Summary of the Events of the Day
There has been a lull in the ground fighting as Russia needs to resupply their demoralized troops. Ukraine has begun to stage some counterattacks. The devastation continues from the air as Russia is reducing whole cities to rubble, and then stopping all humanitarian aid to enter. The goal is genocide – starving the people in the cities. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is looking for a soft spot to launch a land invasion on Odessa.
Battle for Kyiv (including Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, & Zhitomir)
Kyiv was bombarded heavily last night from the skies. One of the targets was a 12-story apartment building resulting in the injury of two people.
Battle for the Donbas (Donetsk & Luhansk regions)
Mariupol remains under siege where there is a critical lack of food, water, and medicine. Corpses lie on the streets, and civilians risk their lives by crossing mine fields to escape. 20,000 were allowed to evacuate to Zaporizhia, but when they took shelter in the train station, Russian forces shelled it. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
Battle for Black Sea (Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odessa)
The Russian Black Sea Fleet came out of hiding early this morning and began bombarding the coastal city of Novoselivka. But two of the Russian SU-34 combat jets were shot down. The pilots were seen ejecting, but no Russian attempt was made to rescue them. They would have frozen to death within an hour.
Other News
Ukraine’s top commander General Valery Kaluzhny said that Ukraine will begin making some counterattacks, but slowly and carefully not to result in loss of Ukrainian lives as the Russians have experienced.
Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reported that the damage done to government property alone has reached $565 billion and rises daily. This does not include the amount of damage done to private property.
Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk accused Russia of war crimes for not providing information on where Ukrainian POWs are being held which is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Ukraine, on their part, allows the Red Cross to visit Russian POWs and report on their condition.
3 million Ukrainians have now fled to Europe.
Ukrainian President Zelensky addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress calling on the US to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
The UN International Court of Justice ordered Russia to stop their attacks on Ukraine. Although the court ruling is binding, there is no mechanism to enforce the ruling.
International Support
The US announced that they will add another $800 million in military aid for Ukraine to the $200 million they announced last week. Included in this new package are 800 anti-aircraft missile systems, drones, 9000 anti-tank missiles, and 20 million rounds of ammunition.