22.03.2022, Moscow.
The Rossa Primavera News Agency publishes a summary of events in Ukraine as of 5 p.m. on March 22.
During the day, aircraft hit 137 military targets of the Ukrainian army, including six command posts and communication centers, two multiple rocket launchers, one surface-to-air missile system, eight missile and artillery weapons and ammunition depots, and 101 ammunition storage sites.
Russian Air Defence Forces shot down 14 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, including one Bayraktar TB-2.
A group of “night hunters” consisting of Ka-52 and Mi-28N helicopters destroyed 9 Ukrainian tanks, 7 BMPs and APCs during night strikes.
Since the start of the special military operation, 230 drones have been destroyed:
- 230 unmanned aerial vehicles;
- 181 anti-aircraft missile systems;
- 1,528 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles;
- 154 multiple rocket launchers;
- 602 field artillery guns and mortars;
- 1,312 units of special military motor vehicles.
Kiev direction
The mayor of Borispol stated that combat is already taking place around the city and urged the population to evacuate. Borispol is a suburb of Kiev. Ukraine’s largest airport is stated there.
Sixty-seven Ukrainian army and neo-Nazi fighters surrendered near Kiev.
Zaporozhye direction
Yulia Chicherina removed the flag of Ukraine from the building of Energodar City Hall. The singer refused to perform while the yellow and blue flag was hanging over the city hall. After that she took it off and sang for the Russian military.
Southern direction
One of those detained yesterday at an unsanctioned mass event in Kherson says that there were provocateurs among the protesters, “someone in the crowd pulled out a weapon and started shooting at Russian servicemen.”
The Kherson region is interested in supplying fuel and lubricants and medicine from Crimea, offering agricultural products for sale to the republic, and a dialogue is underway, Kirill Stepanov, deputy presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, told RIA Novosti.
Liberation of the LPR and DPR
Units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation advanced by another six kilometers and took the village of Urozhaynoye under their control. They are now fighting with units of the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian army.
A grouping of DPR troops has penetrated 4 kilometers deep into the defense of the 25th Airborne Brigade of the Ukrainian army and is fighting to take the towns of Kamenka, Novoselovka II, and Verkhnetoretskoye under their control. In the direction of Kurakhovo, the advance overnight was up to five kilometers.
Units of the LPR People’s Militia established control over the villages of Kalinovo-Popasne, Novoaleksandrovka, Stepnoye, Boguslavskoye and continue to destroy units of the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian army. More than 40 personnel and 5 off-road vehicles of the enemy were destroyed.
DPR units destroyed a company of the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade and units of the assault battalion of the 54th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian army, taking the villages of Slavnoye, Trudovskoye, Shahta Chelyuskintsev and Mariinka under their control. During the day, three tanks, four BMPs, four field artillery guns and six cross-country vehicles were destroyed in this area.
As of March 22, 2022, a group of DPR troops in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic had liberated 99 towns and villages, including Slavnoye. Combats for Mariupol, Avdeevka, Marinka, and Verkhnetoretskoye are underway.
Over the past 24 hours, DPR soldiers destroyed: 56 Ukrainian occupants; 23 firing points; 2 BMPs; 1 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher; 1 2S1 Gvozdika SAU; 3 armored personnel carriers; and a field artillery depot. Captured: 1 tank; 4 BMPs; 2 armored vehicles; a warehouse with foreign weapons and ammunition.
In Volnovakha, the Phoenix mobile base station is connected to a fiber-optic communication line. Work on the Sakhanka-Sopino relay span has improved the quality of communication of the base station in Chervonnoye and Mangush. Preparations are underway to connect the base station in Volodarskoye.
Mariupol
In Mariupol, the encirclement is narrowing, the Azov (organization banned in the Russian Federation) fighters and the Ukrainian army are being droved into industrial zones, where more maneuverable use of firepower is possible: to hit from cannons, to fire shells that smoke out the fighters from their concrete shelters and to use aviation more intensively. Mariupol airport has come under the control of the DPR. According to the DPR Ministry of Information, the army liberated about 50% of Mariupol’s area.
Over the past 24 hours, from 08:00 a.m. on March 21 to 08:00 a.m. on March 22, 619 people, including 134 children, were evacuated from Mariupol to Bezymennoye, Novoazovsk district. At present, they are in the evacuation assistance point, which has been deployed by the DPR Emergencies Ministry.
