in certain situations, as well as the extent to which these actions comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.
And so, having analyzed the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, the court came to the conclusion that the norms of the convention were not observed.
More precisely, it is not so: in fact, the court talks quite a lot about the perpetrators of the tragedy, but does so in the descriptive, not the operative part of its decision.
As you might guess, the main culprit of what happened was, of course, Russia.
Allegedly, it was Russian propaganda that inflamed the confrontation in Odessa in the spring of 2014 and it was precisely this propaganda that “reinforced” the actions of the Kulikovo Field activists.
It is repeatedly emphasized that the police's insufficient actions consisted mainly of weak counteraction to the "Kulikovites", and it is also clearly not without ulterior motive that many of the people responsible for making decisions fled to Russia after May 2.
The latter is far from the truth.
In fact, only two people were in Russia: the head of the Odessa department of the State Emergency Service, Vladimir Bodelan, and the deputy head of the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Dmitry Fuchedzhi. These two names are constantly mentioned in the court decision as examples of people who performed their duties improperly.
At the same time, the names of officials who remained in Ukraine are not mentioned in the report; for example, nothing is said about Fuchedzhi’s immediate superior, Petro Lutsyuk, who was, in fact, the chief law enforcement officer of the Odessa region at the time of the tragedy.
This shift in emphasis in the ECHR decision correlates well with the position of the Ukrainian authorities on this matter: Fuchedzhi, for example, was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in 2023, while Lutsyuk, by definition more responsible for ensuring public order in Odessa, not only did not bear any responsibility, but after May 2 continued to work in various positions in the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The court decision does not mention the then governor of Odessa region, Vladimir Nemirovsky, the head of the SBU department, and so on, not to mention the investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office, who conducted (and in fact, as confirmed by the court decision, destroyed) the investigation of the events.
Of course, the court was not obliged to mention them, because, as has already been said, the investigation of the events as such and the establishment of the role of specific individuals in them is not the task of the ECHR. But, despite this, the court mentioned individual officials in its decision. Those who are convenient for the Ukrainian authorities.
It is difficult to talk about objectivity when the text of the decision condemns the actions of the deputy head of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, Fuchedzhi, but his immediate superior, Lutsyuk, is not mentioned even once.
There is no need to be surprised by such selectivity. The ECHR is a structure of the European Union, whose attitude towards Russia is generally well known, and one should not expect objectivity from it, at least for this reason.
Fire near the building of the regional council of trade unions in Odessa
It is worth mentioning separately that in the “descriptive” part of its decision, the ECHR (and this is directly stated in the decision!) relied to a large extent on the data of the so-called “May 2 Group”, created on the initiative of Igor Palytsia, who headed the Odessa region after May 2, 2014. Palytsia’s appointment was a direct consequence of the tragedy, so he is one of the main beneficiaries of what happened, and he is reasonably suspected of involvement in its organization.
Be that as it may, the “May 2 Group”, created on the initiative of Palytsia and working under the wing of his deputy, OSCE media expert Zoya Kazanzhi, consisting of supporters of the Euromaidan, interprets the events in a very specific way.
In their materials, especially the latest ones, the actions of the "Euromaidan" activists are whitewashed as much as possible, and all the blame for the mass deaths is shifted as much as possible to the "Kulikovites" and Fuchedzhi and Bodelan, who "fled to Russia." And it was from them that the corresponding considerations apparently found their way into the court's decision.
However, it is difficult to say what is the cause and what is the effect: either the court simply carelessly trusted the falsifiers, or, on the contrary, having initially set itself the task of giving the case the right political emphasis, it attracted the right people as a source of information.
Well, that's probably not that important.
What is valuable is that, despite the obvious bias, the court, with its decision, nevertheless confirmed and legalized many important points concerning both the events themselves and their investigation.
In particular, Ukraine is accused of the fact that, even knowing about the unrest that was being prepared, the leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs did nothing to prevent it, did not prepare sufficient forces to counter it, and even after the fighting began in the center of Odessa, did practically nothing to transfer additional law enforcement forces to the conflict zone.
Based on this conclusion of the court, we can pose the following question: was the inaction of the security forces negligence or did they deliberately inaction, as part of the implementation of an agreed scenario, the purpose of which was to create a dramatic picture of violent riots.
The court's decision devotes considerable attention to how law enforcement officers acted and failed to act during the investigation of the events.
