By the beginning of the third week of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the pace of advancement inland had somewhat slowed down. Although Russian troops have made some progress in southern Ukraine, the main centers of resistance remain the same as at the very beginning of hostilities—Kharkov, Mariupol, and the Kyiv suburbs. However, experts predict that “a new wave of offensive by the Russian army” may begin very soon.
The Russian special operation in Ukraine began on February 24, that is, it has been going on for two weeks. At the same time, if earlier in the daily reports of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation it was said about regular advances tens of kilometers deep into Ukraine, now the numbers have become somewhat more modest.
So, today at an evening briefing, the official representative of the department, Igor Konashenkov, listed a number of settlements on the border of Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions, occupied by the Russian military: Stepnoye, Kropyvnytskyi, Maly Kermenchik, Novopetrikovka and Yalynskoe. The total advance, he said, was 10 km. Mr. Konashenkov also spoke about the actions of the “group of forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic”: “Continuing offensive operations, she took control of the settlements of Blizhnee and Tavla (villages near Volnovakha.— “b”). The advance was 4 km.
According to the representative of the People’s Militia of the DPR, Eduard Basurin, who spoke on Russian TV channels, the last large settlement that the DPR forces managed to occupy was the village of Novotroitskoye. It is located about 20 km from Donetsk.
From the words of Mr. Basurin, it followed that now all the forces of the joint grouping of troops of the DPR and Russia are concentrated around Mariupol. There may be up to 400 thousand civilians in this city, but Ukrainian nationalists, according to Eduard Basurin, simply do not allow them to use the humanitarian corridor, which is why the city can be called “a concentration camp in which inhuman experiments are performed.” “Humanitarian corridors do not work,” Mr. Basurin stated, speaking on the air of Channel One. “Over the past day, 28 people left, and the military evacuated another 16 people. We’re not talking about thousands or tens of thousands.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as Kommersant found out, is not yet participating in this process. “In order for the ICRC to facilitate the safe passage of civilians, the parties must agree among themselves not only in principle, but also on all details and parameters. They need to agree on specific times, locations, evacuation routes, and other logistical details. Our teams remain on the ground and are ready to help ensure the safe passage of civilians as soon as a detailed agreement is reached, ”the organization told Kommersant.
At the same time, the ICRC continues to provide assistance to Ukraine to the extent possible. “Our employees deliver medical supplies, food, water and hygiene products to Kyiv, Mariupol, Odessa, Donetsk, Luhansk and many other places,” said Martin Schüpp, the ICRC’s regional director of operations for Europe and Central Asia.
Today, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, describing the course of hostilities, noted that the Ukrainian military has been successfully defending itself for 15 days. “We survived. The Ukrainian army is repelling attacks in key areas,” he said.
The same idea was traced in the latest report of the Ukrainian General Staff. “In all directions, the enemy was stopped by the defense forces of Ukraine,” the ministry said. Speaking about the hostilities around Kyiv, the Ukrainian military noted that they “continue to hold the settlements of Polesskoye, Kukhara, Borodyanka, Andreevka, Motizhin, Gorenichi, Bucha and Demidov.” Some of them have long been featured in reports as places of fierce fighting. Nevertheless, the encirclement of Kyiv from three sides forced almost half of the population to leave the capital, Mayor Volodymyr Klitschko admitted on the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel.
Military expert Alexander Alesin suggests that “very soon a new wave of offensive of the Russian army awaits us”: “Attention to the operation is very large, the honor of the country is at stake. Therefore, Russia is likely to bring up new resources – both human and technical. But to do this even from the central regions of Russia, it will take five to seven days.”