Thursday, March 9

Russia’s war against Ukraine

First responders search through the rubble following a Russian missile attack that destroyed three homes and killed four people in Lviv Oblast on March 9, 2023. (State Emergency Service)

Russia launches mass attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Explosions were reported in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky, and Zhytomyr, as well as Poltava, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil oblasts amid a mass Russian attack overnight on March 9. The attacks killed four in Lviv Oblast, injured two in Kyiv, and injured six people in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Russian forces strike Kharkiv Oblast, regional capital over 15 times. Russian forces attacked Kharkiv Oblast 15 times overnight on March 9, targeting critical infrastructure, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on Telegram.

Emergency power cutoffs to be introduced in Ukraine after Russia’s overnight attacks. Emergency blackouts will be introduced in Ukraine after Russia’s overnight attacks, Serhiy Kovalenko, the CEO of energy supplier Yasno, said on March 9. Kovalenko added that this was a “preventative measure.”

UN Secretary General visits Kyiv to meet with Zelensky, discuss grain deal. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Kyiv overnight to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and discuss extending the Black Sea Grain Initiative, according to Guterres’ spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.

Stoltenberg: Bakhmut could fall ‘in the coming days.’ Bakhmut could potentially fall “in the coming days,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday, but he stressed that the loss of the city would not be a critical juncture in the war.

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Reznikov: Ukraine needs more air defense systems, 1 million rounds of ammunition. Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said at a meeting with EU defense ministers in Stockholm that the main priority for Ukraine was more air defense systems and a million rounds of ammunition.

US intelligence chief: Russia may switch to defense due to lack of resources. Russia could shift to a strategy of holding and defending existing positions as it lacks the ammunition and troops to make significant territorial gains in Ukraine in 2023, Avril Haines, the director of U.S. national intelligence, said on March 8, cited by the New York Times.

SBU blocks 26 Telegram channels that helped men evade mobilization. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) announced that it blocked 26 Telegram channels from throughout Ukraine that aided men of military age in evading mobilization.

NYT: Pentagon bars Biden administration from sharing evidence of Russian war crimes. The Pentagon is blocking the Biden administration from sharing evidence with the International Criminal Court in the Hague gathered by American intelligence agencies about Russian atrocities in Ukraine.

Zelensky: Future of United Nations being decided in Ukraine. After his meeting with ​​UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on March 8, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the future of the United Nations is now being decided in Ukraine as Kyiv “defends the goals and principles of the UN Charter.”

Read our exclusives

Year of war fails to dislodge residents from front-line town

When the Russians came, Lyubov Andreeva, a retired builder, was forced to watch her entire life’s work destroyed in front of her eyes.

Photo: The Kyiv Independent

The 57-year-old teacher who fearlessly resisted Russian occupation in Kherson

Kindergarten teacher Olena Naumova went viral on TikTok for mocking Russian soldiers and sharing the truth about life under Russian occupation.

Illustration: Karolina Gulshani

Ukraine war latest: NATO head says Bakhmut could fall, but it would not mean ’turning point in war’

Though the mud may present a brief challenge to both Russian and Ukrainian operations for a few weeks, it also marks the beginning of the spring 2023 campaign in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Photo: Ignacio Marin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The human cost of Russia’s war

Governor: No reported civilian injuries in Donetsk Oblast over past 24 hours for first time since start of full-scale invasion. For the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 of last year, no civilians were injured in Donetsk Oblast, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. However, the governor acknowledged that the situation remains “tense.”

General Staff: Russia has lost 155,530 troops in Ukraine as of March 8. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on March 8 that Russia has lost 155,530 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 last year. This number includes 700 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

International response

NATO chief: Allies have sent Ukraine 150 billion euros in aid since start of all-out war. This sum includes 65 billion euros provided to Kyiv in military aid, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on March 8.

EU ministers agree to provide Ukraine with 1 billion euros in immediate military aid. European Union defense ministers have agreed to supply Ukraine with one billion euros worth of ammunition from their stocks, EU top diplomat Josep Borrell said on March 8, cited by Ukrinform news outlet.

Germany delivers 2 more Gepard anti-air systems to Ukraine. The German government reported it handed Ukraine two additional Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. Berlin has also delivered two more border protection vehicles and six mobile antenna systems, according to the government’s update.

Media: German and Portuguese tanks to arrive in Ukraine by end of March. Ukraine will receive 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks from Germany and three from Portugal by the end of March, German magazine Der Spiegel reported, citing DPA News Agency.

In other news

Zelensky says every Ukrainian wishes success to Georgia as protesters in Tbilisi storm parliament. On a second day of mass protests against Russian-inspired “foreign agents” draft law, Georgian demonstrators tried to besiege the parliament after a call from one of the rally’s organizers, according to local media outlet Interpressnews.

National Bank of Ukraine liquidates Forward Bank. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) decided on March 7 to revoke the license of and liquidate Forward Bank. Previously, Forward Bank was called Russian Standard Bank in Ukraine and changed their name in 2014. Russian Standard bank was founded by Russian oligarch Roustam Tariko, who was put under sanctions by Ukraine in October 2022.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Francis Farrell, Kate Tsurkan, Olga Rudenko, Dinara Khalilova, Lili Bivings, and Olena Goncharova.

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