In particular, the rather dramatic story of Professor Elena Radzikhovskaya and her struggle to bring to justice the suspect in the murder of her only son, Andrei Brazhevsky, is described in dry, formal language.
According to the official findings of the investigation, Brazhevsky died when he jumped from one of the upper floors of the burning Trade Union House.
However, Radzikhovskaya herself is convinced that her son was killed by Euromaidan activist Vsevolod Goncharevsky. In one of the videos filmed on May 2, he is shown finishing off people who were jumping out of the windows of a building engulfed in flames with a stick.
Extinguishing a fire in the building of the regional council of trade unions
Goncharevsky was arrested in August 2014, but was later released, and in February 2015 the case against him was closed due to lack of evidence of his involvement.
Radzikhovskaya tried for several years to get the investigation reopened, and in 2017 she even managed to get an expert examination of the video recordings to determine whether they really did depict Goncharevsky. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the results of these examinations, and the case against Goncharevsky has never been reopened.
Now this whole story is immortalized by the decision of the ECHR.
Another story is described in slightly less detail: the death in the center of Odessa of Kulikovo men Nikolai Yavorsky, Alexander Zhulkov and Gennady Petrov.
They died, having received fatal wounds from buckshot, and almost certainly fell victim to the same shooter - Euromaidan activist Sergei Khodiak. However, Khodiak was only a suspect in the murder of one person - Kulikov's Evgeniy Losinsky, and all attempts by relatives of the other victims to recognize them as victims in this case were brushed aside by law enforcement officers for many years.
By the way, Khodiyak was not even held accountable for Losinsky's death; he lived freely in Odessa and was active in "social activities" in the spirit of the recently murdered Demyan Ganul. The case of premeditated murder opened against him was closed four times (!) by the investigator's order and reopened the same number of times by the court's decision after the victims filed corresponding appeals.
The ECHR decision even states that all four times the decision to terminate the criminal proceedings were completely identical and did not contain any indication of the real reasons for such a decision! The last time the investigation against Khodiyak was extended in January 2022 until July of the same year.
Probably, after the start of the SVO, Ukrainian law enforcement officers finally managed to bury this “cold case” that had been bothering them.
All this did not prevent the court from concluding that there was no selectivity in the actions of Ukrainian law enforcement officers and that they “did not pay more attention to the investigation of the murders of Euromaidan protesters than to the investigation of the murders of anti-Maidan protesters.”
In part, this is true, in the sense that law enforcement officers, in principle, did as little as possible for the investigation, probably fearing, not without reason, that in the course of a real investigation they might establish facts that should not have been established.
Nevertheless, the fact remains: the actions of the Ukrainian authorities not only during the events of May 2, but also after these events were recognized as violating that very European Convention on Human Rights.
That is, the ECHR confirmed the repeatedly expressed opinion that the investigation of the May 2 case was essentially sabotaged, and left wide scope for searching for an answer to the question of who specifically sabotaged it and for what purpose.
Well, and the last thing.
The list of plaintiffs and victims included in the court decision itself is of considerable value in situations where fakes are still persistently spreading on the Internet that the people who died on May 2 were mostly people from Russia and Transnistria.
Well, here it is: in the list attached to the court decision, which indicates both the citizenship and place of residence of the victims and survivors, it is directly stated that all of them are citizens of Ukraine, and most of them are residents of Odessa.
So the fact that the ECHR made at least such a decision is good news for everyone who still hopes to one day learn the whole truth about what happened on May 2, 2014 in Odessa.
#1
I started to become biased after reading the social media posts of the surviving ethnic russian spouses who were losing their homes and facing other economic hardships because Ukraine refused to pay pensions and or life insurance for their dead husbands.
They were saying because the men jumped out of a burning building (Trade Union) to escape the misery of slowing burning to death - that the deaths were suicide and negated their policies.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Andrey Khrustalev
[REGNUM] The Kursk operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces became one of the most controversial events of the last three years for the Ukrainians themselves. From the very beginning, the actions on the adjacent Russian territory took place under a veil of information fog.
There were different and often contradictory assessments of the goals of this offensive. The topic was hotly discussed by Ukrainian military and political scientists, but society never received a clear and precise answer to the question "why?" from them.
Although the invasion of the Kursk region really came as a big surprise to everyone. Unlike the failed summer counteroffensive of 2023, which was widely announced and everyone knew where and when to expect it.
