Summary of the Events of the Day
Russian forces inched closer to Kyiv, but their forces are demoralized. All Russia can do is bomb civilians which is why a no-fly zone over Ukraine is so important. Russia is now attempting to declare Kherson an independent Republic, but local officials and the civilian population are not cooperating. A NATO training base near Lviv, abandoned by NATO at the start of the war, was demolished by over 30 missile strikes. And an American journalist was killed in the crossfire between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
Battle for Kyiv (including Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, & Zhitomir)
Russian forces continue to inch closer Kyiv with only 15 miles between their forces and the borders of the capital. The city is expected to be encircled soon, but the routes to the south are still open. But the airport in Vasylkiv to the south was destroyed. Russian forces were attempting to build a pontoon bridge near Gostomel, but Ukrainian forces quickly blew it up.
Russian forces around Kyiv are demoralized and reduced to attacking civilians and pillaging for food. Russian forces moving towards the strategic town of Boryspil, where Ukraine’s largest commercial airport lies, just north of Kyiv was repulsed when Russian troops tried to take the town of Baryshivka but were repulsed by Ukrainian forces.
A bomb was dropped on Chernihiv hitting a nine-story apartment building resulting in the death of one civilian and another injured. Nine people have been rescued so far from the rubble.
Artillery shells hit a five-story apartment building in Kharkiv killing a 73-year-old woman. The toll on this city during the war has seen the death of 205 civilians, eleven of them children. But overall, the bombing of Ukraine’s second-largest city has gone down. The city still has access to humanitarian aid coming from Poltava and Dnipro. Dnipro has blown up all the bridges over the Siversky Donets River making it difficult for Russian forces to threaten that city. Izyum, though heavily damaged, remains under Ukrainian control, and Ukrainian forces have retaken the strategic town of Chuhuiv to the south.
Battle for the Donbas (Donetsk & Luhansk regions)
The UN believes that Russia has committed war crimes, especially against the besieged city of Mariupol whose 200,000 citizens still in the city are left without food and water and Russia allows no humanitarian aid to enter, or civilians to evacuate. A convoy of humanitarian aid sits blocked at a Russian checkpoint. It is like the Nazi destruction of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) during World War II. It is estimated that 1500 civilians have died in the twelve days of merciless attacks. The Ukrainian Azov Regiment yesterday destroyed three Russian T-72 tanks and took twelve Russian prisoners.
Bombs dropped on Severodonetsk, Lisichansk, and Rubezhnoe destroying 22 apartment buildings, 33 single family homes, one government office, two schools, one power station, and two commercial businesses. One civilian was killed and another injured in the attacks. A monastery was also bombed wounding 30 civilians sheltered there. Reports of chemical weapons being used in the Donbas are now circulating but are not yet confirmed.
A train was attacked near the Bruslin train station killing one train conductor and injuring another.
Russian forces continue their attack on Avdiivka to the north of Donetsk destroying a coke plant with five rockets and cutting off heat to the city.
Battle for Black Sea (Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odessa)
Having cancelled their planned invasion of Odessa from the sea, the land push to Odessa has commenced with the troops who had taken Kherson now approaching Mykolaiv which has offered a grand resistance so far. Bombings of the city yesterday took the lives of nine civilians.
The village of Bashtanka was bombed by Russian planes. No casualties or damage yet reported.
The Russian fleet has retreated behind Cape Tarkhantut and the Kalibr missiles that have been landing daily in Odessa have become silent. Perhaps the Russians are running out of missiles.
According to a local report, thousands of citizens have gathered on Freedom Square in Kherson chanting “Kherson is Ukraine” as the Russian government is trying to force local Ukrainian officials to hold a “false” referendum to declare Kherson an independent republic as Russia had done eight years ago in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Other Regions
Over thirty missiles struck the Yavoriv International Center for Peacekeeping & Security (YICPS) where NATO troops had been training Ukrainian forces before the war. All NATO personnel left when the war started. The buildings and infrastructure were destroyed, and 35 soldiers died in that attack and more than 130 were injured. The attack occurred after Russian President Vladimir Putin had threatened to attack NATO convoys supplying weapons to Ukraine. NATO Secretary Jen Stoltenberg responded after the attack, “if even one shell, even one bullet hits the convoy delivering materials to Ukraine, it will be considered a violation of Article 5 (of the NATO mutual defense treaty).” Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security Council, said, “We’ll see, if it happens.”
I woke this morning at 2:30 to what I thought was three explosions. Looking out my window I could see helicopter or drones flying in the air but saw no smoke in the distance. This morning I was told by friend in Uzhhorod that they had spent five hours (02:00 – 07:00) in the bomb shelters around the city. I do not know any other details at the moment.
Other News
Ukraine earned their 11th gold medal in the cross-country relay on the final days of the Winter Paralympics hosted in Beijing, China. With a total of 29 medals, Ukraine was ranked second only behind the host team of China. Russia and Belarus had been banned from the competition.
2.7 million Ukrainians have fled the country to Europe according to the UN in the largest exodus of refugees in Europe since World War II.
American journalist Brent Renaud, who once worked for the New York Times, was shot dead when the car he was in near Irpin, just a few miles west of Kyiv, came under fire. A Ukrainian interpreter in the car was also killed and another American journalist wounded. It was not yet clear whether the car had come under fire by Russian or Ukrainian forces.
With Russian forces becoming thinner in Ukraine every day, Russia is panicking and trying to bring in reinforcements according to Ukrainian Army Intelligence. Although they did not reveal their sources, they claim that Russia has opened fifteen recruiting centers in Syria to recruit mercenaries to control the local Ukrainian population in cities and communities under Russian control. This will allow Russian forces to advance more quickly. Russia is also active in recruiting Serbian mercenaries. Besides foreign forces, Russia is also bringing in replacements from farther Russian regions. They are moving around 1000 troops defending the Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region in their conflict with Azerbaijan. In addition, 1500 troops from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky across the sea from Alaska are on their way to Belarus.
Ukrainian technicians were finally able to restore power to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant which is under Russian control.
International Support
The US has authorized another $200 million in military aid above there already approved $350 million.