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Russo-Ukraine War - 22 March 2022

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said he expected the active phase of the Russian invasion to be over by the end of April, claiming the Russian advance had already stalled in many areas. Speaking on Ukrainian television, Arestovych said Russia had already lost 40 percent of its attacking forces, and also played down the prospect of Russia waging nuclear war.

Russia has failed to achieve its goals in Ukraine, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, warning that despite the apparent Russian setbacks, the war will not end “easily or rapidly”. Sullivan said Russia had set three objectives for itself when it started its invasion: subjugating Ukraine, enhancing Moscow’s power and prestige, and dividing the West. “Russia has thus far manifestly failed to accomplish all three objectives. In fact, it has thus far achieved the opposite,” said Sullivan.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that any use of chemical weapons by Russia in Ukraine would invoke “far-reaching consequences”. “Any use of chemical weapons would totally change the nature of the conflict,” he told reporters at a news conference at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, adding such a move “would be a blatant violation of international law”. The United States president has reiterated his concern that Russia may use chemical weapons in Ukraine as it seeks to make breakthroughs in the weeks-long conflict. “I think it’s a real threat,” President Joe Biden told reporters as he departed the US for Europe.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in direct talks not to use biological or chemical weapons in Ukraine, according to a report by German newspaper Die Zeit. Russian assertions that Ukraine was developing such weapons or that the United States wanted to use them seemed “like an implicit threat that Putin himself is considering using such weapons”, Die Zeit quoted Scholz as saying. “That’s why it was important to me to tell him very clearly and directly: That would be unacceptable and unforgivable,” Scholz told the newspaper.

The U.S. government has determined that members of Russia's forces have committed war crimes during the country’s invasion of Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “Today, I can announce that, based on information currently available, the U.S. government assesses that members of Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine,” Blinken said. "Russia’s forces have destroyed apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure, civilian vehicles, shopping centers, and ambulances, leaving thousands of innocent civilians killed or wounded."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ruled out the possibility of involving NATO in the events in Ukraine, including sending peacekeepers or creating a no-fly zone: "Of course, I hear the voices of those who demand a no-fly zone or NATO peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. No matter how hard it is was, we won't go for it."

Sweden will provide Ukraine with an additional 5,000 anti-tank weapons, TT news agency quoted the Swedish Defence Minister saying. Sweden had already sent 5,000 anti-tank weapons, along with other military materiel to Ukraine. The Finance Committee of the Swedish Parliament asked the legislature to approve the government's transfer of mine-clearing equipment and 5,000 disposable anti-tank grenade launchers to Ukraine worth 205 million crowns ($21.7 million).

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said that after delays in deliveries, further supplies of Strela missiles were on the way to Ukraine. “I can clearly say that further Strela deliveries are on the way,” Baerbock told the Bundestag. “We are one of the biggest weapons suppliers in this situation,” she said. “It doesn’t make us proud but it’s what we must do to help Ukraine.” Germany has already supplied the Ukrainian armed forces with 1,000 antitank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles from Bundeswehr stocks, as well as 500 Strela surface-to-air missile from army reserves of the now-defunct East Germany. An additional 1,700 Strela missiles are on their way, according to Baerbock.

The 27 EU member states have approved an additional €500 million ($550 million), on top of a previous package worth €500 million issued in February. The latest €500 million were previously pledged by EU leaders at a summit in Versailles 12 days ago. "We will continue supporting Ukraine against Russia’s aggression and the unspeakable suffering it is inflicting on the Ukrainian population. The additional €500 million under the European Peace Facility is another sign of the EU’s support to the Ukrainian armed forces to defend their territory and their population," top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said in a statement.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the US is delivering to Ukraine some Soviet-made air defence weapons that Washington acquired control of decades ago through a secret operation. The SA-8, which can be quickly deployed with ground forces and provide cover from planes and helicopters, is one of the weapons the US got — some of which have been retained at Redstone Arsenal, AL. The National Security Council and the Pentagon also declined to disclose on what specific weapons the United States delivered to Ukraine.

Russia seems to halt all operations in order to regroup and resupply its units. The primary focus is on Mariupol and the last cities under Ukrainian control in Luhansk Region at this moment. Russian jets bombed a railway station in Pavlohrad and damaged the railway, which was used as the primary supply route for Ukrainian troops in Donbas.

The advance of Russian troops during the special operation in Ukraine amounted to 2 km per day, battles are being fought against units of the 54th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for mastering the settlement of Novomikhailovka, said the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov.

The servicemen of the Russian Guard destroyed more than 300 nationalists during the liberation of settlements during a special operation in Ukraine, the press service of the department reported. "The National Guard killed more than 300 nationalists during the liberation of settlements in Ukraine. In the course of a special military operation, when performing service and combat tasks, the servicemen and employees of the National Guard show courage and heroism, inflict significant damage to the enemy in manpower and equipment," the ministry said.

Operational-tactical and army aviation destroyed 86 military installations of Ukraine, Konashenkov said. According to Konashenkov, since the beginning of the special operation, 255 drones, 189 anti-aircraft missile systems, 1,564 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 158 multiple rocket launchers, 627 field artillery pieces and mortars, 1,367 units of special military vehicles had been destroyed.

"A group of night hunters, consisting of Ka-52 and Mi-28N helicopters, destroyed eight tanks, five infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, nine vehicles and tractors, three pillboxes, seven field artillery guns and mortars during night strikes," Konashenkov said.

