The situation at the front
According to the daily report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russian army is advancing in the Kupyansky , Limansky , Bakhmutsky , Avdeevsky and Shakhtyorsky directions. Over the past day, 95 attacks were recorded, as well as 31 air strikes, eight rocket and 72 artillery attacks. Russian forces continue to storm Bakhmut and nearby settlements. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claims that during the day Russia lost 650 servicemen, nine tanks and 11 armored combat vehicles, seven artillery systems, two air defense systems, and 15 drones.
The New York Times claims that the Russian command deliberately sends soldiers in suicide attacks near Maryinka, Donetsk region, in which most of them die. The purpose of this tactic is to identify the firing positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, after which they are subjected to artillery or mortar attacks.
On February 19, Zelensky said in an interview with Corriere della Sera that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would protect Bakhmut as long as it was reasonable. On March 3, Ruslan Leviev from the CIT investigative project wrote that the bridge in the village of Khromovo had been blown up – the last paved road along which it was possible to move away from Bakhmut towards Chasov Yar.
On March 6, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. As reported on the presidential website, the main topic of discussion was the situation around Bakhmut, and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny and the commander of the operational-strategic grouping of troops "Khortitsa" Alexander Syrsky spoke in favor of continuing the defense of the city.
Military expert David Gendelman, in an interview with The Insider, expressed confidence that the plan for the retreat of Ukrainian forces from Bakhmut was already ready, and suggested that the order would be given if there was a threat of encirclement.
“The military-political leadership of Ukraine as a whole has long adhered to the principle of “not a step back”. The Armed Forces retreat only as a last resort, when there is a physical threat of encirclement. We saw the same thing in Severodonetsk and Lisichansk in the summer, there were also discussions about withdrawing to other lines or holding out to the last, and there they held out to the last. It is clear that war is primarily not a military matter, but a political one, and this “not a step back” doctrine is adhered to, because it is politically unprofitable and unpopular to leave Ukrainian cities. In military terms, it is clear that at some stage it was possible to retreat to more advantageous defensive lines and this continuation of holding at any cost has its drawbacks – these resources could be used to attack in other directions, but such a strategy was chosen. Apparently, here, too, it will continue until the end, until there is a threat to the physical environment.”
“Now there will probably be an operational encirclement, that is, an incomplete encirclement and fire control of all roads connecting Bakhmut with the rest of Ukrainian territory. There are environmental risks, but this is not an immediate threat yet. We saw how in Soledar the Russian side claimed that the Ukrainian troops had withdrawn, the Ukrainian side said for a couple of days that someone was operating there, but then admitted that they had withdrawn. If the Russians advance along the flanks at such a pace, then sooner or later the moment will come when the Ukrainians will have to retreat. Maybe it will take a couple of days, but it is clear that the situation for the Ukrainian army there is unfavorable. The reserves that are transferred there are primarily needed to hold the flanks and to prevent the encirclement from closing, because if there is an order to retreat, then you need to hold the corridor so that the group can leave.
Meanwhile, a video appeared on a Telegram channel associated with the Wagner PMC, in which its fighters set a flag on the T-34 Tank monument in Bakhmut. The video was taken from a drone.
The pro-government Telegram channel “Special Purpose Channel” retells the forecast of the founder of PMC Evgeny Prigozhin regarding the development of events in the Bakhmut direction. According to him, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are planning to launch a counterattack on the Wagner fighters, for this groupings have been created in Slavyansk, Seversk and in the Chasov Yar-Konstantinovka area.
shelling
The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that an air defense system went off in Novy Oskol and three missiles were shot down. One person was injured: a man received a shrapnel wound to his hand.
The Ukrainian special unit "Kraken" confirmed that Ukrainian forces were behind the drone attack on an observation tower in the Bryansk region on February 28.
In the Kherson region, a tractor was blown up by an unknown explosive device during agricultural work, according to the Telegram channel of the regional military administration. One person died, another was injured.
