Current War Situation in Ukraine
Russian forces are mainly concentrated on the east of the country. Ukraine pushed back the russian troops near the city of Kharkiv. Twenty-three towns and villages of the Kharkiv region were liberated from the invaders. Unfortunately, such good news is followed by disappointing one about how in these villages and towns russian soldiers mocked people, tortured them, and destroyed their property and houses.
Since 2014, Luhansk and Donetsk regions have been under constant active military action by russian invaders. However, before the war of 2022, much of the Donetsk region was controlled by the Ukrainian state. Today, russian invaders are trying to seize the two regions completely along their borders in order to settle there and launch an offensive on central Ukraine. Nevertheless, strong Ukrainian defenses in the Donbas region are holding for now and do not allow the invaders to move on.
Russian missile strikes, which began on the first day of the war, on February 24, initially hit airports, military infrastructure, and military training sites, such as the Yavoriv military training site in the Lviv region, which is located 20km from the Polish border. Then missiles hit everything: hospitals, schools, people’s homes, etc. They have destroyed most of the huge storages of fuel around Ukraine. Thus, the number one problem every Ukrainian face today is the lack of fuel. Although prices have doubled, people are still unable to buy the required amount of fuel. They are forced to stand in line every day, not knowing whether they will receive the limited amount (20 liters per one) of fuel or not.
Last week, a significant number of villages were damaged in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Thus, in the Luhansk region, the missiles alarm did not turn off since April 4, 2022, and it currently lasts 1173 hours. One of the reasons for is that all missiles fired by Russian troops from the east are flying through this area, and no one exactly knows where they are aimed.
To date, the priority targets for russian invaders are two objects. The first one is the railways, which play a crucial role in supplying military ammunition and equipment to the east. Moreover, trains evacuate people from east to west and are the only alternative to seaports used for grain exports.
The second target of the russian invaders is Mariupol, namely the Azovstal plant. It is known that all civilians who hid in the plant’s tunnels for three months were evacuated. The russian invaders took these people to the territories under their control. Ukrainian soldiers of the Azov Regiment, who bravely defended for three months but were wounded during the war, have also been evacuated. Last week, about 7 buses with these soldiers left the plant and were brought to the occupied territory. Last Wednesday, the russian government wanted to introduce the law banning the exchange or release of these people. They want to use our defenders to show that they have achieved a “good result” and defeated the “Ukrainian Nazis”. The reason is that the Azov Battalion was accused by the russians of ultra-right ideas, but there is no information that really confirms this.
The losses of the russian army from 24.02 to 26.05: personnel – about 29.600 (+150) persons were liquidated; tanks ‒ 1.315 (+10); APV ‒ 3.235 (+22); artillery systems – 617 (+11), MLRS – 201 (+0); anti-aircraft warfare systems – 93; aircraft – 206 (+0), helicopters – 170 (+0); vehicles and fuel tanks – 2.225 (+8); boats, cutters – 13 (+0); UAV operational-tactical level – 502 (+11); special equipment – 47 (+3); cruise missiles – 114 (+2). By the way, one of the problems is that Russia does not take the bodies of its soldiers, so here again, the Ukrainian railway system has special refrigerated cars to store the bodies of russian soldiers.
