Ukraine Beats 7 Russian Attacks, Downs 6 Planes, Destroys 7 Tanks

The Ukrainian military has repelled seven Russian assaults, destroys six planes and five UAVs.

Photo Insert: Downing of a Russian aircraft

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces also said Russia also lost seven tanks, five drones -- two destroyed, three captured—and six artillery pieces. Advances in Luhansk and Donetsk were stopped, preventing the Russian military from gaining a foothold, Kyiv Independent reported.

Russian military casualties have surpassed that of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Ukraine claimed that as of March 22 the Russian military sustained 15,300 casualties. Over the 10 years of the USSR’s war in Afghanistan, the casualties numbered 15,051.

A Russian aircraft blasted an oil refinery in Lysychasnk, Luhansk Oblast, which is owned by Russian oil firm Rosneft. According to Luhasnk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai, firefighters are fighting a fire at the site.

Farmak, one of Ukraine’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, suffered nearly 1.5 billion hyrvina in losses when its warehouse in Makariv, a town 60 kilometers west from Kyiv, was burned down by Russians, Farmak supervisory board member Peter Chernyshov said.

Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchina, who works for Hromadske, has been in captivity in the city of Berdiansk since March 15. She was released on March 22 but was forced to record a video in which she said that the Russians had saved her life.

In Russia, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a case against journalist Alexander Nevzorov for publishing information about the Russian shelling of a maternity hospital in Mariupol.

Russia accuses Nevzorov of spreading “false information about the Russian Armed Forces.” Photojournalist Maks Levin has also gone missing outside Kyiv. His friend, photographer Markiian Lyseiko, said Levin has not made contact since March 13, when he traveled to the area north of Kyiv to take photographs of the hostilities there.

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