March 29th, 2022
1. Humanitarian tragedy
The Russian Federation, in strict accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law, continues systematic and coordinated activity on the safe evacuation of civilians and foreign citizens from dangerous areas of Ukraine.
To this end, every day from 10 a.m., the Russian Armed Forces open humanitarian corridors in the Kiev, Chernigov, Sumy, Kharkov and Mariupol directions: one to Russia and one more through the territories controlled by the Kiev authorities towards the western borders of Ukraine.
Of the routes proposed by the Russian side, official Kiev has agreed on only two for the current day.
The Ukrainian side has not confirmed any humanitarian corridor to the Russian Federation again. At the same time, millions of people held hostage by militants in blocked settlements, in constant fear for their lives and the fate of their loved ones, beg to save them from the lawlessness perpetrated by neo-Nazis and allow them to go to safe places on the territory of Russia.
Solely for humanitarian reasons, the Russian side has agreed on eight additional routes announced by Kiev on the Zaporozhye, Poltava, Sumy and Kharkov directions for the current day.
The Russian Armed Forces strictly observe the ceasefire on all routes, including those declared by the official Kiev authorities.
In turn, the Ukrainian side does not adhere to these humane principles. Violations in the areas of open humanitarian corridors were recorded by means of objective control. So, Ukrainian territorial battalions fired small arms and mortars: from 09:35 to 11:07 in Sumy, and from 10:03 to 10:41 in the Zaporozhye directions, thereby preventing the evacuation of citizens from the blocked settlements.
In addition, the Joint Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine continues to carefully record other inhumane crimes committed by nationalists against civilians.
Here are some of them for the past day:
a) in the suburbs of Kharkov, militants fired mortars mounted on so-called "bandermobiles" at places of mass gathering of civilians (queues at shops, ATMs, food and drinking water distribution points). As a result, three people were killed and more than 10 were injured;
b) the bodies of civilians with traces of brutal torture and carved neo-Nazi symbols and swastikas were found in the basements of buildings in the city of Mariupol, liberated from the nationalists. In addition, civilians rescued from the city confirm the egregious facts of how the neo-Nazis, knowing that there are women with children in the basements, deliberately threw grenades at them.
The Kiev authorities once again show their criminal and cynical nature. Terror and genocide against their own people have become the norm for Ukraine. Comprehensive support from the United States and a number of European Union countries has unleashed the hands of Nazism countrywide, only here military units with the symbols of the Third Reich operate as part of the national armed forces and military formations with the task of destroying everything that does not correspond to their inhuman concepts. The victims are old men and women, and children from an early age are subjected to harsh propaganda of the Nazi ideology to turn them into followers of Bandera, the supporter of Hitler.
Shelling of residential areas and social infrastructure in Donbass still continues by Ukrainian troops every day. On March 28th Donetsk was shelled by them 250 times.
Over March 27th, the Russian Armed Forces, without the participation of the Ukrainian authorities, evacuated 12,825 people to Russia from dangerous areas of Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, 2,045 of them children, and since the beginning of the special military operation, 469,683 people have already been evacuated, of which 97,345 are children.
57,026 units of personal vehicles crossed the state border of the Russian Federation, of which 1,625 units per day.
From Mariupol, without any participation of the Ukrainian side, 105,534 people have already been rescued from the lawlessness organized by the nationalists, including 3,642 people over the past day.
According to the results of daily monitoring of appeals by citizens of Ukraine to the hotline of the Joint Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation for humanitarian response in Ukraine, to federal executive authorities, various public organizations, as well as to the subjects of the Russian Federation, to family, friends and acquaintances living in Russia, it was established that a significant part of the population forcibly held by nationalists in Ukrainian cities, still seek any opportunity to evacuate to Russian territory.
Ukrainian neo-Nazis continue to hold over 4.5 million civilians as a "human shield" in Kiev, Kharkov, Chernigov, Sumy and more than two dozen other large settlements.
In addition, 6,546 foreigners from 19 states remain hostage to the militants of territorial defence battalions.
2. Navigation at the Black Sea is under threat
Also, despite the efforts made by the Russian Federation, the Ukrainian side continues to block more than 60 foreign vessels in its ports. The threat of shelling and high mine danger created by official Kiev in its internal waters and territorial sea do not allow ships to safely go to the open sea.
Every day from 08:00 to 19:00 (Moscow time), the Russian Armed Forces open a humanitarian corridor, which is a safe lane in the south-west direction from the territorial sea of Ukraine, with a length of 80 and a width of 3 nautical miles.