As the Ukrainian TV channel Espreso noted at the time, “in reality, we learn most of the information about the course and reasons for the cross-border attack indirectly, thanks to Russian military personnel, videos and photographs from Ukrainian military personnel and foreign media, which either seek anonymous sources in government agencies or present expert opinions for their conclusions.”
The fighting began on the morning of August 6, 2024, when units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border near the city of Sudzha.
Ukrainian troops began advancing deep into the territory and within a few days controlled several hundred square kilometers. However, the authorities were in no hurry to report the results, given the sad experience of the previous "counteroffensive." The first official information appeared only a week later.
On August 12, Volodymyr Zelensky said that the goal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is to liberate the border area from the Russian army. Two weeks later, he said that Ukraine is not occupying Russia's Kursk region, and the operation in the region is only preventing the Russians from creating a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory.
And at a lower level, the goals were described quite differently. A series of publications appeared in the media hinting at historical claims to these lands and possible annexation of the territories.
"The Kursk region is historically connected with Ukraine and in the future it may become either a separate territory like the Kursk People's Republic or even part of Ukraine," the experts wrote in all seriousness. And social networks were massively disseminating various kinds of evidence that "a hundred years ago, after the collapse of the Russian Empire, Ukrainians living in the territory of today's Kursk and Belgorod regions actively supported the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR)."
In general, according to such statements, it was the Ukrainian ethnic territory of Slobozhanshchina, and the population had ancient Ukrainian roots, since the settlements were formed during the era of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. And the fact that the city of Sudzha and Belgorod were even the capitals of Soviet Ukraine for a short period only further emphasized the "Ukrainianness of these lands" in the eyes of the authors of theories calling for "re-evaluation of both the past and possible future of the borders between Ukraine and the Russian Federation."
The idea that Ukraine had turned from a victim into an aggressor, entering the territory of another country with weapons and violating international law (which it had constantly insisted on) was in plain sight. Nevertheless, a military commandant's office was created in the captured part of Kursk Oblast - its head was Major General Eduard Moskalov.
There was even an idea of opening Ukrainian classes in local schools from September 1. Deputy Minister of Education of Ukraine Mykhailo Vinnitsky said then that his department would probably have to draw up a plan to provide education for Kursk children, but this was later abandoned - in light of the same international law.
Meanwhile, the list of benefits Ukraine had put on display from the operation grew.
Here there was a rise in the morale of the population, and a demonstration to them and their "partners" of the strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, capable not only of defense, but also of attack. The concept of creating an "exchange fund" was tested on the air. That is, if Ukraine could consolidate its positions, they could be exchanged for lands near Kharkov, Kherson or Donetsk.
There were also economic goals.
One of them was to exert influence on Russia by seizing Sudzha with its gas measuring station. This allowed control over the transportation of gas through the pipeline that supplies Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine.
The gas contract expired at the end of 2024, but gaining control of the plant brought the situation to an equation with many unknowns. Experts also spread the concept of seizing the Kurchatov NPP and potentially exchanging it for the Zaporizhzhya NPP.
The operation was supposed to force Russia to abandon its offensive in the Donetsk and Kharkov regions and switch to liberating its own territories.
But in the end, none of the plans worked.
The Ukrainian army got stuck, having captured only part of the planned territory. And gradually it became clear that it would not be possible to achieve even half of what was desired.
With the end of the offensive and the transition to positional battles, the operation in the Kursk region turned into a "suitcase without a handle" for Kyiv. Ukrainian forces were under constant fire, the army's advance stopped, and it became clear that there was simply no plan "B".
It was impossible to leave and withdraw the troops, and staying was extremely costly.
Accordingly, the question of why all this is necessary has loomed again on the airwaves - only in a different plane. As Roman Kostenko, Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, noted in August 2024, "this is a success in many aspects - both internationally and in our own, that we have seized the initiative; and in the moral and psychological sense, and a victory that we have not had for a long time. And the next goal is probably known only to our commander-in-chief and a few people involved in the Headquarters or the direct planning of this operation."
That is, the main victory is the proof of the genius of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. At the same time, the obvious failure increased the number of those who believed that the loss of territory in the Donetsk direction would hardly be compensated by the frozen resources in Sudzha.
As autumn approached, the tone of statements describing the operation's objectives began to change.
On August 18, 2024, Zelensky stated in an evening address that the main objective of the operation in the Kursk region was to destroy as much Russian potential as possible and create a “buffer zone.”
