Ukrainians also report successes
Russians are supposed to control the whole Kherson district
03/15/2022, 12:11 p.m
After Russian troops conquered the city of Cherson days ago, they say they now control the entire district. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, are reporting successes in nearby Mykolaiv and in the beleaguered city of Mariupol.
According to its own statements, the Russian army has taken control of the entire Cherson region in the south of the country during its war of aggression against Ukraine. Around a million people live in the area in the Black Sea region. The occupation has not yet been confirmed by the Ukrainian side. However, Russia had previously taken control of the regional capital of Kherson. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said that Russia was striving for the formation of a “People’s Republic of Cherson” there – modeled on the “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Moscow recognized as independent.
As the Russian Ministry of Defense further announced in its daily situation report this Tuesday, dozens of military objects in Ukraine were again destroyed. Three hangars for combat aircraft and helicopters were destroyed near the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. In addition, 16 air targets such as Sukhoi Su-24 and Su-25 fighter jets and 13 drones were destroyed.
According to the ministry, Russian paratroopers raised a rallying point for mercenaries and Ukrainian nationalists in Moscow near Kyiv. The Russian units captured US Javelin-type anti-tank guided missiles and handed them over to the separatists in eastern Ukraine. There was no information on possible deaths or injuries.
Important city of Mykolaiv repels attack
According to Governor Vitali Kim, the situation in the Mykolaiv region bordering on Cherson has calmed down somewhat recently. Russian troops trying to take the regional capital of the same name, Mykolaiv, were pushed back somewhat, Kim said in a television interview. The port city will continue to be shelled. On Monday alone, 80 people were injured, including two children. The information cannot be independently verified.
The governor is combative: “You can be 99 percent sure that the Mykolaiv region will stop the Russian advance.” After all, the Russian troops would have to cross the Bug River to do so. “We will not abandon our bridges to the invaders.” Mykolayiv is located east of Odessa on the Black Sea coast.
Ukrainian troops are also reporting successes in the heavily contested city of Mariupol. According to their own statements, a Russian advance had been repelled. Around 150 attackers were killed and two tanks and several armored vehicles were destroyed, the Ukrainian general staff said on Tuesday morning. Artillery fire and air raids were said to have destroyed further military equipment and fired on advancing enemy columns. The ultra-nationalist Azov battalion posted photos of destroyed Russian military vehicles on its Telegram channel. Again, this information cannot be independently verified.
Reports of losses vary widely
Mariupol on the Azov Sea has been besieged by units of the Russian army and pro-Russian separatists for days. Several evacuation attempts have failed so far. In the symbolically and strategically important city in southeastern Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of people are holding out in catastrophic conditions.
The Ukrainian general staff also announced that the Russian advance was halting across the country. The Ukrainian attacks on supply lines had an effect. More than 13,500 Russian soldiers have been killed since the war began on February 24. According to the General Staff, Ukrainian forces also destroyed more than 400 tanks and around 1,300 armored vehicles, as well as 81 combat aircraft and 95 helicopters. Again, this information cannot be independently verified.
The military expert Stijn Mizer points out in his continuously updated list of losses significantly fewer vehicles on both sides. He names almost 1,250 vehicles lost to Russia – destroyed, damaged, abandoned and captured. According to his findings, Ukraine lost 343 vehicles. Mizer does not provide any information on the killed soldiers.