Victory Chronicles
-DAY 436

Above: Ukrainian artists created an exhibition called, “Our Fire is Stronger than Your Bombs”.  The show is touring internationally, on display in New Hampshire this week.  A digital version is available online.

Above: First Lady Olena Zelenska is in London today to tour the Kingdom, advocate for her homeland and visit displaced Ukrainians.  Here, Ms Zelenska greets Ukrainian kids at the British Library. (President of Ukraine)

Above: UK Ministry of Defence

• The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights presented the findings of a specially-appointed Mission on the issue of Russian abduction of Ukrainian children. “The Mission established that a large number of Ukrainian children have been, since 24 February 2022 and even prior to this date, displaced from the territory of Ukraine to the temporarily occupied territories and to the territory of the Russian Federation (and Belarus). While the exact numbers remain uncertain, the fact of a large-scale displacement of Ukrainian children is not disputed by either Ukraine and/or Russia.” The report discussed orphaned children as well as children who are separated from families during filtration. The report confirmed that Russia commits a wide range of international humanitarian, human rights and criminal crimes.
• Investigations by journalists from Ukrainska Pravda turned up lists of names of specific people responsible for the forced deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.  Those named range from local occupation authorities to the top level in various ministries.
• The European Commission seeks to open EU borders to the import of Ukrainian agricultural products that are otherwise blocked from export due to Moscow’s militarization of the Black Sea. Farmers, particularly in border states with Ukraine, are protesting the price effect of commodities on domestic markets.  On Wednesday, the EC proposed financial compensation in the amount of 100 million Euros to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland in exchange for lifting import restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products.
• Russian occupation officials are likely staging public fights and provocations to discredit and suppress pro-Ukrainian sentiment. Moscow is bringing trained provocateurs to occupied territories in order to start public fights between pro-Russians and Ukrainians, then uses corrupt law enforcement to exonerate the provocateurs and punish those accused of being pro-Ukrainian.  These same tactics were used during the 2014-2015 invasion.
• Russian officials are using the Kremlin drone attack of May 3 as an excuse to cancel May 9 propaganda extravaganzas citing danger and security. Moscow is likely struggling to populate parades with living bodies and modern equipment that are either engaged in war or destroyed.  In addition, the great motherland doesn’t want to call attention to the great numbers of casualties.
• Moscow continues a paranoid crack down and purging of its own security and intelligence services and the state national guard.  Kremlin forces are conducting mass checks and detentions, using a set of new laws expanding the criminality of speech, public spending and trespassing.
• US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testified on May 4 to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russian forces are likely unable to conduct an even modest offensive in 2023 due to munitions and manpower shortages. Ms Avril assessed the Putin will likely focus on defense of occupied territories and hope for a long war of attrition.
• Russian opposition outlet Verstka reported that Russian factories are failing to increase the volume of weapons production to satisfy state orders due to labor shortages and the lack of Western components. Russian factories are failing to properly compensate workers and are deducting funds for support of the Russian war effort from their salaries.

General Staff’s Daily Video Digest with English subtitles

Above: Destroyed Russian T-72BV tank in Donetsk region. (NVU)

⚡️Nuclear capable Bastion Coastal Missile System crashed on a highway in St.Petersburg, Russia. pic.twitter.com/6psdirPHXi

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 4, 2023

Above: Location in Stavropol where a fuel depot is burning today, the third this week in the Krasnodar region. 

Now a fuel depot is burning in Stavropol, Russia (which is hundreds of kilometers away from territory controlled by Ukraine). One after the other, Russian fuel terminals vital for the Black Sea Fleet & all Russian forces in southern Ukraine/Crimea are "spontaneously combusting." pic.twitter.com/AJdJQJVcd1

— Ukraine Reporter (@StateOfUkraine) May 4, 2023

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

• Liquidated personnel 193210 +620
• Tanks 3710 +3
• Armored personnel vehicles 7224 +8
• Artillery systems/ MLRS 2978/550 +16/3
• Anti-aircraft systems 304
• Aircraft/ helicopters 308/294
• Unmanned aerial vehicles 2540 +17
• Cruise missiles 947
• Warships/ boats 18
• Vehicles and fuel tanks 5916 +30
• Special equipment 373 +3

Above: A village home near Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk.  Russia conducted aShahed-131/136 strike against Ukraine on May 4,launching 24 Shahed-131/136s from the direction of Bryansk Oblast and the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov. Ukrainian air defense destroyed 18 of the drones above northern, central, and southern regions of Ukraine. Russian forces launched 15 of the Shaheds at Odesa Oblast, 3 of which struck an educational institution. (Ukrainska Pravda) 

Glory to Ukraine!
The 436th day of the Russian large-scale invasion has begun.

