Ukraine general staff: Russian Federation (RF) offensive in north blunted, pressure in south. The Ukrainian Army’s General Staff (GS) said as of March 4 that Ukrainian Army Forces (UAF) units had blunted and were taking a toll on the Russian Federation’s attempted advances in northern sectors, but RF pressure in the war’s southern sectors was building.
The latest (18.00, March 4) GS estimates of Russian forces losses as of the end of Thursday March 3 were: 9,166 killed, “about” 251 tanks, 939 armored vehicles, 33 aircraft, 37 helicopters, 105 tube artillery systems, 60 fuel carriers, 50 rocket artillery systems, and 18 air defense systems.
If the GS estimates are accurate, it would mark a distinct 24-hour spike in the pace of RF losses, particularly in personnel, tanks, aircraft and helicopters. The statement said UAF forces in the northern sector were engaging across the line and that the RF advances had been contained in all northern sectors.
The RF’s main military effort is aimed at the attempted encirclement of Kyiv using ground forces, the statement said, with a secondary effort focused aimed at breaking Ukraine’s will to exist by targeting residents of large cities, and creating a humanitarian disaster using artillery and aerial bombardment.
Substantial UAF efforts to reinforce defenses in the Zhytomyr-Byshev sector were evident as a KP reporter traveled through the region. All villages operated entrance/exit checkpoints manned by members of the armed territorial defence.
A 200-vehicle RF push in Chernihiv Region was halted, the report said, when UAF forces blew up a key bridge near the area of the settlement of Mykhailo-Kotsyubynske. The demolition appeared to have taken place well behind RF lines, based on news reports of the furthest-advanced RF units.
The report singled out RF use of mass-effect weapons in Chernihiv and Zhytomyr, and RF bombardment of the Ukrainian nuclear reactors in the vicinity of the town of Enerhodar as examples of this tactic. RF shell strikes on the reactors could, if continued, allow the release of dangerous radiation threatening not just the region but the European continent, the statement said.
The RF has committed to battle most of the force it assembled in Belarus and western Russia prior to the war, and the Kremlin currently has limited reserves left to throw into battle, the statement claimed.
A statement from Ukraine’s Ministry of Emergency Situations estimated the number of Ukrainian civilians killed as of the end of March 4 at more than 2,000, of whom 21 were children.
In the south, RF forces continued to appear to retain the upper hand, with news agencies widely reporting that the south-east Ukrainian city of Mariupol was under heavy RF fire, and fully cut off from UAF reinforcements. A statement from the National Guard Azov Regiment, one of the main units defending the city, said the battle would be one of destruction, and that they were in need of support.
A midday statement from the leadership of Mykolaiv said that RF forces were attempting break into the city, and that UAF forces would resist. The GS stated that the UAF was moving forces into the sector to reinforce the city.
Opposition RF senator: Four survivors in 100-man unit sent to fight in Ukraine
A Russian Federation (RF) army unit recently sent to Ukraine was almost completely wiped out in fighting, a Senator for the Council of Federations of Russia said, in comments initially reported by censor.net.ua, and then widely re-reported in Ukrainian media.
Senator Liudmila Narusova reportedly made the remarks during a Council of Federations debate on a draft law that would impose a jail sentence for as much as 15 years, for making public “lies about the war in Ukraine.”
The 100-man unit was composed, Narusova said, of draftees forced to sign long-term service contracts, and then sent to Ukraine to fight. Only four survived, she claimed. The information was reported to her by a Russian NGO that tracks deaths among RF service personnel, Narusova said.
Senator Narusova said she had requested RF Army representatives to provide her with accurate information about the NGO’s allegations, but her request was ignored.
According to the NGO Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers, RF conscripts were sent to serve in forces invading Ukraine, at times even without receiving training.
The Kremlin has admitted that slightly fewer than 500 service personnel had been killed in its invasion of Ukraine, and repeatedly asserted that the operation is going as planned. Kyiv most recently estimated the RF’s body count at more than 9,500 dead. Ukraine army statements have said that RF forces often approach in tight formations, in wide-open terrain, over predictable routes, allowing UAF artillery, anti-tank missiles, tanks and strike drones to take a heavy toll on the RF columns.
Ukrainians scuttle navy flagship to prevent RF capture
Ukrainian armed forces (UAF) scuttled the navy flagship Hetman Sahaidachny to prevent its capture by Russian Federation forces, a defense ministry statement announced on Friday.
according to the statement, Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov explained that the Krivak-class Soviet-era frigate was not operable and was unable to be put to sea.
It was not clear from the report in which Black Sea port the ship was scuttled.
The Sahaidachny during its service in the Ukrainian navy often performed drill and ceremony and flag-showing functions, hosting foreign dignitaries or acting as the sole Ukrainian representative at international fleet training events.
Reznikov said the scuttling was “painful for the officers and crew…but Ukraine’s navy will be built anew”.
