From the FB page; The Heartbeat of Ukraine

Day 394 of a 3-day war. Kyiv is still standing tall and Russia is still a terrorist state.

169,170 (+1020) enemy soldiers have been eliminated. (This number will be updated in the morning EST)

🔘War by the numbers: As of the morning of 24 March, the Russians have killed at least 1,429 and wounded at least 3,258 civilians in Donetsk Oblast. 🤬 #WarCrimes

🔘War by the numbers for Russia according to Darth Putin (Parody):

“Months – 13
Victories – 0
Friends – 0
Casualties – 169,000+ 🌻
Sanctions – ♾
Border with NATO – 1300km more
Economy – 🚽
Rouble – 🧻
Arrest warrants – 2
Wanted – in 123 countries
Oil & gas – ↘️
Tank tech – 1950s
Baltic Sea – NATO lake

I remain a master strategist.” 😆

💥The Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that The “Orsk”, a large landing ship from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, has been destroyed in the Russia-occupied port of Berdiansk. The fire has spread to other ships, fuel and ammunition. Local residents told Ukrainska Pravda that ships were on fire in the port.

–After that, the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed that the ship had been destroyed. There are social media reports that one ship has sunk and two more are on fire, and that an ammunition depot and fuel tanks have been destroyed along with them. Well done!!!!!

✅Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told Antony Radakin, Chief of the UK Defense Staff, that Ukrainian forces are able to gradually stabilize the situation on the Bakhmut front.

–Quote: “I held a phone conversation with Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, Chief of the UK Defense Staff. I informed my colleague about the operational situation on the front. The situation is the most challenging on the Bakhmut front. The tremendous efforts of Ukraine’s defense forces have enabled us to stabilize the situation there.”

✅State Border Guard Service reported that Ukrainian border guards repelled three Wagner Group assaults in the eastern city of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, on 23 March. The border guards forced Wagner Group mercenaries to retreat completely following the final gunfight. A total of three clashes between the border guards and the Wagner Group fighters took place in Bakhmut on 23 March so far.

✅The Avdiivka front is one of the hottest spots in Ukraine, but the Russian occupation forces there are running out of steam, just as they are on the Bakhmut front. Source: Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s defense forces on the Tavriia front, on air during the national 24/7 newscast

Operational Report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine:

👉The Armed Forces of Ukraine have repelled more than 79 Russian attacks on five fronts and struck clusters of the Russian military over the past day.

👉Ukraine’s Armed Forces struck command posts, an ammunition storage point, an anti-aircraft missile system, electronic warfare stations and an artillery unit of the Russian occupiers on 23-24 March.

👉 Ukrainian Air Force carried out 16 strikes on clusters of Russian military personnel and equipment on 23-24 March. Our defenders shot down enemy Shahed-136 and Lancet UAVs.

👉At the same time, Ukrainian Rocket Forces and Artillery units hit two command posts, four clusters of Russian personnel, weapons and military equipment, two anti-aircraft missile systems, an ammunition storage point, an artillery unit at a firing position and two electronic warfare stations.”

👉Over the course of the day, Russian forces conducted 40 air and 5 missile strikes, and attacked the positions of Ukrainian troops and the settlements’ civilian infrastructure over 20 times using multiple rocket launchers. There were fatalities.

👉Russian troops are focusing on conducting offensive operations on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka and Shakhtarsk fronts. Ukrainian forces have repelled over 38 Russian attacks in these areas.

👉On the Volyn, Polissia, Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna fronts, the operational situation has not changed significantly, and no Russian offensive groups have been detected.

👉Combat training of the Russian Armed Forces in Belarus is ongoing. Russia maintains its military presence in the border areas of Kursk and Belgorod oblasts. On 23-24 March, the Russian army attacked the areas in and around the settlements of Horodyshche in Chernihiv Oblast; Kharkivka, Iskryskivshchyna, Vorozhba, Bilopillia, Richky and Myropillia in Sumy Oblast, as well as Basove, Veterynarne, Kozacha Lopan, Krasne, Ohirtseve, Vovchansk, Ambarne and Topoli in Kharkiv Oblast.

