The Fight For Bakhmut Continues
The West offers security guarantees for Ukraine after the war has ended
Day 380 (10 March)
Bjørn Arild Gram, the Norwegen Defence Minister visited Kyiv and met with Zelenskyy today, and announced that Norway would supply a further 2 NASAMS air defence systems to Ukraine.
Today was the funeral of a Hero of Ukraine, Dmytro Kotsyubailo aka callsign"Da Vinci", who was one of the youngest heroes of Ukraine. He was the commander of the 67th brigade, and died in Bakhmut on 7 March 2023, and was awarded ‘Hero of Ukraine’ in November 2021. Young men are dying while defending Ukraine, having never having had a chance to truly live. This is why Ukraine must win, so that other have a chance of living their lives in Ukraine rather than surviving.
Today was the largest Russian attack of the year so far with 84 missiles fired, including hypersonic missile that Ukraine has no defence against
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The Foreign Ministers of the G7 had another meeting with the Ukrainian foreign Minister in response to the recent missile attacks that have damaged energy infrastructure. The ‘energy coalition’ are preparing for next winter as they expect the war to continue
The Finnish Prime Minster, Sanna Marin visited Kyiv, met with Zelenskyy and attended the funeral of Dmytro Kotsyubailo. Among the discussions were how to stop Russia evading sanctions, the energy infrastructure damage, and security issues.
Germany and other Western allies have offered security guarantees to Ukraine, but only after the war and we assume that Ukraine will have won. NATO membership is the only guarantee that the Russians will take any notice of though.
Day 381 (11 March)
The Ukrainian POW who was shot by the Russians has been named as Oleksandr Matsievskyi of the 163rd Battalion of the Territorial Defence of Nizhyn and not Tymofiy Shadura, as previously thought.
The Wagner group have made advances in Bakhmut and control the eastern part of the city. Ukraine holds the western side as the Bakhmut river now divides the sides.
It is probable that they will occupy Bakhmut and Ukraine will have to come in and liberate it when the weapons from the allies arrive. These are the consequences of the hesitation and delay in sending weapons from countries such as Germany and France. The war has been going on for over a year now, and it is has been agreed that air defence systems and tanks will be sent in the past few weeks. How many Ukrainians died waiting for world leaders to decide whether to send weapons or not?
The ICRC has said that they have had access to prisoner camps in Donetsk and Horlivka.
Denmark has signed an agreement with Germany and the Netherlands to provide at least 100 Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine. The Danish government hope the first batch will arrive before the end of March.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, Belarus are planning a false flag incident on the border between Ukraine and Belarus. Belarus seem determined to try and and claim Ukraine is attacking them (with no motive) so that they can join Russian forces in the fighting in Ukraine
Reports from customs records state that Chinas has been assisting Russia, and has been sending helicopter parts to Russia.
In Mariupol, the Russians are destroying all Ukrainian books as they try to erase anything Ukrainian in the city.
A leader of a pro-Russian group (Koos) who visited Donetsk and Mariupol has been detained in Estonia. The fears are that these groups plant spies in NATO countries and also help evade Russian sanctions by using other countries to export goods to Russia.
Putin is considering attending the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September as the Eastern economic forum, held in Vladivostok has been moved to 12–15 September 2023, and it is suggested it is to accommodate attendance at the G20.
Zelenskyy sanctions 120 individuals and 287 entities . This extends to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, where members must leave the Lower Lavra by 29 March, and the lease on the Upper Lavra has not been renewed by the State. Therefore, they must vacate the premises
A memo was found on a Russian soldier giving them instructions on what to do in the event they are caught and how to evade detection. These include:
claiming they are from the Wagner group if caught, they cannot live in premises in occupied (liberated in their minds) territories unless there is an emergency, all comments about the Russian army and leaders must be positive and not critical. not to wear any clothing that will identify your regiment, to tell the ‘liberated’ citizens that Russia is here to stay and to only use Russian, and to refer to Ukrainian troops as Nazis, and to tell people that they are at war with NATO.