Russian invasion of Ukraine: The situation as of 8:00, March 8, 2022

OPERATIONAL SITUATION

Total combat losses of the Russian troops from 24.02 to 08.03 were estimated at over 12,000 men, over 303 tanks, 1,510 armored vehicles and vehicles and 128 aircraft (planes and helicopters). The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine successfully repelled enemy missile and air attacks and provided air cover for critical facilities in Ukraine and troop groups. The Kyiv defense forces continued to defend the capital along the outer defense line and in additionally defined directions.

Kyiv and Zhytomyr directions:

There was constant fighting in the Kyiv direction, particularly in Makariv, Irpin, Hostomel, and Borodianka. The Russian Armed Forces were accumulating troops and equipment, shelling social infrastructure.

Two Russian missiles were shot down over Boryspil, a third injured two people. In the evening, Russian troops launched a rocket attack on Korbutivka near Zhytomyr, hitting a dormitory in which civilians have lived for more than 20 years. The building was completely destroyed as a result of the missile attack.

The Izovat plant, producing 70 percent of Ukraine’s mineral wool, was destroyed in an airstrike in Zhytomyr.

In the city of Malyn, Zhytomyr region, an airstrike destroyed seven private single-story residential buildings.

Chernihiv and Sumy directions:

Russian planes dropped bombs on residential neighborhoods in Sumy this night. Six houses were destroyed and about 20 damaged, at least nine people were killed, including two children. In addition, Russian aviation raided Okhtyrka, bombing residential areas, the private sector and grocery stores. The already destroyed Okhtyrka thermal power plant was also hit again.

Kharkiv and Luhansk directions:

On March 8, in the Vovchansky district of the Kharkiv region, the aggressors landed an assault group of 120 people on 3 helicopters. The territorial defense together with the Armed Forces of Ukraine defeated the Russian troops. The vast majority of the Russian Armed Forces landing force was destroyed right on the spot. Those who survived escaped to the territory of the Belgorod region of Russia.

Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia directions:

The Armed Forces of Ukraine took a number of measures to evacuate civilians in Mariupol via a single route: roads were cleared of mines, engineering barriers were removed, etc. However, Russian troops did not let children, women, and elderly people out of the city and launched an attack in the direction of the humanitarian corridor.

Defending Mariupol, the Azov Detachment conducted an effective counterattack operation and defeated units of the 102nd Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division of the Southern Military District with its location in Novocherkassk (Rostov region). The Ukrainian military obtained documentation of the Russian Armed Forces, including name lists of Russian servicemen attempting to break into Mariupol.

Around 16:30, an air raid on Mariupol was carried out. Two bombs were dropped on institutions of the International Red Cross and the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. Residential buildings and a shopping center were destroyed.

Mykolaiv and Kherson directions:

Ukrainian Armed Forces reinforcements with equipment arrived in Mykolaiv, defenders were preparing for the aggressor’s offensive.

Resistance

Residents of Kherson region continued to hold protests calling against the temporary occupation by Russian troops. Within a day, rallies were held in Oleshki, Hola Prystan, Berezhanka and the Verkhny Rogachyk township.

In Zaporizhzhia region, residents of Melitopol, Tokmak and Berdyansk also continued their pro-Ukrainian peaceful actions.

In Kharkiv region, about three dozen residents of Kupyansk staged an anti-Russian rally, which lasted half an hour and did not provoke a reaction from Russian troops.

Information confrontation

In the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson and Mykolaiv Regions, the enemy uses psychological warfare units. 10 tactical groups were created to conduct propaganda work with local residents.

Russian information and psychological operations units actively began spreading a disinformation campaign among the residents of Kyiv in social networks about the lack of reagents for water purification and problems with its quality. The official authorities urged people not to believe rumors and fakes, and to check the information only on the official information channels of the authorities and public utilities.

