March 23, 10.30 EST
President V.Zelenskyy: About 9 million Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes, their native places, fleeing from Russian troops.
Chernobyl NPP facilities in the exclusion zone have been under the control of the aggressor, which leads to a deterioration of the radiation situation and contributes to the spread of radioactive contamination outside the exclusion zone.
According to the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, as well as other sources that need to be confirmed, 121 children have died and 167 children have been wounded since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
WAR ROOM
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 23.03:
personnel – 15600,
tanks ‒ 517,
APV ‒ 1578,
artillery systems – 267,
MLRS – 80,
Anti-aircraft warfare systems – 47,
aircraft – 101,
helicopters – 124,
vehicles – 1008,
boats / vessels – 4,
fuel tanks – 70,
UAVs operational-tactical level – 42.
special equipment – 15.
The calculation is complicated by the high intensity of hostilities.
The defense forces continue to conduct a defense operation in the Eastern, Southern, and Northeastern directions.
In the Eastern direction, the operational groups of troops are operating in the Donetsk, Slobozhansk, and Eastern parts of the Tavriya operational districts. Ukrainian forces are not giving the enemy an opportunity to renew their offense in the directions of Slov’yansk and, part of the forces, on the Lozova locality. They are restraining the advances of the enemy in the direction of Zaporizhzhia.
The combined forces are holding back the invader in the direction of the cities of Popasna and Kurakhove. Ukrainian military are also carrying out the defense of Mariupol.
In the North-Eastern direction, the defense operation continues in a designated operational zone. The main efforts are focused on protecting the state border, holding back the enemy’s offense in the area of Malyn.
In the Siversky region, a group of troops holds the defense of Chernihiv and holds back the advancement of the enemy in the direction of Kyiv.
In the South-East direction a defense operation is being carried out, as well as the support of troops’ ground operations and individual units, and the defense of bases and seaports in the Black Sea operational zone. The defense of the Mykolayiv region continues.
Our defenders are holding back the enemy in the direction of Kryviy Rih and Novovorontsovska, conducting a stabilizing operation, and carrying out territorial defense tasks.
Ukrainian military acquired documents regarding enemy’s aviation active tasks, as well as missile strikes, over the past 24 hours.
The Air Force and Armed Forces of Ukraine are repulsing concentrated missiles and airstrikes of the enemy, covering important objects in Ukraine from the air, and grouping troops. Over the past 24 hours over 17 of the enemy’s air targets have been hit (6 aircraft, 5 UAVs, 1 helicopter and 5 cruise missiles). Additionally, the aviation of the Air Forces has made devastating blows to the accumulation of equipment and manpower of the enemy.
On the territory of the Russian federation, covert mobilization continues, with the aim of replenishing the personnel losses in the occupying group of troops operating on the territory of Ukraine. Military commissariats are making efforts to attract former servicemen to serve and sign the contracts, preference is given to those with combat experience.
On the territory of Belarus the representatives of the opposition forces and concerned citizens who condemn the assistance of the current illegitimate government of the Russian federation in the war with Ukraine, have partially disrupted the railway connection between republic of Belarus and Ukraine. Information to be confirmed.
At the same time, based on the available information, Russian and Belarusian military equipment is being actively moved across the territory of the republic of Belarus, and further accumulated along the Ukrainian border.
In certain areas, the enemy has been demoralized. Thus, during the storming of the city of Mariupol, in one of the special forces units that were involved in active hostilities, less than 10% of the personnel are prepared to continue to take part in the war, and the remaining personnel is either killed, wounded, or demoralized.
Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights
The actions of the Russian army at Ukraine’s nuclear facilities threaten an environmental catastrophe for the entire Eastern European region.
Since the beginning of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, all Chernobyl NPP objects and facilities in the exclusion zone have been under the control of the aggressor country’s military.
Regulatory control over the state of nuclear and radiation safety at the station site and in the exclusion zone, as well as control of nuclear materials is still impossible.
Information on safety parameters and the state of the radiation situation at the site indicates a trend of steady deterioration of a number of indicators. The occupier continues to grossly violate the requirements of radiation safety and sanitation, which leads to a deterioration of the radiation situation and contributes to the spread of radioactive contamination outside the exclusion zone.
Scheduled work, maintenance and repair of systems and equipment of Chernobyl facilities are not carried out as a result of the occupation.
This situation has already made it impossible to restore the operation of individual neutron flux sensors, gamma radiation dose rate and radiation pollution, further failure to perform repairs may lead to failures of other systems and elements important for safety.
The actions of the Russian military at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are a gross violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Hostile Use of Environmental Means and Article 56 of the 1977 Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions and Other Acts Regulating International Nuclear Obligations.
I call on international partners and the IAEA to take all possible measures to withdraw the troops of the Russian Federation from the territories of the NPP and to take the nuclear facilities of Ukraine under their protection.
As of 10 a.m. on March 23, 2022, according to the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, as well as other sources that need to be confirmed, 121 children have died and 167 children have been injured since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
It is impossible to establish the actual number of dead and wounded children due to the fact that the occupying forces are actively fighting in Ukrainian cities.
