Wednesday, March 1

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A school is completely destroyed by Russian bombing in Posad-Pokrovskoe, Kherson Oblast in Ukraine on Feb. 19, 2023. (Photo by Vincenzo Circosta/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Zelensky meets with International Criminal Court prosector in Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelensky met with International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan in Kyiv on Feb. 28, the Office of the President reported. During their meeting, Zelensky stressed that the Russian crimes committed in Ukraine must not be overlooked, and those responsible for them must face legal consequences.

Lukashenko visits China as tensions mount. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko started a three-day visit to Beijing on Feb. 28. Lukashenko is expected to hold discussions with Chinese officials in Beijing at the invitation of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Report: Western-made parts are used in Russian weapons involved in war crimes. Western technology companies continued to export dual-use and specific military components to Russia as late as November 2022, according to a new report released by International Partnership for Human Rights and the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission. The report examined multiple war crimes allegedly committed by Russian troops in Ukraine, suggesting that Western-made parts were used in weapons involved in each crime.

General Staff: Russia launches 2 airstrikes over past 24 hours. Ukraine’s General Staff said in its evening update that Russia has launched one missile and two airstrikes in the past 24 hours and conducted 20 attacks using multiple rocket launchers.

Ukraine’s military: Additional troops to be sent to Bakhmut. Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s Land Forces and Eastern Operational Command, ordered to send more troops to Bakhmut following his trip to the front line on Feb. 25.

General Staff: Ukraine repels more than 85 Russian attacks over past day. Ukrainian forces repelled over 85 Russian attacks in five areas in the past 24 hours in northeastern and eastern Ukraine, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on March 1.

Putin signs law suspending major nuclear treaty with US. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a law officially suspending Russia’s participation in the New START treaty on Feb. 28. He first announced the suspension during his state-of-the-nation address to the Federal Assembly and members of the Russian political elite on Feb. 21.

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Drone reportedly crashes near Gazprom facility in Moscow region. A drone crashed in Russia’s Moscow region near the village of Gubastovo, Moscow Oblast Governor Andrey Vorobyov reported on Feb. 28. The drone was allegedly found next to the Voskresensk gas compressor station owned by Russia’s energy giant Gazprom, the station’s spokesperson told Russian media outlet RBC.

UK Defense Ministry: Alleged loss of aircraft at Belarusian airfield to further limit Russia’s air operations. The loss of a Russian A-50 aircraft in an alleged partisan attack on a Belarusian airfield in Machulishchy will “likely leave six operational A-50s in service, further constraining Russian air operations,” the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Feb. 28.

Local authorities report fire at oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar region. A fire broke out at an oil depot in Russia’s southern city of Tuapse at night on Feb. 28, according to the city administration. Local news outlet 93.ru previously reported two explosions on the oil depot territory, citing Tuapse residents.

Poll: One third of Ukrainian refugees in EU want to return home. One in three Ukrainian refugees in the European Union ultimately wants to return home. At the same time, a similar proportion would like to remain in their host countries, according to a new survey released on Feb. 28 by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

ISW: Russia escalates false flag information operations to distract from failures. Russia appears to have escalated the promotion of the false flag information operations to downplay its failures and decrease the provision of military aid to Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update on Feb. 28.

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Ukraine war latest: Kyiv says Russia prepares for offensive in southern Ukraine.

Russian forces continue their assault on Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk Oblast while trying to create conditions for the offensive in some areas of the southern Kherson and southeastern Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Russian attacks across 9 Ukrainian oblasts kill 2, injure 16 over past 24 hours. Russian attacks were reported in Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Luhansk oblasts in the east, south, and north of Ukraine.

Russia’s shelling of Kupiansk kills 1. Russian attack on Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast at around 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 28 killed a 63-year-old man, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported. Russia’s shelling also damaged residential buildings, a kindergarten and a park.

Russia attacks Kherson on Feb. 28, killing 1. Russian troops hit the southern city of Kherson on the morning of Feb. 28, killing one person and wounding one more, Ukraine’s Presidential Office head Andrii Yermak reported. A house was destroyed as a result of the Russian attack, according to Yermak.

Russia attacks Kherson Oblast, killing 4, injuring 5. Four people were killed and five people were injured on Feb. 28 as a result of artillery strikes by the Russian army, according to the Kherson Oblast administration. Kherson has been continuously subjected to Russian shelling since it was liberated by Ukrainian forces in November 2022.

General Staff: Russia has lost 149,240 troops in Ukraine since start of full-scale war. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Feb. 28 that Russia had also lost 3,388 tanks, 6,630 armored fighting vehicles, 5,252 vehicles and fuel tanks, 2,383 artillery systems, 478 multiple launch rocket systems, 247 air defense systems, 300 airplanes, 288 helicopters, 2,051 drones, and 18 boats.

International response

CNN: US, allies have trained over 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers. The U.S. has already trained more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers since January and over 4,000 since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, CNN reported on Feb. 28. Ukrainian soldiers will soon finish training at Fort Still, Oklahoma, on operating the Patriot missile system.

In other news

National Police block channels promoting violent Russian-linked youth movement. National Police reported on Feb. 28 that they had blocked access to 18 online channels and groups connected to a violent subculture targeting Ukraine’s youth. According to the report, the movement originated in Russia and promotes violent confrontations between teenagers.

Bloomberg: China imports Russian uranium, raising concerns over the nuclear arms race. China’s imports of Russian uranium will fuel a new reactor, creating weapons-grade plutonium as a byproduct, according to a Bloomberg article published on Feb. 28.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Oleksiy Sorokin, Dinara Khalilova, Olena Goncharova, Kate Tsurkan, Teah Pelechaty, Anastasiya Gordiychuk, and Anastasiia Malenko.

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