The militants continue to hide behind the civilian population of large cities
Russian troops are advancing on a broad front and have already begun encircling the group that covers the approaches to Zaporozhye. It is located in the Gulyai-Pole district. According to experts, the defeat of the Gulyai-Pole group of Ukrainian armed formations will affect the entire situation in Left-Bank Ukraine. Meanwhile, the militants of Nazi formations continue to actually hold the population of large cities of Ukraine hostage, according to the Russian military department. The Ukrainian side refuses proposals to organize the evacuation of residents of Kharkiv and Sumy. Near the cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha, on the contrary, at the request of the Ukrainian side, the Russian military imposed a regime of silence and declared safe corridors for civilians to exit. However, according to the head of the National Defense Control Center, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the militants staged a terrorist attack, no one left the city. The VFU opened fire on the Russian military, and a residential building was blown up in Mariupol.
On the outskirts of Zaporozhye
Units of the Russian Armed Forces are advancing on a broad front and have taken control of the settlements of Malaya Tokmachka, Marfopol, Removka, Novokarlovka, Orlinskoye, Volodino and Malinovka. Thus, they bypass the Ukrainian group located near the city of Gulyai-Pole. During the Russian Civil War, the center of the insurgent district was located here, where the detachments of the famous anarchist Nestor Makhno operated.
— A strong grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is concentrated near Gulyai-Pole, which covers the approaches to Zaporozhye from the south, - military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia. - Motorized infantry, paratroopers and a lot of artillery have been spotted near the former capital of the Makhnovshchina. In the event of their defeat, not only an exit to Zaporozhye will open, but also a direct road to the rear of the Ukrainian forces, well entrenched near Donetsk. This is a strategic point that can decide the outcome of the case on the entire Left Bank.
The grouping of the LPR troops completes the encirclement of Severodonetsk and entered the settlements of Golikovo, Nevsky and Katerinovka.
The DPR forces advanced seven kilometers and took control of the settlements of Zachatovka, Khlebodarovka, Novotatarovka, Calm and Peaceful.
Photo: REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
Image source: iz.ru
On Saturday morning, the Russian military introduced a "silence regime" near the cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. At the request of the Ukrainian side, the fighting was completely stopped for the evacuation of civilians. However, not a single person could get out through the announced corridors, the department stated: the militants of the Nazi formations are holding people to hide behind them. And they used the past seven hours without shots from the Russian side to regroup and strengthen their positions.
"Due to the unwillingness of the Ukrainian side to influence the nationalists or prolong the "silence regime", offensive actions have been resumed from 18 o'clock Moscow time," the Russian military department said.
On March 5, the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin said that the evacuation was disrupted by a terrorist attack: the militants of the Azov national battalion blew up a house on Meotida Boulevard in Mariupol.
The head of the National Defense Control Center of Russia, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, said that up to 200 people, including the elderly and children, could be under the rubble of a residential building blown up in Mariupol.
- It is reliably established that the nationalists do not let civilians and foreign citizens out of these settlements, — he added.
According to the general, the situation was monitored by Russian drones. During the silence regime, no one formed evacuation columns, while the Ukrainian military and militants actively regrouped.
Hostages
The Ukrainian side still refuses Russian proposals to open humanitarian corridors in Kharkiv and Sumy, Mikhail Mizintsev said. In these and other cities, about 5 thousand foreigners are actually being held hostage, he noted.
In particular, according to the general, in Sumy, when trying to independently go to the Suja checkpoint, a group of students from Pakistan numbering up to 20 people was beaten by nationalists of territorial defense battalions and returned back to the dormitory.
Vladislav Shurygin noted that the importance of this position is also understood in Kiev, so it will be defended stubbornly. But the AFU now has a clear shortage of maneuverable forces that they could use for defense and counterattacks outside the cities. Therefore, the fall of Gulyai-Pole is a matter of time, the expert is sure.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 5 that the operation was continuing according to plan.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Pavel Volkov
Image source: iz.ru
Russian forces continue to strike at Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, five radar stations and two Buk M-1 anti-aircraft missile defense systems were destroyed during the day. Four Ukrainian Su-27 fighters were shot down in an air battle near Zhytomyr, and in the area near Nizhyn, anti-aircraft means shot down a Su-25 bomber. Air defense units also destroyed the Mi-8 helicopter of the Ukrainian Air Force and the Bayraktar TB-2 drone.
- A strike of high-precision long-range weapons destroyed an ammunition depot on the territory of a military unit in Zhytomyr, where Javelin and NLOW anti-tank missile systems were stored, - the department clarified.
In total, 2119 objects of the military infrastructure of Ukraine were hit during the operation. Among them are 74 control points and communication centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 108 S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as 68 radar stations.
Destroyed: 69 aircraft on the ground and 21 aircraft in the air, 748 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 76 multiple rocket launchers, 274 field artillery and mortars, 532 units of special military vehicles, as well as 59 unmanned aerial vehicles.
Roman Kretsul
Bogdan Stepovoy