Shelling of LPR and DPR territories
In the Donetsk People’s Republic, 228 transformer substations, 31 boiler houses, and 30,394 customers were left without electric power. Repair and restoration work will begin as soon as the situation allows.
As a result of the military aggression of the Ukrainian army, one civilian was killed and 32 people, including six children, were wounded. Twenty-five houses and 12 civilian infrastructure objects were damaged. The total number of ammunition fired by Ukrainian militants was 290. The enemy opened fire on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic using 122 mm multiple rocket launchers, 152 and 122 mm barrel artillery, 120 and 82 mm mortars. Areas of 13 towns and villages of the republic came under the Ukrainian army’s fire.
Makeevka
At 9:40 a.m., the Ukrainian army fired 10 Grad rockets and 10 shells of 122 mm caliber at Makeevka.
Gorlovka
The Ukrainian army attacked Gorlovka. Ukrainian munitions exploded in the territory of a garage cooperative on Shashurina Street, 19 garages and three vehicles were damaged.
Yasinovataya
As a result of the shelling of the Donetsk-Severniy railway station in Yasinovatya district, houses on Privokzalnaya Street were damaged. In Yasinuvatya, Ukrainian munitions exploded on the territory of a machine-building plant, as well as the EKOS communal enterprise located at 36 Gorky Street.
Political situation
Russian Human Rights Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova, “The first exchange [of POWS] took place – nine people, some of them from the list that I am forming through appeals. I very much hope that we will not drag out the lists, the cards, the procedures.” The ombudswoman also confirmed that nine Russian prisoners had been exchanged for the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fyodorov.
Diosdado Cabello, once second in command after Nicolas Maduro, vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and a member of the National Assembly, proposed a special operation in Colombia similar to the one Russia is conducting in Ukraine. This all sounds against the background of the fact that in the Apure region, bordering Colombia, a military exercise using Grad MLRS is going on right now.
Medvedev, “Russia refused to discuss a peace treaty with Japan. In the context of the fate of the Kuril Islands, this decision is historically justified, long overdue, and fair. Obviously, we would never have found any consensus with the Japanese on the issue of the islands. Both we and they understood this before. So negotiations on the Kuril Islands have always had a ritual character. The new wording of the Russian Constitution says explicitly that our territories are not subject to alienation. The issue is closed.”
VK blocked the pages of Navalny (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia) and Yashin at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Washington’s statements about Russia’s alleged plans to use chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine are malicious insinuations – Russian Foreign Ministry. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, “We have neither former nor latter. What the Americans say are malicious insinuations, we hear them all the time, and we have been giving comprehensive answers to them for a long time. The fact is that the US is not used to, not accustomed to listening to anyone but itself.”
LPR forces after the liberation of their territory will continue to participate in the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine – the head of the republic.
A Belarusian received two and a half years in prison for his participation in the conflict in Donbass. A 32-years-old resident of Pinsk was in the dock. The accused served voluntarily in the Ukrainian army from March to October 2021.
3,528,346 refugees left Ukraine – UN.
Malaysia and Vietnam did not support anti-Russian sanctions and agreed to remain neutral on the crisis in Ukraine – Malaysian Prime Minister.
Peskov, responding to a question about whether Russia is creating special government entities to manage the Ukrainian territories, “No entities are being created for that purpose.”
A court sentenced Navalny (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia) to 9 years on a strict regime on charges of fraud and insulting the court.
Former member of the Ukrainian parliament Tsaryov, “I believe that it is necessary to urgently carry out checks in the released territories in prisons and release prisoners who received a sentence for being sympathetic to Russia. And this work must be done immediately!”
Belarus has discussed with Russia approaches to switching to Russian rubles in settlements between business entities in the electricity sector, the Energy Ministry said.
Mercenaries
French mercenaries intending to go to Ukraine began to doubt their plans, France 24 reported, “I have the impression that if I go – I will go in vain, I will die in the beginning and it will be useless,” one of them said.
