Victory Chronicles-DAY 770

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for more air defense systems as Russia continues to launch deadly strikes on civilian areas. In March alone, Russia fired over 4,000 munitions at Ukraine, including guided aerial bombs, missiles, and Shahid drones. 

Zelenskyy highlighted the severe impact on cities and villages, particularly Kharkiv, which has been under rocket and drone attacks since the start of the war and is now being bombed. 

Zelenskyy stressed the urgent need for reliable air defense systems to protect lives and ensure security in Ukrainian cities. He referenced the success of Patriot systems in the hands of Ukrainians in defeating Russian terror. Zelenskyy emphasized that such defense systems are necessary for Kharkiv and other communities at risk from Russian aggression.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for more air defense systems as Russia continues to launch deadly strikes on civilian areas. In March alone, Russia fired over 4,000 munitions at Ukraine, including guided aerial bombs, missiles, and Shahid drones. 

Zelenskyy highlighted the severe impact on cities and villages, particularly Kharkiv, which has been under rocket and drone attacks since the start of the war and is now being bombed. 

Zelenskyy stressed the urgent need for reliable air defense systems to protect lives and ensure security in Ukrainian cities. He referenced the success of Patriot systems in the hands of Ukrainians in defeating Russian terror. Zelenskyy emphasized that such defense systems are necessary for Kharkiv and other communities at risk from Russian aggression.

The Public Relations Service of the 72nd Brigade published a photo report of the fighters’ training: “Working in pairs, covering, moving forward, holding position, feeling your comrade-in-arms, adrenaline – at some point, it all resembles a game where everyone wants to be the winner. A game from childhood, where instead of weapons, there were tree branches. A game where you raise your hand when you are wounded and go to the side to wait for the opportunity to start again. But we do not train for fun or emotional release. We do it because in a real battle we need to be faster and better than the enemy. Because in a real battle, we won’t be able to raise our hand when we are wounded and step aside to wait for the opportunity to start again.”

Operators of the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed Russian tank tractors, armored personnel carriers and enemy soldiers. While performing combat missions in one of the operational areas, FPV drone operators of the 8th Air Assault Regiment detected and destroyed 2 tank tractors, an infantry fighting vehicle, 2 Russian occupants. Brimstone missiles were used to destroy an infantry fighting vehicle with its crew and a field ammunition depot.

Ukraine conducted long-range unidentified unmanned aerial systems (UAS) strikes against Russian military production and oil refinery infrastructure in the Republic of Tatarstan, over 1,200 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Russian Telegram channels posted footage on April 2 showing three UAS striking the territory of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ) near Yelabuga and causing a large explosion upon impact. Geolocated footage of the strike shows that the UAS hit a dormitory area near the Yelabuga Polytechnical College. Russia notably uses the production facilities at the Alabuga SEZ to make Shahed-136/131 drones to attack Ukraine.

Additional geolocated footage published on April 2 shows a drone strike against the Taneko oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan, and Russian sources claimed that Russian electronic warfare suppressed the drone, causing it to fall on refinery infrastructure and start a fire. Reuters reported that the Ukrainian drone strike on Taneko, Russia’s third-largest oil refinery, impacted a core refining unit at the facility responsible for roughly half of the facility’s oil refining.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) claimed responsibility for conducting the strikes, and GUR sources reported that the strike on Yelabuga caused “significant destruction” to Shahed production facilities. Russian sources, including Tatarstan Head Rustam Minnikhanov, denied that the strikes caused any significant damage to either the drone production plants within the Alabuga SEZ or the Taneko refinery

Reuters noted that its own data shows that constant Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian oil refineries, such as Taneko, have shut down about 14 percent of Russia’s overall refining capacity. The April 2 strikes are the first Ukrainian strikes on Tatarstan, and the distance of the targets from Ukraine’s borders represents a significant inflection in Ukraine’s demonstrated capability to conduct long-range strikes far into the Russian rear. ISW continues to assess that such Ukrainian strikes are a necessary component of Ukraine’s campaign to use asymmetric means to degrade industries that supply and support the Russian military.

24-year-old Junior Sergeant Andrii Hora, with the call sign Hora or Horynych, died on November 5, 2023, in the Bakhmut direction of Donetsk Oblast. While performing a task near the village of Klishchiyivka, he was mortally wounded by a mortar attack from the occupiers.

Andrii was born in Vinnytsia. After graduating from high school, he received a degree in rehabilitation at the Kamianets-Podilskyi I. Ohienko National University. He dreamed of working in his specialty. While studying, he met his future wife and later started a family. He lived in Poltava Oblast. He was fond of traveling, sports, and playing the guitar. After graduation, he moved to Poland, where he worked in construction.

When the full-scale invasion began, the man returned home and tried to volunteer for the front, but was refused due to his lack of military experience. In February 2023, he finally signed a contract with the Armed Forces. He was trained in the UK.  He fought in the Donetsk Oblast as part of the 5th separate assault brigade. He worked in intelligence. In battles, he received several contusions and injuries. In the summer, he was nominated for the Golden Cross award of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a successful assault.

“I asked him not to go to war, especially as a volunteer. Because he had not served in the army and had not graduated from the military department. Andriy kept repeating: “How will I look the guys in the eye later? What will I tell my child later, when she asks where I was?”‘. At first he was in the local territorial defense, then he signed a contract. He was trained in the UK and Ukraine. Since June 2023, he has been deployed to Donetsk. 5 contusions. Wounds. And the mission that was his last. I don’t know what to say. I prayed a lot. Now my soul has been torn out of me…” said Olena Pavlivna, the deceased’s mother.

The fighter was buried in the village of Mateikiv, Vinnytsia Oblast. Andrii is survived by his mother, grandfather, wife and daughter.

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

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