Kyiv Post Morning Memo – Everything You Need to Know on Friday, March 24

Good morning from Kyiv.

Russia continues to launch overnight drone attacks against Ukrainian cities. Air raid sirens sounded in the capital at midnight last night and while the city escaped attack, Kryvyi Rih to the south was less fortunate.

“At night, the Russian army attacked Kryvyi Rih with drones,” Serhiy Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, posted on Telegram.

“The military of the Air Command East shot down one drone. Five UAVs hit a target.”

At this time there are no reports of casualties but rescue operations are ongoing.

What’s happening today?

There will be huge celebrations in a number of Ukrainian homes today and for the days and weeks to come after an NGO that fights what it says are illegal deportations of Ukrainian children to Russian-controlled territory, reunited some of them with their families yesterday.

The ten-year-old son of Denys Zaporozhchenko jumped straight into his father’s arms moments after the bus returning him and more than a dozen other children from Russian-held territory arrived in Kyiv.

Zaporozhchenko held his son and kissed his forehead, before also hugging his two daughters, who were among the 17 children separated from their parents for months.

You can read more about that story here.

What was in President Zelensky’s latest message?

After paying a visit to the frontline southern region of Kherson, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday told European leaders that “delays” in sending fighter jets and long-range missiles could extend the war.

Other Topics of Interest

Video Shows Russian Troops Blowing Up Kurakhove Dam in Donetsk Region

Russian forces targeted the Kurakhove dam after months of attempts, raising water levels by 1.2 meters in the Vovcha River. However, officials report no risk of a complete reservoir leak.

On the train home from the war-ravaged areas, Zelensky gave an emotional account of what he had seen as he addressed a summit of his EU counterparts gathered in Brussels via video link, an EU official said.

Although he welcomed a recent EU plan aimed at sending Kyiv one million artillery shells, he kept up his demand for modern warplanes and missiles he believes will be more effective at pushing back Russian forces.

You can read more about that story here.

What’s the latest military situation?

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) update on March 24 focuses on the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in southwestern Belarus.

The MoD states that 1,000 Russian troops who had been training there have likely been redeployed in Ukraine and although no new troops have been rotated in, the tented training facility is still in place.

It concludes: “The fact Russia has resorted to training its personnel under the much less-experienced Belarusian army highlights how Russia’s ‘special military operation’ has severely dislocated the Russian military’s training system – instructors have largely been deployed in Ukraine.

“Russia likely also views Belarus’ continued indirect support to the operation as important political messaging.”

The Institute for the Study of War’s March 23 daily assessment covers a number of topics, most notably:

·      Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin has softened his rhetoric towards the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) likely out of fear of completely losing his mercenary force in Bakhmut.

·      A Ukrainian intelligence official supported ISW’s prior assessments that Russian forces are unable to conduct large-scale, simultaneous offensive campaigns on multiple axes.

·      Russian forces may be  shifting their missile strike tactics to focus on Ukrainian military facilities as overall Russian missile strikes decrease, indicating the depletion of Russia’s stocks of high-precision missiles.

And that’s it for today’s Morning Memo.

Kyiv Post will bring you the latest news throughout the day and we’ll be back with another edition tomorrow.