Russian offensive in Ukraine: the map of the evolution of the bombardments

Vladimir Putin has launched a full-scale military offensive. “Liberation” maintains a map of the many places where strikes were recorded in the first hours of the attack on Ukrainian territory.

After the words, the bombs. The announcement of a “military operation” by Vladimir Putin on the night of Wednesday to Thursday was followed within a minute by the din of the first explosions in Ukraine. In just a few hours, Russian strikes hit the entire Ukrainian territory.

The attacks are coordinated on several fronts, in the north, and mainly in the east of the country, using in the southern sector rockets and helicopters against the Ukrainian positions. As expected, the border regions, especially those of Donbass, concentrate most of the shots. But many strikes also target the capital of Kiev as well as the west of the country, as shown by the map drawn up by Freedwith the bombardments recorded at noon.

Compared to the situation at 10 o’clock in the morning, three new strikes were authenticated, in the separatist territory of Loungansk, as well as west of Kiev.

The targets are above all military, the Russians seeking in particular to ensure air superiority: aerodromes, ground-air defense systems. But Ukrainian intelligence service sites have also been targeted. About ten hours after the start of the conflict, the Russian General Staff communicated an initial assessment. He’s talking about “74 land facilities of Ukrainian military infrastructure decommissioned” including 11 Air Force airfields, three command posts, a Ukrainian naval base and 18 radar stations of missile defense systems as well as an “attack helicopter” and “four Bayraktar TB-2 drones” from Turkish manufacture. In addition, the pro-Russian separatists on the offensive against the Ukrainian army in the East and under the cover of Russian bombardments would have “progressed 7 kilometers” in their attack.

At the same time, several testimonies report affected residential buildings. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba immediately denounced the start of a “large-scale invasion” by Russia. “Peaceful Ukrainian towns are being attacked. It is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend and win. The world can and must stop Putin. It is time to act now”he tweeted.

Release identifies the forces present on both sides. On paper, Russian forces are estimated to total 900,000 troops. About 190,000 of them are thought to be on the outskirts of Ukraine. They are supported by tanks, armored vehicles and significant technological resources, far superior to those of the 200,000 Ukrainian troops.

Not to mention the many Russian aircraft stationed on bases in Belarus, as well as warships positioned in the Black Sea by the Kremlin. Release presents this imbalanced balance of power in an infographic below.

Contacted by ReleaseIevgenii Lutsenko, a 32-year-old computer scientist living in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, recounts what he experienced on Thursday morning: “I was awakened at 5 a.m. by the sound of an explosion. Then I learned about Putin’s official declaration of war. […] I prepared a small bag. […] We’re getting ready, but don’t panic. Some people go to work normally. There is a feeling of resistance, rather.

But the Ukrainian population is beginning to flee and images of monster traffic jams are circulating on social networks. The human toll already looks heavy. At the end of the morning, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that at least 40 soldiers and a dozen civilians had been killed in the early hours of the Russian invasion.

Update : at 12:17 p.m., with the addition of the authenticated keystrokes map at 10 a.m.

Update : at 3:39 p.m., with the report communicated by the Russian army.