👉On the Kupiansk and Lyman fronts, Russian troops conducted offensive actions in the area of Serebrianka Forest and the settlements of Hrianykivka and Bilohorivka. They also conducted artillery shelling on the areas in and around the settlements of Kamianka, Dvorichna, Hrianykivka, Zapadne, Kupiansk and Pishchane in Kharkiv Oblast; Stelmakhivka, Nevske, Dibrova and Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast, as well as Terny and Spirne in Donetsk Oblast.

👉On the Bakhmut front, the Russian army never stopped its assault on the city of Bakhmut held by Ukrainian forces and the areas in and around the settlements of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Bohdanivka, Ivanivske and Stupochky in Donetsk Oblast. They also attacked the areas in and around the settlements of Minkivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Hryhorivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar, Stupochky, Predtechyne, Oleksandro-Shultyne, Zalizne, Pivnichne, and Toretsk.

👉On the Avdiivka, Marinka and Shakhtarsk fronts, Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the area of the settlements of Keramik, Stepove, Avdiivka, Sieverne, Pervomaiske and Pobieda in Donetsk Oblast. The areas in and around the settlements of Avdiivka, Tonenke, Netailove, Lastochkyne, Heorhiivka, Marinka, Pobieda, Novomykhailivka, Vuhledar, Prechystivka and Zolota Nyva in Donetsk Oblast were subjected to numerous Russian attacks.

👉The invaders are on the defensive on the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fronts. At the same time, they are attacking the areas in and around the settlements of Olhivske, Malynivka, Chervone, Huliaipole, Zaliznychne, Charivne, Bilohiria, Mala Tokmachka, Novodanylivka, Orikhiv, Novoandriivka and Stepove in Zaporizhzhia Oblast; Bilozerka and the city of Kherson.

👉The invaders keep pressuring civilians in the temporarily occupied settlements of Luhansk Oblast. It is becoming increasingly difficult to move between territories. In particular, only residents with special passes can enter the village of Pluhatar.

Reporting and Analysis from the Institute for the Study of War:

📌Prominent voices in the Russian information space are increasingly setting information conditions to prepare for a potential Ukrainian counteroffensive. Russian Security Council Deputy Head Dmitry Medvedev emphasized on March 24 that the Russian General Staff is aware that Kyiv is preparing for offensive operations and that the Russian General Staff is considering its own decisions and responses to prepare for a Ukrainian offensive

📌Crimean occupation head Sergey Aksyonov has reportedly formed a Wagner Group-affiliated private military company (PMC) in occupied Crimea.

📌Some prominent Russian milbloggers criticized the Russian military command for continuing to impale Russian forces on Vuhledar with ineffective human-wave style frontal assaults. The milbloggers claimed that current Russian tactics against Vuhledar, which include an initial frontal assault followed by assaults against fortified Ukrainian flanks, result in high Russian combat losses resulting in no gains due to challenging terrain, lack of combat power, and failure to surprise Ukrainian forces. The milbloggers called on Russian forces to cut Ukrainian ground lines of communication (GLOCs)

📌Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the Russian Security Council likely as part of his effort to portray himself as a present and effective wartime leader. The meeting centered around Russia’s effort to develop its electronics industry, though the Kremlin readout provides little detail about the meeting itself

✅Crimea is Ukraine!

–Akhtem Chyihoz, Deputy Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Russian business owners are temporarily halting their business operations in Crimea and Russian property owners are putting their houses and apartments up for sale at discounted prices.

–“They have no faith that Crimea will remain [under Russian control – ed.]. Prices have dropped. Crucially, there are no Russian investors, they are abandoning their firms and their construction projects. There’s no demand for apartments…

–These moods [of panic and despair – ed.] have endured since last September, but our latest ‘gifts’ to Crimea [i.e. the damage done by Ukraine’s resistance forces to the Russian military infrastructure in Crimea – ed.]…My compatriots are saying that we need to give [the Russians] these ‘gifts’ more often, because it speeds up these processes. And it doesn’t matter whether we hit exactly the target we aimed for or somewhere in its vicinity, or our attack got intercepted – all of this demoralizes them.

✅The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, which hosts the summit of the North Atlantic Alliance in the summer, said that the goal of his country is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO.

✅Twenty European countries have joined the project to produce ammunition for Ukraine. Kuleba noted that Ukraine highly appreciates the European Defence Agency’s project on joint production of 155 calibre shells that was signed on 20 March.
“As of now, 19 EU member states and Norway have joined this project. That is, 20 countries will be involved in the joint production of the 155 calibre shells that Ukraine needs,” Kuleba said.

