Day 13 of war in Ukraine: Russia’s attacks become slower, civilians continue to suffer, infrastructure damages at USD 10 bln

In Ukraine, Tuesday, March 8, has begun with Russia’s attempts to continue the offensive operation in its neighbouring country. Battles continued in a number of regions as civilians died in air strikes and the Ukrainian government estimated the costs of rebuilding destroyed transport infrastructure, Ukrinform reports.
Ukrinform quoted a report by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as informing that Russian troops continue the offensive operation against Ukraine, but their pace of advance has slowed significantly. The defenders of the country continued battling their opponents in the Southern, Eastern and Northern Operational Zones of Ukraine.
The Kyiv City Defence Forces continued to defend the Ukrainian capital along the outer border of the defence and in additionally defined areas designed to repel attempts to surround Kyiv.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also noted that the occupiers are demoralized and increasingly looting and violating the rules of international humanitarian law on military conflict. In Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kyiv oblasts, in their territories temporarily occupied by the Russian forces, there were reports of robberies, violence against local residents, seizure of civilian housing, use of agricultural hangars for parking military equipment.
In shelling and air strikes, nine people were killed in the north-eastern city of Sumy, while one person was killed and four injured in the Luhansk region and four civilians lost their lives in Mykolaiv region.
Massive infrastructure destruction
Russia’s war in Ukraine has caused billions of dollars-worth of damage to transport infrastructure, and it will take one or two years to rebuild the largest facilities, according to Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr.
Calculated at the end of past week, the costs of damaged transport infrastructure alone (roads, bridges, railways, equipment, and airports) exceeded USD 10 billion (EUR 9.14 billion).