Russo-Ukraine War - 29 March 2022
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On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country.
The Ukrainian soldier, whose comments to a Russian warship went viral, has returned home. Roman Hrybov was taken prisoner by Russian forces while he was serving on the so-called Snake Island (Zmiinyi Island in Ukrainian), a small island in the Black Sea. A recording of Hrybov telling a Russian warship to "go fuck yourself" went viral. The Ukrainian troops stationed on the island were at first presumed to have been killed in an attack. It later turned out they had been taken captive and were exchanged for Russian prisoners.
Peaceful light dawned in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defense has decided to drastically reduce military activity in the Kiev and Chernigov directions, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said. At present, the main tasks of the first stage of the special operation of the Armed Forces (AF) of the Russian Federation on the denazification of Ukraine have been completed. This was announced on March 29 during a conference call at the Russian Defense Ministry by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The draft ceasefire deal does not contain any discussion of three of Russia’s initial core demands – “denazification”, “demilitarisation” and legal protection for the Russian language in Ukraine. Russia is no longer saying Ukraine needs to be “denazified” and is prepared to let Kyiv join the EU if it remains militarily non-aligned as part of ceasefire negotiations.
Kiev will assert sovereignty over the entire territory that Ukraine had when it declared independence in 1991, saying there could be no compromise on this point. Kiev did not state whether it would relinquish its territorial claim to Donetsk and Lugansk. Prior to February, Ukraine controlled a large portion of both Donetsk and Lugansk and considers the regions to be its own territory. Ukraine also sought to include “parts” of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions into the definition of its territory for the purpose of security guarantees, the Russian envoy said. Moscow officially recognized the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as sovereign states – in their full regional boundaries – just days before sending troops into Ukraine.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a close aide to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said, "Ukraine has always been a neutral country, but none of the Budapest Memorandum members fulfilled their duties to protect us. This U-24 framework would be able to take real action quickly. Many countries, including NATO members, agreed to provide this support. This framework is set up to give political, military, economic and humanitarian aid within 24 hours of an invasion. NATO's framework calls for action within 60 days, but U-24 calls for it in only one day. We are building an alternative to NATO."
Arestovych said "For one month, the Russian army will try to continue attacking Ukraine. But then both sides will have to stop. We won't be able to attack because we aren't getting any heavy artillery. And the Russian side will stop because we will have destroyed all their offensive ability. The weak point of Russia's military is its supply chain. This was already a weakness, and we are destroying their supply routes. Tanks are scary on the battlefield, but without gasoline, they're just scrap metal."
Russia’s military claims it will “fundamentally cut back” operations near Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv in order to boost talks between the two sides. Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin said the move was meant “to increase trust” in the discussions aimed at ending the conflict and “create conditions for further negotiations”. Fomin told reporters "In order to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and achieving the ultimate goal of agreeing and signing (an) agreement, a decision was made to radically, by a large margin, reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions".
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the main goal of Moscow’s offensive, which it describes as a “special military operation”, was to “liberate” eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. He said Ukraine’s military capacity had been seriously degraded and has restated that the main tasks of the first phase of Moscow’s so-called “military operation” in its neighbor had been completed. Shoigu also warned that Moscow would respond appropriately if the US-led NATO military alliance supplied Ukraine with planes and air defence systems.
Citizens of the Russian Federation called up for urgent military service in 2022 will not be sent to any hot spots. This was announced during a conference call by the head of the Russian Defense Ministry Sergei Shoigu. “I emphasize that conscripts will not be sent to any hot spots ,” Shoigu said.
Ukraine needs to return true democracy, the Ukrainian people need to be freed from the yoke of "animals in human form." This was stated by the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev , in an interview with the Arguments and Facts newspaper. “Today it is so important to return genuine democracy to Ukraine, to free the inhabitants of the country from the oppression of fanatics, punishers, real beasts in human form, rampaging on Ukrainian soil, ” Patrushev emphasized.
