Victory Chronicles
-DAY 371

Above: Finland has started building the Eastern Border Barrier Fence to deter illegal migration from Russia. On Sep 29, the Finnish government barred Russians from entering as tourists, effectively closing down the last land route into the EU for fleeing Russians. (CNN)

Above: A Russian volunteer waits at the St Petersburg railway station before meeting Ukrainian refugees from Kherson.  The Washington Post published one of many stories about the on-going effort of some Russians to help Ukrainians escape across the Finnish border.  

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted a Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council decision to impose sanctions on Russian officials involved in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children on February 28, imposing sanctions on 109 Russian citizens involved in the deportation and forced adoption of Ukrainian children..The Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office reported on February 28 that Russian officials have forcibly removed 16,000 Ukrainian children from Ukraine to Russia and Belarus and that Ukrainian officials have managed to return 307 of those children to Ukrainian-held territory.
• The Kremlin is again pushing its false trope of seeking negotiated peace while Ukraine and the West refuse. The Kremlin’s impossible demands include regime change in Kyiv, elimination of Ukraine’s military, permanent annexation of occupied territories and withdrawal of former Warsaw Pact countries from NATO. Belarusian dictator-for-life Lukashenka amplified this position during his Chinese visit, warning that Ukraine better settle now or face a revamped Russia with a strong war manufacturing base and economy.
• Armenian police arrested a Russian citizen in Yerevan, Armenia, for allegedly painting anti-war slogans on Timiryazevskaya Metro Station in Moscow last July. This arrest demonstrates Russian authorities’ ability to target Russian citizens abroad in Russia-friendly countries for acts of protest committed previously within Russia.
• Putin signed a decree allowing foreigners to sign one-year military contracts, as opposed to the traditional five-year contracts. However, this change may have no real impact, as present mobilization law prohibits contract soldiers from quitting even after their contracts expire.

General Staff’s Daily Video Digest with English subtitles

Above: Russians in Lithuania bring flowers and candles to an exhibit of destroyed Russian equipment. “In the 1940s the Soviet Union was able to produce 1,000 tanks a month. Today, Russia can produce just 20, with a single factory struggling to keep pace with outsized demand caused by the war in Ukraine, according to The Economist.” (Photo: Baltic News)

Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces estimated enemy losses since February 24, 2022 (with daily additions)

• Liquidated personnel, 149,890 (+650)
• Tanks 3395, (+7)
• Armored personnel vehicles, 6,638 (+8)
• Artillery systems/MLRS, 2,393/479 (+10/1)
• Anti-aircraft warfare systems, 247 (0)
• Aircraft/helicopters, 300/288 (0)
• UAV operational-tactical level, 2,055 (+4)
• Cruise missiles, 873 (0)
• Warships/boats, 18 (0)
• Vehicles and fuel tanks, 5,257 (+5)
• Special equipment, 230 (0)

Above: On March 1, the aggressor hit Nikopol and neighboring villages at least eight times. Nikopol was once a Ukrainian Zaporizhian Sich river crossing on the Dnipro River. After 1775, it came under Russian Empire control.  Nikopol is Greek for “city of victory”. (Nikopol News)

Glory to Ukraine!
Day 371 of the full-scale russian military aggression has begun.

• Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmutsk, Avdiivka and Shakhtars’k axes: during the last day our defenders repelled more than 85x enemy attacks.
• Over the past 24 hours, the russian invaders have launched 2x missile and 12x air strikes, including the use of 2x Shahed-136 UAVs. Our soldiers shot down these drones. Also, the enemy launched 68x attacks from MLRS. Civilians were injured.
• The threat level of missile strikes by the invaders remains high throughout the territory of Ukraine.
• During the day, the adversary carried out mortar and artillery attacks on Yeline, Baranivka and Tymonovichi settlements of Chernihiv Oblast; Rozhkovichi, Bachivsk, Starykovye, Girky, Atynske, Stukalyvka, Budky, Volfyne, Grabovske in Sumy Oblast and Gatishche, Veterinarne, Strelecha, Morokhovets, Lukyantsi, Ternova, Vovchansk, Potikhonov, Komisarov, Vilkhuvatka, Tykh, Ustinivka, and Aniskine of the Kharkiv
• Kupyansk and Lyman axes: the enemy carried out offensive actions in the areas of Makiivka, Nevske, Chervonpopivka, Shipylivka, and Bilogorivka settlements of the Luhansk Oblast, but had no success. They carried out artillery shelling of the areas of Dvorichna, Hryanikyvka, Zapadne, Liman Pershiy, Golubivka, Kurylivka, Pishchane, Kislivka, and Tabaivka settlements of the Kharkiv Oblast; Nevske, Chervonopivka, Dibrova, Belogorivka in the Luhansk Oblast and Spirne, Rozdolivka and Fedorivka in the Donetsk
• Bakhmut axis: the enemy continues to advance. They do not stop storming the city of Bakhmut. Our defenders repelled attacks in the areas of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka, Bohdanivka, Bakhmut, Chasovoy Yar and Bila Hora. Zaliznyanske, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Kurdyumivka, Ozaryanivka, Mayorsk and Zalizne of the Donetsk Oblast were under enemy fire.
• Avdiivka and Shakhtars’k axes: the enemy continues to attack the positions of our troops. russians carried out unsuccessful offensive actions in the vicinities of the settlements of Kam’ianka, Avdiivka, Vodyane, Pervomaiske, Nevelske, Mar’yinka and Pobieda. The areas of the settlements of Vesele, Orlivka, Avdiivka, Vodyane, Netaylove, Pervomaiske, Nevelske, Krasnohorivka, Mar’yinka, Pobyeda, Vugledar, Prechistivka, Neskuchne and Velika Novosilka of the Donetsk Oblast were shelled.
• Zaporizhzhia and Kherson axes: the enemy is defending, and in some areas is trying to create conditions for transition to the offensive. Conducts artillery shelling of the areas of Vremivka, Zelene Pole and Novopil’ settlements of the Donetsk Oblast; Olgivske, Gulyaipole, Gulyaipilske, Zaliznychne, Charivne, Novodanilivka, Orihiv and Novoandriivka of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast; Illinka, Marganets and Nikopol’ in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, as well as Zmiivka, Mykolaivka, Antonivka, Zelenivka, Komysany of the Kherson Oblast and the city of Kherson.

