Russian special forces destroyed more than 300 Ukrainian nationalists in a fierce battle

1 Russia

On 23rd of March the Russian Federal Council unanimously approved the law that recognizes the participants of the current special operation in Ukraine as combat veterans. In addition to the Russian servicemen, the status of combat veterans will be given to the employees of law enforcement and security agencies, who perform tasks during the special operation. The participants of the special operation will have an access to the social security system, used by veterans of Syria, Afghanistan, and other hot spots. The benefits include the additional payments, tax benefits, reduction of utility bills, and so on.

2 Russia

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Moscow will react in a same manner to the expulsion of 45 Russian diplomats from Poland. On the 23rd of March, the Russian ambassador in Warsaw, Sergei Andreev, was given a note declaring the members of the Russian diplomatic mission to be ’persona non grata’ and thus they must leave Poland within 5 days. The Polish authorities accused them of espionage. Sergey Andreev called these suspicions to be baseless. The Kremlin has already reacted to the Polish action. The Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, noted that the expulsion of the Russian embassy staff is a continuation of the free fall of the relations.

3 Russia

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported on the progress of the special military operation, aimed to protect Donbass. The Russian military are fighting for the town of Novomikhailovka. The DPR forces liberated 1 settlement from the Ukrainian nationalists, and captured a local railway station. The Russian forces destroyed a large Ukrainian arsenal to the north-west from the city of Rovno. During the day, 97 Ukrainian military facilities were hit. The Russian air defense forces shot down 1 Ukrainian SU-24 bomber near the town of Izyum, and 16 Ukrainian UAVs.

4 Russia

A terrorist attack by an ISIS member was stopped at a control facility of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. It was noted that the detainee posted public calls for terrorist attacks on the Telegram messenger. According to the man, he intended to use an IED to commit his crime.

5 The USA

The NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, stated that the NATO has trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian servicemen, and provided them with all the means to fight on the front lines. According to him, the NATO is aware of the Russian warnings about the preparation of chemical provocations by Ukraine, and the NATO considers them to be false. He added that any use of chemical weapons in Ukraine is absolutely unacceptable, and it will have serious consequences. The use of such weapons will completely change the nature of the conflict in Ukraine, and it will be a gross violation of international law — he concluded.

6 Russia

A member of the Russian parliament, Artyom Turov, stated about the need for a military tribunal to investigate cases of civilians being used as human shields. He was able to personally hear about examples of the use of such tactics by Ukrainian neo-Nazis from people who are now being evacuated from Mariupol. It was assumed that a specially created commission will also collect the evidence on other Ukrainian war crimes. The Ukrainian nationalists are still holding about 150,000 people in the city of Mariupol — Denis Pushilin stated. The Ukrainian radicals don’t allow the civilians to leave the danger zone — they also shoot at the civilians. The Russian and the DPR forces are doing everything possible to save the civilians. Over the past day, they evacuated more than 500 people.

7 Belarus

Ukraine considers the downsizing of the Ukrainian embassy in Minsk, and the closure of the consulate in Brest, to be an unfriendly step. The spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, promised Belarus a «proper response». According to the speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Belarus, Igor Kizim, will continue to fulfill his duties. Earlier, Belarus ordered several Ukrainian diplomats to leave Minsk within 72 hours.

8 Russia

Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz — the Kremlin’s press office reported. When discussing the situation in Ukraine, they mentioned the difficulty of the on-going negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives. Vladimir Putin outlined a number of considerations from the Russian position in the negotiations. Earlier, Sergei Lavrov stated during a speech at the ’’MGIMO’’ University that the negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations have serious problems. The Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, spoke about the Russian desire to have more meaningful talks with Ukraine.

9 Ukraine

The Russian special forces killed more than 300 Ukrainian nationalists during the battles in the Kharkov region — the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. The Russian National Guard repeatedly broke through the Ukrainian defenses. As the result — 5 settlements were liberated, and more than 300 militants from the Ukrainian nationalist groups were killed. Weapons and military equipment were captured. After the fierce fighting, the protection of roads was organized for the safe movement of convoys and the delivery of humanitarian aid into the region. An another episode is connected with the «SOBR» — during the battle in a building, captured by the Ukrainian militants — 5 Ukrainian nationalists were killed. The SOBR squad leader, despite being seriously wounded, remained in his position until the main forces have arrived. The Ukrainian militants suffered heavy losses.

10 Russia

Russia has transferred the payment for the export gas supplies from dollars to rubles. The buyers of Russian gas will have to buy rubles on the Moscow Exchange — Vladimir Putin stated at a meeting with the government. He instructed the Russian Central Bank and the government to determine the procedure for the EU to buy rubles on the Russian domestic market for gas buyers. Russia will continue to supply gas to the unfriendly countries in accordance with the contracts. Only the payment currency will change — Putin explained. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS