President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has awarded the Hero of Ukraine to Oleksandr Matsievskyi, a soldier who was executed by machine gun fire on camera after being captured by Russian soldiers. Zelenskiy said: “Today I conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine upon Oleksandr Matsievskyi, a soldier. A man whom all Ukrainians will know. A man who will be remembered forever. For his bravery, for his confidence in Ukraine and for his ‘Glory to Ukraine!’”
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has reported on Telegram that one civilian was killed and four people were injured in a rocket attack on Znob-Novhorodske in Sumy region.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, is reporting a claim that resistance fighters have blown up a railway that Russian forces were using in occupied Kherson. The claims have not been independently verified. A video posted by the Atesh partisan group appears to show a railway track between the settlements of Abrikosivka and Radensk being blown up.
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, has reported that a 40-year-old man hasbeen injured by a petal mine near Izyium.
Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency is reporting that the Russia-installed authorities in occupied regions of Donetsk are claiming that almost 4,500 people have died as a result of shelling by Ukrainian armed forces since 17 February 2022.
One of President Vladimir Putin’s top allies – Russian security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev – said on Monday that he doubts that the Nord Stream pipelines were blown up by a pro-Ukrainian group, and said that Moscow still does not know who exactly was behind it.
Russia’s industry ministry said on Monday it was expanding its list of brands that can be imported without the trademark owner’s permission to include goods from companies such as Ikea and US toy manufacturers Hasbro and Mattel.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has offered congratulations to Pope Francis on 10th anniversary of the latter’s election. Relations between the pope and the patriarch have been strained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The patriarch has been a vocal supporter of Russia’s military action, whereas Pope Francis has frequently called for peace during his regular Vatican addresses.
Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili has told Ukraine’s political leadership to stay out of Georgian politics. The criticism comes after Ukrainian political leaders expressed their support for protesters in Tbilisi. Garibashvili described the comments as a “direct intervention” in domestic politics and told his Ukrainian counterparts to “take care of yourself and your country, and we will take care of our country”.
Belorussian president Aleksandr Lukashenko has arrived in Iran for an official visit to meet local leaders and discuss “trade and economic cooperation”.
Ukrainian special forces unit Kraken has destroyed two Russian observation towers in Bryansk in a drone attack. A third tower was previously destroyed on 5 March.
Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser, has published a video on his Telegram channel showing what appears to be an attack on the town of Vuhledar in Donetsk region using incendiary munitions.
Ukraine and Russia both claimed that hundreds of enemy troops had been killed in the previous 24 hours in the fight for Bakhmut, with Kyiv fending off attacks and a small river that bisects the town now marking the new frontline. Serhiy Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian military spokesperson, claimed 221 pro-Moscow troops had been killed and more than 300 wounded in Bakhmut. Russia’s defence ministry said that as many as 210 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the broader Donetsk part of the frontline.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, Russian forces did not make any advances in Bakhmut on Saturday.
Ukraine’s military said it repelled more than 92 Russian assaults in five areas over the past day, according to the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces.
The Turkish defence minister, Hulusi Akar, said he believed a deal allowing Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea would be extended from its 18 March deadline. Russia’s foreign ministry said Russian representatives had not yet taken part in negotiations on extending the deal.
Source : TheGuardian
