Drone attacks on Russian cities
Russian regions have come under a massive drone attack, which has become the largest since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and affected territories hundreds of kilometers from the front line, writes the Black Sea Strategy Institute. In the village of Novy, Giaginsky district of Adygea, an unidentified aircraft crash was recorded at night, no one was injured. Judging by the wreckage, it could be a Ukrainian Tu-141 Strizh UAV modified as a kamikaze drone, writes the pro-Russian Telegram channel Military Informant. According to him, the drones were launched on the night of February 28 from the Odessa region, the flight took place not over the land territory of Russia, but over the Black Sea at an extremely low altitude.
The second drone, allegedly launched from Odessa, headed towards Tuapse, where it hit the territory of the Rosneft oil plant, as a result, a fire broke out – the Telegram channels Baza, Astra and Shot claim that two UAVs attacked the oil depot. Later, a drone was spotted near the oil depot in Tuapse, RIA Novosti reported, citing state media, citing emergency services. There were no casualties. Two more drones in the Krasnodar Territory were intercepted, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Drone crashes also occurred in the Belgorod and Bryansk regions, according to local authorities, fragments were found. The mayor of Belgorod, Valentin Demidov, said that one of the UAVs flew into the window of a residential building, no one was injured.
Meanwhile, in several Russian regions, including Moscow, Dolgoprudny, Voronezh, as well as in the Russian-occupied Crimea, air raid alerts sounded on radio stations and on some TV channels. The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia said that the information is not true and appeared as a result of “hacking servers”.
Over St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, the sky was closed for several hours due to an unidentified flying object. MiG-31 fighter jets were used to identify it. The Russian Ministry of Defense later reported that the closure of the sky was an air defense exercise in cooperation with civilian air traffic control.
According to the pro-Russian Telegram channel Rybar, another UAV, a strike UJ-22 Airborne manufactured by Ukrjet, crashed near the Voskresensk gas compressor station in the Kolomna district of the Moscow region.
The situation on the front line
Bakhmut direction . The Russian troops managed to make some progress in the Berkhovka area, analysts from Def Mon and the Conflict Intelligence Team say. At the same time, in general, according to their data, the front line practically did not change during the day.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking about the situation in Bakhmut, said that "the enemy is gradually destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions, to strengthen and defend." Bloomberg writes that this is a signal of Ukraine's forced readiness to leave Bakhmut.
The 93rd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Cold Yar" published a video of the battles south of Bakhmut. The video contains obscene language. The area was geolocated, apparently, pro-Russian forces are already making sorties in the southern outskirts of Bakhmut.
There was also information that the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly blew up a dam near the Severny Stavok reservoir northwest of Bakhmut, however, according to analysts, this may be a fake, or the explosion was ineffective – radar satellite images do not show a significant difference between the situation on January 30 and February 27.
Ugledar direction . According to the pro-Russian Telegram channel "Two Majors", some units of the 155th Marine Brigade have been withdrawn from the line of contact in order to "restore understaffing."
“The situation is difficult, but not critical. There are some successes in the dacha area,” the publication says. Another pro-Russian channel Romanov Lite reports that there is no withdrawal, "they rotated those who kept the dachas."
The brigade is known for massive losses in the Ugledar direction. In November, during the fighting near Pavlovka, the military themselves recorded an appeal in which they spoke about the losses of hundreds of marines. In response, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that the losses of the marines of the 155th brigade "due to the competent actions of the commanders" "do not exceed 1% of the combat strength."
Kherson direction . Kherson is under fire again, there are dead, a residential building has been destroyed. It is reported by "Unian".
Belarus . Photographs of the A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the airfield in Machulishchi, which was previously blown up, have been published . According to BYPOL, the incident occurred while working near snowplows. However, judging by the pictures, the damage may not be as severe as reported in the media. Telegram-channel Moscow Calling notes that a hole in the fuselage is visible.
In the Lugansk region, Ukrainian forces fired on the village of Kadievka from the HIMARS MLRS. Pro-Russian channels report that four M31 GMLRS missiles were fired by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the workshops of the Stakhanov Carriage Works were damaged. A Russian ammunition depot was also blown up in Kadievka, military analyst Yigal Levin writes about this.
Donbass . The Armed Forces of Ukraine fired at Donetsk, according to the Military Observer, the attacks fell on residential buildings and a bridge connecting two districts of the city.
Also, through the fault of the “mayor” of Donetsk, Aleksey Kulemzin, a curious incident occurred – he tried to show the consequences of the shelling and published photographs showing a location with hidden Russian military equipment. Soon the photos were deleted, but the Internet remembers everything.
Arms and military equipment deliveries and news from the military-industrial complex
The German company Rheinmetall will supply Ukraine with SurveilSPIRE automated reconnaissance systems, Reuters writes . These systems consist of mobile surveillance towers with day and night video surveillance equipment, autopilot drones and a control system. The exact amount of the contract was not disclosed, but it is known that it exceeds €10 million. The supply of equipment has already begun.
The company also supplies Skyranger and Skynex AA Systems air defense systems, the Rheinmetall CEO said that they are already in Ukraine. Skynex fires AHEAD programmable projectiles, which makes it particularly effective against small air targets, Moscow Calling notes . It is stated that one to three 35-mm programmable projectiles are enough to effectively destroy one small UAV, while the cost of one such projectile is now about 4,000 euros. The effective firing range is up to 4.5 km. Skynex is valued at $212 million.
The Economist has calculated that Russia is losing about 150 tanks every month. At the same time, it produces less and does not have time to increase the pace due to sanctions. If we take the Oryx data as a basis, where not all losses are noted, but only those that are documented, and together with all the capacities it is capable of producing and restoring only 90 vehicles (while producing only a couple of dozen new ones, the rest are restored from storage or repairing damaged ones) per month. It is difficult to increase production due to sanctions. In the Russian Federation, they even began to use chips from dishwashers and refrigerators in military equipment.”
There is also ongoing discussion about whether China will supply arms to Russia. The discussion was started by US President Joe Biden, who said that the US would react if China supplied Russia with lethal weapons in the war against Ukraine. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also said that China is discussing the possibility of providing Russia with lethal military assistance.
According to the Conflict Intelligence Team, this is doubtful.
“The possibility of China supplying weapons to us at the moment looks implausible and unverifiable. We do not consider it possible to supply equipment or weapons, because as soon as this is revealed, the sanctions will be very severe. We think that it is possible to supply imperceptibly gunpowder for artillery shots, but not ready-made ammunition assemblies and not drones.
Campaign teams to "raise the fighting spirit"
In Russia, agitation brigades are being formed that will be engaged in "raising the fighting spirit" with the help of "spiritual speeches." This was announced by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova. In fact, these are musical performers who, according to Lyubimova, travel "through the regions", sing and dance. Earlier, Vedomosti wrote that for the most part, such brigades perform in front of conscripts.
See also The Insider’s military report for February 27: “Russia has been unable to capture Bakhmut for half a year and is throwing the mobilized at the expense, drones have fallen in Belgorod. What's going on at the front