A 35-hour curfew that emptied its already semi-deserted streets made kyiv freeze again yesterday. Soldiers and volunteers from the Territorial Defense units, the militia in charge of the checkpoints, were the only ones allowed to move. It was the second in the last two weeks, the third since Russia launched its attack on February 24. The citizens respect the orders with martiality and returned to stay in their homes, near the bunkers, on a day marked by the serious tone of the explosions in the north of the capital and the punctual detonations that shook neighborhoods near the center such as the one in Obolon, where a neighbor lost his life.
Local media reported a Ukrainian counteroffensive to drive the Russians away from the northern front. This explained the constant roar from the sky in that part of the city. The sources assured that the enemy troops located in Irpín, Bucha and Hostomel would have been isolated by the attack, with the supply lines cut off. The fury caused by this alleged blow to the Russians calmed down when satellite images were released showing an entire battery of artillery that Moscow has deployed in Irpin, a movement that may be key to launching a war of attrition against kyiv.
The war, which at the beginning seemed like it could be lightning, stagnated and Russia opted for a strategy of punishing city by city and wearing down the rival defense. Mariúpol, in the south of the country, is the strategic point that they have in the first place on their agenda, but kyiv is the symbolic victory that Vladimir Putin is pursuing, especially since it would be a direct blow to the survival of the Government of Volodímir Zelensky. The Ukrainian leader once again publicly requested a direct meeting with his Russian counterpart to try to reach an agreement and even, for the first time, was open to discussing the future of Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk. The Kremlin responded with cannon fire.
the most precious treasure
With Mariupol surrounded, Kherson conquered and Odessa in the crosshairs, kyiv is the most coveted treasure. Perhaps Putin dreamed of a quick US-style operation with Badhdad in 2003, but according to British intelligence, the Russians remain 25 kilometers from kyiv, a distance from which they can subject the city to severe punishment. of artillery as a previous step to the entrance street by street. In statements to the ‘Financial Times’, a NATO intelligence officer assured that “kyiv is the great objective of both parties, a key step to end the current government for Russia, so the Ukrainians must defend the capital at all costs.” whatever it costs.”
THE KEYS:
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Curfew.
Only soldiers and militia volunteers are allowed to leave their homes -
changing speech.
Zelensky now assures that he is open to discussing the future of Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk
The president of the kyiv School of Economics, Tymofiy Mylovanov, took to social media to show his anger at the “colonial analysis of the situation by Western experts and academics. After three weeks of war it has become clear that the question is not how long kyiv will hold out, the question is how many troops Russia will lose before having to give up the assault on kyiv.”
On the hunt for collaborators
Russian troops have not managed to set foot in the neighborhoods of kyiv, but there is a strong fear of the arrival of agents in the service of the Kremlin who infiltrate the city to commit acts of sabotage. This was one of the most repeated arguments by analysts in the local media to explain the reason for the third curfew in the capital since the outbreak of the war. Day by day, nervousness grows at the most sensitive checkpoints in kyiv, where the documentation of all passengers is checked on the hunt for possible collaborators.
The curfew in a hotel where all the guests are journalists from several generations, most with experience in various conflicts, some veterans from Grozny and the Balkans, becomes an opportunity to remember battles, compare scenarios, make exit plans in case things get bad and, above all, ask questions of those who know the most about what will happen with this war. There is no answer because the last word lies with an unpredictable leader like Putin. What nobody doubts is that kyiv is the key. If kyiv falls, everything changes.
Moscow wants to exchange prisoners
The Kremlin is willing to exchange more than five hundred Ukrainian prisoners of war captured during the current ‘Special Military Operation’, assured Tatiana Moskalkova, Russian Ombudsman yesterday. Moskalkova explained to the RT television channel that Moscow has drawn up a list with cards written by hand by the captured themselves, in which it is confirmed that they are alive. “To date, more than five hundred files have been completed and delivered to the International Red Cross,” she specified.
The first exchange that has taken place between both sides in the conflict was carried out by nine Russian soldiers that kyiv agreed to hand over in exchange for the release of the mayor of Melitopol, Iván Fedorov, imprisoned by Kremlin forces on the 12th. Moskalkova also explained that the last The Russian Ministry of Defense has the word regarding the Ukrainian prisoners and that their number is “much higher” than the aforementioned half a thousand.
The Ukrainian Army has recognized the death of at least 1,300 of its members since the beginning of the Russian military intervention on February 24. Moscow, which has taken control of several cities in the south of the occupied country, so far only admits 498 casualties in its ranks, in addition to 1,597 wounded.
As for the Ukrainian side, Moscow puts its casualties at several thousand dead and wounded. On the other hand, from kyiv much more is needed. It quantifies the losses of the occupants in 15,300 uniformed personnel, 509 tanks, 1,556 armored vehicles, 252 artillery systems, 80 rocket units, 45 means of air defense, 99 aircraft, 70 tanks with fuel and lubricants, 123 helicopters, 25 drones and three boats. Neither side provides evidence to certify their numbers.
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