Date—March 28, 2022 (evening)

Stories

1. Two members of the Ukrainian delegation and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich had symptoms of poisoning on March 4. They allegedly had severe tearing, swelling of the eyes and peeling skin. (Source: WSJ).

War

1. RBK: Putin has given Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov the military rank of lieutenant general. Russian media report that Kadyrov is in Mariupol, which was besieged by the Russian occupiers.  (Source: Telegram).

2. General Staff AFU: Regrouping is noted in order to increase offensive capabilities to meet the task of reaching the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. At the same time, the enemy continues to launch missile and bomb strikes on military and civilian infrastructure. Also, additional units of the Russian Armed Forces are being trained and relocated to conduct hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. (Source: Facebook).

Opinions

1. Budanov: Ukraine has a wide intelligence network in a number of sectors of Russia’s military, political and financial leadership, including the Kremlin, and this has helped, among other things, destroy the Russian landing craft in Berdyansk. (Source: С or D).

2. Krotevych: “Two or three BTGs with up to 1,500 fighters are needed to unblock Mariupol. This will allow liberating Berdyansk and destroying the southern group.” This was stated by the headquarters of the regiment “Azov” Krotevich. (Source: Censor). 

Economy, Social life, and Culture

1. Zelensky: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is ready to provide Ukraine with fuel for sowing during martial law. (Source: Twitter).

Invasion Damage

1. Zelensky: “They are kidnapping the mayors of our cities. They killed some of them. We can’t find some of them. We have already found some of them, and they are dead.” According to the president, the Russian army uses the same methods in the occupied territories that it used in Donbass in 2014. (Source: The Economist’).

2. Ukraine’s total losses from Russia’s war have reached $ 564.9 billion, including civilian casualties, GDP and investment. This was announced by First Deputy Prime Minister of Economy Yulia Svyridenko. She explained that there are at least two methods of calculation. The first is the assessment of losses from direct destruction, the second is the calculation of losses from the general impact of hostilities, ie all the consequences, including deteriorating economic situation in the country, rising unemployment, blocking trade, declining consumer demand and more. So far, Ukraine has lost the most, $ 119 billion, in infrastructure. Almost 8,000 km of roads, dozens of railway stations and airports were destroyed and damaged.  (Source: Facebook).

Foreign news

1. Peskov: The Kremlin has stated that the presidents of Russia and Ukraine should not expect a meeting after the Russian-Ukrainian talks to be held in Istanbul. “No. There is no promotion,” said Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman. He answered the question whether there is any progress on the possible meeting between Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, whether it can be expected following the talks in Istanbul. (Source: UP).

2. Anonymous merged the order of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the production of fakes about the Armed Forces. The document was signed by General of the Russian Army Dmitry Bulgakov, who is acting Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. (Source: Twitter).

Refugees

1. After the blockade, 150,000 people were evacuated from Mariupol, about 170,000 remain in the blockade, and almost 5,000 people died, according to preliminary estimates. The city has been under siege since March 1. About 210 children were killed. It is currently impossible to count the exact number of victims. Up to 140,000 people left the seaside town before the blockade. After the blockade, 150,000 people were evacuated, including 71,235 to Zaporizhia and the rest to surrounding villages. 30,000 were deported to Russia. (Source: UP).