Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 372.
As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues and the war rages on, reliable sources of information are critical. Forbes gathers information and provides updates on the situation.
Zaporizhzhia. In the early hours of Mar. 2, a five-story residential building in the city of Zaporizhzhia was hit by Russian S-300 missiles, killing three people and injuring eight others. Three stories of the building collapsed, and preliminary reports suggest that 11 individuals were rescued from the rubble, including a pregnant woman. Responding to the barbaric attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his resolve to rid the country of the occupiers. “The terrorist state wants to turn every day for our people into a day of terror,” he said. “But evil will not reign in our land. We will drive all the occupiers out and they will definitely be held accountable for everything.”
In the town of Borodyanka, Kyiv region, the remains of three men were unearthed in a newly discovered burial site. According to reports from Ukrainian online media outlet Babel, the grave contained the body of a 50-year-old man who was allegedly gunned down, while the other two victims appeared to have been shot in the head. According to Kyiv Regional Police Chief Andrii Nebytov, the bodies of 1,373 civilians have been found in the Kyiv region since Russian forces were pushed out, with 279 individuals still considered missing and 127 bodies remaining unidentified.
The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region accused Ukrainian partisans of entering the border village of Lyubychane on Mar. 2 and firing on a passing car. The attack resulted in the death of one individual and the injury of a child. Ukrainian military command has denied any involvement in the incident, attributing the violence in Russia to “the local population’s opposition to Putin’s terrorist regime, non-observance of fire safety measures, or other reasons beyond the control of the Armed Forces.” The Ukrainian government went on to label reports of the events in Russia’s Bryansk region as “an audacious Moscow provocation.” However, later in the day, responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Russian Volunteer Corps, a military unit of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine comprised of right-wing Russian volunteers who have been fighting for various Ukrainian units since 2014.
According to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released on Feb. 21, the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a staggering eight million refugees. The report indicates that nearly forty percent of the Ukrainian population, or 18 million people, are in dire need of humanitarian assistance and protection, with six million individuals displaced throughout Europe. As a result of the invasion, many Ukrainians have been forced to leave their jobs and seek employment abroad. In response, the European Union swiftly and unanimously activated its Temporary Protection Directive in March 2022, allowing Ukrainian refugees to bypass the standard asylum process to quickly obtain residence permits, access to employment, social welfare and medical care, and suitable accommodation or housing. This initiative, which has helped to facilitate the integration of Ukrainian refugees, was extended to March 2024.
A Change.org petition calling for Russia to be kicked out of the United Nations is being publicized with a giant banner hung outside a residential building that was destroyed by a Russian missile in the city of Dnipro. The petition is the brainchild of Ukrainian activists who argue that Russia does not adhere to the organization’s rules and principles. The banner features a QR-code for the petition, which has garnered the support of over 324,000 people thus far. This is the latest in a series of Ukrainian efforts to advocate for Russia’s expulsion from the UN, which began in December 2022 with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba referring to Russia’s occupation of the Soviet Union’s seat at the international body as “illegal.”
Ukrainian human rights activist and co-founder of Insight, a women and LGBTQ+ advocacy group, Olena Shevchenko has been named to Time’s prestigious Women of the Year list. In 2022 alone, Shevchenko and colleagues raised over $400,000 to support the needs of transgender people, from first-aid kits to hormones. But Shevchenko has faced hostility from Ukrainian conservative groups even before the recent invasion and said that the war has made it even more difficult to communicate her mission effectively. She notes that she often encounters accusations that LGBTQ+ people are not doing enough to protect their country. However, Shevchenko is determined to show that these communities are actively involved on many fronts, not just military ones. She believes it is critical to demonstrate that LGBTQ+ people are contributing in meaningful ways to Ukrainian society.
By Daria Dzysiuk, Karina L. Tahiliani
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