On Thursday, March 31, the Ukrainian military prepared for a large offensive of Russian occupation forces in eastern Ukraine, while Russia started using the Brest airport close to the Polish border for attacking Ukraine. The defenders of the country have regained control over three settlements, Ukrinform reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian Armed Forces have stated that Russian forces were regrouping and resupplying to focus their military efforts on eastern Ukraine.
See the latest video address by Zelenskyy with English subtitles.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated in a report on the military situation in the country on Thursday morning that The Ukrainian troops continued to hold the defence in the eastern, south-eastern and north-eastern directions. The Ukrainians were successfully holding back Russian troops across all directions and launching counter attacks in certain areas, Kyiv claimed.
In Donetsk Region and Luhansk Region, the new focus of Russian troops, the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation group has repelled five enemy attacks over the past 24 hours to Thursday morning. Ukrainian defenders destroyed 10 enemy tanks, 18 armoured vehicles and 13 motor vehicles, 15 artillery systems. The enemy’s losses also included manpower.
The Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed to have destroyed seven enemy air targets over the past day, namely four planes, one unmanned aerial vehicle and two cruise missiles. The Ukrainian Air Forces continued to launch missile and air strikes on the groups of enemy vehicles and manpower.
Read also: Latvian farmers may receive aid from EU to compensate losses from war in Ukraine
The movement of Russian military vehicles was recorded within the territory of Belarus, presumably to regroup units and create reserves in order to replenish manpower, ammunition and equipment losses suffered by Russian troops in Ukraine.
In Kyiv Region, the numerous cases of mining within the areas and buildings left by the enemy were reported.
According to the General Staff, Russian leadership was considering the establishment of occupation authorities within the temporarily captured areas and was now selecting the employees of law enforcement agencies, prosecutor’s offices and courts to be sent to Ukraine.
In order to create another ‘pseudo-republic’ within Kherson Region, the Russian Federal Security Service, the 652nd Information and Psychological Operations Group and officers from the 12th Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation are carrying out activities in Ukraine. In particular, they were focusing on ‘explanatory work’ with local self-government authorities and local residents. As part of the information campaign, they were spreading staged videos.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian troops stated they regained control over the settlements of Orlove, Zahradivka and Kochubeyivka in the east and south of the country.
As to the involvement of Belarus of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, the adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, Vadym Denysenko, said on Ukrainian TV channels: «The offensive from Belarus is actually underway. Moreover, the Russians have started using the Brest airport to shell our territories».
The official evaluated that the situation was such that Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk was not ready to deploy his ground forces in Ukraine. However, the pressure on him from the Russia seemed to be very serious, so it was still impossible to rule out such a possibility, Ukrinform reports.