Russian invasion of Ukraine: Day 753

Summary for Sunday, 17th March 2024 - DAY 753

• Russia accused Ukraine of using “terrorist activities” to try to disrupt its presidential election and former president Dmitry Medvedev decried as “traitors” the scattered protesters who started fires at voting booths and poured dye into ballot boxes. A Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive close to a polling station in the annexed Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Russian state news agency Tass said. No injuries or damage were reported and Reuters could not independently verify the incident.
  
  
• The Slavyansk oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region caught on fire on Sunday after a Ukrainian drone attack and one person died from a suspected heart attack, local officials said. Videos online showed explosions and fire, along with the sound of drones approaching the site.
  
  
• On Sunday morning, the Russian defence ministry reported 35 Ukrainian drone incursions, including four in the Moscow region and two in the neighbouring Kaluga and Yaroslavl regions. More Ukrainian drones attacked in the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions bordering Ukraine, and in the southern Krasnodar region, the defence ministry said.
  
  
• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, praised the Ukrainian military for its new “long-range capability”, in a statement posted on Saturday night. “What our own drones are capable of is a true Ukrainian long-range capability. Ukraine will now always have a strike force in the sky,” he said on social media.
  
  
• Zelenskiy’s comments followed Ukrainian drones striking two Rosneft oil refineries in Russia’s Samara region, leaving one facility on fire on Saturday, the region’s governor said. The Volga river region’s Syzran refinery was on fire, Dmitry Azarov said on Telegram. Officials also confirmed an attack on the Novokubyshev refinery. Numerous other attacks during the past week have caused major damage to Russian oil refineries.
  
  
• Attacks continued on Russia’s Belgorod oblast, with the Russian ministry of defence claiming air defence shot down 15 rockets. A man and a woman were killed in Belgorod oblast on Saturday, and another person was killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian city of Grayvoron, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. The fresh bombardments on Saturday prompted authorities to close schools and shopping centres.
  
  
• Five people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone hit a car in the village of Glotovo, two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Gladkov said. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told state media Vladimir Putin was being “constantly briefed” by his military leaders on the situation at the border. Putin is all but certain of victory in the election after dissent has been crushed.
  
  
• Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian “reconnaissance groups” had attempted an incursion from Ukraine’s Sumy region. That followed an armed incursion claimed by Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin on Tuesday in the Belgorod and Kursk regions. Russia’s defence ministry claimed its security forces killed 30 fighters. In contrast, the Russian Volunteer Corps – one of the groups that claimed to have crossed the border on Tuesday – released a video saying it had captured 25 Russian soldiers.
  
  
• Resistance forces set off an explosion near a polling station in Russian-occupied Skadovsk in the Kherson oblast, injuring five Russian soldiers, the national resistance centre of Ukraine said. The explosion forced Russian administration in Skadovsk to cancel voting at polling stations and allow it only at places of residence, the centre said.
  
  
• There had been 11 attempts to set fire to polling stations in Russia, along with 19 cases of ballot boxes being spoiled with greenery and paint, Nexta reported. Russian authorities have proposed eight-year prison sentences for those involved.
  
  
• The death toll in the Russian attack on civilian infrastructure in Odesa rose to 21 after an injured emergency worker died in hospital. The ballistic missile attack blasted homes in the southern city on Friday, followed by a second missile that targeted first responders, officials said. It was Moscow’s deadliest attack in weeks and caused the British defence secretary, Grant Shapps, to abandon a trip because of a Russian missile threat. More than 50 people were still in hospital, Odesa deputy mayor Svitlana Bedreha said on Saturday, according to Ukrainian state media.
  
  
• Russian shelling killed a 51-year-old man in the Donetsk oblast and injured another, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said. Russians shelled the Donetsk oblast about 11,000 times this week, Filashkin said.
  
  
• There has been a record growth in the number of Russian men ages 31 to 59 with disabilities, the UK defence ministry said in its daily intelligence briefing. “The increase in the number of men with disabilities was most likely due to the growth in military invalids,” the UK defence ministry said. “This is almost certainly the case. A significant majority of the over 355,000 casualties that the Russian armed forces have suffered as a result of the conflict in Ukraine have been wounded personnel.”
  

Russians form long queues at polling stations in ‘noon against Putin’ protest

Voters in some cities answer Yulia Navalnaya’s call to turn up at midday to signal dissent against president

Critics of Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin regime have called for massive protests at Russian polling stations on Sunday, the final day of a presidential election that is guaranteed to cement his hardline rule.
The three-day vote has already been hit by Ukrainian bombardments and a series of incursions into Russian territory by anti-Putin sabotage groups.