At the same time, the Ukrainian side, as before, does not confirm the readiness to ensure the safety of the exit of foreign vessels to the assembly area and in every possible way avoids cooperation in resolving this issue.
Once again, we call on the International Maritime Organization and the management of shipowners' companies to influence official Kiev to take measures aimed at unblocking and ensuring the safety of the exit of foreign vessels from the ports of Ukraine.
In addition, there is a threat of drifting of Ukrainian mines torn from their anchors along the coast of the Black Sea states.
Two of these mines were found in the Bosporus Strait, as well as in the Black Sea near the border with Bulgaria by the Turkish side. Only by a lucky chance, as well as thanks to the vigilance and high professionalism of Turkish specialists, the mines were defused and the ships passing through the Black Sea Straits were not damaged.
The Russian Federation is taking a full range of comprehensive measures to ensure civil navigation in the waters of the Black, Azov and Mediterranean Seas.
In the regions of the Russian Federation, more than 9.5 thousand temporary accommodation facilities continue to function regularly, where individual work is carried out with the arrived refugees and assistance is provided in solving a variety of issues.
At the checkpoints, a sufficient number of buses are ready to transport people to their chosen places of residence or to temporary accommodation points where medical care and hot meals are organized.
Federal executive authorities, together with the subjects of the Russian Federation, public organizations and patriotic movements in the territories controlled by the formations of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics and the Armed Forces of Russia, are carrying out large-scale humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people.
The largest contribution to the provision of assistance was made by EMERCOM of Russia, Federal Agency for State Reserves, Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, other federal agencies, and Russian political parties and NGOs.
Over 22.5 thousand tons of food, medicines and basic necessities have been prepared at the collection points.
Since March 2nd, 2022, the Russian Federation has delivered 5,708.3 tons of humanitarian cargo to Ukraine; 676 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including 21 in Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, Kiev, Kharkov and Kherson regions, during which 300.3 tons of food, clothing, hygiene products and medicines were delivered to the civilian population.
On March 28th, 2022, 25 humanitarian actions are being held in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, Kiev, Chernigov, Kharkov and Kherson regions, during which 488 tons of basic necessities and food packages, including infant food and vital medicines, are being transferred to the population
3. Military operation goes on
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continued to conduct a special military operation during March 27-28th.
During March 27th, operational-tactical and army aviation hit 36 military assets of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF).
Among them: 2 command posts, 2 anti-aircraft missile systems, 1 multiple launch rocket system, 3 ammunition depots and 2 fuel depots, as well as 23 areas of military equipment concentration.
In total, from the beginning of the military operation (February 24th, 2022) and by March 27th 1,713 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 170 multiple launch rocket systems, 715 field artillery and mortars, 308 unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as 1,557 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.
In the evening of March 28th, high-precision air-launched cruise missiles destroyed a large fuel base near the settlement of Klevan, Rovno Region. Fuel supplies for Ukrainian military equipment were carried out from this base to the suburbs of Kiev.
The Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed 3 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the area of the settlement of Chernobayevka.
During the night, 68 military facilities of Ukraine were hit by tactical aviation.
Among them: three control points, four anti-aircraft missile systems, including three Buk–M1 and one Osa, one radar station, five multiple rocket launchers, two ammunition depots, three fuel and lubricants depots, and 19 areas of concentration of Ukrainian military equipment and strong points.
On 28 March, the Russian Air Force and air defences downed two Ukrainian Su-24 and one Su-25 jets, as well as one unspecified drone.
Forces of the Donetsk People's Republic have, with help from Russian troops, managed to surround the city of Mariupol, seizing its suburbs, including the airport, and started to clear the city of the remaining Azov nationalist battalion fighters, the republic's authorities said.
Russian air defences have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter as it was flying to pick up leaders of the Azov nationalist battalion from Mariupol, the Russian Defence Ministry has stated. The aircraft was hit as it was flying over the Sea of Azov,
By March 28th in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 123 aircraft and 74 helicopters, 1,738 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 181 multiple rocket launchers, 726 field artillery and mortars, 311 unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as 1,592 special military vehicles have been destroyed.
4. Russian-Ukrainian talks
A new round of talks to end the Ukraine conflict began in Istanbul, Turkey on March 29th. Moscow and Kiev have previously held three rounds of in-person talks and further contacts via video link, but the exchanges have failed to yield any tangible result.
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