Sanctions
The head of the US Department of State, Antony Blinken, announced the introduction of restrictive measures against Chinese officials involved in “repressive acts” against ethnic minorities. The State Department statement listed harassment, intimidation, surveillance and kidnapping of members of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as US, citizens who speak on behalf of these groups as violations committed by the Chinese side.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry threatened the US with countermeasures for sanctions against Chinese officials and called Washington the world’s top human rights violator.
The Spanish government will give the transport sector, which has been on an indefinite strike since last week, 500 million euros to compensate for rising gasoline and diesel prices, Transport Minister Raquel Sanchez said.
Russia will deliver 9 million barrels of fuel oil to the US in March, more than in the past eight months, according to analyst firm Vortexa. US refineries use fuel oil as a raw material for production of motor fuel. In February its prices grew by 38% against the same month of the previous year.
Italy’s industrial system is at risk of collapse due to rising prices for raw materials and energy after the anti-Russian sanctions, according to a joint statement by the heads of the confederations of industrialists of the four most economically developed regions of the country (Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont).
The purchase of advertising and other infusions of funds into the platforms of Facebook (organization banned in Russia) and Instagram (organization banned in Russia) may lead to criminal liability for the financing of an extremist organization – lawyers. Thus, Meta (organization banned in the Russian Federation) is dealt an even more painful blow than the technical blocking (which is circumvented by a VPN). They are cut off from the Russian advertising market.
Internet traffic of Russian citizens has significantly redistributed: attendance of torrent trackers in the second week of March increased by 21% compared to December 2021, the newspaper Kommersant with reference to internal data on the growth of traffic on the communication networks of one of the largest operators.
According to the newspaper, traffic from digital video game distribution platforms decreased by almost 30%, while VK’s traffic increased by 95%. Traffic of video platform RuTube showed no growth in the first half of March, according to the data of the operator, as cited by the newspaper. The traffic of Facebook (organization banned in the Russian Federation) and Instagram (organization banned in the Russian Federation) fell by more than 70% after the blocking.
Meanwhile, the price of oil exceeded $115 per barrel. The EU only talked about the possibility of banning oil imports from Russia.
Fertilizer prices in February broke records, reaching $ 1250 per ton.
The discount for Russian Urals crude against the price of Brent crude increased significantly after the start of the special operation in Ukraine. However, taking into account the general growth in prices, the Russian Federation has not lost anything in price against the levels of late February.
Egypt is hosting a summit with the Egyptian President, the Israeli Prime Minister and the UAE Crown Prince. Kuwait, meanwhile, is meeting with Saudi Arabia’s energy minister. The Gulf states are actively discussing the oil and gas situation. Also, judging by the composition of the participants, the allies are discussing the deal with Iran and its consequences.
Iran has offered to meet India’s energy needs by supplying crude oil and natural gas in payment for Indian rupees. According to Iranian Ambassador to India Ali Chegeni, Iran intends to once again become one of India’s largest oil suppliers. Switching oil supplies and all trade with India to rupee payments will help the countries avoid third-party mediation and increase trade turnover to $30 billion.
Work has begun on the creation of the first Russian marketplace (app store) on the Android platform, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media.
Energy consumption in Russia, excluding the temperature factor, has increased by 2.2% since the beginning of March and by 1.9% since the beginning of the year, according to the deputy head of the Ministry of Energy.
The Russian Ministry of Finance said that it had fulfilled in full its obligations to pay a coupon of $65.6 million on sovereign Eurobonds maturing in 2029.
The Finance Ministry said that Russian citizens will be able to make real estate transactions with non-residents from unfriendly countries. In this case, if Russian citizens buy real estate, the money to pay for the transaction will be credited to a special ruble account of a foreigner in a Russian bank.
Danish Maersk, the world’s largest sea cargo carrier (17% of the world container shipping market by sea), has announced the suspension of accepting new orders and has actually stopped working in Russia. The growth of prices in Russia is to a significant extent provoked by logistic problems, one manifestation of which is the fact that Maersk and other Western companies have actually joined the maritime blockade of our country.
In Italy assets of “Russian oligarchs” worth more than 800 million euros have been frozen – Italian Prime Minister.
Head of Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade: Russia may have to say goodbye to some of the foreign car manufacturers, we cannot wait forever for a decision on their work in the country.
Macron announced the possibility of introducing food vouchers to help poor families and the middle class cope with the food crisis.
