First day of spring and sixth day of War in Ukraine! 122 hours of resistance!
Prypiat talks. Yesterday on February 28, Ukrainian and Russian Delegations met for the first round of negotiations near Prypiat river. No agreement was reached and both delegations returned to their national capitals for consultations. Among the requirements, Russia insisted on expanding the territories of unrecognized Luhansk and Donetsk Peopleโs Republics to the borders of entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. Ukrainian representatives on the other side called for the withdrawal of all Russian troops from all Ukrainian territories including Donbas and Crimea.
EU direction. President Zelenskyi signed an application for Ukraineโs membership in the EU. According to Vsevolod Chentsov, the application has been registered. The leaders of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia called for Ukraineโs immediate EU candidate status. However, Germany, France and the Netherlands are more careful with endorsing the idea of Ukraineโs accession to the EU, referring to it as not being the main issue on the agenda.
The Hague time. Karim Khan, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that they will proceed with opening an investigation against possible war crimes or crimes against
humanity in Ukraine. The decision comes after Ukraineโs appeal to the court to โimmediately stop military attacks on civilian objects, including houses, private cars, ambulances and other specially protected civilian objects, such as schools and hospitals in Ukraine,โ according to the Ukrainian
Minister of Justice Denys Malyuska.
War without rules. Yesterday, Russian troops deployed a thermobaric bomb, banned by the Geneva Convention, on an oil refinery in Okhtyrka, Sumy region. Heavy shelling killed 70 Ukrainian soldiers at the local military unit. In Volnovakha, evacuation vehicles came under the shelling of Russian BM-21 โGradโ. In the village of Borodyanka, Kyiv region, the rehabilitation centre of the Ukrainian Ministry of Veteransโ Affairs was shelled. Close to Kyiv, a shell hit a maternity hospital. On February 26, Russian troops opened fire on a civilian bus near the town of Volokhiv Yar in the Kharkiv region; some victims are still missing.
The situation in Kyiv and the regions. Air sirens turned out to be a horrifying soundtrack of recent days and nights. Yesterday, Kyiv and Kharkiv city centers were heavily shelled for the first time since 1941! A missile hit a military unit in Brovary, near Kyiv โ watch video. Shellings targeted the apartment blocks across the region, demolishing 3 multi-apartment blocks. Kharkiv was shelled the whole day long. This morning, the missile hit the regional administration building. Six people were injured, including one child. The death toll is being determined. watch video. Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia oblast was temporarily occupied by Russian troops. Local citizens have been shelled and still they came out to rally, outside the city council building, demanding the Russian troops to leave. Kherson has been encircled by the Russian troops trying to get control over the city. The city, as the mayor claims, is still under Ukraineโs control. Mariupol and Volnovkha, Donetsk region, continue to resist the ongoing heavy attack but remain under UA control.
Belarus. Separate units of the Belarusian army are moving to the border of Ukraine in the Volyn direction. Belarus is used for Russian aircraft combat sorties. The Russian Air Force resumed air reconnaissance of Ukrainian objects from the Belarus airspace.
Hybrid War. The Russian troops also use Ukraineโs state symbols and uniforms of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and the National Police. The Russian military hangs Ukrainian flags on the columns of their equipment โ such cases have been recorded in Peremoga and Nova Basana in the Kyiv region, on the road Krasnostav-Nizhyn in the Chernihiv region. Invaders also wave white flags, as if surrendering, however, after safely approaching Ukrainian positions, they open fire.
Energy sector. Ukraine will integrate into the EU electrical grid to become independent of the Russian and Belarusian ones. The synchronization will start in a few weeks instead of 2023. Information resistance. International hackers group Anonymous hacked a number of the Russian
state-owned (e.g. TASS, RBK, Izvestia, etc.) media websites by posting anti-war messages. Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor is blocking Russian websites, like Tayga.info or Doxa journal, that are writing the truth about the ongoing war.
Information resistance. International hackers group Anonymous hacked a number of the Russian state-owned (e.g. TASS, RBK, Izvestia, etc.) media websites by posting anti-war messages. Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor is blocking Russian websites, like Tayga.info or Doxa journal, that are writing the truth about the ongoing war.
International community. Historical events keep coming in waves in Europe. Switzerland adopts EU sanctions, freezes Putinโs assets breaking its historically neutral status over the war on Ukraine. The EU has imposed sanctions against a number of people close to the Russian government.
Statistics:
- Casualties among Ukrainians: more than 2040 civilians, including 45 children, have been injured since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, and counting;
- Since the beginning of the war, as of morning of March 1, Russia lost an estimated 5710 soldiers, hundreds of military equipment and vehicles;
- In five days of the invasion, Ukraine was struck by 56 missile strikes, 113 cruise missiles were fired.
Every action matters, no matter how small!
- Share information about our website and the newsletter through your communication channels. As many people as possible need to know about the situation in Ukraine.
- Print the newsletter and distribute it at protests, drop them in your neighborsโ mailboxes and share it among your colleagues.
- Call your politicians, decision-makers and ask what they have done to prevent this tragedy. Call them to speak out and share our briefing notes as proof.
- Reach out to your local media and share the information with them.
- Slava Ukraini! Glory to Ukraine!
Update prepared by representatives of Ukrainian NGOs and experts in human security and democracy, who are in cities all over Ukraine right now. NGOs: Institute for political and information research NGO, World of Communities, Kyiv educational center Tolerspace, U-Cycle NGO (Kyiv Cyclists Association), Open Space Works Cooperative. Experts: Sofia Oliynyk, Maryana Zaviyska, Taras Tymchuk, Marianna Semenyshyn.