Today at 20:08
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are using the tactics of bleeding Russian troops, hitting the rear of the occupier in the south and east of the country.
The delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headed by Director General Rafael Grossi visited the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).
Belarus announced imminent joint exercises with Russia. The military will work out battles for territories that, according to legend, have been captured by the enemy.
We are talking about all these events on the air on the FREEDOM TV channel with Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Ukraine awaits the report of the visit of the IAEA mission:
“We hope for specifics, and the specifics are demilitarization, the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, and the transfer of the station to Ukrainian personnel who clearly understand the work and problems of the station. The station also needs protection under international jurisdiction.”
Intense fighting is now taking place not only in the south of Ukraine:
“If Ukraine spent about $5.5 billion on the army in 2022, then the Russian army annually spent more than $60 billion on re-equipment, on moderating processes. That is, the amount of gross domestic product (GDP) increased sharply. The total cost of maintaining the Russian army reached 5% of GDP. Only a few countries in the world spend so much money on the army: the USA, Great Britain, India, and China. Russia is in the top five. Accordingly, we can understand how many resources this army has.
When we talk about a counteroffensive, we must still objectively assess the resource capabilities of the Russian army.
For a long time, the occupiers formed warehouses along the front line and brought in an insane amount of shells of various calibers, primarily heavy caliber, which are shelled daily at our positions.
The counteroffensive, including in the south, is quite active and intense. But it includes the primary stage. This is the stage of the key destruction of the entire rear infrastructure. That is, we increased the intensity of shelling from heavy artillery. We want to destroy all this to significantly reduce the firepower of the Russian army. When you are on the defensive – this is one story when you go forward, then, of course, you need to reduce the possibility of suppressing yourself with fire.
Now, along the entire front line, I emphasize, intensive shelling is underway: in the southern, Kharkiv, and Melitopol directions. Every day, the volume of warehouses and the volume of enemy fuel bases are destroyed.
In addition, we deprive them of the opportunity to receive reinforcements by destroying bridges, any crossings across the Dnipro, and so on. This will contribute to a sharp reduction in the combat capabilities of Russian units. At best, they will fall into the boilers.
The destruction of the crossings significantly aggravates both the additional supply of Russian units and their saturation with reserves, especially from the territory of Crimea. Of course, this worsens the ability to conduct combat operations and dramatically lowers morale in the Russian army.”
Ukraine’s partner countries look at the status of Crimea as its integral part:
There is no doubt that Crimea will legally and soon be a de facto part of Ukraine. It is very important to finalize this right now, with such an intensity of the war.
There is a global consensus among civilized countries. If before February 24 they called for caution about the fact that Russia annexed Crimea, now there is a consensus in the opposite direction.
They tell us unequivocally: Crimea is Ukrainian.
Legally and in fact, we can carry out de-occupation, as well as on any other territory that is temporarily occupied by the Russian army.
People in Crimea understand that there is one-way traffic. It will increase acts of protest, sabotage, and partisan work. Crimean Tatars thoroughly express their protest moods. Russia has caused these people a lot of suffering.
Over the past three weeks, there have been about 12 major excesses: explosions in Dzhankoy, Novofedorovka, and so on. This allows us to say that a large-scale operation is beginning in Crimea with the destruction of the entire rear logistics infrastructure for supplying the Russian army.
Podolyak commented on the activities of the Belarusian army on the border with Ukraine:
I do not think that the Belarusian armed training to seize the territory of the Volyn, Zhytomyr, Rivne regions are of practical importance. We already clearly understand all the threats that come from the Belarusian direction. We have a well-developed defense system – it is much more echeloned. We have a well-functioning intelligence community in this area. We clearly understand the motivation and demotivation of the Belarusian military and the like.
It seems to me that it would be better for [self-proclaimed President of Belarus] Alexander Lukashenko to train his people to provide medical care and ask for forgiveness from their people. I would recommend that the military, which provided the airport for the bombing of Ukraine, come to their people and ask for forgiveness for dragging the country into such a terrible story with great deadly consequences for Belarusian statehood.