Poland froze about $33 million in accounts as part of sanctions against Russia – Polish Government.
Ukraine
Former Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada MP Kiva, “Nationalist groups see that Zelensky has been dumped by all his yesterday’s partners, and are preparing a coup. The occasion is the elimination of the Azov group (organization banned in the Russian Federation) in Mariupol. Kiev mayor Klitschko plays an active role in preparing the coup. They are waiting for the right moment. After the coup, they will go to western Ukraine and ask the EU to introduce peacekeepers there.”
Verkhovna Rada MP and member of the Golos faction Yaroslav Zheleznyak, “We are already preparing a law on additional tax in Ukraine for companies that continue to work with Russia. The idea of ‘business reparations’ proposed by Poland should work in our country too! If there is money and a desire to sponsor the aggressor’s military sphere, then there must also be money to restore everything it has destroyed in another country.”
The head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Monastyrsky, stated that “the overwhelming majority of the detained saboteurs are citizens of Ukraine. Ukraine has registered 1,271 crimes against national security in the past month.”
Ukraine will continue transiting Russian gas as long as it is technically possible, head of Naftogaz says
Denisenko, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, “We cannot rule out the possibility of an invasion by Belarus. Persuading of Lukashenko continues. <…> In principle, it is impossible to say that Belarus has refused the war. But the fact that Lukashenko is trying to avoid this is also a positive thing for us. We expect and are ready for this offensive, ready in Volyn, ready in Zhitomir region.”
The Ukrainian army again attempted to attack the Belgorod region with two Tochka-U ballistic missiles. The missiles were successfully intercepted by Russian air defense.
Hungary may be targeting the annexation of Transcarpathia – Prosecutor General of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk.
Western countries
The US wants to hear from the PRC words of condemnation of Russia’s moves against Ukraine, the White House said.
US President Joe Biden wants to avoid the country entering the conflict at all costs – US Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger.
Biden, “Now is a time when things are shifting. We’re going to — there’s going to be a new world order out there, and we’ve got to lead it. And we’ve got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it.”
This week’s NATO summit is expected to discuss how to respond if Moscow uses chemical, biological, cyber or nuclear weapons – New York Times.
Biden said India’s position on Ukraine – the only country in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which also includes the United States, Japan and Australia – was somewhat shaky, Reuters reported. The US president stressed that all QUAD countries except India have imposed sanctions on Russian companies and Russian citizens, and New Delhi has not even condemned Russia.
The idea that Ukraine lacks supplies of up-to-date military equipment from the West is not accurate, Biden said.
The US is supplying Ukraine with Soviet-made air defense systems that were secretly acquired decades ago, The Wall Street Journal quoted a source as saying. The publication refers to deliveries from the USA to Ukraine of “Wasp” anti-aircraft missile systems, which are also in the Armed Forces and are familiar to the Ukrainian military. The US has the S-300 system, bought in 1995 from Belarus. But it has not been transferred to Ukraine yet.
Bulgaria did not take a decision to supply weapons to Ukraine – Head of the Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria.
Minister of Defense of Canada, Anita Anand, said that the country has exhausted its stock of armaments and that there are problems with their production. Such a situation has developed after military supplies to Ukraine.
In London, the flag of Ukraine was projected on the building of the Russian embassy. This is a gross violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, article 22, paragraph 2 of which states, “The receiving State is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.”
The Hungarian foreign minister said Budapest would veto:
- A ban on Russian gas imports to the EU;
- introduction of a no-fly zone over Ukraine;
- the EU peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida called Russia’s decision to withdraw from the dialogue on the peace treaty unacceptably harsh. According to him, Japan’s intentions have not changed, even though negotiations are now impossible.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet instructed the security service to prepare for his possible visit to Kiev for important cease-fire talks, according to the Israeli news website Ynet.
EKOS, a Canadian sociological and economic research company, decided to find out how ordinary Canadians feel about the events in Ukraine depending on their vaccination status. The results were extremely interesting: on average, unvaccinated Canadians were about 12 times more likely to believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine was justified compared to their vaccinated compatriots.
Belgium “categorically discourages” its citizens from going to Ukraine to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces – Belgien Minister of Justice.
Moldovan authorities see no threats from Russia – head of Moldovan Foreign Ministry.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
