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Battleground Ukraine: Day 21 of Russia's invasion
 by AFP Staff Writers
 Paris (AFP) March 16, 2022

Ukraine military port buries dead in virtual silence
Ochakiv, Ukraine (AFP) March 16, 2022 - Three weeks after Russia launched its invasion, this little Ukrainian military city on the Black Sea has only just started burying its soldiers killed in the early days of the war.

Under a sunny and blue sky, a small silent crowd took part in the interment of a 28-year-old man on Wednesday.

With no outpourings of grief or shrieks, people held back their tears and hugged briefly.

In this port, people either serve in the military, or are the wives or children of servicemen, and people are used to paying tribute to the casualties of war.

A monument stands erect in the city centre to remember the "Ukrainian heroes" who fell in Donbass, the pro-Russian separatist region in eastern Ukraine. The conflict that erupted in the east in 2014 has claimed the lives of 14,000 people.

Elsewhere a tomb is adorned with the effigy of a young sailor killed in 2016, and the inscription: "You will always be 23 years old."

At the exit to the cemetery, the dead man's father, a colonel who gave his name as Anatoly, agreed to say a few words to AFP.

"I buried my son today. He was a pilot shot down on a combat mission on March 4 at 12:10 pm. Four rockets brought down his Mi-8 helicopter."

Head lowered, his breathing cut short with stifled sobs, he went on.

"There will be no forgiveness for the Kacaps," he said, using a derogatory term for Russians. "As long as I serve in the army, I will destroy them. There will be no prisoners."

It took days to identify his son's body after the attack.

This was the case for the other soldiers who perished on February 24 when the Russians bombarded Ochakiv's naval base and port, which Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed was in the hands of the Americans.

A city administrator, Alexy Vaskov, said 24 servicemen died on the first day, and not all the bodies have been recovered.

The funerals of those who have been identified only began on Tuesday.

- 'We're holding on' -

On the banks of the Black Sea with around 15,000 residents, Ochakiv is a city of small, low houses and wide deserted streets.

A visitor crosses paths with only a few residents, shopping bags in hand, suspicious and in a hurry.

Nobody speaks about the war, nor the bombardments which still occur daily, even if they lack the intensity of the early days.

"The situation is calm here, we lack nothing, nobody is hiding and we continue to live," said Piotr, a man in his sixties on a bicycle.

He declined to give his family name, like virtually all the people one meets in the town.

"There was a bombardment this morning around 6:00 am, near the port. I don't know anything more," said Anatoly, another pensioner.

His wife added: "The soldiers asked us to say nothing."

A man wearing a woolly hat approached and introduced himself as Gennadyi.

"People here have a patriotic spirit. The Russians would do well to avoid this place. Because we are ready to send them back in coffins," he said.

Vaskov, the city official, conceded that 40 to 50 civilians are evacuated from Ochakiv every day by bus.

Ochakiv is equidistant between Odessa, the main Black Sea port, and Mykolaiv to the east.

The latter has for days seen heavy fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian soldiers, who are trying to capture Odessa.

"If we compare this to other cities, the situation is relatively calm for the moment," the official said, while admitting that shells land daily.

What's more, "the main military units that were based in Ochakiv have left to protect other cities" that are more exposed, Vaskov said. "But the Russians will not come here by sea. We are very well protected. We are holding on."

On the 21st day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday, Russian forces remained in place around major cities including Kyiv but showed little sign of real progress in taking them.

Western analysts saw stretched supply lines and lack of reserves holding the invading forces in place for the coming days, while the Ukrainian defenders continued to dig in and harass the Russians.

Here is a summary of the situation on the ground, based on statements from both sides, Western defence and intelligence sources and international organisations.

- The east -

Ukraine's armed forces said that Russian troops had not yet succeeded in surrounding the major northeastern city Kharkiv, agreeing with Western analysts that they are short of supplies and ammunition.

Russian forces will likely struggle to bypass the city while resistance keeps up, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think-tank said.

Meanwhile the cities of Sumy, Lebedyn and Okhtyrka remain encircled.

- Kyiv and the north -

Kyiv remains under Ukrainian control despite heavy bombardments, but observers say Russian forces are still slowly advancing ever closer towards the capital.

Several explosions were heard early in the morning in Kyiv, following by thick plumes of black smoke, as residents remain under curfew until Thursday.

Ukraine's army said it repulsed attacks towards the Vyshgorod suburb and other stretches of the city's northern defences.

Elsewhere in the north, the defenders remained in control of the encircled town of Chernigiv, as the Russians try to regroup and rearm.

Prosecutors said 10 civilians were killed in the city by Russian soldiers while waiting in line to collect bread.

Workers at the Chernobyl former nuclear plant told AFP they are being held "hostage", forced to maintain the site of the world's worst-ever nuclear disaster for the past three weeks.

- The south -

Around 20,000 people managed to leave via a humanitarian corridor from the besieged port city of Mariupol, seen as a key Russian target to link up the annexed Crimea and separatist-controlled Donbas regions.

Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants are believed to remain in the city, with no running water or heating and food running short.

In the city of Zaporizhzhia -- a crucial step on the escape route for refugees fleeing west from Mariupol -- Russian rockets hit a train station but so far no casualties have been reported.

Although Russian forces are trying to push west along Ukraine's Black Sea coast towards Odessa, having taken the city of Kherson just north of Crimea, they have so far failed to encircle the city of Mykolayiv which stands in the way.

Western analysts and the Ukrainian army point to Russian naval infantry reserves that could yet make an amphibious landing or reinforce troops already on Ukrainian soil.

- The west and centre -

The west of Ukraine has been largely spared the fighting but there have been deadly air strikes by Russia against targets in the region.

Russian strikes are meanwhile continuing against the central city of Dnipro, seen as a possible point for Russian forces moving from the south and east to join together.

- Casualties -

President Volodymr Zelensky said that so far 103 Ukrainian children have died. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has reported 1,834 civilian casualties.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was in Ukraine to investigate Russian atrocities, the president added.

Ukraine and Western sources claim that the Russian death toll is far higher than Moscow has so far admitted.

Ukraine says more than 12,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. Zelensky said Saturday around 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed.

- Refugees -

The UN says more than three million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion -- 90,000 over the past 24 hours.

Millions more are believed to be internally displaced or unable to move.


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Biden to announce $800 mn in new security aid to Ukraine: US official
 Washington (AFP) March 16, 2022
 US President Joe Biden will announce $800 million in new security assistance to Ukraine Wednesday, a White House official said, with the announcement set to come soon after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the US Congress. The announcement, expected to come at 11.45 am (1545 GMT), brings "the total (aid) announced in the last week alone to $1 billion," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity late Tuesday, said. Zelensky is set to renew his appeals for more aid in his v ... read more
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