And why did the fighting for the city take so long
Units of the Russian armed forces blocked the village of Novomikhailovka and the town of Ugledar in the Donbass, the Ministry of Defense reported on April 7. Now there are battles for these settlements. The troops of the Donetsk People's Republic occupied the village of Sladkoe. The confrontation in Mariupol continues. According to experts, the completion of its assault may affect the course of negotiations. On the same day, by presidential decree, the 121st Heavy bomber Aviation Regiment was awarded the honorary name "Guards". Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense recalled the crimes of Ukrainian nationalists during the Great Patriotic War and after it: the department declassified and published relevant documents.
Guards rank
Pursuing the retreating units of the 54th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian troops, Russian servicemen have captured the settlement of Ugledar and are now fighting for its liberation.
— Units of the Donetsk People's Republic troops, continuing the offensive, completely cleared the settlement of Sladkoye from the nationalists, — said the official representative of the Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced the continuation of strikes on the military infrastructure of the Ukrainian army and transport hubs. High-precision missiles hit a cluster of military equipment at the Novograd-Volynsky railway station in the Zhytomyr region.
— Air and sea-based missiles destroyed during the night four fuel and lubricants storage bases in the areas of the settlements of Nikolaev, Zaporozhye, Kharkov and Chuguev, from which fuel was supplied to Ukrainian groups near Kharkov, Nikolaev and in the Donbass, — said Igor Konashenkov.
On Thursday, April 7, a decree was published by Russian President Vladimir Putin on awarding the 121st heavy bomber aviation regiment the honorary name "Guards". Its aircraft are carriers of cruise missiles.
The operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 71 military facilities during the day. The list of targets includes a radar of the S—300 anti-aircraft missile system in the Kurakhovo area, seven artillery batteries and two multiple rocket launchers, command posts, field ammunition depots and areas of concentration of Ukrainian troops.
During the night and day, the air defense forces shot down Ukrainian military helicopters Mi-8 and Mi-24 in the area of Kherson, two Bayraktar TB2 attack drones near the settlements of Krivoy Rog and Trudovoye, and six other types of UAVs.
The wreckage of the Bayraktar TB2 military drone
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that since the beginning of the special military operation, 125 Ukrainian aircraft, 95 helicopters, 416 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2003 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 220 MLRS installations, 869 field artillery and mortars, as well as 1902 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed.
— Now the main focus of the fighting is still in Mariupol, - military expert Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia. — The city is securely blocked, the forces of the AFU and the Azov militants are fragmented into several separate boilers. It is not easy to knock out a large and stubbornly defending group from the solid buildings of the industrial zone and the port. But its forces are steadily decreasing due to lack of supplies. There are fewer fighters, shells, and equipment. Ukrainian artillery is no longer working, and the footage of Ukrainian tanks no longer appears from there.
The expert recalled that attempts to evacuate the leaders of the Azov group by helicopters were thwarted a few days ago, and by Monday the 501st Marine battalion surrendered in the city.
— The completion of the assault on Mariupol will deal a powerful blow to the morale of the Ukrainian troops, — Dmitry Boltenkov believes. — This can increase the ability of the Kiev authorities to negotiate peace negotiations and bring them back from heaven to earth regarding the terms of the truce.
Humanitarian situation
Mikhail Mizintsev, Head of the National Defense Management Center (NCSO), spoke about the humanitarian situation in the areas of hostilities. According to him, the Russian military provides humanitarian routes on the Kharkiv and Mariupol directions on a daily basis.
Over the past day, without the participation of the Ukrainian authorities, 18,137 people, including 2,812 children, have been evacuated to Russia from dangerous areas of Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, and a total of 658,146 people, of whom 128,350 are children, have been evacuated to Russia since the beginning of the military operation, the head of the NCSO said.
— From Mariupol through the humanitarian corridor in the eastern direction without any participation of the Ukrainian side, 132,182 people have already been rescued from the lawlessness organized by the nationalists, including 2,165 people over the past day, - Mikhail Mizintsev said.
The Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, together with the competent authorities, continues to record the facts of the inhumane attitude of the Kiev authorities to civilians, the general said and gave examples.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexey Maishev
Image source: iz.ru
— In the Kharkiv region, at checkpoints located at the exits from the settlements of Dergachi and Slatino, militants of one of the nationalist battalions fired at cars with civilians who were independently trying to leave in the direction of the Russian Federation. There are wounded," he reports.
He added that it is possible to leave the blocked settlements controlled by the Ukrainian military only with the help of guides from among local residents who have joined the ranks of territorial defense, who for $ 100-200 per person provide unhindered passage through checkpoints.