Two dead children in a day in Rubizhne, Luhansk region. A russian shell hit a high-rise building. The shell exploded on the fifth floor. Rescuers found three dead, two of them children.
In the Donetsk region, the russian military continues to shell cities and civilian housing. The strikes damaged at least 43 civilian properties, including homes, a school, a kindergarten and a church. A 9-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy were killed by russian weapons, and three children were injured.
In Bucha, Kyiv region, the occupiers shot a father with many children in front of his 14-year-old son, who was riding bicycles for medicine. The child received two bullet wounds.
As a result of daily bombings and shelling, 548 educational institutions were damaged. 72 of them were completely destroyed. It is more than 220 schools, 155 kindergartens.
Such actions by the armed forces of the Russian Federation violate the fundamental rights of children – the right to life and health, guaranteed to every child in the world by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Russians continue to brutally kill civilians and destroy Ukrainian towns and villages.
In Ivanivka (Chernihiv region), Russian militants allowed several cars to leave on a mined highway. Only three of the six passengers of one of the cars survived the blast.
In Dnipropetrovsk region, the enemy launched missile strikes in Pavlograd. The railway station was destroyed. Destroyed railway line and tracks. 15 freight cars derailed. One person died. Traffic through the station is suspended indefinitely.
In the Luhansk region for days 15 destroyed houses, one civilian died, six wounded. The russians concentrated almost all the shelling on Rubizhne, Lysychansk, and Severodonetsk. According to preliminary data, as a result of shelling by the russian army, there are one dead and six injured in Severodonetsk.
The enemy fired on Kyiv again – damaged buildings in Sviatoshynskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts. A shopping mall, private sector buildings and high-rise buildings came under fire.
In the morning, the Shevchenkivskyi district came under fire. Rescuers and medics are working on the spot. Currently, there are fires in several private houses and in high-rise buildings. Four people were injured. Information about the victims and the nature of the destruction is being clarified.
Two buildings and a truck caught fire as a result of the blow to the Obolon district housing estate. One person was killed and three were injured.
In the Kharkiv region, racists fired on the town of Lozova. There are casualties among civilians, the latest information – 8 civilians were injured, at least 20 houses were damaged. The shelling damaged boilers, civilian infrastructure, including schools and kindergartens.
In the city of Kharkiv, 32 shellings per night, including shelling from tanks, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and artillery.
In the Donetsk region on March 22 from the Russian weapon 3 people were lost, 6 were wounded.
The aggressor’s armed forces brutally exterminate civilians every hour by committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, in violation of all the 1949 Geneva Conventions and all existing acts of international humanitarian law.
POLICY
President of Ukraine
Speech by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Parliament of Japan
Dear Mr. Hosoda!
Dear Mrs. Santō!
Mr. Prime Minister Kishida!
Distinguished Members of the Japanese Parliament!
Dear Japanese people!
It is a great honor for me, the President of Ukraine, to address you for the first time in the history of the Japanese Parliament.
Our capitals are separated by a distance of 8 thousand 193 kilometers. On average, it’s 15 hours on a plane. Depending on the route. But what is the distance between our feelings of freedom? Between our desires to live? Between our aspirations for peace?
On February 24, I did not see any distance. Even a millimeter between our capitals. Even a second between our feelings. Because you immediately came to our aid. And I’m grateful to you for that.
When Russia destroyed peace for the entire Ukraine, we immediately saw that the world is truly against the war. Truly for freedom. Truly for global security. Truly for the harmonious development of every society. Japan has become the leader of this position in Asia. You immediately started working to stop this brutal war started by the Russian Federation. You immediately started working for peace in Ukraine. Hence, in Europe. And this is really very important. It is important for everyone on Earth. Because without peace for Ukraine, no person in the world will be able to look to the future with confidence.
Each of you knows what Chornobyl is. Nuclear power plant in Ukraine, where a powerful explosion occurred in 1986. Radiation release. The consequences of which have been recorded in different parts of the planet. The 30-kilometer zone around the Chornobyl station is still closed. It is hazardous. During the elimination of the consequences of the explosion at the station, thousands of tons of contaminated materials, debris and cars were disposed of in the forests in the closed area. Just in the ground.
On February 24, Russian armored vehicles passed through this land. Lifting radioactive dust into the air. The Chornobyl station was captured. By force, by weapon. Imagine a nuclear power plant where a disaster happened. Confinement that closes the destroyed reactor. Operating nuclear waste storage facility. Russia has turned this facility into an arena of war as well. And Russia is using this 30-kilometer territory, this closed zone, to prepare new attacks against our defense forces.
It will take years after Russian troops leave Ukraine to investigate the damage they have done to Chornobyl. What sites of radioactive materials disposal were damaged. And how radioactive dust spread on the planet.
There are four operating nuclear power plants on our land! These are 15 nuclear units. And they are all under threat. Russian troops have already fired from tanks at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. The fighting has damaged hundreds of plants, many of them particularly dangerous. The shelling threatens gas and oil pipelines. Coal mines.
The other day, Russian troops also fired at a chemical plant in the Sumy region of Ukraine. There was a leak of ammonia. We are warned about possible chemical attacks, in particular with the use of sarin. As it was in Syria.
