"If you fight– you will win": the situation in Ukraine’s regions as of 9 March

Valentyna Romanenko – Wednesday, 9 March 2022, 09:17

Last night, battles were held across the Kyiv region, the Zhytomyr region was bombed, and Russian troops attempted to resume the offensive in the Zaporizhzhya region.

Source: data from the Regional Military-State Administrations

Details: As of 08:00 (Kyiv time) the situation in the regions was as follows.

Kyiv region. Russian troops tried to enter Irpin at night. The attack was repulsed. A rocket attack was carried out on Boryspil in the evening. One missile was destroyed, and one hit the technical premises of the airport. There are wounded. During the night, several air raid alarms sounded. The region is preparing for evacuation from hotspots.

Kherson region. The night was relatively calm in Kherson.

Zhytomyr region. There were two air strikes, in the evening and at night. A dormitory building was destroyed in Zhytomyr, and – according to preliminary data – one of the city’s enterprises was also hit (the information is being confirmed). The town of Malyn was bombed. Several private houses were destroyed. Earlier data reports that 9 people died in the air strikes.

Chernihiv region. During the night and on into the morning, constant air raid alarms sounded in Chernihiv, Nizhyn, Oster, and Desna. Defensive battles were fought on the outskirts of Chernihiv. During the night, the Russian army fired on the outskirts of Chernihiv. According to preliminary information, this resulted in fires in 10 apartment blocks.

Zaporizhzhya region. Russian troops are regrouping to push farther in the direction of Zaporizhzhya. Russia’s main efforts are focused on creating conditions for the seizure of the city, but their advance has slowed, and their troops are demoralised.

Sumy region. In general, it was a quiet night in the region, apart from the Okhtyrka district and the city of Okhtyrka, which were bombed again by Russian aircraft; currently there is no mobile service in Okhtyrka. Negotiations on the "green corridor" from Sumy lasted all night, and according to reports, it has been agreed upon that a corridor will open for evacuation during the window of 09:00-21:00 on 9 March. This is the same window of time as in the previous day of evacuations [8 March], when evacuation took place without casualties, despite provocations from Russian forces.

Poltava region. The night was calm. In the morning the air raid alarm sounded in Lubny. Evacuation from Sumy was completed successfully. 5,000 people arriving from Sumy in 1,000 private cars are now safe.

The second evacuation convoy from Sumy arrived in Poltava at night. Most of the evacuees are women and children, as well as foreign citizens from India, China, and Turkey. From Poltava, the evacuees took trains to the west of the country. Those who wanted to stay were given shelter.

Luhansk region. Shelling of Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, and Kreminna– fires in the residential neighbourhoods due to shelling. No gas, intermittent supply of water and electricity. There is almost no Internet or service. Local residents are switching to national roaming. During the day, Severodonetsk was heavily shelled. On Tuesday 8 March, a civilian was killed on The 8th March Street.

Donetsk region. Air raid alarm in Kramatorsk.

The expected humanitarian aid did not arrive in Mariupol. The Russians aircraft bombed a Red Cross building – housing both the international and Ukrainian Red Cross. There is nothing in the city: no water, electricity, gas, food, or medicine.

Volnovakha. Consistently bad conditions. Fighting continues, but Ukrainian troops are holding the city.

The day was more or less uneventful in the rest of the region. Only Novoluhansk was shelled; gas pipelines and residential houses were damaged. No victims have been reported as of yet, because it has not been possible to inspect the site.

Kharkiv. The city of Kharkiv holds its defence. There were no new offensives by Russian troops. At night there was a single airstrike on the outskirts of the city. Another saboteur was detained.

Fighting continues in Izyum. In Chuhuyiv and Dergachi shells hit residential buildings.

Mykolayiv region. Relatively calm. Holding the defence.

In Zakarpattya, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Cherkasy, Lviv, Volyn, Kirovohrad, Chernivtsi, and Ivano-Frankivsk, the night was calm.