— In Kharkiv, in the residential quarters of the Shevchenko and Kholodnogorsk districts, neo-Nazis, during a period when residents are allowed to leave their homes to buy food and basic necessities, carried out ruthless acts of intimidation with the use of mortars. As a result of the indiscriminate shelling, there are wounded. These facts once again demonstrate the inhumane attitude and indifference of the Kiev authorities to the fate of their own citizens and indicate complete disregard for all norms of international humanitarian law," Mizintsev stressed.
Long story
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry published declassified archival documents that provide evidence of the brutal crimes of Ukrainian nationalists during the Great Patriotic War and after it. So, in the report of the political department of the 1st Ukrainian Front dated February 5, 1944, it says that they carried out mass extermination of the Polish, Jewish population and Ukrainians who did not support them. "The arrested Bandera member Vasyuk Ivan Nikolaevich showed that the detachment in which he was, attacked the Polish villages of Stariki, Vyazevka, Ugli, etc., in which he destroyed about 1.5 thousand inhabitants," the report says.
The memorandum of the political department of the 101st Rifle Corps dated August 8, 1945 cites the case of the murder of an entire family: "In the last days of July, a disabled person of the Patriotic War, the Order bearer of Comrade, was hanged. Cyrus, his mother and a girl activist."
The report of the political department of the Drohobych UWC dated June 8, 1946 provides data from April 15 to June 5, 1946: during this time, bandits killed 198 people, of which only 120 were civilians. "In mid-April, a 14—year-old girl was hanged by bandits in the village of Slavskoye (district center) 800 m from the house, and her mother was taken away by bandits and subsequently executed," the document says, in particular.
Photo: Global Look Press/Keystone Press Agency/Alex Chan Tsz Yuk
Image source: iz.ru
Declassified documents show that Ukrainian nationalists committed crimes not only on the territory of the Soviet Union, but also in neighboring states. "According to the report of the Political Directorate of the Northern Group of Troops dated January 17, 1946, nationalist gangs were operating in the Przemysl district of the Polish People's Republic, who, trying to disrupt the resettlement of Ukrainians from Poland to the USSR, burned settlements, undermined bridges and warehouses, attacked small garrisons of the Red Army and Polish troops. The document notes that Vlasov and Germans were also seen as part of these Ukrainian nationalist formations," the military department reported.
In the report of the political department of the Central Group of Troops dated November 13, 1947, it is said that the appearance of armed groups of Bandera members who robbed the local Austrian population was recorded on the territory of Austria. The detained bandits admitted that they made their way from the Polish city of Sanok to Munich, assuming that Ukrainian nationalist units were being formed there.
Save lives
On April 7, the Ministry of Defense told about soldiers and officers who showed courage and dedication during the fighting. Lieutenant Yegor Alekseev's motorized rifle platoon distinguished itself during heavy defensive battles with superior Ukrainian forces. In one of them, nine armored vehicles and up to 30 militants were destroyed by targeted fire from Russian fighters. The steadfastness and courage of the soldiers of Lieutenant Alekseev's unit made it possible to restrain the attack of the Ukrainian formations, and by going into a counteroffensive, to defeat them, the Defense Ministry said.
The unit of Captain Salam Merzhoev fought heavy battles to break through the carefully prepared defense. In one of them, he personally discovered and destroyed two camouflaged positions and three armored vehicles. The militants, having suffered heavy losses, capitulated, surrendering a strategically important fortified point for their defense.
Caterpillar from an abandoned APU tank
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA/Pavel Volkov
In one of the battles, a tank following the car of the commander of the communications company, Ensign Ramil Danyarov, was hit. Under the incessant fire, the ensign managed to transfer the wounded tankers to his car, but it was not easy to escape from the shelling: a shell exploded nearby wounded the driver of his car. Ensign Danyarov managed to provide him with medical assistance and took all the wounded to a safe place. All this time, he did not forget to monitor the operation of the equipment, ensuring uninterrupted communication to the battalion tactical group. Thanks to Ramil Danyarov's confident actions, it was possible to save the lives of comrades-in-arms, the Defense Ministry noted.
While on the head patrol, Sergeant Roman Tkachev found two infantry fighting vehicles and about 20 militants preparing an attack on a Russian convoy. Skillfully maneuvering, he hit the grenade launcher that opened fire with the first shot, and then two enemy infantry fighting vehicles. Thanks to the courage, determination and professionalism of Roman Tkachev, a column of Russian troops reached the designated area on time, the Russian military department noted.
Anton Lavrov
