Russian forces recruit children to 'youth army' in Melitopol, offer Mariupol residents to build military fortifications for food – General Staff

The Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff reported this on February 23.

"In Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, children from all over the city are supposedly going to take the oath of 'junior soldiers' at a local school on a 'voluntary basis'. It is also planned to form a so-called 'all-Russian rescue corps' on the basis of this educational institution,” the report says. 

In turn, in Mariupol, Russians are persuading the local population to equip military positions around the city in exchange for food rations. It is noted that the payment for this work is not defined, and most locals receive only food packages.

AFU launched 14 strikes on Russian military positions over the last day

Ukrainian aviation launched 14 strikes on the invading Russian forces' military positions, as well as 4 strikes on the positions of air defense systems.

Meanwhile missile and anti-aircraft troops hit three manpower concentration areas and one other important enemy object.

Also, the General Staff confirmed that on the night of February 21-22, 6 ambulances with wounded Russian servicemen arrived at the trauma center in Donetsk.

Occupying Russian troops launched 28 airstrikes and 9 missile attacks

One of the missile strikes hit a civilian administrative building in the town of Dvorichna in the Kharkiv region.

Russians also launched over 40 MLRS attacks, damaging civilian objects in Beryslav, Zelenivka and Bilozerka in the Kherson region. There are dead and wounded among the civilians.

The Russian Federation is focusing its main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk directions. 

To find out the Ukrainian units' position and adjust artillery fire, the enemy is actively conducting aerial reconnaissance. As a result, it is losing equipment: The Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed Russian Merlin and Zala UAVs.

Near the state Ukrainian border with Russia and Belarus, the situation hasn't changed significantly, and no enemy offensive groups have been detected. 

At the same time, the Russian Federation continued shelling the entire border line: 3 settlements in the Chernihiv region, 8 settlements in the Sumy region, as well as over 15 villages in the Kharkiv region were attacked. 

The situation in other Ukrainian regions that came under Russian attacks:

• In the Kupiansk and Lyman directions, the Russian enemy conducted several unsuccessful offensives in the areas of 4 settlements. Over 18 towns and villages were attacked. 

• In the Bakhmut direction, the Russian troops continue to attack the Ukrainian forces' positions near 3 settlements. Over 13 towns and villages of the Donetsk region were subjected to enemy fire. 

• In the Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk directions, the enemy conducted an unsuccessful offensive near 5 settlements. About 15 localities of the Donetsk region came under artillery fire.

• In the Zaporizhzhia direction, 20 towns and villages came under fire. 

• In the Kherson direction, the occupying Russian troops' artillery fired at areas near 25 settlements.

In southern Ukraine, on February 22, the Ukrainian Armed Forces eliminated two Russian motor boats, drones, and a multiple launch rocket system.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy:

Dozens, hundreds of thousands of photos that leave deep scars in your heart and soul. They remind us of the path we have gone from February to February. It must be in our DNA.

We have not broken down, we have overcome many ordeals and we will prevail. We will hold to account all those who brought this evil, this war to our land. All the terror, all the killings, all the torture, all the looting.

Russia has chosen the path of the murderer. The path of the terrorist. The path of the torturer. The path of the looter. This is the state choice of Russia, and there will be state responsibility for the terror committed.

Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka, Aris Messinis, Video CNN, Andrii Marienko, Rodrigo Abd, Ronaldo Schemidtafp for Getty Images, Alex Kent.