In Balakliya, Russian troops are collecting dozens of buses with the crowd to shoot staged stories for the Russian media. They plan to shoot stories about the liberation of the town from the “nationalists” and gratitude to the Russian troops. The purpose of these stories is to justify military action in Ukraine, distort the existing reality, and increase support for the Russian leadership.

In Mariupol, Russian troops began broadcasting Russian propaganda over radio frequencies. They were actively spreading narratives that the top political and military commanders had fled the territory of Ukraine and that the so-called “DNR” occupied the entire Donetsk region.

In Berdyansk, the Russian military seized the “Azov Wave” radio station. The radio station seized by the Russian Armed Forces’ troops may start broadcasting propaganda and anti-Ukrainian information in the near future.

Mayors and heads of state administrations of various localities, in particular, mayors and heads of city/regional administrations of Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa, Chernihiv, Irpin, Bila Tserkva, and others simultaneously began receiving SMS messages with threats and demands to surrender the populated area, let Russian troops in, and support the Russian Armed Forces.

The Russian Federation began spreading another fake that the UN prohibited its employees from using the flag of Ukraine in social networks and calling the war on the territory of Ukraine a war. Instead, it was recommended to treat these events as a conflict or a military offensive. After the news was widely publicized in the media, the UN denied this information and stated that no such instructions were given to the employees.

Parents’ school Viber chats in the temporarily occupied Crimea tried to intimidate the Crimeans not to protest against Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, as well as the economic situation resulting from the sanctions directed against Russia. The implicit language constructions traced the threats of imprisonment of children in order to have more influence on the parents.

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

Vorzel, Bucha, Hostomel, Zabuchchya, Irpin are cities in the Kyiv direction, where there is no mobile communication, light, water supply. Due to fires in many neighborhoods had to cut off gas supply. People are forced to sit in cold basements, sometimes without food and water. This is the epicenter of a humanitarian catastrophe. The district receives humanitarian medical and food aid. But the aggressor does not give the opportunity to help the occupied communities.

The situation in Mariupol remains critical, with Russia effectively taking 300,000 civilians hostage and refusing to evacuate them, despite agreements with the International Committee of the Red Cross. Residents of Mariupol and other cities in Ukraine need food, water and medical care. One child died of dehydration.

The aggressors offered unprotected people to be evacuated to Russia via Belarus, as we pointed out earlier, this is a war crime.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, once again violating the rules of warfare, fired on the civilian infrastructure of Okhtyrka. As a result of the bombings and shellings, as of 1 pm on March 8, one civilian was killed and 14 others were injured.

Kharkiv has been under fire since the beginning of the war, the city has suffered significant damage, as of 18:00 on March 8, since February 24 in Kharkov and the region killed 170 civilians, including 5 children. Russian aggressors shot dead two volunteers who came to Feldman Ecopark to feed the animals.

In Mykolaiv the minibus which was marked by signs of a “red cross” came under fire of the Russian military. As a result of the shelling, according to preliminary information, at least three educators of a family-type orphanage who were going to change colleagues were killed.

The city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region was destroyed by fighting, bridges were blown up, evacuation was not possible, and locals needed urgent humanitarian assistance. Russian troops completely destroyed the city’s central hospital.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates the number of people who left Ukraine because of the war at 2 million.

INTERNATIONAL REACTION

Important achievements of Ukrainian diplomacy are changes in the international energy arena. The United States is imposing a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas to the United States due to the war in Ukraine. The British government intends to stop importing Russian oil by the end of 2022. The European Commission has proposed a plan REPowerEU, which provides for a reduction in EU demand for Russian gas by two thirds by the end of 2022.

The Council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has decided to immediately suspend the participation of Russia and Belarus in all its bodies.

After Volodymyr Zelensky’s remote speech in the British Parliament on March 8, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to do everything possible to make Russian leader Vladimir Putin lose the war against Ukraine. Johnson noted that Britain will influence the situation by helping Ukraine with weapons and economically holding back Russia.

