(Image by NEIVANMADE)
Just a quick housekeeping note to start. While Ukraine is in the process of moving itself onto the western calendar, including for Christian religious holidays, they have not yet done so for Easter. Eater will be celebrated in Ukraine on 5 May this year.
Before we get fully started, I want to address the question as to why Avdiivka was important for the Russians. I’ve answered this at least once before, but since the question has arisen again, I’m going to go over it again. Russia, right or wrong, believes that Avdiivka is a key location that they have to take in order to fully occupy Donetsk Oblast and the entire Donbas. Reuters has a really good summary of the Russian strategic logic:
Both sides regard Avdiivka as key to Russia’s aim of securing full control of the two eastern “Donbas” provinces – Donetsk and Luhansk. These are among the four Ukrainian regions Russia says it has annexed but does not have full control of.
Avdiivka is seen as a gateway to Donetsk city, whose residential areas Russian officials say have been shelled by Ukrainian forces, sometimes from Avdiivka.
Seizing it could boost Russian morale and demoralise Ukrainian forces, which have made only incremental gains in a broad counteroffensive since June. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy himself visited in December.
“If the Russian army takes control of the (supply) road, the Ukrainian armed forces will evidently be forced to withdraw from Avdeyevka. That will be a great victory for the Russian army,” Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, said on Feb. 5.
Mykola Bielieskov of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, an official think-tank in Kyiv, said taking Avdiivka would not decisively tip the situation in Moscow’s favour but “would make the situation more tenable for occupied Donetsk as a major Russian logistics hub”.
Bielieskov believes the battle is driven by a Kremlin desire to strengthen the hand of Western sceptics calling for a cut in support for Kyiv, citing the limited impact of billions of dollars in military aid.
I know that this makes no sense to some of you and I understand why. But regardless of whether it does or does not make sense to you, it apparently makes sense to Putin and people.
Russia targeted Ukrainian civilian targets, including more energy infrastructure, in another overnight bombardment. This time they went after the second largest natural gas storage in Europe.
Russia launched cruise missile attacks on Ukraine early Easter morning. Stryi, hit for the third time, hosts Ukraine's largest gas storage depot, the second largest in Europe. One person killed, with potentially more trapped under rubble. pic.twitter.com/D66jyROGbG
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 31, 2024
As the world begins Easter Sunday, we find ourselves in corridors and bomb shelters, with Russian missile terror raining down on us again. This so-called "holy war," as labeled by the Russian Orthodox Church, is nothing short of an attempt to exterminate Ukraine #genocide pic.twitter.com/gfyaWBBpZL
— Olena Halushka (@OlenaHalushka) March 31, 2024
Poland once again scrambled their fighters and put a combat air patrol up:
https://twitter.com/revishvilig/status/1774270455072878842
There were other air raid alerts throughout today. As I type this, at 7;00 PM EDT, other than the air raid alerts for Russian occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea the airspace over Ukraine is clear. But, as the Ukrainians have learned the hard way, that can change with a moment’s notice.
Remember, Putin has several objectives with these bombardments. The first is to overwhelm Ukrainian air defense and force the Ukrainians to deplete their stocks of air defense munitions because the US has stopped resupplying Ukraine thanks to the dysfunction of the House majority GOP. The second is to capitalize on the stretched too thin Ukrainian air defense in order to stress and terrorize the Ukrainians to the point where morale collapses and socio-cultural cohesion and resilience crack and crumble. The third is to destroy as much of Ukraine’s energy generation and transmission infrastructure and capacity as possible. The fourth is to do the same to the Ukrainian agricultural sector.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
War for Ukraine Day 767: Russia Bombarded Ukraine Again OvernightPost + Comments (42)
