On the thirteenth day of the war against Ukraine, Russian troops continue to strike at settlements in many regions of the neighboring country and do not stop trying to capture them. The Ukrainian army and territorial defense detachments are putting up stubborn resistance and claiming significant losses of Russians among personnel and military equipment. Under the conditions of hostilities, the statements of representatives of the armed forces of both sides of the conflict cannot be verified from independent sources. Western countries and international organizations are tightening sanctions against Russia. DW is following developments on Tuesday, March 8 (Moscow time).
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Ukraine announced the start evacuation of residents of Irpin and Sumy. More than 150 people have been evacuated from Irpin, head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration Oleksiy Kuleba said. According to him, people are taken on foot through the village of Romanovka to Kyiv. The beginning of the evacuation from Sumy to Poltava was confirmed by adviser to the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak. “From Sumy – civilians, to Sumy – humanitarian cargo,” he wrote on Telegram. From the videos published by the Ukrainian media, it follows that residents are taken out on buses. According to the Caution, News Telegram channel, 35 evacuation buses left the Poltava region for Sumy, and 20 tons of humanitarian aid will also be delivered to the city.
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According to General Staff of the APU, the loss of Russian forces since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine has exceeded 12 thousand people, over the past day this number has increased by about one thousand. In turn, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation only once since the beginning of the war in Ukraine published data on the dead and wounded Russian servicemen: on March 2, the department announced the death of 498 people and the injury of 1,597 people.
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Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed the opening of only one humanitarian corridor. “We are talking about the evacuation of civilians from the city of Sumy to the city of Poltava, including foreign students, including citizens of the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China,” she said in a video message published on the Telegram channel of the Office of the President of Ukraine. It is agreed with the Russian Federation, for this the Armed Forces of Ukraine cease fire from 9.00 to 21.00, it is reported further. At the same time, she expressed fears about possible provocations and another disruption of the evacuation.
Russia threatens to stop gas supplies to Europe
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Moscow threatened to stop gas supplies to Europe via pipeline “Nord Stream – 1”. “In connection with unfounded accusations against Russia regarding the energy crisis in Europe and the imposition of a ban on Nord Stream 2, we have every right to take a “mirror” decision and impose an embargo on gas pumping through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which today is loaded at the maximum level of 100%,” Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak said. He pointed out that so far such a decision has not been made, since “none of the parties” will benefit from it.
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YouTube video hosting management removed the main and backup channels of the Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov “Soloviev Live”. The journalist called this decision “a declaration of war.” He called on the Russian authorities to block YouTube in the country and said that he would continue to release his programs, posting a link to the broadcast on social networks immediately before the broadcast.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the opening of humanitarian corridors
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Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the introduction of a “silence regime” from 10:00 and the opening of humanitarian corridors from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkov and Mariupol. The official representative of the department, Igor Konashenkov, also announced at the briefing that 2,482 Ukrainian military installations have been destroyed since the start of the Russian invasion, 158 of them in the last 24 hours. On the eve of the attack on the military airfield Ozernoye near Zhytomyr, it was put out of action, the representative of the Russian Defense Ministry further pointed out.
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In Sumy As a result of Russian air strikes on residential buildings, nine people, including two children, were killed, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported. The night before, Russian aviation struck at residential buildings on Romenskaya Street and Spartak Street. On the night and morning of March 8, explosions also occurred in the Sumy region.
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In the context of ongoing hostilities in Ukraine, it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide medical care to the wounded, an international humanitarian organization said. “Doctors Without Borders”. Now it is impossible to guarantee an uninterrupted supply of medicines and necessary materials to hospitals, said the head of the organization, Christian Katzer, on the air of the German TV channel ZDF. He said that several MSF teams are working in Ukraine, in particular, in Kyiv, Mariupol and Odessa.
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IN Kyiv announced the death in hostilities near Kharkov of Major General of the RF Armed Forces Vitaly Gerasimov, First Deputy Commander of the 41st Army of the Central Military District. He “participated in the second Chechen war and the Russian military operation in Syria,” and also received a medal for the annexation of Crimea, the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. Bulgarian investigative journalist Hristo Grozev also wrote about the death of Gerasimov, citing a Russian source. There is no official confirmation from the Russian side.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the violation of the rights of the population in the occupied territories
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UN sent a group of experts to Moscow to discuss with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation the problem of evacuating the population along humanitarian corridors in Ukraine, Martin Griffiths, Deputy Secretary General, Coordinator of UN Humanitarian Assistance, said at a meeting of the UN Security Council. The UN team has already held its first meeting with representatives of the RF Ministry of Defense. According to Griffiths, the goal of the talks is to improve coordination between civilians and the military and expand the scale of UN humanitarian operations in Ukraine.
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The pace of the advance of the Russian troops “significantly slowed down”, said General Staff of the APU. In the north of the country, the defense of Chernihiv continues, in the south a defensive operation is being carried out along the state border, “the sea coast is being covered, defensive battles are being fought in the suburbs of Nikolaev,” the statement posted on Facebook says. In addition, the defense of Kyiv continues.
In addition, the General Staff reported more and more frequent cases of looting and violation of the norms of International Humanitarian Law on the conduct of military conflicts in the occupied territories in the Kharkov, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kiev regions. In particular, “the facts of robberies, violent actions against local residents, the seizure of civilian premises, the use of agricultural hangars for parking military equipment, and the arrangement of firing positions in densely populated areas” are widely recorded. To influence the local population, the Russians “use units of psychological struggle,” it is reported further.