The military situation did not change significantly during the fourteenth day of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The Ukrainian Armed Forces held back the offensive in all directions, and the fighting took place mainly on the outskirts of the towns & cities under attack. According to Kyiv, the Russian army will mobilise reserves it has at its permanent locations and move more units into Ukraine. The Ukrainians have emphasised the important role Belarus has played in securing the logistics of the attack.
In the Polessie direction, most clashes are taking place in the vicinity of Kyiv, and the forces prepared to defend the city remain ready to repel any possible strike. On 9 March, Russian troops regrouped to attack the capital and rotate their sub-units on the front line, which the Ukrainians took advantage of to launch attacks on Borodianka and Makariv. This assault ended with the opponent suffering some losses, but did not change the occupied positions. South-west of Kyiv, the aggressor’s troops continued their offensive actions in the Fastiv region, but the defenders were apparently able to repel the attack on Fastiv town.
In the Severny direction, the main battles are taking place on the north-eastern outskirts of Kyiv and in the town of Brovary. One of the invaders’ battalion tactical groups (BTGs) organised a crossing of the Trubizh River (the left tributary of the Dnieper) to block the E95 route (the main exit road from Kyiv to the northeast) 10 km from the capital’s borders. Particularly heavy clashes took place on the outskirts of Brovary. A Russian attack near the villages of Bohdanivka and Velyka Dymerka (30 km north-east of Kyiv’s city centre) was halted. Due to the losses suffered near Chernihiv, the aggressor engaged a reserve BTG from the 55th Mechanised Brigade of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District. The towns of Sumy, Okhtyrka and Trostsyanets were bombed once again. All roads in the direction of Sumy and Trostsyanets were blocked due to the movement of the invader’s columns.
In the Slobodka direction, the Russian forces created a border along the Severodonetsk-Sumy line, from where operations are being launched westward to the line of the Dnieper and in the Kharkiv region. Particularly fierce fighting is taking place around the latter: the Russians have continued bombing and artillery fire, but the Ukrainian army regained full control of the town of Derhachi which borders it from the north. In the south, the aggressor expanded its attack zone to the west of Izyum (which was almost completely destroyed) up to the villages of Petrivske and Hrushuvakha.
In the Donetsk direction, Russian forces (numbering up to 7 BTGs) are continuing their efforts to push the Ukrainian forces to the western borders of Luhansk oblast and the northern borders of Donetsk oblast. After regrouping, they resumed their attacks on Severodonetsk and Rubizhne, and after taking control of the Starobelskiy region, they reached the town of Svativ (55 km north of Severodonetsk). Fearing encirclement, the defenders pulled out from the front line and retreated westwards. In Donetsk oblast, after partially reaching the border with Zaporizhzhia oblast, the aggressor moved its forces northwards and started firing at the villages north of Horlivka; fighting also took place in Maryinka (30 km west of Donetsk). In the vicinity of the besieged city of Mariupol, the most severe clashes took place along the ‘green corridors’, intended for the evacuation of the population.
In the Taurida direction, the line of the offensive has begun to move north. The aggressor’s troops were halted in Novovorontsivka on the right bank of the Dnieper, 60 km south-east of their target, the city of Kryvyi Rih. In the Zaporizhzhia region, the invaders reached Rozivka, 45 km north-west of Mariupol. Mykolaiv remains encircled, and Russian forces have occupied the northern districts of the city. To its northwest, the Ukraine Armed Forces have designated a new defence direction, the Southern Buzhany. Ukrainian troops are still holding back the Russians in the vicinity of Voznesensk; a Russian attempt to cross the Boh River failed, which forced them to stop their move towards the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant.
