Russo-Ukraine War - 25 February 2022
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"For Russia, it is extremely important to liberate not only Donbass from the occupying forces of the Kiev regime, but also the entire left bank of Ukraine, as well as its Black Sea regions. Dnepr, Zaporozhye, Mariupol, Odessa, Ochakov, Nikolaev, Kherson, and other cities that have industrial and defense enterprises essential to the Russian Federation. If they are controlled by Moscow, this means that Russia has defeated the West and taken its Slavic partner out of the sphere of influence of the United States and NATO," retired military expert Colonel Nikolay Shulgin told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
Ukraine's Defence Ministry said on 25 Febrary 2022 that more than 1,000 Russian servicemen had been killed so far in the Ukrainian conflict. "Russia has not suffered so many casualties during the fighting in any of its armed conflicts since its inception," the ministry said. "Russian mothers send their sons to certain death, because the Ukrainian armed forces hold the lines and will defend their country against the occupiers," the statement read. Russian forces had lost about 2,800 servicemen [presumably both KIA and WIA] and 80 tanks during their assault on Ukraine, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar. She added that the Russian troops also lost about 516 armored combat vehicles, 10 aircraft and seven helicopters.
Zelenskiy said 137 civilians and military personnel had been killed in the Russian attacks so far. He called them "heroes" in a video address released early on February 25 in which he also said more than 300 people were injured in less than 24 hours of fighting.
The Russian Defense Ministry, on the other hand, has said there had been no casualties. Neither claim could be independently verified.
A Ukrainian official said 13 soldiers on Zmiinyi (Snake) Island were killed in a Russian assault and he circulated an audio clip that he and media outlet Ukrainskaya Pravda said was a verbal exchange between Ukrainian and Russian forces. “This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and unnecessary victims. Otherwise you will be bombed,” audio of the alleged Russian warning said. “Russian warship, go fuck yourself,” reportedly came the reply by Ukraine troops. “On our Zmiinyi Island, defending it to the last, all the border guards died heroically. But they did not give up. All of them will be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
In November 1941, 28 soldiers of the Red Army's 316th Rifle Division under the command of General Ivan Panfilov stationed near Moscow stopped 54 German tanks for several days. Panfilov’s 28 Guardsmen posthumously received the title Hero of the USSR in July 1942 One of the best-known stories of Soviet heroism in the Great Patriotic War, the tale of the 28 Guardsmen of General Panfilov was heavily embellished for propaganda. Some of the soldiers said to have died valiantly, in fact, lived on for years after the alleged feat. But 75 years on, Russia’s culture minister has described anyone who questions the story as "scum".
On 25 February 2022 Russia’s defence ministry said 82 Ukrainian soldiers on Zmiinyi (Snake) Island had surrendered voluntarily. Cambronne didn’t say “merde” at Waterloo. There were no angels of Mons. The 28 Panfilovtsy didn’t exist. But it’s irrelevant! Myth is an important social function, especially in war.
President Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian Security Council on 25 February 2022 to discuss the latest updates in the context of the Russian special operation in Ukraine: "... we see that Bandera supporters and neo-Nazis are deploying heavy weapons, including multiple launch rocket systems, right in the central regions of large cities, including Kiev and Kharkov. They plan to provoke return fire from Russian strike systems on residential areas.... It is known that all this is happening on the recommendation of foreign instructors, primarily American advisers.... I appeal to the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Do not allow neo-Nazis and Bandera supporters to use your children, your wives, and elderly people as human shields. Take power into your own hands. It seems that it will be easier for us to come to an agreement than with this gang of junkies and neo-Nazis, who settled in Kiev and took the entire Ukrainian people hostage."
The military personnel of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics will take control of their entire territory in a matter of days, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, expressed such confidence. "Echeloned defense has been built quite seriously over these 8 years by the enemy, but nevertheless, without naming specific dates, I will say that only a few days are left before reaching the administrative borders of both the former Donetsk region and the former Lugansk region," he said.
Kyiv braced for an imminent Russian assault as the invading forces reached the outskirts of Kyiv and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told residents to make Molotov cocktails to help the army "neutralize" the Russian attackers. Gunfire was reported close to the government district in Kyiv as Russian troops bore down on Ukraine’s capital. Air-raid sirens went off over the city of 3 million people, where some were sheltering in underground subway stations.
