Update on the war in Ukraine
at 48and On the day of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian army and its western allies are still expecting a major offensive by Russian forces in the east to take control of Donbass. According to the French General Staff, it could start ” within a few days “† “Russia could launch a major offensive to capture the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, or even go as far as” [fleuve] Dnieper, if its capacities permit, and complete the reduction of the last resistances in Mariupol”a spokesman told reporters.
A US military official added: in a briefing reported by the media Foreign policythat Russian bombing and air flights had abated in recent days “as Russian troops are still getting into position for the Battle of Donbass”†
In Mariupol. More than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers have visited the besieged strategic port for more than a month, according to Moscow. The Ukrainians did not deny, but make sure the city has not fallen and pockets of resistance still exist in the Azovstal metallurgical complex where the last Ukrainian troops are entrenched, hidden for some in a network of tunnels. Vadym Boïtchenko, the city’s mayor, confirms that 180,000 citizens are still waiting to be evacuated from the conurbation and surrounding villages. On Tuesday, he had put forward a death toll of at least 20,000 since the start of the war.
In the East. The Ukrainian authorities have called on the people of these regions to flee as soon as possible. No humanitarian corridor could be opened on Wednesday, the Ukrainians accuse the Russians of “violation of the ceasefire” in the Luhansk region. The leader of one of the two “republics” Unilaterally proclaimed pro-Russian Leonid Passetchnik claimed his soldiers were now in control of “80 to 90%” of this region. According to him, the Ukrainian army is now only present in the cities of Kremennaya, Rubizhne, Sievierodonetsk, Lissitchansk and, to a lesser extent, Popasnaya.
Kyiv and the North. As elsewhere in the capital, Ukrainian authorities say they are still finding corpses every day in areas from which Russian troops withdrew at the end of March, particularly in Boutcha and Borodianka. The Russian Defense Ministry has warned that if Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory continue, “ strikes will be carried out by the Russian army on decision-making centers, including in Kiev.” In the northeastern Kharkiv region, seven people have been killed and 22 others injured in Russian bombing in the past 24 hours, the regional governor said.
The difficult balance. The UN figures, as in other wars, are taken as a reference for civilian casualties: the preliminary assessment is “4.450 civilian casualties in the country: 1,892 dead and 2,558 injured” since February 24, but the UN says: “Believe the real numbers are much higher”† The UN has announced a change in methodology and that the following assessments should be closer to reality. As for military losses, each side regularly reports the number of enemy soldiers killed. As for their own losses, they are more discreet. Russia said on March 25 it had lost 1,351 soldiers. Ukraine admits to having lost soldiers in the fighting, but has not released specific figures.