Arms deliveries
The British government, which previously promised Ukraine 14 Challenger 2 tanks, will send twice as many. As Ukrainian Ambassador to London Vadim Prystaiko said in an interview with Radio Liberty, this decision was made following the visit of Volodymyr Zelensky. In addition, the UK will send 33 AS90 155mm self-propelled howitzers.
Russia did not buy Iranian ballistic missiles for fear that Western allies would start supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine in response. According to the Financial Times, citing Western officials, the US threat to supply Kiev with ATACMS tactical missiles with a range of 300 km has become a significant deterrent.
British military intelligence reports that Russia is moving T-62 tanks, which are 60 years old, to the front to make up for losses in equipment. Since last summer, about 800 units have been removed from storage, some of them have been upgraded.
As indicated in the report for March 6, there is a possibility that outdated equipment will be used, among other things, to re-equip the formations of the 1st Guards Tank Army, which was supposed to receive new T-14 Armata tanks. In addition, the BTR-50 armored personnel carriers, which were put into service in 1954, were first seen in Ukraine.
Ukrainian pilots train on an F-16 fighter simulator
At least two Ukrainian pilots are currently in the US and training on simulators at a military base in Tucson, Arizona. According to NBC News, citing two congressmen, the purpose of these exercises is to evaluate the skills of pilots and calculate how long the training program will take to fly modern Western aircraft, including F-16 fighters.
Another 10 Ukrainian pilots are expected to arrive in the US in March. Officially, Washington did not approve the supply of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Video with the execution of an unknown
On March 6, a video began to circulate on Telegram channels, which allegedly depicted the execution of a Ukrainian prisoner of war by Russian soldiers. The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, called the video "another example of Russia's national insignificance and weakness." There is no independent confirmation of the authenticity of the video yet, the identity of the person in the video has also not been established.
The Telegram channel GRAY ZONE, close to PMC Wagner, believes that the video is genuine and reproaches compatriots for “national cuckoldism” for trying to present it as a fake. The author emphasizes that war crimes are committed by both sides.
HRW called the attack on the Kramatorsk railway station a war crime
Human Rights Watch published the results of an investigation into a missile attack on the railway station in Kramatorsk on April 8, 2022, which killed 58 people and injured more than 100. , which was under the control of Russian troops, namely, from the village of Kunye, 25 km from Izyum. The missile was equipped with a cluster warhead containing 50 mini-bombs. As a result of the explosion, 15 thousand fragments scattered around the railway station.
HRW found that there were Ukrainian troops near the station, but did not find any signs of the presence of military personnel or military equipment on the station's tracks at the time of the strike. Having studied all the circumstances, human rights activists came to the conclusion that the strike on the Kramatorsk railway station violates the laws of war and is a war crime.
The investigation notes that, according to satellite images, a few days after the strike on Kramatorsk, shipping containers for Tochka-U missiles appeared in Kunye. However, as noted by CIT, they were not there on the day of the strike on Kramatorsk, and the Tochka-U battery itself could not be found in the photographs either. So direct evidence proving the guilt of the Russian side has not yet been found.
A conscript shot a colleague in the Kursk region
According to Telegram channels, as a result of shooting in the 37th motorized rifle brigade of military unit 69647, temporarily stationed in the Sudzhansky district of the Kursk region, a conscript soldier died, another was injured. The shooting was opened by a 22-year-old conscript. Presumably, he heard strangers in the zone of the guard post, shouted: "Stop, who's coming?" However, he did not receive an answer and began to shoot.
Shoigu visited the occupied territories
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Mariupol occupied by Russian troops. The Ministry of Defense reports that Shoigu checked how construction is going on in the ruined city. Earlier, the minister visited the outskirts of Ugledar, where he met with the Vostok group of troops and the commander of the Eastern Military District, Colonel-General Rustam Muradov.
Read about the situation at the front on March 3 in The Insider report: Boy Fedor, armored personnel carrier from the people, "friendly fire" on the Su-34. What's going on at the front.