Source: Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, during a briefing with his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Lansbergis in Kyiv on 24 March, as reported by European Pravda

🔘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said it was unacceptable to blame the victim of aggression in response to the conclusion of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, which holds that both Russia and Ukraine have violated human rights. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has taken note of the reports prepared by the UN Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, namely the most recent report on human rights issues in Ukraine, and the report on the treatment of prisoners of war.

–We are grateful to the Monitoring Mission for its work; particularly the documentation of international human rights and humanitarian law violations committed by the Russian Federation in the course of its armed aggression against Ukraine.

–At the same time, we deem placing responsibility on the victim of such aggression unacceptable. According to the UN Statue, Ukraine has the right to self-defense.” I’ve long felt that NY should put up a “for sale” sign in front of the UN. They are not serving the purpose for which they were intended.

✅Ukraine has sent back to Russia all the seriously wounded occupiers who have been captured since the large-scale Russian invasion started and whose condition allowed them to be transported. (Source: Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War)

–Adhering to its international obligations under Articles 109-114 of the Geneva Conventions, and with the participation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Ukraine has unilaterally transferred severely wounded and seriously ill captive occupiers to the Russian side.

–This is not an exchange of prisoners of war, but repatriation: it is the return of severely wounded prisoners without any conditions, as stipulated by international humanitarian law, the headquarters explained.

✅Ministry for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine reported that Ukraine has managed to bring back the bodies of its 83 fallen soldiers on 24 March 2023. May they rest in peace.🙏

✅The Press Service of the Security Service of Ukraine reported that a former employee of a defense enterprise who guided the Russian military to attack a hospital in Mykolaiv has been sentenced to 11 years behind bars. The Security Service of Ukraine reports that a 54-year old resident of the city of Mykolaiv supported the full-scale invasion. Russian secret services engaged her in cooperation through pro-Kremlin Telegram channels.

–The woman collected information about the locations of military and critical infrastructure facilities in the oblast. The received data was transferred to the occupiers in the form of marks on electronic maps and photos with reference to the area. I remember when she was arrested last year. She deserves her sentence. In fact, I think it’s rather light.

🛑The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine intends to impose sanctions on senator of the Parliament of Romania, Diana Șoșoacă.
Șoșoacă drafted a bill on the southern region of Ukraine to “join Romania.”

“A marginal politician is trying to ‘restore the cultural identity of the Romanian population’ with this step. It is a classic example of Russian revanchism. We strongly condemn the attempt to question the territorial integrity of Ukraine, to undermine the spirit of good neighbourliness between Ukraine and Romania,” Oleh Nikolenko, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, wrote on Facebook.

🍿Tonight’s episode of the Russians are batshit crazy and morally bankrupt – Tonight’s theme: ☢️ More Depleted Uranium Hysteria/NATO Criminals…

🔘The Russian Embassy in the US. – “The main radiation hazard from depleted uranium occurs when it enters the body in the form of dust. Fluxes of alpha radiation cause the development of malignant tumors & internal organ changes. Uranium poses a risk of negative impact on people, animals, and crops.” 🙄 I guess it wasn’t a problem when the “dug in” around Chernobyl. Idiots.

🔘Dmitry Polyanskiy: “That was the true presentation of “rules based international order” which the West tries to save today at any price. Announcement of plans of sending depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine used in #Yugoslavia 24 yrs ago shows that criminal nature of NATO hasn’t changed.” 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

🔘Kremlin spox Peskov: “The US-led collective West is putting blatant, undue pressure on nations that choose not to join illegal anti-Russian sanctions. Those countries themselves tell us about it. The issue requires special attention from both Russia and the pressured states.”🤡 Illegal sanctions? I don’t think so.

That’s it for tonight folks! Keep those words of support and prayers coming for our Ukrainian friends. Find ways to help! We knew this wouldn’t end overnight (even if others said this war would only last 3 days). I’m here for the duration. I hope you are too! #SlavaUkraini #StandWithUkraine #braveukraine #UkraineWillWin #russiaisaterroriststate #RussiaIsCollapsing #PutinIsaWarCriminal #FuckPutin #fucklukashenko #fuckIran #chinastatusextremelysuspicious

Reported by Christine Stuermer