The Russian armed forces shot down five combat aircraft, one helicopter and five drones during a special operation on the territory of Ukraine, Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said. "Shot down: five combat aircraft, one helicopter, five unmanned aerial vehicles. Destroyed 18 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, seven multiple launch rocket systems, 41 units of special military vehicles and five combat boats," he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces were targeting civilian areas as they advanced with troops and tanks from three sides. There were reports of ongoing clashes between Ukrainian forces and Russian troops in the northern Obolon district of the capital. Ukrainian troops, meanwhile, moved into Kyiv with heavy military equipment to defend the capital. "The city is in defense mode," Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, according to the UNIAN news agency. Gunfire and explosions in some areas meant Russian "saboteurs" were being taken out, he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the German government, continues to be in Kiev. "I think it would be naive to say that he is not in danger. This is a courageous man who, according to our data, is still in Kiev," said German Cabinet spokesman Steffen Hebeshtreit.
The line of presidential succession in Ukraine passes to the Chairperson [speaker] of the Verkhovna Rada, though with limited authority. Ruslan Oleksiiovych Stefanchuk, ideologist of the political party Servant of the People was elected on 08 October 2021. A Ukrainian jurist and politician, Doctor of Law, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, Stefanchuk worked voluntarily as an assistant to People's Deputy of the Our Ukraine - People’s Self-Defense faction, Anatoliy Matvienko. In 2011-2013 he headed the Department of National Legislation Development at the Institute of Legislation of the Verkhovna Rada. He ran for the Servant of the People party and on August 29, 2019, he became a people’s deputy of Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to European citizens with combat experience to go to Ukraine in order to "defend Europe".
The German defense concern Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is ready in theory to provide Ukraine with 50 Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, but cannot do this without the approval of the German government. Poland delivered ammunition to Ukraine.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told reporters "In the course of hostilities, a large number of weapons supplied by Western countries to Ukraine over the past few months have been captured. Among the captured weapons are American Javelin anti-tank missile systems and British NLAW". The Estonian Ministry of Defense will provide Ukraine with additional military assistance in the form of Javelin anti-tank missiles, equipment and ammunition, Defense Ministry Chancellor Kusti Salm said.
The number of disabled objects of the military infrastructure of Ukraine has increased to 211, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing. "In total, the Russian armed forces disabled 211 military facilities of the military infrastructure of Ukraine. Among them, 17 command posts and communication centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 19 S-300 and Osa anti-aircraft missile systems, 39 radar stations," Konashenkov said.
Hundreds of Ukrainian servicemen have ceased resistance in the Donbass and laid down their arms, said the head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik. "After the start of the military operation to liberate Donbass, hundreds of soldiers of the armed forces of Ukraine made the only right decision - they stopped resisting, laid down their arms and stopped carrying out the criminal orders of the Kiev regime. With every passing hour, there are more and more such soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Armed Forces of Ukraine)," - he said.
Speaking on February 25, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Russia intends to take the whole of Ukraine but that the Russian Army failed to deliver on the first day of its invasion. The US Department of Defense believes that the intensity of the resistance of the Ukrainian military turned out to be higher than expected in Russia. "According to our assessment, there is more active resistance on the part of the Ukrainians than the Russian side expected," a Pentagon representative argued. According to a representative of the military department, the command and control systems of the Ukrainian troops also still "remain intact".
In Ukraine, Russia's military said it had seized Hostomel airfield northwest of the city. The claim could not be confirmed as Ukrainian authorities report heavy fighting there. Russian paratroopers landed at the airfield in the first hours of the invasion on February 24. Zelenskiy said on Twitter that there had been heavy fighting with people killed at the entrance to the eastern cities of Chernihiv and Melitopol, as well as at Hostomel.
Russian paratroopers captured the Gostomel airfield in the suburbs of Kiev and, uniting with the main forces of the Russian Airborne Forces, blockaded the Ukrainian capital from the west, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. "On February 24, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a successful landing operation in the area of the Gostomel airfield in the suburbs of Kiev. <...> During the capture of the airfield, more than 200 nationalists from the special units of Ukraine were killed. There are no losses in the Russian Armed Forces," he said.
Ukraine’s General Staffstated that Hostomel airport was controlled by Kyiv forces. Heavy fighting including Russian armor NW of the capital; bridge over Teteriv River destroyed to stop Russian advance. Ukrainian air defense system prevented two air strikes on Kyiv after 4am.
Explosions could be heard in Kharkiv in the east near Ukraine's border with Russia, and air raid sirens sounded over Lviv in the west, according to witnesses. Authorities reported heavy fighting in the eastern city of Sumy. A column of Russian Grads, which are truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, was destroyed outside the city. The correspondent reported seeing the body of a Russian soldier at the scene. Other casualties were unknown.
