Belarus. Yesterday, at 2:30pm, Ukrainian Border Guard Service reported that Russian planes left Dubrovytsia airport in Belarus, flew into Ukrainian airspace, turned around over our towns of Horodychi and Tumeni, after which they set a fire in Kopani town in Belarus. This could be considered as a possible provocation to justify involvement of the Belarus troops. Previously the Ministry of Defence has already warned that some provocations might appear in the near future. However shortly after the incidents, Ministry of Defence of Belarus called it fake. Later that day, Ukrainian military and civil servants were informed that Belarus was preparing to invade Ukraine by 21:00 on March 11. As for 10.00 am March 12, 2022 any military actions towards Ukraine have not been performed.
Foreign policy. U.N. says there is no evidence to back Russian claim of Ukraine biological weapons program after evidence-less allegations of Russia. Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia is trying to reassert the U.N. Security Council, without providing evidence, that Ukraine ran biological weapons laboratories with the U.S. Defense Department support. The UN has evidence of Russia’s use of banned cluster bombs, as reported by Liz Throssel, the spokesperson and media liaison at UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Versailles Summit. Ukrainian officials say the outcomes of the Summit bring Ukraine closer to the EU, however fast track procedure is still on the table, as well as candidate status. Ursula Von der Leyen, at the summitโs closing news conference, urged an investigation into possible war crimes by Russia, including the bombing of a maternity hospital in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Cities under attack: The Russian troops have entered a new stage of terror, when they tried to physically eliminate representatives of the legitimate local authorities. Ivan Fedorov, Mayor of Melitopol, was abducted by the Russian troops, as he had earlier refused to cooperate with the Russian invaders. Around 2000 people went to the rally calling for the release of the Mayor. The Russian troops on Friday opened fire on civilian objects of the city of Mykolayiv, in particular, on an oncology hospital. All patients have survived. In the city center of Chernihiv, Russian troops struck at the Hotel โUkrainaโ. Russian terrorists fired on a psychoneurological boarding house in Kharkiv oblast. 73 people were evacuated to the neighboring boarding house, but 330 people were in the boarding house at the time of the attack. There were 50 sedentary people in the boarding house and ten more people in wheelchairs. Kharkiv these days – photos. The number of victims is being determined. In Vasylkiv and Kryachky, Kyiv region, after a morning air strike, an oil depot is on fire.
Energy security. According to the Security Services of Ukraine, Russia is preparing fake “evidence” to imitate the involvement of the Ukrainian military in Chornobyl area. This envisages two possible scenarios – the first one is about large-scale burning of radioactive forests, the radioactive cloud will rise immediately following the direction of the wind. The second is the usage of artillery for nuclear storage. The result will be the same. In both scenarios they will accuse Ukrainian โneo-naziโ and โnaziโ organisations.
Russians have already refused to provide access to the station to Ukrainian repairers. Russian saboteurs enter the territory of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant under the guise of “Belarusian specialists.” Currently, ChNPP is completely disconnected from the monitoring systems of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The station is de-energized. The available diesel generators can provide only 48 hours of maintenance of safety systems. The Russian troops use Zaporizhzha NPP as a military base. There are still about five hundred Russian soldiers with machine guns and fifty pieces of equipment right on the platform. IAEA informs that data transmission from monitoring systems at the Zaporizhzha NPP was renewed. Russian โcivil-police administrationโ of Zaporizhzhya NPP gathered Ukrainian management staff, who are hostages, and said that the station is now owned by Rosatom and no longer belongs to Ukraine.
Business in time of war. During March 11, 17 companies and about 30 brands left Russia. In total, these decisions will cost the Russian economy another 47,000 jobs. The European Union will suspend Moscow’s privileged trade and economic treatment, crack down on its use of crypto-assets and ban exports to Russia of EU luxury goods and imports of iron and steel goods, said the head of the European Commission on Friday.
Sanctions. Great Britain has sanctioned 386 members of the Duma for their support for the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Humanitarian crises. While evacuation remains a challenge, Russian military are moving in armored vehicles under the Red Cross flag. Today 14 humanitarian corridors will be open for evacuation of civilians. Mariupol remains blocked and without resources for living. In 12 days of blockade of the city and ruthless shelling of residential neighborhoods, 1582 civilians of Mariupol were killed by Russian occupation troops.
Digital security. In a temporary change to its hate speech policy, Meta Platforms allows Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion. In response to the policy change, The Prosecutor General’s Office in Russia has already sent a request to Roskomnadzor to restrict access to Instagram and asked the court to recognize Meta as an extremist organization and ban its activities in Russia.YouTube started immediately blocking Russian state-funded media channels around the world.Previously, YouTube had blocked leading Russia state-backed channels RT and Sputnik across Europe. London Internet Exchange (LINX) is disconnecting key Russia providers (Rostelecom, Megafon) from the international traffic exchange, this may cause jitters, delays, and a fall in pings for Russian users. Cybersecurity firm Avast suspends Russia, Belarus operations.
Disinformation. Russia claims that Kyiv authorities have banned the mayors of Ukrainian cities from any humanitarian contacts with Russia. At the same time, the Russian side claims that ยซall those who disagree are simply shotยป. Russia continues to disseminate information about the development of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Ukraine. So, the Ministry of Defense stated that: ยซNationalists blew up the building of the Physics and Technology Institute in Kharkiv to hide work on nuclear topicsยป.
Statistics:
- 2.5 million Ukrainians fled Ukraine since the beginning of war, reports the UN.
- General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the total estimated losses of the Russian military as of 6 a.m., March 12, 2022: troops – more than 12,000, tanks โ 362, APV โ 1,205, artillery systems โ 135, MLRS – 62, anti-aircraft warfare systems – 33, aircraft โ 57, helicopters โ 83, vehicles โ 585, light speed boats โ 3, fuel tanks โ 60, UAV operational-tactical level โ 7.
Every action counts, no contribution is too small!
- Disseminate Open Letter to Worldโs Mayors and Local Self-Governance with your local authorities. In case you wish to help or support Ukrainian cities, please coordinate efforts with us International Mayors Summit
- Follow the link to see a list of reliable organizations that support Ukraine.
- Share your story about Ukraine – whether youโve traveled here or you have friends in Ukraine. Spread information about Ukraine.
- Share the truths – share information about this update and website.
Thank you for supporting Ukraine! Slava Ukraini! Glory to Ukraine!
