Ukraine Daily

Sunday, March 27

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Liberated Trostyanets severely damaged, hospital mined. Trostyanets, a city 59 kilometres south from Sumy, was liberated by Ukrainian forces on March 26, but has been mined by Russian occupiers. According to Taras Savchenko, first deputy head of Sumy Regional Military Administration, Trostyanets has no access to external communication, electricity, or water.

Missile strikes on Lviv target oil depot. Lviv Oblast Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said that Russian forces attacked fuel infrastructure in Lviv. Four strikes in total hit the city, injuring five people. Firefighters are trying to extinguish the fires.

Lviv Oblast governor: At least 5 injured by 2 missile strikes on Lviv. No residential buildings in Lviv, a regional capital in western Ukraine, were hit during the Russian attack on March 26, Maksym Kozytskyi said. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said that an industrial facility storing fuel was on fire.

Ukrainian forces liberate Poltavka, Malynivka. Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration reported on March 26 that Ukrainian forces launched successful counterattacks against Russian troops, ousting them from the temporarily-occupied villages. Sensory satellite imagery derived from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System confirms that heavy fighting occurred in both villages.

Dozens of Ukrainian communities, monasteries move to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Ukrainian Orthodox Church leader, Metropolitan Epiphanius I of Kyiv, made the announcement via Twitter on March 26. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church reported earlier on March 25 that 28 communities in nine oblasts have officially switched from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) to the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia attacks oil depot in Rivne Oblast. According to Rivne Oblast Governor Vitaliy Koval, Russian forces have shelled an oil depot in Dubno, Rivne Oblast. The authorities are still addressing the damage from the attack.

Slavutych seized by Russian forces. Slavutych, a city in northern Ukraine built for evacuees from Chornobyl, has been seized after three days of heavy fighting.

Kharkiv nuclear research reactor hit by Russian shelling. According to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, the nuclear research reactor at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology has come under renewed Russian fire. Ukrainian authorities have not yet been able to assess damage to the site, due to constant shelling.

Interior Ministry: Still too early to dismiss Russian invasion of Kyiv. Advisor to Ukraine’s Interior Minister Vadym Denysenko has stated that it is still “too early” to state that Russian forces have “refused to storm Kyiv.” According to the adviser, Russia is currently focusing its efforts on taking the cities of Mariupol and Izyum in order to gain control of Donbas.

Russian forces damage Holocaust memorial outside Kharkiv. The Ministry of Defense says Russian troops hit the memorial in Drobytsky Yar, a ravine where between 16,000 and 20,000 people, mostly Jews, were massacred by Nazi troops in 1941.

Armed Forces: 16,400 Russian soldiers killed since Feb. 24. According to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Russia has lost 575 tanks, 1,640 armored vehicles, 1,131 cars, 293 artillery pieces, 91 multiple rocket launchers, 51 surface-to-air missiles, at least 117 jets, 127 helicopters, 7 boats/ships, 73 fuel tankers, and 56 drones.

Belarusian Volunteer Battalion officially joins Ukraine’s military. The members of the battalion named after Kastus Kalinouski, Belarusian 19th century writer and revolutionary, took oath and became part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

Zelensky: Impossible to save Mariupol without additional tanks, planes. “Ukraine cannot shoot down Russian missiles with shotguns and machine guns,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his latest address. He added that Ukraine is waiting too long for the required weapons. “Who is leading the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it still Moscow through intimidation?” Zelensky added.

Read our exclusive, on the ground stories.

A Canadian marketer Christian Borys had planned to raise a few hundred dollars for a charity helping relief efforts in Ukraine. Borys created an image called “Saint Javelin,” an Orthodox Madonna clad in green and cradling a Javelin anti-tank missile. A month later, his viral campaign has earned over $1 million, an unexpected success for the entrepreneur turned charity worker.

In a speech wrapping up his two-day visit to Poland, U.S. President Joe Biden blasted Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for unleashing an all-out war in Ukraine and strangling democracy at home. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said at the end of the speech he delivered in Warsaw on March 26.

The human cost of Russia’s war

139 children killed since Feb. 24. As of March 27, 139 children were killed and more than 205 wounded amid Russia’s war against Ukraine. According to the prosecutor’s office, the majority of the childhood casualties occurred in the Kyiv, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Zhytomyr and Sumy oblasts.

Shelling in Kyiv Oblast kills 3, injures 6. Artillery strikes by Russian forces targeted the villages of Tarasivka, Trebukhiv and Shevchenkove, and the city of Bucha, Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office reports.

Chernihiv mayor: City ‘completely destroyed,’ over 200 civilians killed. According to Vladyslav Atroshenko, “it is easier to count those buildings that have survived” in Chernihiv, a regional capital in northern Ukraine. The mayor said that more than half of the city’s 285,000-290,000 residents had left since Feb. 24.

International response

US to provide $100 million in new security assistance to Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on March 26 that the U.S. intends to provide an additional $100 million in civilian security assistance. The money is intended to enhance the capacity of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs to provide essential border security, sustain law enforcement functions, and safeguard critical governmental infrastructure.

Europe and Canada to team up with Global Citizen to support refugees. On March 26, the European Commission and the Government of Canada announced the launch of a global campaign to raise funds in support of people fleeing the invasion of Ukraine, in partnership with international advocacy organization Global Citizen. An online fundraiser will take place on April 9. Check Global Citizen for updates.

UK to fund humanitarian aid valued at 2 million pounds to encircled Ukrainian cities. The British Foreign Office announced on March 26 that $2.6 million in critical food supplies will be delivered at the request of the Ukrainian government.

UK, other countries warn Ukrainian refugees may be vulnerable to human trafficking ploys. The Guardian reported on March 26 that the U.K.’s Homes for Ukraine initiative, which allows U.K. residents to temporarily house Ukrainian refugees, has been dubbed “Tinder for sex traffickers.” Experts reportedly cite insufficient safeguards, which may allow for women and children to fall prey to human trafficking. Similar warnings have been issued in Poland and Germany.

Borrell: Russia wants to turn Ukraine into new Syria. “If a strong country could impose by force, on a neighbor that is not threatening him, whatever he wants, passing through war crimes, destroying a country, making Mariupol the ‘European Aleppo’ and making Ukraine a second Syria, then the whole world is in danger,” European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said at the Doha Forum.

Japan’s PM: Prospect of Russia using nuclear weapons ‘increasingly real.’ Fumio Kishida said he sees growing chance of Russia using nuclear weapons. Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack, has long advocated against nuclear weapons.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Alexander Query, Asami Terajima, Dylan carter, Thaisa Semenova, Teah Pelechaty, Olena Goncharova, Oleksiy Sorokin, Olga Rudenko, Toma Istomina, and Brad LaFoy.

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