The Ukrainian military reported significant fighting in the area of Ivankiv, about 60 kilometers northwest of Kyiv. "The hardest day will be today. The enemy's plan is to break through with tank columns from the side of Ivankiv and Chernihiv to Kyiv," Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said on Telegram.
Zelenskiy said he understood Russian troops were coming for him but vowed to stay in Kyiv. "[The] enemy has marked me down as the No. 1 target," Zelenskiy said in a video message. "My family is the No. 2 target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. "I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine," he said. "They're killing people and turning peaceful cities into military targets. It's foul and will never be forgiven," Zelenskiy said.
Ukrainian officials said that during the first days of the hostilities they had lost control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scene of the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster. Heavy fighting also took place in the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast and Kherson and Odesa, Ukraine's most important seaport, in the south.
On the diplomatic front, the European Union agreed on February 25 to freeze the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said sanctions against Putin and Lavrov mean that the EU blacklist now goes beyond oligarchs. The restrictions also target Russia's energy, finance, and transport sectors as well as banning the export of critical technologies and software from Europe to Russia. Visa restrictions are also to be introduced.
In Moscow, Foreign Minister Lavrov said Russia was ready for talks if Ukraine's military surrendered, as he insisted that invading forces were looking to free the country from "oppression." Russian President Putin is ready to send a delegation to Belarus's capital for talks with Ukraine, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov told reporters that after the parties discussed Minsk as a possible venue, Ukrainian officials changed course and said they were unwilling to travel to Minsk and would prefer to meet in Warsaw. They then halted further communication, Peskov said.
Putin on February 25 called on the Ukrainian Army to overthrow the government, describing its leaders as "terrorists" and "a gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis." Putin made the strongly worded statement in a televised address in which he also accused "Ukrainian nationalists" of deploying heavy weapons in residential areas of major cities to provoke the Russian military. The Kremlin equates members of Ukrainian right-wing groups with neo-Nazis. Zelenskiy, who is Jewish, has angrily dismissed those claims.
For his part, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused Putin of trying to destroy Ukraine's statehood, warning that the "security" of its president was at risk.
Meanwhile, Putin told his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in a call on February 25 that Russia is willing to hold high level talks with Ukraine, China's Foreign Ministry said. China has refused to call Russia's action in Ukraine an "invasion" or criticize Moscow, despite intensifying assaults from Russia's military.
The EU said on February 25 that Putin was looking to destroy Ukraine and that his actions were comparable to those of the Nazis in World War II. "He is talking about de-Nazifying Ukraine, but he behaves like Nazis. So this is all in his head," EU spokesman Peter Stano told reporters in Brussels.
The United Nations is preparing for up to 4 million refugees from Ukraine if Russia's war against the country continues to escalate. At least 100,000 people have been uprooted in Ukraine after fleeing their homes following the Russian invasion, while several thousand have already crossed into neighboring countries including Moldova, Romania, and Poland, UN refugee agency spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told a briefing in Geneva on February 25. The UN agency said it stands ready to provide assistance to Ukrainians seeking to escape.
Separately, Moldova and Romania said that, since the start of the invasion, they have received almost 16,000 and 10,000 Ukrainian refugees, respectively. Polish Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Shefernaker said at a briefing "at some checkpoints, the waiting time in line can exceed a day." "Today, before 15:00 (17:00 Moscow time), 25,000 people crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border," Schefernaker informed. On Thursday, 29,000 people entered Poland.
The UK government stopped accepting visa applications from all Ukrainians who do not have a close British family member living in Ukraine. This will prevent Ukrainian refugees from coming to the UK, including those with family here.
NASA will continue working with the Russian space agency Roscosmos on the operation of the International Space Station (ISS), despite fresh sanctions and export controls imposed on Moscow over its military attack on Ukraine. In a media statement on 25 February 2022, a NASA representative said the agency "continues working with all our international partners, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos, for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station.... The new export control measures will continue to allow US-Russia civil space cooperation. No changes are planned to the agency's support for ongoing in orbit and ground station operations”.
Zelenskyy told his nation that “we must withstand tonight” as he warned of an impending Russian assault in Kyiv and other cities across the country. “This night will be more difficult than the day. Many cities in our country are under attack. Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, our guys and girls in Donbas, the cities of southern Ukraine and especially Kyiv. We cannot lose the capital,” Zelenskyy said. “I address our defenders. On all fronts tonight, the enemy will use all of its forces at disposal to break our resistance, dishonourably, cruelly and inhumanely. Tonight they will go on assault. We must all understand what awaits us. We must withstand tonight,” he added.
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