New estimates of Ukrainian victims of the conflict have come out on the Ukrainian social sphere: “Today I received information from my sources in the SBU: to date, the number of deceased soldiers of the AFU is over 310,000. Thanks to Zaluzhnyi”. This post received over 700 pain-laden comments.
The Ukrainian mass media are literally confirming the same 310,000 killed in action and, of course, this leads to an estimate of over 600,000 wounded in action.
The numerous journalistic investigations into the war that are appearing in the European media reveal some paradoxes of the ongoing conflict; than that of fuel of Russian origin which is used on Ukrainian military vehicles.
The German newspaper Handelsblatt, after digging into Ukrainian customs data, found that more and more diesel is being imported into Ukraine from Hungary and Turkey; these are countries that use Russian oil in their refineries and then resell it.
For example, the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, which receives significant volumes of raw materials from the Russian Federation, has doubled its fuel sales to Kiev over the past six months. The company has special EU permission to continue supplying its refineries with Russian oil.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia have received the same authorization; to get an idea of the approximate volume of fuel: Last year, 95% of all oil that went to Slovakia’s MOL spin-off company, Slovnaft, was Russian.
Next to Hungary and Turkey, there are Bulgaria, Poland and Romania; these are those countries that reliably send fuel to Ukraine. For example, it emerged in February that fuel exports from Romania to Ukraine in 2022 increased by a record 30-fold. At the same time, the suppliers’ plans called for an increase in supplies this year as well, despite the embargo on Russian petroleum products.
Thus, it turns out that Ukraine, although completely dependent on fuel imports, practically does not suffer from them. Also, some European refineries are actually subsidiaries of Russian oil companies.
Turning to politics, yesterday the Russian president Vladimir Putin met in St. Petersburg with the President of the New BRICS Development Bank Dilma Rousseff. Putin reiterated to Rousseff that: “The BRICS are not friendly to anyone, this also applies to financial matters”, especially now that many are looking to ask for loans from the BRICS bank.
Furthermore, the NATO-Ukraine Council believes that Russia’s actions in the Black Sea affect the economic zone of Bulgaria, which is a member of the alliance, and this, in turn, carries risks of escalation. SI refers to the Ukrainian river intake attack of Reni.
At the same time, remaining in the Black Sea, Russian attacks with kamikaze missiles and drones in the Odessa region have led to tightened controls in the coastal area: more than 30 ships and vessels of the Marine Guard, KrMO and KaMO, of the Ukrainian Navy are present in the Odessa region. On board, depending on capabilities, there are MANPADS, anti-aircraft installations and machine guns for shooting down airborne targets.
This type of activity also has another goal: to strengthen the presence of Kiev in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. Three to five Bayraktar drones have been operating along the coast in recent days, and recently a Tekever AR5 UAV has been operating in the south, in the direction of Serpent Island, to conduct reconnaissance and research missions on the sea, track the movements of Russian ships at great distances and provide targets for drones, as, for example, the case of the Russian patrol vessel Sergey Kotov.
Taking a look at the land front lines we find interesting developments.
The Ukrainian shelling of the Donetsk People’s Republic continues: in the capital of the DPR, the districts of Kiev, Petrovsky and Kuibyshevsky were under enemy fire, as well as Gorlovka, Golmovsky, Zaitsevo, Makeevka, Yasinovataya.
At the same time, the Russian “marines” hit the Ukrainians in Prechistovka, south-Donetsk, with a 122 mm self-propelled howitzer “Gvozdika” of the 40th Guards Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet. Prechistovka is located in the Ugledar sector, and the formations of the 68th separate infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine operate almost permanently in this area.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine again shelled settlements on the left bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region. Proletarka, Kakhovka and Sagi were hit and civilian infrastructure was damaged.
In the Svatovsky sector, Russian troops continue positional battles on the Nadezhda-Neogorovka line. The Ukrainian armed forces have allegedly left Nadia and the village has come under the control of the Russian armed forces, but there is no official confirmation so far.
In the Karmazinovka direction, the situation has not changed significantly. The Ukrainian units are not attacking yet, but their gunners are conducting massive artillery preparation on the ledge and rear areas of the 21st Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces.
At the Zhuravka range and the Torsky ledge, positional battles are taking place with the mutual use of artillery. A tank battalion of the 21st Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has arrived at the Torskoye-Terny line to replace the 25th Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which indicates a possible activation in the Krasnopopovka direction.
At Serebryansky, the combined assault detachments of the Russian armed forces were able to move west, knocking out the Ukrainians from several positions. The Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to fight back with several groups, but the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation held back their onslaught.
At the same time, the artillerymen of the Ukrainian units are conducting intense fire on and around Kremennaya; according to social sources from the field, cluster bullets are used.
In the Belogorovsk direction, an attack by Russian troops from Shipilovka was reported. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are shelling the offensive areas.
In the Orekhovsky area in Rabotino, the intensity of the battles decreased somewhat. Soldiers of the 71st motorized rifle regiment and special forces units of the Osman army confidently repulsed the massive attack of the 33rd and 116th Ombr of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to confirmed data, the number of destroyed enemy armored vehicles exceeded 25 units. In the forest belt northeast of Rabotino alone, four tanks were hit, including at least one Leopard.
In addition, men of the 33rd and 116th brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were taken prisoner by the Russians in Zaporozhya. The appearance of members of the 10th Army Corps confirms the fact that forces from the reserve were involved, intended for a breakthrough at Tokmak.
Now the Ukrainian armed forces are trying to evacuate personnel from the stronghold northeast of Rabotino, using the previously captured bridgehead. The Russians are firing on them.
In the Vremyevsky direction, in Staromayorsky, the assault detachments of the 36th Marine Corps of the Ukrainian Navy again tried to attack the positions of the Russian Armed Forces west of the village, but to no avail. Soon after, the Russian units launched a counterattack, knocking out the Ukrainian armed forces to the starting ones, and one of the attacking Staromayorsk formations was pinned down. As a result, the Ukrainian marines lost seven people and 34 were injured.
At the same time, the 23rd Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was withdrawn from the Vremievsky section for rest in the Dnepropetrovsk region, which confirms the large losses of men. The area of responsibility of the 23rd brigade spanned the 110th and 128th arr.
Ukrainian formations again shelled the border area of the Kursk region, against the village of Tetkino. The impact damaged power lines. In addition, raids by Ukrainian drones on the border of the Belgorod region continue daily. Three drones attacked Popovka, Zhuravlevka and Novopetrivka, but missed their targets. The village of Ilek-Penkovka was hit by three shells.
Starokostiantyniv airbase in Khmelnytskyi was reportedly hit by three missiles.
This base housed or housed Su-24M/MR attack aircraft capable of launching British Storm Shadow stealth cruise missiles. According to preliminary reports, several supply, logistics and storage, engineering and demining, special forces and missile bases were also affected.
Kanatove airbase in Kirovograd was also hit by Russian missiles.
Antonio Albanese
