Operational summary as of the morning of March 20, – General Staff
As of Sunday morning, March 20, the state, position and nature of the actions of the Ukrainian defense forces against the Russian military invasion have not changed significantly.
This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
During the day, the enemy did not conduct active offensive operations, but concentrated his efforts on replenishing losses, restoring equipment and transferring foreign mercenaries to the regions bordering Ukraine. Also dealt with logistics issues.
At the same time, the occupiers are using terrorist methods to impose a tough administrative-police regime, deliberately creating conditions for a humanitarian crisis in the temporarily occupied territories. In particular, on March 19, they did not allow 14 trucks with food and medicine to enter the Kherson region. Thus, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the invaders are trying to push the local population towards collaborationism. They also distribute leaflets and offer to contact the occupation administration. Citizens are promised write-offs of credit debts, and local entrepreneurs – preferences in doing business.
As for the losses of the enemy. It became known that from the combined detachment of the 331st Kostroma Airborne Regiment, which participated in the battles in the Kiev direction, only one person survived, and even that one was wounded. Against the background of these circumstances, the command of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation urgently replaces 130 refuseniks from among the marines with paratroopers.
And in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region, Russian curators announced another mobilization. The same expects the inhabitants of the occupied areas of the Luhansk region due to the heavy losses of the “LNR” troops.
Russian troops also continue to violate international conventions on the rules of war. In particular, for their sabotage actions, the Russian military use the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Fighting in separate directions
On March 19, the Ukrainian Defense Forces continued the defensive operation in the eastern, southeastern and northeastern directions. Measures of the legal regime of martial law are being carried out, stabilization actions are being carried out tasks of territorial defense. The air forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine repulse missile strikes and air attacks, cover densely populated cities, important industrial facilities and operational groupings of troops. In the northern direction, the front line of defense has been restored on separate lines. The enemy is forced to regroup his troops, deploy additional reserves, restore the combat effectiveness of units. In the Donetsk direction, Russian troops are conducting assault operations and fire defeats.
In the Volyn and Polissya directions, the enemy did not take active actions, building up the systems of fire damage, engineering support and logistics in order to prepare an attack on Kyiv.
In the Siversk and Slobozhansky directions, Russian troops also did not advance, but fired at Ukrainian settlements. In the direction of the city of Izyum, the enemy tried to break through the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian military actually destroyed the assault groups of the invaders.