Victorious news of 476th day of war: Ukraine's army advances in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, training center for Ukrainian F-16 pilots to be created in Europe

Ukrainians advance and liberate the territory from the enemy

The defense forces continue their offensive and advance in the Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia directions. This was reported by Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister. Over the past day, the Defense Forces have advanced by 200-500 meters in the Bakhmut sector and by 300-350 meters in the Zaporizhzhia sector.

“Our troops are moving in the midst of extremely fierce fighting, air and artillery superiority of the enemy,” noted Maliar.

She also added that the Russian troops suffer losses in manpower, equipment and weapons. According to Maliar, the enemy lost: artillery battery of self-propelled guns; 2 electronic warfare systems; concentration of motor vehicles (up to 10 units); radar complex for reconnaissance and fire control; several SAMS.

Also on the air of the telethon, Andriy Kovaliov,a representative of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that over the past three days, the Ukrainian military had liberated more than 3 square kilometers of territory. 

The actions of the Ukrainian military are aimed at surrounding Bakhmut. This was emphasized by the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces unit Denys Yaroslavsky on the air of Espreso.

“I am near Berkhivka. Berkhivka is the highest point north of Bakhmut. From this point, through further advancement, we will go to the north of Bakhmut and regain the positions we lost back in January. These actions allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to take control of all logistics routes, which made it possible to advance and further encircle Bakhmut. We can see the enemy forces' movements in the city and destroy their equipment,“ emphasized Yaroslavsky.

Training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 will start soon

Training of Ukrainian F-16 pilots will begin in the coming months. This was announced by the Minister of Defense of the Netherlands Keesa Ollongren.

"I have just informed the House of Representatives about the new support for Ukraine. We will start training F-16s within a few months and are working with partners on an F-16 training center," Ollongren wrote and added that the Netherlands will continue to strengthen Ukraine's air defense.

The Netherlands' Ministry of Defense is preparing a fighter jet training plan for Ukraine that consists of three phases: rapid training of Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16; language skills and basic flight training; and the establishment of an F-16 training center in a NATO country in the east. These steps would meet a long-term training need that would start with a small number of pilots but could be expanded to include more over time.

Putin admits strategic defeat

Putin has declared that the war with Ukraine has entered a defensive phase, Oleksiy Holobutsky, political analyst believes.

The dictator has personally sent a signal to disloyal elites: “I am no longer a leader of victories.” A brief summary of Putin's long Tuesday talk to 'war correspondents': “a 'special military operation' is now being conducted to create a sanitary zone so that they (the Ukrainian Armed Forces - Ed.) cannot reach us.” Everything else is the usual half-conscious babbling about Bandera, fascism, Ukraine's long-destroyed defense capability, how Russia has already defeated us several times, about a huge 'million or two' mobilization potential, but at the same time “there is no need for a new mobilization in Russia,” noted the political scientist.

In fact, Putin has declared that the war with Ukraine has entered a defensive phase

It took 475 days for the concept of a blitzkrieg, a short victorious war, and the 'instant conquest of all of Ukraine' (and the Baltic states, a little bit of Poland...) to be officially replaced by the paranoid concept of 'defense against all' and 'defense of the central regions,' while the border is left to the Armed Forces. In fact, by doing so, Putin has already admitted a strategic defeat and retreat, emphasized Holobutsky.

Invaders are preparing to flee Crimea

The Russian company Chornomornaftogaz, based in the temporarily occupied Crimea, is actively developing plans to evacuate its employees and their relatives from the peninsula. This was reported by the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. 

The intelligence continues to receive this and other important information from residents who remain in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine on a daily basis.

“It is thanks to you that we manage not only to destroy the enemy, but also to save the lives of our soldiers and civilians. It is your contribution that can be decisive in returning Ukraine to its 1991 borders!” the Main Intelligence Directorate noted. 

The Main Intelligence Directorate also asks to continue reporting on the location of Russian forces and assets: deployment points, addresses of residence of the occupation forces' personnel and leadership, storage facilities for shells and fuel and lubricants, points of deployment, storage and repair of military equipment, headquarters and command and control points of the occupation forces, storage sites and points of duty of air defence assets.

A network of science museums is planned in Ukraine

Oksen Lisovyi, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine has announced his intention to create a network of science museums in Ukraine. According to the official, the first steps have already been taken.

Lisovyi noted that two higher education institutions and the Museum of Interesting Science were damaged as a result of the enemy attack on Odesa.

"Part of the room is burned out, everything is cut by glass. Some of the exhibits have been lost, some of them were taken to other cities with the support of the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine," the minister wrote.

He noted that this is the second science museum in Ukraine destroyed by the occupiers. The first one was located in Mariupol. Before the full-scale invasion of Russia, there were 5 such museums.

"But we will definitely restore everything. We plan to build a whole network of science museums across the country. The first steps have already been taken, and soon we will have a science museum that "travels" around Ukraine. We will talk more about this with our partners later," emphasized Lisovyi.