Russia’s promise to scale down military operations around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv does not represent a ceasefire, Moscow’s lead negotiator in talks with Ukraine said. “This is not a ceasefire but this is our aspiration, gradually to reach a de-escalation of the conflict at least on these fronts,” Vladimir Medinsky said. Talks on a formal agreement with Kyiv had a long way to go, he said. Large numbers of BMDs with Russian and VDV flags were spotted on their way from the Ukrainian border to Belarus' Rechitsa and Gomel where they were loaded onto railway platforms. Zelensky said Russian forces should return to pre-24 February positions as a compromise and then talks about Donbas could continue.
The cessation of intense hostilities as part of a special operation in the Kiev and Chernigov directions does not mean that Russian troops will leave the occupied territories. This was stated on March 29 by military expert Mikhail Khodarenok on the air of the 60 Minutes program on the Russia 1 TV channel. According to him, such a regime provides for the reduction or cessation of shelling, air strikes and high-precision missiles.
During the last night, operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Armed Forces hit 68 military facilities of Ukraine. This was announced by the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov. A large fuel base that supplied fuel for Ukrainian military equipment was destroyed by a missile attack by Russian troops in the Rivne region of Ukraine. This was announced by Konashenkov. “From this base, fuel was supplied for Ukrainian military equipment to the suburbs of Kiev,” Konashenkov added.
Biden said that the West wants to see if Russia will “follow through” on a promise to de-escalate its war. “We’ll see if they follow through,” he told reporters shortly after holding a phone call with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy. “There seems to be a consensus that let’s just see what they have to offer.” The US believed that any movement of Russian forces from around Kyiv was a 'redeployment, not a withdrawal'. “We believe any movement of Russian forces from around kyiv is a redeployment, not a withdrawal. And the world should be prepared for continued major offensives against other areas of Ukraine,” the official said, adding: “They are shifting gears … No one should mistake that for Russia ending the conflict.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had not seen any evidence indicating talks between Moscow and Kyiv were progressing in a “constructive way”. He also warned Russian indications of a pullback could be an attempt by Moscow to “deceive people and deflect attention”, before calling on Russia to end its aggression immediately and pull its forces back. “There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does, and we’re focused on the latter,” Blinken said during a visit to Morocco. “And what Russia is doing is the continued brutalisation of Ukraine.” He added that Russian officials were “profoundly fooling themselves … if they somehow believe that an effort to subjugate only the eastern part of Ukraine or the southern part of Ukraine … can succeed”.
Following the announcement that Russia would cut back on its military actions around Kyiv and Chernihiv, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said that the US believed some Russian troops had already left. "Has there been some movement by some Russian units away from Kyiv in the last day or so? Yes, we think so. Small numbers," Kirby told reporters. "But we believe that this is a repositioning, not a real withdrawal, and that we all should be prepared to watch for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine. It does not mean that the threat to Kyiv is over," he added.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for a full withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine, his spokesperson said. Asked about Russia's promise to scale back their armed forces around the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv, the spokesman said: "We will judge [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his regime by his actions, not by his words." "There has been some reduction in Russian bombardment around Kyiv, largely because Ukrainian forces have been successfully pushing back the Russian offensives in the northwest of the city," he told reporters. "But fighting continues. There's heavy bombardment in Mariupol and other areas. So we don't want to see anything less than a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory."
The Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine may consider joining Russia once it controls all of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, its news outlet has cited separatist leader Denis Pushilin as saying. “The main task is to reach the constitutional borders of the republic. Then we will determine that,” Pushilin was quoted by the Donetsk News Agency as saying. Security is the main reason why all the volunteers from Russia who would like to help the people of the DPR are not currently working in the Donbas. This was stated by the head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin on March 29 during a press conference in Donetsk. The special military operation on the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic is progressing according to the established plan and schedule, but it is difficult to name the timing of its completion. This was stated by the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin.
"We urge the President of Russia to allow the started cleansing of Ukraine from Bandera", said on March 29 the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov , who published an appeal to Russian leader Vladimir Putin in his Telegram channel. In particular, Kadyrov stressed that "the soldiers do not agree to these negotiations, to these agreements." Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have no prospects. This opinion was expressed in his telegram channel by the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. “I think that there will be no sense in these negotiations. I think we need to finish what we started, to destroy Bandera, Natsiks and shaitans. Only then you need to make a decision what to do next,” Kadyrov said.
