The situation at the front
Assault groups of Wagner PMCs entered the territory of the Artyomovsky Metal Processing Plant (AZOM) from the north and begin to move deep into the territory of an industrial enterprise. This is reported by the Telegram channel of military enlisted officer Alexander Simonov. He notes that AZOM is a huge territory with dense industrial development and a network of underground utilities that goes underground for dozens of floors.
Maxar has released new satellite images of Bakhmut dated March 6. In the photo you can see the damage to industrial enterprises, residential buildings in the southern and eastern parts of the city. Also visible are the destruction of bridges across the Bakhmutka River, which divides the city in half.
Ammunition, missiles, air defense
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) drew attention to a video message from soldiers of the 136th motorized rifle brigade, who say they are replacing the defeated 155th Marine Brigade in the Ugoldar direction. The soldiers complain about the lack of shells of all calibers and say that the ammunition is now sent to Bakhmut (where Prigozhin also complained about the "shell shortage").
ISW notes that the replacement of one brigade with another does not mean the strengthening of Russian troops in this sector. At the same time, in order to somehow support the Russian troops in other parts of the Donbass, near Vuhledar, the Russians will have to advance 24 km, which they have not been able to do for almost a year.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently visited the Donbass and, according to ISW, wanted to assess "the combat stability of the troops in the Ugledar direction, as well as the need to retain Colonel General Rustam Muradov as commander of the Eastern Military District." According to ISW analysts, Shoigu ordered Muradov to take Ugledar at any cost and to deflect criticism from the Russian Defense Ministry about the lack of progress with significant losses in the area of Vogledar.
Israeli military expert David Gendelman, in a conversation with The Insider, spoke about two goals for the offensive of Russian troops near Ugledar.
“First: general offensive operations in the Donbas along the entire front: Kupyansk, Kremennaya, Bakhmut, Avdeevka, Maryinka, Vugledar. Second: pushing the Armed Forces of Ukraine further north from Volnovakha and the railway supply route for the southern grouping of the RF Armed Forces. Capturing Ugledar would be useful for the Russians, but so far their attempts to do so have been extremely unsuccessful.”
The SBU publishes footage that allegedly shows the use of the American armed forces of the Switchblade 600 ammo. In a video published by the SBU, strikes are being made on Russian Tor-M2 and S-300VM air defense systems.
As the Military Informant Telegram channel notes , earlier the Ukrainian Armed Forces used a lighter version of this munition called Switchblade 300. In the video published by the SBU, as the channel writes, you can see an interface similar to the Switchblade 300 interface, but the explosion power of the warhead is much greater. In addition, the attacked SAMs are not on the front line within the range of a 10-minute Switchblade 300 flight, but are at a sufficient distance for a 40-minute Switchblade 600 with a warhead of 4 kg.
Ukraine received one of two Patriot air defense systems promised by the US and Germany. This is reported by the Financial Times. It has not yet been put into operation, so the effectiveness of air defense against Kinzhal missiles has not been established. More Patriot launchers from the Netherlands are expected.
Last week, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced the Patriot's arrival in Ukraine in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Razon, but the Polish Defense Ministry later said that his words were misinterpreted. The minister had in mind that thanks to the efforts of Poland, the complexes were generally decided to be delivered to Ukraine, the department specified.
On the night of March 9, Russia launched several Kinzhal hypersonic missiles into Ukraine, after which there was a discussion that this was an unprecedented attack, since Russia had not previously used so many Kinzhals at the same time. The speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, refuted this opinion on the air of the national telethon, Ukrayinska Pravda reports .
“From the beginning of the full-scale aggression, of course, it was difficult to determine what type of missiles it was. But only in Vinnitsa there were three arrivals of "Daggers" at a time … They used, perhaps, up to two dozen "Daggers" for this war in general. Now, according to the GUR, the Russians have a little more than fifty of these missiles.”
David Gendelman, in a conversation with The Insider, noted that if there were more "Daggers", the Russians would use them even more actively.
“Firstly, they are hypersonic and are not intercepted by Ukrainian air defense, and secondly, they are high-precision, that is, to hit high-quality and important targets, this is just what you need. But the Russian Aerospace Forces have very few of them, both the missiles themselves and, moreover, the carriers – the MiG-31K, so they simply cannot use them in large quantities, and 6 pieces in the last launch required special training. They also try to use more Kh-22s, because they are supersonic and are also not intercepted by Ukrainian air defense, but they have low accuracy and are therefore less effective.”
Exchange of prisoners
Since the beginning of the war, Russia and Ukraine have exchanged more than three thousand prisoners. According to Nestka's calculations , the parties have made 38 exchanges since the beginning of the war, which have been publicly announced. The exchanges, judging by the statements of the Ukrainian authorities, began a year ago, on March 1. Ukraine exchanged 1943 people from captivity, and Russia – 1324, including the return of "Putin's godfather" Viktor Medvedchuk to Russia.
At the same time, Vladimir Zelensky claimed on February 4 that since the beginning of the war, “1,762 Ukrainians have been returned from Russian captivity.” Russia has not officially announced the total number of those rescued from captivity.
In Kyiv, said goodbye to "Da Vinci"
In Kiev, they said goodbye to Dmitry Kotsyubaylo, known by the call sign "Da Vinci", the Hero of Ukraine, who died in the battles for Bakhmut. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to Da Vinci. The farewell and funeral were attended by the country's top leadership: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny and intelligence chief Kirill Budanov.
Kotsyubaylo is one of the leaders of the Right Sector, a native of the Ivano-Frankivsk region. In 2014, he went to fight at the age of 18. On December 1, 2021, Zelensky awarded him the title of Hero of Ukraine.
Read about what happened at the front on March 9 in The Insider report: “New PMC from Gazprom, Prigozhin’s ban, Russia switched to Kinzhals. What's going on at the front .