Victory Chronicles-DAY 743

Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, the Armed Forces Commander of Ukraine, predicts that Ukraine will seize the initiative on the contact line this year. He states that the situation on the battlefield is difficult but controlled. 

Russia is making efforts to occupy as much Ukrainian territory as possible before the presidential elections in March. Pavliuk believes that the Russians are throwing newly mobilized soldiers to the contact line without proper training, based on the number of casualties and prisoners. 

He emphasizes Ukraine’s task of stabilizing the contact line, eliminating as many enemy forces as possible, and regrouping to replenish and restore units. Pavliuk mentions other hotspots where Russian troops are concentrated, particularly Avdiivka, the Chasiv Yar area, and the Terniv area.

 Despite fierce battles, he expresses confidence in Ukraine’s ability to stabilize the situation shortly and prepares the troops for more active actions to seize the initiative.

The Biden administration is considering using approximately $200 million from US military funding to provide operational assistance to Ukraine, according to Bloomberg. This move comes as a larger aid package remains stalled in Congress. The funds could be used to provide critical weapons, supplies, and equipment for Ukraine, which currently faces a shortage of artillery shells. Russian forces have been advancing slowly in recent weeks. Bloomberg notes that discussions of using the Pentagon’s reserves highlight the White House’s urgent efforts to find any possible support for Ukraine. However, the potential funding is significantly smaller compared to the more than $61 billion in aid that President Biden has requested from Congress for Ukraine.

In the Sumy Oblast of Ukraine, Russian troops have been reported to be using SHOAB-0.5 ballistic fragmentation bombs, which are highly dangerous. The enemy has remotely mined the area near the village of Marchykhina Buda in the Shostka district. Russian aviation has also carried out air strikes using RBK-500 cluster bombs, which contain 565 SHOAB-0.5 ballistic bombs that weigh 400 grams each and have a wide range of destruction. These bombs are small silver-colored balls with protruding ribs on the body, and they pose a risk to children. Parents have been advised to warn their loved ones about the potential danger. Explosive ordnance disposal officers are currently working to clear the area of these bombs, according to Ihor Cherniak, the head of the explosive ordnance disposal department for the Sumy Oblast police.

The missile troops and artillery of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have successfully targeted and destroyed a Russian radar station called “Zoopark-1” in the Liman direction. According to the command of the Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the radar station was discovered by operators of reconnaissance drones from the Medoid tactical group of the 3rd separate regiment of the Special Operations Forces. The operators tracked the radar station and provided the information to the missile and artillery unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for destruction. The attack resulted in the complete destruction of the radar station and the killing of its crew. The Special Operations Forces highlighted that this is the seventh radar station of this type that has been destroyed with the assistance of the Medoid group.

Further delays in Western security assistance are likely to delay Ukrainian efforts to regain initiative throughout the theater. Materiel shortages are forcing Ukrainian troops to resupply, and uncertainty about future aid is likely to limit Ukrainian operational planning.

Delays in critical aid will force Ukraine to make difficult decisions about allocating resources between future operationally important counteroffensive operations and ongoing Ukrainian defensive operations against Russian attackers who currently hold the initiative.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently stated that Ukrainian troops are planning to take on the Russians. Zelensky also stated that Russia is preparing a new offensive to begin in late May or summer 2024, which is likely to further delay Ukraine’s ability to prepare and launch counteroffensive operations. 

Well-supplied Ukrainian forces have proven to be able to prevent even minor Russian successes during large-scale Russian offensives and are capable of inflicting significant losses on attacking Russian forces. Western security assistance is crucial both to Ukraine’s ability to concentrate material and human resources for future counteroffensive operations and to its ability to weaken Russian offensive efforts to the point where Ukraine can seize the initiative across the entire theater.

Khrystofor Popov, a Ukrainian Marine with the call sign Forik, died on October 26, 2023, while performing a combat mission near the village of Pidstepne in the Kherson Oblast. The defender was 37 years old.

Khrystofor was a native and resident of Myrnohrad, Donetsk Oblast. He studied at the secondary school №17. Then, he graduated from Myrnograd Professional Mining Lyceum No. 105. He worked at the Pokrovske Mine Administration. He was a good specialist. His colleagues remember him as a kind and reliable person.

In March 2022, Khrystofor went to defend his homeland and family from the Russian invaders. He served in the 38th Separate Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Navy. He was a squad leader and vehicle commander. He performed combat missions in his native Donetsk Oblast: Mariinka, Avdiivka, Pavlivka, Novodonetske, Velyka Novosilka. Later he went to other frontline areas.  

“He was a very wonderful father and husband. He was always smiling. He saved his comrade at the cost of his life. He is our Hero,” said Yevhenia, the wife of the fallen fighter.

“Khrystofor was a true commander and, above all, a true and decent man who never stood aside from the problems of his subordinates and fighters-in-arms, he always cared about them, was supportive and positive. He was a man who was faithfully on the side of good. This man was the pride of his family, support, and a strong pillar without which it is impossible to imagine his life,” his family wrote.

The Hero was buried at the Ozerky cemetery in his native Myrnohrad. Khrystofor is survived by his parents, wife, and 3-year-old daughter. 

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• Czechia finds funding to purchase 800,000 shells for Ukraine
• Bulgaria begins transfer of 100 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine
• UK intelligence analyses Russian losses in Black Sea over past five weeks
• Russian attacks kill 7, injure 15 over past day
• Indian men tricked, coerced into fighting for Russia
• Lithuanian intelligence: Russia can fight Ukraine ‘at a similar intensity’ for at least 2 years