Victory Chronicles-DAY 709

On the night of January 31-February 1, 2024, fighters of the Group 13 special unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine destroyed the Ivanovets missile boat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, reported the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

“The enemy vessel was on the roadstead of Lake Donuzlav in the temporarily occupied Crimea. As a result of several direct hits to the hull, the Russian ship sustained damage incompatible with further movement, heeled over, and sank. The cost of the ship lost by the aggressor state is approximately $60-70 million dollars. 

According to preliminary information, the search and rescue operation of the Russian occupiers on the Donuzlav was unsuccessful,” the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said.

Russia is using at least 6 different methods to move Ukrainian children to its territory as part of a deliberate policy aimed at genocide of the Ukrainian people, according to Daria Gerasymchuk, the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights and Rehabilitation of Children. The scenarios used by Russia include killing parents and abducting children, removing children from their biological families, separating them during filtration measures, creating unsuitable conditions in the occupied territory, and then offering rehabilitation or recreation, from which children do not return home. In addition, Russia is transferring entire special institutions with Ukrainian children to Russian territory, preventing Ukraine from returning its children. Fake diagnoses are also used as a pretext to take children to Belarus and Russia for alleged treatment or rehabilitation. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights and Vladimir Putin himself over the deportation of Ukrainian children. Of the more than 19,000 children deported or forcibly displaced, only 388 have been returned to Ukraine.

The Public Relations Service of the 53rd Mechanized Brigade released photos of the fighters’ grenade launcher training. “The fighters of the 53rd Brigade were hardened in the battles of this war and saw its worst horrors while being in the thick of the action and gaining the most important military quality – experience. This experience shows that a task’s success depends on training, knowledge, and a thirst for self-improvement. And it is this experience that shows that the success of a mission depends on training, knowledge, and a thirst for self-improvement,” the brigade said in a statement.

For more than two weeks, Myrnohrad has been under daily Russian shelling. On the night of February 1, Russia hit a school with a rocket. During the day, teachers were working there, and a water distribution point was operating. The center, where civilians from all over the city were receiving help, was destroyed. At least 12 houses and a shop were also damaged. 

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell stated that the European Union (EU) will not be able to send the promised one million shells to Ukraine by March 2024, but is planning to fulfill this promise by the end of 2024. Borrell stated on February 1 that the EU delivered 330,000 rounds of artillery ammunition to Ukraine between March 2023 and January 2024 and that he expects the EU to deliver a total of 524,000 rounds by March 2024.

Borrell stated that the EU plans to deliver an additional 630,000 shells to Ukraine by the end of 2024. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that the European defense industrial base (DIB) has increased its production by 40 percent over an unspecified time frame and that the EU member states are working to deliver munitions to Ukraine by drawing from national stockpiles, concluding new orders, or redirecting other orders.

Von der Leyen stated that the European Commission will soon present a new defense and industrial strategy that will create greater coherence and coordination throughout the EU from planning to procurement. Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Head Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov stated in an interview with CNN that ammunition is “one of the most decisive factors” in the war and that the quantity of rounds is more important than quality.

Paratrooper Mykhailo Bohachyk, with the call sign Mysh, died on September 2, 2023, near the village of Verbove, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. While performing his duties, he came under enemy mortar fire and sustained fatal injuries. The defender would have turned 38 in November.

Mykhailo was born in the village of Klishkivtsi, Chernivtsi Oblast. He studied at the Klishkovtsi gymnasium. Since childhood, he was fond of sports and participated in various competitions. After school, he completed a car mechanic course at the Chernivtsi College. Then he did his military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After returning, he worked at a construction site with his father. In 2015, he participated in the ATO in Donetsk Oblast.

On February 25, 2022, the man returned to the ranks of the defenders. He defended Ukraine as a member of the 1st Airmobile Company of the 87th separate airmobile battalion (military unit A2582) of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“He was the soul of the class, he was favorable to his friends and respected his family. Fast, energetic, trouble-free, always in good condition. For more than a year and a half, he fought in different parts of the frontline, was trained in Germany in the organization of tactics and combat, and visited the hottest spots of the conflict with the occupiers. However, he never complained to anyone, never told anyone about what he had seen and experienced. On the contrary, he joked, charged everyone with positive attitude and faith in victory. His call sign was Mysh. His fighters-in-arms jokingly called him “Mr. Mysh” because he was short and had a stocky build. His friends remember him with great respect and gratitude, because he went where it was hardest. During his last vacation, Mykhailo wanted to meet with all his relatives and friends, and tried to call his children: Maksym, Sasha and Nika, who went abroad with their mother. He wanted to hear their voices and tell them how much he loved them, how much he missed them. After all, in a conversation with his brother Oleksandr, he admitted that he had a bad feeling,” the Klishkovetska territorial community said.

Posthumously, Junior Sergeant Bohachyk was awarded the Order “For Courage” of the III degree. The Hero was buried in his native village. Mykhailo is survived by his parents, three children, relatives, friends and fighters-in-arms.

*Mykhailo’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

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