And one of the main topics for discussion of world politicians is the question: how to react if Russia also uses nuclear weapons. Any confidence of any person in the world, any country is completely destroyed.
Our servicemen have been heroically defending Ukraine for 28 days already. 28 days of full-scale invasion of the largest state in the world. But not the greatest in potential. Not the most influential. And the smallest from a moral point of view.
Russia has used more than a thousand missiles against peaceful cities in Ukraine. Countless bombs. Russian troops destroyed dozens of our cities. Some were burned to the ground. In many towns and villages that have come under Russian occupation, our people cannot even bury their murdered relatives, friends and neighbors with dignity. They have to bury them right in the yards of broken houses, near roads, anywhere where it is possible…
Thousands were killed, including 121 children.
About 9 million Ukrainians were forced to leave their home, their native places, fleeing from Russian troops. Our northern territories, eastern, southern are becoming empty, because people are fleeing from this deadly threat.
Russia has even blocked the sea for us. Usual trade routes. Showing some other – potential – aggressors of the world how to put pressure on free nations by blocking sea navigation.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Today, it is Ukraine, the partner states and our anti-war coalition that can guarantee that world security will not be completely destroyed. That in the world there will be a foothold for the freedom of nations. For people and for the preservation of diversity in societies. For security of borders. To make sure that we, our children, our grandchildren still have peace.
You see that international institutions have not worked. Even the UN and the Security Council… What can they do? They need reform. They need an injection of honesty. To become effective. To really decide and really influence, not just discuss.
Due to Russia’s war against Ukraine, the world is destabilized. The world is on the verge of many new crises. And who is now sure what tomorrow will be like?
Turbulence in world markets is a problem for all countries that depend on imports of raw materials. Environmental and food challenges are unprecedented. And most importantly, it is now being decided whether all the aggressors on the planet – explicit and potential – will be convinced that the war they have waged will lead to a punishment so powerful that they should not start a war. That they should not destroy the world. And it is absolutely logical and correct that the responsible states unite to protect peace.
I am grateful to your state for its principled position at such a historic moment. For real help to Ukraine. You were the first in Asia to put real pressure on Russia to restore peace. Who supported the sanctions against Russia. And I urge you to continue to do so.
I call for the united efforts of the Asian countries, your partners, to stabilize the situation. So that Russia seeks peace. And stops the tsunami of its brutal invasion of our state, Ukraine. It is necessary to impose an embargo on trade with Russia. It is necessary to withdraw companies from the Russian market so that the money does not go to the Russian army. It is necessary to help our state, our defenders, our soldiers who are holding back Russian troops even more. It is necessary to start thinking about rebuilding Ukraine already now. About the return of life to the cities destroyed by Russia and the territories devastated by it.
People need to go back to where they lived. Where they grew up. Where they feel is their home. Their small homeland. I’m sure you understand this feeling. This need. The need to return to your land.
We need to develop new security guarantees. So that it is possible to act preventively and strongly every time there is a threat to peace.
Is it possible to do this on the basis of existing international structures? After such a war – definitely not. We need to create new tools. New guarantees. Which will work preventively and strongly against any aggression. Which will really help. Japan’s leadership can be indispensable in their development. For Ukraine, for the world. I offer it to you.
So that the world can feel confident again. Confident about what tomorrow will be like. Confident that tomorrow will come and will be stable and peaceful. For us, for future generations.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Japanese people!
We can do a lot together with you. Even more than we can imagine.
I know what a brilliant history of development you have. How you can build and defend harmony. Follow the principles and value life. Protect the environment. The roots of this are in your culture. Which Ukrainians really love. My words are not unsubstantiated. This is actually true.
Back in 2019, literally six months after I became President of Ukraine, my wife Olena took part in a project for children with visual impairments. In the project to create audiobooks. And she voiced Japanese fairy tales. In Ukrainian. Because they are understandable for us, for children. And it was only a drop in the huge sea of our attention, the Ukrainian attention, to your attainment.
We have similar values with you despite the huge distance between our countries. A distance that doesn’t really exist. Because we have equally warm hearts. Thanks to joint efforts, thanks to even greater pressure on Russia, we will come to peace. And we will be able to rebuild our country. Reform international institutions.
I am sure that Japan will be with us then – just as it is now. In our anti-war coalition. At this crucial time for all of us.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Almost 240 companies left the Russian market. There are more and more of them every day. We call on all international companies to stop supporting the aggressor and leave the Russian market.
The operational situation on the diplomatic front as of March 23
For 28 days in a row, Ukraine has been fiercely resisting Russia’s armed aggression on all fronts, including diplomatic.
Today is an important day at the UN. A special emergency session of the UN General Assembly on the situation in Ukraine will continue in New York. The General Assembly is going to adopt a resolution “Humanitarian Consequences of Aggression against Ukraine.”
Spokesperson for the MFA of Ukraine
According to a survey, 86.6% of Russians support Russia’s invasion of European countries. 75.5% think that after Ukraine Russia should attack Poland. Show this to those who believe only Putin is responsible for the war. They all bear responsibility, even if poisoned by propaganda.