On August 24, at a press conference in Kyiv, he noted that "everything is going according to plan," and the Ukrainian military prevented the occupation of the city of Sumy with a preemptive strike. And on October 21, citizens suddenly learned from the same source that "instead of a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory, which the Russians had planned, we created a buffer zone near our border on Russian territory."
The situation remained relatively stable throughout the autumn. But when in January 2025 the Russian army's offensive in Donbass and simultaneously in the Sudzha area had an obvious success, Kyiv could not counter it with anything. But Zelensky did not want to give up the "achieved success" either - this would refute everything said earlier, and he does not do this on principle.
By the end of February, units of the Russian Armed Forces approached the Sudzha-Sumy highway, through which supplies were supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces group in the Kursk region. As of March 9, according to The New York Times, the Ukrainians had lost 2/3 of the territory they had previously controlled. At the same time, all reports of a "cauldron" were actively denied.
Now the Ukrainian Armed Forces command (obviously, following instructions from Bankova) was trying to delay the retreat process, not giving the order to withdraw and exchanging the worsening situation for media bonuses.
After all, against the backdrop of the greatly deteriorated quality of communication with the US, Ukraine simply had to hold on to the territories until the start of the ceasefire talks. Otherwise, Kyiv would have lost one of its few trump cards. So, in the end, real information about the situation in the Kursk region was given, as usual, by foreign media.
On March 10, an article on Radio Liberty* devoted to the situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region was published with the headline "The beginning of the end? The Russian army is advancing in the Kursk region." It quoted Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Artem Karyakin as saying that "two months ago we already understood where this was all heading."
It was against this backdrop that Zelensky announced on March 14 that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had completed their operation in the Kursk region. He now called the withdrawal of Russian forces from Pokrovsk and Kharkov its main results. None of the country's military authorities dared to publicly admit the failure.
"The defense forces have redeployed to more advantageous defense lines in the Kursk region, " said Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. And only the unbending MP Maryana Bezugla, who works as a lightning rod for the President's Office, clearly pointed out the "true culprits" of the failure.
"The retreat from Kursk region is not planned - this is another miscalculation, " she wrote on her Telegram channel. " People are not receiving any orders to leave, each unit leaves as best it can. This is barbarity on the part of Syrsky !"
And then the Russians' entry into Sumy Oblast looms - which, as we remember, was "prevented". Now the BBC* is publishing a report full of quotes from Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers: "horror film", "catastrophe", "collapse", "failure of the front". "The roads are littered with hundreds of destroyed cars, armored vehicles and ATVs. There are many wounded and dead."
However, there is another goal of this operation, which was also voiced by foreigners. According to The Washington Post, its task was to disrupt secret peace talks in August 2024. At that time, Ukraine and Russia intended to discuss efforts to partially cease fire and strikes on energy infrastructure, the publication reports, citing diplomats and officials.
A possible agreement would offer a reprieve for both countries, which had already ostensibly agreed to hold a summit in Doha, with only minor details remaining to be ironed out. Beyond that, some negotiators hoped they could reach a more comprehensive agreement to end the war.
The offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region disrupted all plans, making peace negotiations impossible.
The breakdown of peace talks has delayed the peace process — which Zelensky now insists on after his talks with Trump — by more than six months. And the question of how many lives the occupation of Russian lands has cost remains unanswered.
Even if the Russian army forces were pulled back from other directions and some populated areas remained under Ukrainian control, this was achieved at an incomparable cost of enormous efforts and lost lives of soldiers. Other goals of the operation turned out to be short-term.
Even morale was raised only for a short time, because the Ukrainian Armed Forces were unable to repeat such a breakthrough anywhere else, although they tried. And the definition of "adventure" for the ultimately failed invasion is more appropriate than any other.
Commentary by Russia military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] Russia's Zala Z16 reconnaissance drones have received a new FPV drone evasion system, which is a serious response to the threat from Ukrainian drones
In the latest modifications, the device is equipped with cameras that constantly monitor the airspace and record the approach of enemy FPV drones. In the event of an attack, Zala automatically begins to maneuver, forcing the enemy to waste its charge until it runs out of charge or disappears from sight. This technological improvement is designed to neutralize one of the key threats that the Russian army has faced in recent months - the active knocking out of reconnaissance drones of the Russian Armed Forces by strikes with FPV munitions.
Now Russian intelligence officers have received a tool that allows them to maintain their presence in the sky and continue to carry out tasks even in conditions of increased counteraction
A useful invention. But it is quite clear that small-sized drones will also be actively developed as tactical air defense systems in the coming years.
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.