• During the past day, the Russian Federation launched a massive attack on the territory of our country, using Iranian attack UAVs “Shahed”, 18 out of 24 were destroyed by our defenders.
• The russian federation continues to use terror tactics. Yesterday, the enemy launched 10 rocket attacks on the cities of Kramatorsk and Zaporizhzhia, launched 75 air strikes and fired 65 rocket salvo missiles at the positions of our troops and populated areas. There are dead and wounded among the civilian population, private residential buildings, educational institutions, kindergartens and other civilian infrastructure have been destroyed and damaged.
• The probability of further missile and air strikes on the entire territory of Ukraine remains high.
• The enemy is concentrating its main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Lyman, Bakhmut, and Marin directions, where, during the day, units of the defense forces repelled about 60 attacks. The fiercest battles are fought for Bakhmut and Maryinka.
• In the Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions, the enemy continues shelling Ukrainian settlements from the territory of the Russian Federation, improving the engineering equipment of the area. During the past day, the settlements of Yeline, Mykolaivka, Ivanivka, Buchki and Gremyach of the Chernihiv region were shelled; Uralov, Porokhon, Studenok, Shalygine, Rivne, Boyaro-Lezhachi, Stukalyvka, Bilopylla, Timofiivka, Kindrativka, Oleksiivka, Yunakivka and Slavhorod of the Sumy region, as well as Chervona Zorya, Hlyboke, Liptsi, Vesele, Ogirtseve, Vovchanski Khutory, Karaichne, Bochkove, Budarky, Komisarov, Kolodyazne and Krasne Pershe in Kharkiv Private houses were destroyed and damaged. There are wounded among the civilian population.
• Kupyansk direction: Figolivka, Novomlynsk, Kamianka, Dvorichna, Zapadne, Liman Pershiy, Kislivka, Kotlyarivka, Krokhmalne and Berestov in the Kharkiv region were subjected to enemy artillery and mortar attacks.
• In the Lyman direction, the enemy fired on Stelmakhivka, Andriivka, Grekivka, Makiivka, Nevske, Pischane, Dibrova, Bilogorivka in the Luhansk region and Torske, Siversk, Verkhnyokamianske, Spirne and Rozdolivka in the Donetsk
• On the Bakhmut direction, Nikiforivka, Vasyukivka, Novomarkove, Markove, Hryhorivka, Bohdanivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar, Oleksandro-Shultyne, Diliivka, Zalizne and New York of the Donetsk region were affected by enemy shelling.
• The enemy fired at Avdiivka, Pervomaiske, Netaylovye and Karlivka in the Donetsk
• In the Marinsky direction, the enemy fired on the settlements of Krasnohorivka, Pobyeda and Novomykhailivka of the Donetsk
• In the Shakhtarsk direction, the enemy shelled Vugledar, Novoukrainka, Prechistivka and Shakhtarsk in the Donetsk
• In the Zaporozhye and Kherson directions, more than 55 settlements were shelled. Among them are Vremivka, Novosilka and Novopil of the Donetsk region; Malynivka, Novoandriivka, Mali Shcherbaki, Stepove and Kamianske of the Zaporizhzhia region; Nikopol – Dnipropetrovsk; Mykhailivka, Kozatske, Lviv, Novotyaginka, Sofiivka of the Kherson region and the city of Kherson.

Support the Armed Forces! United we will win! Glory to Ukraine!

Above: Kharkiv farmers created this radio-controlled demining tractor to help remove mines from an estimated 570 thousand hectares of mined Kharkiv land left by russia world. Similar vehicles are popping up across the spring landscape of Ukraine. (Gyunduz Mamedov)

• Russian forces continued defensive operations in the Kupyansk direction on May 4. Geolocated footage posted on May 3 shows elements of an enemy unit shelling Ukrainian positions about 11km northeast of Kupyansk. Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensive operations in the direction of Bilohorivka on May 4.

Above: Riding an armored personnel carrier near Bakhmut. (Associated Press)

• Russian forces did not make any confirmed gains in or around Bakhmut on May 4. Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensive actions near Bohdanivka (6km northwest of Bakhmut), Markove (14km northwest of Bakhmut), and Niu York (30km southwest of Bakhmut).Ukrainian forces likely conducted a limited counterattack southwest of Bakhmut. Geolocated footage published on May 3 indicates that Ukrainian forces likely counterattacked northwest of Kurdyumivka (14km southwest of Bakhmut) and made marginal advances in the area. The limited nature of the likely Ukrainian advances suggests that the counterattack was a localized tactical operation.
• Russian forces continued offensive operations along the Avdiivka-Donetsk front on May 4. Geolocated footage published on May 4 indicates that Russian forces made marginal gains west of Novobakhmutivka (13km northeast of Avdiivka). Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensive operations near Sieverne (6km west of Avdiivka), Marinka (27km southwest of Avdiivka), and Novomykhailivka (36km southwest of Avdiivka). Russian forces conducted 24 assaults on Ukrainian positions along the Avdiivka-Donetsk front and are continuing to use highly attritional assault tactics in the area.

Above: Hero train from Kherson.  Last night, the doomed invaders sent a missile into a Kherson passenger train boarding for Lviv.  Emergency responders immediately put the fire out and Ukrzaliznytsya quickly completed boarding.  This morning, the train arrived fifteen minutes late to Lviv. (Ukraine Emergency Services Kherson)

This is what resilience looks like. Before leaving Kherson yesterday, this train was hit in a 🇷🇺shelling that left one of its carriages on fire and one steward wounded. Still, the trip was only delayed by 14 minutes, ending in Lviv today according to schedule – to the minute pic.twitter.com/9PULfGYaXU

— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) May 4, 2023

• Russian forces continue to endanger the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant ahead of a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Ukrainian State Nuclear Inspection reported on May 3 that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s mission to ZNPP disclosed that Russia increased military equipment, weapons, and explosives on the territory of the 4th power unit of the ZNPP.
• Russia has increased the number of missile carriers in its Black Sea Fleet by four vessels with up to 32 Kalibr-type missiles ready for use.  The Southern Command issued a warning for citizens to be mindful of Moscow’s love of symbolic dates to strike civilians, especially the upcoming May 9 propaganda festival.

⚡️🇺🇸American armored vehicles of enhanced security Oshkosh M-ATV are armed with the Armed Forces of 🇺🇦Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/4IunLCqH31

— 🇺🇦Ukrainian Front (@front_ukrainian) May 5, 2023