Ukraine has lost control over 10 settlements, Konashenkov said . According to him, Russian troops advanced six kilometers. “Units of the Russian Armed Forces advanced six kilometers and captured the settlement of Urozhaynoye. A group of DPR troops has penetrated four kilometers deep into the defenses of the 25th airborne brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces and is fighting for the settlements of Kamenka, Novoselovka Vtoraya, and Verkhnetoretskoye. During the day, 137 military facilities of Ukraine were hit,” Konashenkov said at a briefing.

The mayor of the besieged northern city of Chernihiv told local media that Russian servicemen are deliberately targeting civilians, hospitals and schools, adding that foreign forces almost encircled the city and their shelling had destroyed power and water supplies. As a result, “about 40 people are buried daily,” Vladislav Atroshenko told the Censor.net publication. “Before the war, we usually buried eight.” He also reportedly said that only a handful of volunteers have managed to get to the city via little-known roads in swampy areas with medicines for hundreds of wounded Ukrainian servicemen in city hospitals.

Zelenskiy urged French companies to leave Russia and stop sponsoring Moscow’s “war machine” as many other Western enterprises have done in the wake of the Kremlin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. In a video address to the French parliament, Zelenskiy said that "French companies must quit the Russian market." He added "Renault, Auchan, Leroy Merlin, and others must stop sponsoring the Russian war machine". Automaker Renault, which is partly state-owned, suspended production at plants near Moscow last month but has since reportedly resumed production. Major French retailers such as Auchan, Leroy Merlin, and sports group Decathlon have not followed a boycott of Russia by other top Western companies.

The British Ministry of Defence said civilian populations in Russian-occupied cities in Ukraine are continuing to protest against Russian control, suggesting that Moscow’s efforts to subdue residents through propaganda “have so far failed”. “Russia will probably respond to these failures by employing increasingly violent and coercive measures in an attempt to suppress the Ukrainian population,” it warned.

Vitaly Klitschko, a former boxing champion and current mayor of Kyiv, said in a press conference that “the target of the attackers is the capital of Ukraine, because this city is the heart of the country”. He urged Russian troops to go back home and said that every Ukrainian building in Kiev was ready to defend Kyiv from enemies, Klitschko said. We would rather die than kneel before the Russians or surrender to the invaders. We are ready to fight for every building, every street, every part of our city.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said the possibility exists that Belarus’s army may join the Russian invasion, but its intelligence indicated that “a large number of personnel and some commanders are refusing to participate” in the war. CNN quoted sources from the Belarus opposition claiming that thousands of Belarusian forces are prepared to be deployed and can land Ukraine any time in the “next few days”. “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin needs support. Anything would help,” a NATO military official told CNN. Another NATO intelligence official alleged that the Belarusian government “is preparing the environment to justify a Belarusian offensive against Ukraine."

Putin said Russia will start forcing "unfriendly countries" -- including all European Union states -- to pay for their natural gas supplies in rubles. Putin's statement came as crippling international sanctions slapped on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine begin to hit hard, especially the local currency. Putin said during his meeting with the government that Russia will implement the changes and stop accepting payments in currencies that have been "compromised" within one week. He did not say whether oil supplies would also be affected by the move.

Russia’s demand for payments in rubles for gas deliveries to Europe constitutes a breach of contract, Germany warned. “The announcement of paying in rubles is... a breach of the contract and we will now discuss with our European partners how we would react to that,” said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, whose country imported 55 percent of its natural gas from Russia before Moscow invaded Ukraine.

Italy, which covers 45% of its gas needs with Russian fuel, is not in the mood to pay in Russian currency, said Francesco Javazzi, economic adviser to President Mario Draghi. “Paying in rubles will be a way to avoid sanctions, so I think we will continue to pay in euros,” he told the Bloomberg Capital Market forum in Milan. Alfred Stern, the head of Austria’s largest energy concern OMV, also accepted Putin’s idea without enthusiasm. In an interview with Plus 24, he said that the company would continue to pay Gazprom in euros. “There is no other contract base,” he explained, adding that no one from Russia has so far applied to OMV about changing the terms of the contract.

Russia’s foreign minister warned NATO against sending peacekeepers to Ukraine, saying it could lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and the transatlantic military alliance. Poland said last week that it would formally submit a proposal for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at a NATO summit set to take place on 24 March 2022. “I hope they understand what they are talking about,” Sergey Lavrov told staff and students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. “This will be the direct clash between the Russian and NATO armed forces that everyone has not only tried to avoid but said should not take place in principle.” At the same time, the minister did not rule out that Poland, having proposed sending peacekeepers to Ukraine, would like to "make headquarters in Lvov and then stay there."

Lavrov stated taht Ukraine was chosen as a tool to suppress Russian independence. In order for this Ukraine to become effective, it had to become "anti-Russia". And neo-Nazism was planted there - decommunization, glorification of the collaborators of the Second World War. The civilized West simply silently watched all this, and even encouraged it.

Poland’s interior minister said Warsaw has expelled 45 Russian diplomats suspected of spying on the country. “Poland has expelled 45 Russian spies pretending to be diplomats,” Mariusz Kaminski tweeted. “We are dismantling the Russian special services network in our country.”

NATO estimated that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in a month of fighting in Ukraine, a senior official within the alliance has told The Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity. Extrapolating from the deaths using standard ratios of wounded and dead soldiers in other conflicts, NATO estimates total Russian battlefield casualties of between 30,000 and 40,000 soldiers. Ukraine said more than 15,000 Russian troops have been killed since Russia launched its invasion.

Russia has suppressed reporting of its battlefield causalities, making accurate information difficult to come by. Moscow’s only official toll so far – released on March 2 – put the number of its forces killed at 498. A recent report in the pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda reported 9,861 Russians deaths and 16,153 injured, but the report was very quickly taken down and blamed on hackers.