Exclusive
| Czech, Polish FMs: Defeat Russia in Ukraine or face emboldened threat at NATO’s door. We are moving in the right direction but too slow and too late, say two top diplomats, urging three essential steps to help Ukraine |
| “Welcome to hell”: UN report exposes Russia’s systematic torture, killings, and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. “No creature alive deserves to be treated like Russians treat Ukrainians in their detention facilities,” a Ukrainian POW told the UN commission |
| UN report: Russian torture of Ukrainian POWs “widespread and systematic.” New UN report uncovers “widespread and systematic” Russian torture of Ukrainian POWs, with accounts of “relentless, brutal treatment inflicting severe pain and suffering” during prolonged detention. |
Military
Frontline report: Wrong turn proves fatal for Russia’s three armored vehicles near Avdiivka. Russia’s advance on Avdiivka stalls against Ukrainian defenses, losing momentum as Ukraine destroys an understrength Russian assault unit, including newly-mobilized troops, forcing the commitment of ill-prepared reserves and deployment of “suicide units,” resulting in heavy Russian losses.
ISW: Sufficient Western aid key for Ukraine to halt possible Russian spring, summer offensives. Western military assistance “critical” for Ukraine to hold territory as Russian forces likely to continue offensives to destabilize Ukrainian defenses this spring & prepare for new offensive effort in summer 2024, according to the ISW’s report.
Russian military kills 20, injures 80 Ukrainians in its attacks over past day. In its deadly attack on Odesa on 15 March, the Russian military killed 20 people, including one medical personnel and one rescuer of the State Emergency Service, while they were working on the site of the previous attack in the city.
Intelligence and technology
Media: Investigation launched into Latvian MEP’s ties with Russia’s FSB. The Latvian State Security Service has launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Tatjana Ždanoka, a Latvian politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), has been spying for Russian intelligence services, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.
Frontline report: Long-range Ukrainian drones target Russian fuel depots and airfields. On 12 March, Ukraine launched massive drone strikes across Russia, striking oil refineries, fuel depots, airfields, and security sites up to 900 km inside Russia to degrade its war capabilities.
German media reveal possible ‘secret reason’ for not transferring Taurus to Ukraine. The German t-online reports, after a closed-door Bundeswehr defense committee meeting, that effectively using Taurus allegedly requires a huge amount of data & a special computer system that only the Bundeswehr has.
International
“How many more arguments?”: Tusk urges US Speaker to approve Ukraine aid after deadly Odesa strike. The death toll from the Russian strike on Odesa on 15 March rose to 21.
Canadian PM affirms Crimea’s status as part of Ukraine on anniversary of sham referendum. Trudeau said that Russia’s hybrid invasion of the peninsula was more than just aggression against Ukraine, as the Kremlin’s actions challenged the international legal order.
Humanitarian and social impact
Ukrainians in occupied regions vote in Russia’s election at gunpoint. The Russian criminal regime is exerting pressure on residents of occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, forcing them to take part in sham presidential elections. To receive more votes in favor of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Russian troops in the region have organized “home voting.”
Russian attack on Nikopol injures 2 elderly people. The Russian military attacked Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast eight times a day, Governor Serhii Lysak said on 16 March.
Fox News sued by parents of Ukrainian journalist killed near Kyiv in 2022 . A lawsuit accuses Fox News of misrepresenting details around the 2022 death of a Ukrainian journalist reporting on the war, allegedly to deceive her family.
Political and legal developments
Belgorod governor says 2 killed, at least 3 injured as anti-Kremlin Russian battalions fight in city. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on 16 March, there were at least two killed and three injured as a result of shelling in the city.
Read our earlier daily review here.
As of 16 Mar 2024, the approximate losses of weapons and military equipment of the Russian Armed Forces from the beginning of the invasion to the present day:
- Personnel: 429580 (+1160)
- Tanks: 6779 (+21)
- APV: 12973 (+24)
- Artillery systems: 10606 (+26)
- MLRS: 1017
- Anti-aircraft systems: 719 (+2)
- Aircraft: 347
- Helicopters: 325
- UAV: 8268 (+14)
- Cruise missiles: 1922 (+2)
- Warships/boats: 26
- Submarines: 1
- Vehicles and fuel tanks: 14024 (+31)
