War in Ukraine / April 18

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The second phase of the war –  the battle for the Donbas

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and the Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak announced that the second phase of the war had begun in Ukraine. Whether russia will be able to penetrate deep into Ukraine depends on its results.

First of all, why the “second phase”. The war in Ukraine has not stopped for a day since February 24. Even at the time of the talks, russian missiles were bombing Ukrainian cities, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces were burning russian tanks. This is a conditional name. It is believed that the first phase ended after the russian army withdrew from the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kherson regions. The troops were redirected to eastern Ukraine, where a new intensified offensive began on April 18.

The russian Defense Ministry does not comment on the offensive and does not talk about the so-called “second phase”. The Pentagon shares this view. According to New York Times sources, the new offensive is called only a possible preparation and so far no significant increase in military aggression has been observed.

How are the parties preparing for the “battle for Donbas”? Ukraine claims that it has concentrated significant forces of the Armed Forces in order to repel the attack in all directions and prevent the enemy from penetrating deep into the country. The Pentagon is less positive and calls on its allies to send weapons to Ukraine as soon as possible. According to them, the Ukrainian army spends up to 1,000 artillery ammunition a day and at the time of the big battle may be left with nothing. The first batch of $ 800 million in aid from the United States has already arrived. And the information that the warehouses with weapons were destroyed is not true.

Russian Defense Minister Serhiy Shoigu did not comment on the offensive in eastern Ukraine, but said that the operation was going according to plan. According to him, the goal of the war was “the liberation of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donbas People’s Republic.” Military analysts point to increased shelling of Ukrainian cities such as Kharkiv and Mykolayiv, as well as the concentration of large numbers of troops in the east. Despite heavy losses in manpower and equipment, the russian army is simply much larger and therefore still has the resources for a large-scale offensive.

Leaders of Ukrainian cities in combat or border zones are asking citizens to immediately evacuate.

Airstrike, missile and MRL damage

Dnipropetrovsk region:

• As a result of the attack, a civil infrastructure facility was damaged, a fire broke out, and 2 people were injured.
• […]

Kherson region:

• Village shelling. A man who was riding a scooter down the street towards a bomb shelter died. Another man got injured.
• […]

Kyiv region:

• According to the Mayor of the city of Vasylkiv – Nataliia Balasynovych, the missile was shot down by air defense, and its fragments detonated.
• […]

Luhansk region:

• Russian troops shot the car with civilians who tried to evacuate from the city. 4 people got killed, 1 person got badly injured and due to the constant shelling, doctors are not able to get there. The ambulance that went to pick up the wounded was also shot at.
• […]

Kharkiv region:

• Shelling of the Osnovianskyi and Nemyshlianskyi regions, city center, Saltivka, Pyatykhatky, Novi Domy and other areas. The perinatal center, multi-storey and private residential buildings were damaged. At night, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was also shelled, all the windows and doors were knocked out near the temple, the building of the Sunday school was damaged. During the morning shelling, shells fell near the humanitarian aid station as well as on the territory of a playground. 15 people got injured, including a 14 years old boy.
• […]

Donetsk region:

• Shelling of the 17 region settlements, 40 civil infrastructure facilities were damaged – residential buildings, a church, an educational institution, utility infrastructure and administrative buildings. In total, 6 people were injured, incl. child.
• […]

Mykolaiv region:

• The residential area was shelled with “Uragan” multiple rocket launchers and cluster munitions.
• […]

Zaporizhzhya region:

• The Orikhiv, Hulyaipole, Stepne, Malokaterynivka и Preobrazhenka regions were shelled. In Orikhiv a kid got injured, more than 1k houses left without power. In Hulyaipole residential houses were damaged and one woman got injured.
• […]

Lviv region:

• 5 missiles were fired on Lviv. There was a hit near railway infrastructure. One of the rockets hit the tire shop. About 40 cars were damaged. 11 people were injured, including one 3-year-old child, and 3 people are in serious condition. The shock wave shattered windows in a nearby hotel. Also, the rocket hit an empty warehouse.
• […]

New laws

Ukraine:

• […]

Russia:

• [War] By decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the 64th separate motorized rifle brigade was awarded the honorary title of “Guards”.
• […]

This was the free part of the military brief

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In a paid version:

• Airstrike, missile and MLRS damage
• Civilian casualties
• Video of russian prisoners
• New laws
• Occupant’s casualties (est. from Ukrainian General Staff)
• War crimes in a de-ocupied territories
• Alternative loss estimates
• Data archive.
• Analytical charts: occupant losses, chart with known air raid alerts by region and known damage, diagram of known airstrike, missile and MRL damage and known child deaths, diagram of known damage for Ukrainian infrastructure, diagram of average duration of the air alerts in the regions.