Believe in the Armed Forces! Together we will win! Glory to Ukraine!

Above: The Ukrainian president’s UNITED24 initiative has partnered with the Undeniable Street View website where global citizens can virtually walk through six Ukrainian cities to see the before and after of the Russian invasion.    

Video: Ukrainian HIMARS strike a Russian ammunition warehouse in occupied Kadiivka, Luhansk.

Russian ammunition detonation reported in Kadiivka ~45km from the front line #ASMR pic.twitter.com/VlfvV727U3

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) February 28, 2023

• Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks near Kreminna on February 28. Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensive actions near Kreminna itself, Makiivka (22km northwest of Kreminna), Nevske (18km northwest of Kreminna), Ploshchanka (17km northwest of Kreminna), Dibrova (6km southwest of Kreminna), and Bilohorivka (10km south of Kreminna).
• ISW’s previous assessment that the Russian forces’ offensive in Luhansk Oblast lacks sufficient reserves to increase the scale or intensity of the offensive. Geolocated footage published on February 27 showed two Russian tanks firing at Ukrainian positions west of Chervonopopivka (5km north of Kreminna) indicating limited Russian advances.

Above: Residents of Chasiv Yar, a village between Bakhmut and Kostyantynivka, Donetsk, are bracing against the arrival of Russia World. (Photo: New York Times)

• Russian forces continued ground attacks near Bakhmut and made tactical gains within Bakhmut on February 28. Ukrainian troops repelled Russian attacks on Bakhmut itself; north of Bakhmut near Dubovo-Vasylivka (6km northwest),  Orikhovo-Vasylivka (10km northwest), Berkhkivka (4km north), Yahidne (1km northwest), Vasyukivka (13km northwest), and Bohdanivka (8km northwest); west of Bakhmut near Chasiv Yar (10km west); and southwest of Bakhmut near Bila Hora (15km southwest).
• Wagner Group-affiliated media outlet RIAFAN posted footage on February 27 and 28 showing Wagner fighters walking around northern Bakhmut near the Stupky railway station and “Sady Bakhmuta” garden store, indicating that Wagner has advanced in northern Bakhmut.
• Russian forces continued ground attacks in the Avdiivka-Donetsk City area on February 28. Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the Avdiivka area near Kamianka; on the northwestern outskirts of Donetsk City near Pervomaiske; Krasnohorivka, and Nevelske; and on the southwestern outskirts of Donetsk City near Marinka and Pervomaiske.

Above: “The way you care for your country is the way you care for your soul”. About 50,000 people reside in Kherson today, about a fifth of the pre-war amount. (UATV)

• Russian occupation officials in Tokmak, Zaporizhia, are forcing Ukrainian students to write letters to Russian military personnel and attend daily hour-long brainwashing “informational sessions”.
• The Kherson Oblast occupation administration is recruiting Russian teachers to teach Russian patriotism and military affairs under the guidance of the Russian Military Historical Society.
• Russian forces may be preparing for offensive operations in Zaporizhia and Kherson oblasts. Russian forces have transferred between 20,000 and 25,000 personnel from Mariupol Raion, Donetsk, to unspecified areas of the front.
• Russian forces are vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes on the Kinburn Spit in Mykolaiv Oblast and may be preparing to withdraw from positions closer to the Dnipro River on the east (left) bank in Kherson Oblast. Russian shelling of Mykolaiv Oblast has become less intense because Russian forces are hesitant to go to the end of the Kinburn Spit to shell Ochakiv, Mykolaiv Oblast and surrounding areas due to quick Ukrainian detection and strikes on Russians on the spit.
• Russian forces are shelling Russian-occupied settlements on the east (left) bank in Kherson Oblast to force evacuations from Oleshky, Skadovsk, and Nova Kakhovka and withdraw closer towards Crimea.

Our pilot sends you greetings from the Ukrainian spring sky pic.twitter.com/FMRhQkGrwL

— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) March 1, 2023