On March 29, the Russian side once again provided humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians, but Kiev still refuses to agree on these routes, especially when it comes to the transfer of Ukrainian citizens to the territory of the Russian Federation, said on March 29 at a briefing the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, General Colonel Mikhail Mizintsev. He clarified that we are talking about corridors in Kiev, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkov and Mariupol directions.
One of the main reasons for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was Ukraine wanting to join the EU (not NATO). Now Russia does not object to Ukraine in the EU. Ukraine also demands that the guarantor countries not only not prevent its possible accession to the European Union, but also help it do it "as soon as possible." Ukraine proposed abandoning NATO membership in exchange for "security guarantees", and freezing status of occupied Crimea for 15 years.
The Ukrainian delegation handed over to the delegation of the Russian Federation written proposals suggesting that Kiev would give up its desire to return Crimea and Sevastopol by military means. Kyiv also agrees to fix its neutral and non-nuclear status if it receives security guarantees similar in content and form to Article 5 of the NATO Charter. Security guarantees would be in a treaty with an enhanced analog of Article 5 of NATO. Guarantor states (USA, UK, Turkey, France, Germany etc.) would legally be actively involved in protecting Ukraine from any aggression. Implementation would be in a treaty through parliaments of the guarantor states, rather than a simple executive agreement. The guarantors may include permanent members of the UN Security Council (including Russia), as well as Germany, Israel, Italy, Canada, Poland and Turkey. At the same time, their guarantees will not apply to Crimea and Donbass, said the head of the parliamentary faction of the ruling Servant of the People party in Ukraine, David Arakhamia, who is also participating in the negotiations.
Russian forces have maintained their offensive on Mariupol with continuous heavy shelling of the city, the UK Ministry of Defence said in a statement, although the city’s center was still under Ukrainian control. Elsewhere, Russian forces were maintaining blocking positions while attempting to reorganise and reset their forces, it added.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had retaken the key Kyiv suburb of Irpin but cautioned that Russian forces still control areas north of the capital. “The occupiers have been pushed away from Irpin and Kyiv. But it’s still too early to talk about safety in this part of our region. Fighting continues,” he said in his nightly video address. “Russian troops hold the north of Kyiv region under control. They have resources and manpower. They are trying to rebuild destroyed units.”
Jerome at Military Land reported that Ukraine was at the important decision crossroad. They may try to launch a counter-attack and liberate the occupied areas (if Russian troops are indeed withdrawing), or send some units defending Kyiv to reinforce the Donbas frontline. In Mykolaiv Oblast there is no enemy presence in Chervone, Partyzanske and Novoolesandrivka. Situation in Snihurivka is unclear. Russian forces reportedly left the town a few days ago, but Ukrainian forces haven’t entered it yet. There are heavy battles and artillery duels in the vicinity.
Amnesty International accused Russia of committing war crimes in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. “The siege of Mariupol, the denial of humanitarian evacuation and humanitarian escape for the population, and the targeting of civilians, according to Amnesty International’s investigation, amounts to war crimes,” said the group’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard. “The crisis in Ukraine right now, the invasion … is not just any kind of violation of international law,” she said. “It is an aggression. It is a violation of the UN charter of the kind that we saw when the US invaded Iraq.”
The conditions for carrying out a humanitarian operation sought by France to help citizens in the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol are not met “at this stage,” President Emmanuel Macron’s office has said after the French leader spoke by telephone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Macron outlined the mission sought alongside Turkey and Greece to Putin, who responded that “he was going to think about it” before responding, an Elysee Palace official said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukrainian “nationalists” in the embattled city of Mariupol must lay down their arms as he discussed the conflict with French leader Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin has said. “It was stressed that in order to resolve the difficult humanitarian situation in this city [Mariupol], Ukrainian nationalist militants must stop resisting and lay down their arms,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
It will take more than a ceasefire in Ukraine for London to lift its sanctions against Russia, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told his cabinet, insisting that Moscow must fully alter its policy towards its neighbor. Pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin “must be increased both through further economic measures and providing military aid to ensure Russia changes course completely,” Johnson told his ministers, according to his spokesman. Foreign Minister Liz Truss had told the Sunday Telegraph earlier this week that sanctions “should only come off with a full ceasefire and withdrawal, but also commitments that there will be no further aggression.”
Statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with the ongoing cyber aggression by the "collective West". "Against the backdrop of a special military operation to protect the DPR and LPR, the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine , the United States and its satellites are undertaking a massive cyber operation against our country. In fact, state institutions, the media, critical infrastructure facilities, and life support systems are subjected to powerful blows using advanced information and communication technologies every day. At the suggestion of the Kiev regime, an “international call” has been announced for anti-Russian computer specialists, who, in fact, form “offensive cyber forces”. The bill for malicious attacks against us is hundreds of thousands per day."
"Sophisticated cyber means are used to steal the personal data of Russian citizens. Fake information is being disseminated on the Internet in order to disorient and demoralize Russian society, discredit the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and government bodies, stimulate illegal activity among the population, hinder the work of various sectors of the economy, and sow fear and instability", the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The unprecedented scope of these actions and their coordinated nature clearly indicate that in addition to the Ukrainian special forces trained by the United States and other NATO information and technical influence, anonymous hackers and provocateurs are increasingly involved in this cyber war against us, acting on the instructions of the Western curators of the Kiev regime. In fact, an army of cyber mercenaries is waging war against us, facing specific combat missions, often bordering on open terrorism."
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, blockchain data platform Chainalysis tracked just over $62 million worth of cryptocurrency sent from Russian-based whales (any private crypto wallet holding $1 million or more) to other addresses, marking an 8-month record in transfer levels during the first week of the invasion. Some of these crypto payments were associated with over the counter (OTC) desks, Chainalysis Head of Research Kim Grauer told Al Arabiya English. OTC Desk acts as a dealer for anybody looking to trade a given asset and are generally used when a given trade would not be possible on exchanges.
“While spikes in this activity are common, Russian whale transfers hit its highest levels in roughly eight months during the week of February 28, soon after the invasion, reaching $26.5 million,” she said. “On-chain activity alone can’t tell us if these transfers constitute sanctions evasion, as we don’t know if the whale wallets are controlled by sanctioned individuals and entities. However, we will continue to monitor these transactions and provide updates as possible.”
“In the early days of the invasion, many suggested that cryptocurrency may be a means for Russians to avoid the impact of sanctions. The reality is, however, that as in the traditional financial system, the cryptocurrency ecosystem can put measures in place to detect and monitor transactions from identified sanctioned entities and individuals, making it much harder to evade sanctions undetected,” she warned.
More than 3.9 million refugees from Ukraine have arrived in its neighboring countries, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said. According to information posted on its website, from February 24 to March 28, the number of refugees who left Ukraine reached 3,901,713. During the day, it increased by more than 35 thousand people.
Ukraine’s army said 17,200 Russian “occupiers” have been killed in the country since the invasion began. Russia had lost 597 tanks, 1,710 armoured vehicles, 127 jets, 129 helicopters and seven ships, the Ukrainian military said.
About 600 foreign mercenaries have been destroyed over the past two weeks during a special operation of the Armed Forces (AF) of the Russian Federation to denazify Ukraine. This was announced on March 29 during a conference call at the Russian Defense Ministry by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu . Russian troops purposefully track down and eliminate foreign mercenaries operating in Ukraine. Their number is decreasing, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. According to him, over the past two weeks, more than 500 mercenaries have left Ukrainian territory.
An official of the besieged city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine says about 5,000 people have died in the Russian invasion. Petro Andrushchenko, an adviser to the mayor, said authorities have been unable to grasp the full extent of damage in Mariupol because of the continuing fighting. He reiterated that at least 300 people may have died as a result of a Russian attack on March 16 on a theater in which they were sheltering. He said some rescue workers were also killed, and rubble at the theater has not yet been cleared.
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