US President Joe Biden noted the strong opposition of Ukrainians to the Russian occupation forces and expressed the opinion that already at this stage of the war it is clear that Ukraine will not be a “victory” for Putin. Biden added that the United States would continue to support Ukrainians in their struggle and called on Congress to support a $12 billion aid package for Ukraine.

The World Bank has announced its intention to provide Ukraine with more than $700 million to help the Ukrainian government continue to provide vital services to people: salaries for doctors, pensions and social benefits for vulnerable groups.

Luxembourg has provided €250 million in aid to Ukraine, while €106 million has been raised in the Netherlands for housing, health care and water supplies for war victims.

And although Russia has already become the most sanctioned state in the world due to the invasion of Ukraine, the international community continues to impose sanctions on Russia.

Thus, the European Commission has prepared a new package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus, which provides:

– a ban on the export of marine technology from the EU to Russia;

– closing access to the SWIFT system to three Belarusian banks;

– inclusion of several oligarchs and Russian deputies in the “black list”.

At the same time, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced a bill proposing to ban Russia’s operations with gold reserves, which could mitigate the effects of sanctions. It is reported that if sanctions are imposed on these reserves, it could potentially further isolate Russia from the world economy and further complicate Putin’s military campaign.

International companies and organizations continue to stop cooperating with Russia due to aggression on the territory of Ukraine.

– Oil and gas company Shell completely stops buying oil from Russia.

– The British oil and gas company BP will stop concluding new agreements on the purchase of Russian gas and oil.

– Japan has announced a ban on exports of refining equipment to Russia.

– Australia’s largest oil companies Ampol and Viva Energy have stopped buying oil from Russia.

– The largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced that from March 9 it will stop supporting Mastercard and Visa cards issued in Russia.

– South Korea, following the United States and the European Union, has banned transactions with Russia’s Central Bank.

– The Estonian government has decided to suspend the registration of Russian and Belarusian citizens as electronic residents of Estonia.

– The American technology company VMware, which is the developer of virtualization software, is terminating all business operations in Russia and Belarus.

– Akamai Technologies, a company that protects against DDoS hacking attacks, is terminating contracts with the public sector in Russia and Belarus.

– The venture fund Index Ventures has stated that it will not make any investments in Russia.

– Photobank Depositphotos, as well as the platform for graphic design VistaCreate stopped selling and accessing the service to customers from Russia and Belarus.

– The Association of European Energy Exchanges (Europex) has decided to exclude the St. Petersburg International Commodity Exchange (SPIMEX) from its membership.

– Yum! Brands, which includes Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, is suspending investment in Russia.

– Dutch ISPs have begun blocking Russian media sites in the country.

– Procter & Gamble Corporation is stopping all new capital investments in Russia.

– Colliers, a commercial real estate consulting firm, has ceased operations in Russia and Belarus.

– Cosmetics manufacturer Estee Lauder completely stops selling in Russia.

– OBI Group’s chain of construction and hardware stores is shutting down in Russia.

– The American diversified corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of many types of equipment, General Electric ceases operations in Russia.

– Unilever (brands Dove, Ax, Rexona, Clean Line, Domestos, Cif and others) has suspended exports to Russia.

– The world’s largest cosmetics company L’Oreal Group has announced the closure of stores and boutiques in Russia.

– The Italian company Ferrari, which manufactures luxury sports cars, is stopping production of vehicles for Russians.

– McDonald’s is temporarily closing 850 restaurants in Russia.

– Starbucks suspends business in Russia and closes its cafes.

– Swiss watch company Rolex stops exporting goods to Russia.

– PepsiCo ceases advertising and beverage sales in Russia.

– Universal Music, the world’s largest record company, is closing its offices in Russia and suspending all business operations in its territory.

The information in the digest is collected from official sources — reports of state authorities of Ukraine, Ukrainian and international news agencies. The accuracy of the data is carefully checked by the project team and corrected in case of fake news.

Center for International Security