March 19th, 2022
1. Humanitarian issues still not resolved in many places
The Russian Federation, guided by the principles of international humanitarian law, conducts large-scale measures to provide comprehensive assistance to the population in the controlled areas of Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.
On March 18th from 10AM the Russian Federation has already provided humanitarian corridors for the fifteenth time in Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy and Kharkov directions, along one humanitarian corridor to the Russian Federation, and one more through the territories controlled by the Kiev authorities towards the western borders of Ukraine.
Guided by purely humane principles, despite the cynicism of the Kiev authorities towards their citizens, who categorically do not allow to evacuate to the Russian Federation, and solely to save the lives of civilians in all possible ways, Moscow agreed to all the proposals of the Ukrainian side to set up additionally humanitarian corridors without any preconditions – on Kiev, Sumy, Zaporozhie, Poltava and Kharkov directions.
On March 18th without any participation of the Ukrainian side, it was possible to safely evacuate 181 foreign citizens from nine countries to the Republic of Crimea in the Zaporozhie direction: 32 from Nigeria, 23 from Uzbekistan, 17 from Kazakhstan, 7 from Lebanon, 6 from Sri Lanka, 4 from Pakistan, and 1 from Serbia and Tunisia, as well as, paradoxically, 90 citizens of Ukraine.
Thanks to unprecedented security measures taken by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, it was possible to provide humanitarian corridors in the Kiev, Zhitomir and Kharkov directions and evacuate 3,399 people by buses and personal cars from various settlements.
The Russian side still keeps a sufficient number of vehicles ready at the checkpoints, including comfortable buses for transporting refugees to selected destinations, as well as to temporary accommodation points, where all citizens arriving on the territory of Russia are provided with three hot meals a day and medical assistance is provided around the clock.
2. Tragedy in Mariupol
There are some new facts related to the current tragedy in Mariupol.
The humanitarian operation there continues. On one hand, over the past day, 13,751 people have been evacuated from the city, and a total of 56,743 have been already evacuated so far.
On the other hand, according to radio intercepts, it has been reliably established that nationalists in the city are conducting intensive negotiations with Kiev to unblock Mariupol and send them support.
Over the past three days, the intensity of negotiations has increased significantly, while negotiations on both sides are taking place in extremely rough tones. The neo-nazi in Mariupol feel the hopelessness of the current situation, and Kiev understands the impossibility of providing any assistance. Thus, the nationalists have more than 200,000 people of the civilian population, whom they can use as a "human shield". This position has been agreed with the leadership of Ukraine.
Understanding the content and consequences of these negotiations, Russia officially appealed to the Kiev authorities and two days ago brought that Moscow is ready to open humanitarian corridors and release all neo-nazi factions in any direction in order to save the city and those people, who have already glorified themselves with the explosions of a kindergarten, two schools, a maternity hospital and a drama theater building. At the same time, Russia guaranteed the life of nationalists who will laid down their weapons, and provide a humanitarian corridor for their exit to the territories controlled by Kiev.
Unfortunately, in response, Russia received a categorical refusal from high officials of Kiev even for such generous offer.
One can only guess about the next steps of desperate gangs who have lost their minds and understand their complete hopelessness, while horrifying pictures of the possible consequences of these actions are emerging. That is why, Russian side warned the entire civilized world in advance, international organizations, primarily the UN, the OSCE, the International Committee of the Red Cross about sad and tragic consequences Kiev’s approach to the issue of refugees in Ukraine.
3. Kiev’s violence versus Ukrainian civilians
The Joint Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine continues to record numerous facts of violence against civilians and in other localities not only in Mariupol, but in some other places which continues to be held by neo-nazi as a "human shield".
Here are just some of them over the past day:
In Chernihov, the militants of nationalist battalions, under threat of physical violence, take away the last food from the local population, including those received as humanitarian aid.
In Zaporozhie, the nationalist-minded authorities forcibly distribute Molotov cocktails to the residents of the city and call on the civilian population to throw them at Russian troops, thereby cynically pushing people to imminent death.
In Kharkov, the Ukrainian nationalists fired at the place of delivery of humanitarian aid.
In addition, in Severodonetsk, nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries defending themselves together with territorial defence reservists forcibly placed the local population around occupied residential buildings, and citizens who refused to leave shelters and go out into the streets were simply shot.
Independent exit of people from settlements is strictly suppressed. Local residents, taken to the basements of residential buildings, allegedly to escape from Russian air strikes, are in appalling unsanitary conditions, lack of food and water, without electricity and under the influence of lies fabricated by the Ukrainian authorities about blocking humanitarian corridors.
All these facts once again testify to the genocide of the Kiev authorities against their own people and complete indifference to the fate of millions of ordinary people.
Unfortunately, all our persistent appeals to the Ukrainian side about the opening of humanitarian corridors to Russia, as well as official appeals to international structures of the UNO, the OSCE, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, are still ignored to date. At the same time the Kiev authorities persistently continue to assert that there are no people willing to evacuate to the Russian Federation.
4. Situation at the battlefields
On March 18th the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continued a special military operation.
The Kinzhal (Dagger) air-launched hypersonic ballistic missiles destroyed a large underground storage facility built for missiles and aviation ammunition of Ukrainian troops in Delyatin, Ivano-Frankovsk Region, Western Ukraine.
The Bastion coastal missile system destroyed the radio surveillance centers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Velikiy Dalnik and Velikodolynskoye, Odessa Region, South Ukraine.
In the night of March 19th, 69 Ukrainian key military assets were hit by Russian tactical, army and UAV aviation.
Among them: four command posts, including the brigade command post in Zabuyanye, four anti-aircraft missile systems, of which three S-300 and one Buk-M1, one radar guiding and targeting station, three multiple rocket launchers, 12 rocket and artillery weapons depots and 43 equipment accumulation sites.
In addition, air defence troops of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down 12 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the air.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation (February 24th, 2022), 196 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, 1,438 tanks and other ACVs, 145 MRLSs, 556 field artillery and mortars, as well as 1,237 special military vehicles have been destroyed.
Kiev’s regime has placed 400 naval mines at the Black Sea that can sail freely across the Black Sea in any direction.
5. Lavrov on Russian-Ukrainian talks
March 19 (Interfax) - Moscow hopes that the special operation in Ukraine will end with the signing of comprehensive documents on security and Ukraine's neutral status, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on March 19th. He said: “I hope it will end with the signing of comprehensive documents on the matters I have mentioned, such as security, the neutral status of Ukraine with the guarantee of its security …”. In his words, that is the reason for the neutral status, security guarantees and, of course, laws must be brought into a civilized form. This applies to the Russian language, Russian-language education, Russian-language media outlets, laws abetting nazification of the country, and the adoption of a law to ban that. Such laws exist in a number of European countries, including Germany.
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