Ballistic missiles hit Mykolaiv, five locals injured

An explosion was heard in Mykolaiv on 17 March as an air-raid siren blared throughout the city.

Grant Shapps abandons Odesa trip after Kremlin became aware of travel plans

British defence secretary Grant Shapps was forced to abandon a trip to Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa because of a Russian missile threat.
As he flew to Poland from RAF Northolt last week, Shapps was notified that an armoured convoy carrying both the Ukrainian president and Greek prime minister narrowly avoided a Russian missile strike while visiting the port city on 6 March.
Shapps arrived in Kyiv the following day for talks with president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on 7 March, after which the planned onward journey to Odesa was called off.

Liberation forces take the village of Gorkovsky in the Belgorod region

Russia rocked by sixth explosion at oil refinery in a week

Fox News sued by parents of Ukrainian journalist killed near Kyiv in 2022

A lawsuit accuses Fox News of misrepresenting details around the 2022 death of a Ukrainian journalist reporting on the war, allegedly to deceive her family.

Approximately 200 evacuated from northern Sumy Oblast

Outside Russian embassies around the world, protests are being staged against the re-election of Putin

UK

France

Latvia

Finland

Twelve casualties in Belgorod region, one fatal

At least five injured after Russian forces attack southern city of Mykolaiv

More than 70 people have been arrested across Russia on Sunday in connection with the ongoing presidential election in the country

Unrecognised Transnistria reports kamikaze drone attack on their military unit

• In January, unrecognised Transnistria claimed that "special strike teams" were allegedly being prepared in Moldova for murders and sabotage operations in the Transnistrian territories. The Transnistrian authorities provided no proof or at least some evidence for these claims.
  
  
• Transnistria, where Russian troops have been illegally present for over 30 years, violating the sovereignty of Moldova, is the source of regional tensions.
  
  
• In 2022, local "authorities" similarly reported about the series of explosions at the facilities, which led to speculations about possible preparation for the invasion by the Russian forces from the Transnistrian territory.
  
  
• Recently, the Transnistrian "Ministry of State Security" also spread rumours about "the incident with the use of firearms", which was refuted by both Kyiv and Kishinev.
  

At least a thousand anti-Kremlin Russian emigres queued for hours outside the Russian embassy in Armenia

Closing Summary:

• Vladimir Putin is poised to tighten his grip on power with an expected landscape victory in the ongoing presidential election. While an emphatic win is expected, opponents of Putin have staged a symbolic noon protest at polling stations with further demonstrations outside Russian embassies around the world.
  
  
• At least 74 people have been arrested across Russia on Sunday in connection with the ongoing presidential election, according to OVD-Info. Despite tight controls, there have been several dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations.
  
  
• The turnout at Russia’s presidential election has surpassed 2018 levels in the final hours before the polls close. According to the TASS news agency, 67.54% of eligible voters had cast their ballots as of Sunday morning, eclipsing the 67.5% turnout seen six years ago.
  
  
• Vladimir Putin fears going to war with Nato nations, according to Estonia prime minister Kaja Kallas. Kallas told the BBC that while Putin is well able to “sow fear”, nation leaders should remember that he too has concerns.
  
  
• Russian proposals for peace are all centred around continued Ukrainian subjugation, Czech president Petr Pavel has claimed. Pavel told Czech Radio on Saturday that the Kremlin’s proposals to date have all been a “diktat”.
  
  
• British defence secretary Grant Shapps was forced to abandon a trip to Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa because of a Russian missile threat. As he flew to Poland last week, Shapps was notified that a convoy carrying both the Ukrainian president and Greek prime minister had narrowly avoided a Russian missile strike.
  
  
• At least five people have been injured after Russian forces attacked the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. The region’s governor, Vitalii Kim, has said that the injuries of the victims are not critical.
  
  
• Ukraine’s GDP rose by 3.6% during the first two months of this year, according to the country’s economy minister. Yulia Svyrydenko said on Sunday that this was driven by “several factors”, including investment demand and agricultural exports.
  
  
• Long-range attack drones have hit 12 Russian oil refineries during the war so far, according to a Ukrainian intelligence source. The Russian defence ministry has so far confirmed a total of 35 Ukrainian drone incursions across various regions.