Victory Chronicles
-DAY 111

Above: The Azovstal steel factory was built by Soviets in 1930.  The factory belched smoke and other pollutants which held back development.  While a source of large numbers of local jobs, the factory polluted the air, land and beaches around Mariupol.  Photo via BBC

• Illegal occupation authorities are trying different methods to recruit local collaborators.  They offered payments of 10,000 rubles ($175) per month and, later, a food for labor exchange.   Collaborators from the Donetsk People’s Republic and Crimea are brought in to fill labor shortages, for example, remove rubble and bodies, patrol the streets and teach Russian school curricula.

Above: Through brut force, the enemy invader is making slow costly gains around the Donbas pocket.  Ukraine is fighting back hard and taking high casualties.  The clock is ticking on immediate delivery of big weapons from the West.  Map via ISW

Factories in Severodonetsk under threatening skies.  Photo via Facebook

• Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai posted that all three bridges connecting Severodonetsk with Lysychansk are destroyed, but Severodonetsk is not blocked. Transportation connection with the city is there!!”  Situation for Ukrainian forces in Severodonetsk is extremely perilous although Governor Haidai characterizes it as “under control” and that the military still have options for retreat.

Above: Counter Battery Radar. Photo via MIL.IN.UA

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany will be expanding its support for Ukraine “in this critical phase” including the provision of an anti-aircraft system and artillery detection radar.  Germany has been under heavy criticism for its seemingly cautious and hesitant approach to arming Ukraine as it drastically increases its own military budget to defend NATO countries against Russian invasion.

Above: The Congressional Research Service published a summary of US Security Assistance to Ukraine since August 2014. 

• The United States reported that new military aid would be announced in the coming days from the Ukrainian Security Assistance Initiative that is used for training, equipping and advising the Ukrainian military. The announcement of a twelfth drawdown on the USD 40 million appropriation is also expected next week.  (Read more)
• Equipment requested  under the US Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease program has not yet been delivered to Ukraine, although military analysts think that armaments are already in transit in central and eastern Europe.  Ukrainians are hoping that once this program starts working, it will result in a higher level of control over the timely delivery of badly needed weapons. (Read more)

Above: Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and has occupied two regions since.  Map via Wikimedia Commons

• The latest draft of the European Commission’s recommendations for Ukraine’s candidate status reports that accession prospects for Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova will be discussed in Brussels at the end of the month.  Parts of Georgia and Moldova are occupied by Russian-backed hostile forces.