Ukraine/Russland/NATO – der Sammler am 23. April 2022 (Updates: Briefings Kiew, Moskau)

Im russischen Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine gehen die Kämpfe im Osten des Landes stetig weiter, der Umfang ist derzeit nicht so ganz klar – auch wenn die russischen Streitkräfte nach eigenen Angaben in der Nacht mehr als 1.000 Angriffe mit Raketen und Artillerie gestartet haben. Der Sammler am 23. April 2022:

• Das britische Intel Update:

Despite increased activity, Russian forces have made no major gains in the last 24 hours as Ukrainian counter-attacks continue to hinder their efforts.
Russian air and maritime forces have not established control in either domain owing to the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air and sea defence reducing their ability to make notable progress.
Despite their stated conquest of Mariupol, heavy fighting continues to take place frustrating Russian attempts to capture the city thus further slowing their desired progress in the Donbas.

• Das Morgenbriefing des ukrainischen Generalstabs:

The fifty-ninth day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to a russian military invasion continues. A russian federation continues its full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine.
russian enemy is conducting offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone in order to defeat the Joint Forces, establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and secure a land route between these territories and the occupied Crimea.
The greatest activity of russian enemy is observed in Slobozhansky and Donetsk directions. Units of russian occupiers are regrouping.
russian enemy continues to launch missile and bomb strikes on military and civilian infrastructure.
In the Volyn, Polissya and Siversky directions, certain units of the Armed Forces of the republic of belarus perform tasks to strengthen the Ukrainian-belarusian border in the Brest and Gomel regions. In order to clarify the position of our troops in the Sumy direction, the enemy used UAVs from the area of ​​the settlement of Glushkovo.
The threat of missile and air strikes from these areas remains. In addition, it is possible that the enemy will provoke on the Ukrainian-Russian border, accusing them of representatives of the Defence Forces of Ukraine.
In the Tavriya and Pivdennobuzhsky directions there is a group of russian enemy troops, consisting of independent units of the 8th and 49th Combined Arms Armies, the 22nd Army Corps, the coastal troops of the Black Sea Fleet of the Southern Military District and Airborne troops. russian enemy focuses its main efforts on improving its tactical position and maintaining the occupied frontiers.
In order to create favourable conditions for advancing in the direction of the city of Mykolayiv, russian enemy is shelling the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. To increase the air defense system near the city of Skadovsk, russian enemy deployed a S-300VM battery.
In the Slobozhansky direction, a group of russian enemy troops continues to partially block Kharkiv and fire at it from barrel and rocket artillery.
Independent units of the 1st Tank and 20th Combined Arms Armies of the Western Military District, the 35th Combined Arms Army and the 68th Army Corps of the Eastern Military District and Airborne Forces are conducting offensive and assault operations south of Izyum. russian enemy conducts air reconnaissance of positions and measures to organize fire support for the offensive and the organization of logistical support of the group.
According to available information, units of the 64th Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade, which took an active part in the mass killings, torture and rape of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, are operating in the area of ​​Izyum and have already suffered casualties.
In the Donetsk direction, russian enemy is conducting offensive operations along the entire line of contact. russian enemy is concentrating its main efforts on the offensive in the Siverodonetsk direction, exerting intense fire on our troops in order to displace them and create conditions for the development of the offensive on Slovyansk. The offensive in the direction of Novotoshkivsky and assault operations in the areas of Rubizhne, Popasna and Marinka continue.
In the Mariupol direction, russian enemy continues to blockade our units in the area of ​​the Azovstal plant and launch air strikes on the city, including with the use of long-range aircraft. In order to demine the port infrastructure of Mariupol, an engineering russian unit arrived in the occupied city.
In the Zaporizhzhia direction, to strengthen its group, russian enemy moved a battalion tactical group from the 19th Motorized Rifle Division of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District.
As part of the formation of additional reserves, the training of a unit of the russian private military campaign „Wagner“ numbering up to 200 people was completed. The advanced group of the unit was transferred to the Novobakhmutivka district to reconnoitre the area and clarify the order of interaction. The information is currently being clarified.
In the South Buh direction, russian enemy is trying to improve its tactical position and gain a foothold on the administrative borders of the Kherson region. Suffers significant losses in technics.
In the Black Sea and Azov operational zones, russian enemy naval groups in the Black and Azov Seas continue to carry out tasks to isolate the combat area and conduct reconnaissance.
In the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts alone, eight russian enemy attacks have been repulsed in the past 24 hours, nine tanks, eighteen armored units and thirteen vehicles, a tanker and three artillery systems have been destroyed.

• Das Morgenbriefing des russischen Verteidigungsministeriums:

Über Nacht haben hochpräzise Flugkörper der russischen Luftwaffe 11 ukrainische Militärziele getroffen.
Darunter: 7 Hochburgen und Orte, an denen sich Arbeitskräfte und militärische Ausrüstung konzentrieren. Durch die Angriffe erlitt der Feind Verluste von bis zu zwei Kompanien Personal und 25 gepanzerten Fahrzeugen und Fahrzeugen. In der Nähe des Dorfes Chervonne wurden außerdem drei Raketen- und Artilleriewaffenlager zerstört.
Die taktischen und militärischen Luftstreitkräfte der russischen Luftwaffe haben in der Nacht 66 ukrainische Militäreinrichtungen getroffen. Darunter: drei Gefechtsstände, 58 Bereiche, in denen Arbeitskräfte und ukrainische Militärausrüstung konzentriert sind, sowie drei Raketen- und Artilleriewaffendepots in den Gebieten der Dörfer Oleksandrivka, Komar und Bohatyr.
Die Raketen- und Artilleriekräfte führten im Laufe des Tages 1.098 Feuereinsätze durch. Bei den Angriffen wurden drei ukrainische Hubschrauber vom Typ Mi-8 in der Nähe des Dorfes Tschugujew, drei Flugabwehrraketensysteme vom Typ Osa-AKM am Rande des Dorfes Barwenkowo, 16 Waffen- und Ausrüstungsdepots und 33 Kontrollposten ukrainischer Einheiten zerstört. 919 Hochburgen und Gebiete, in denen sich Personal und militärische Ausrüstung befinden, sowie 124 ukrainische Artilleriestellungen wurden getroffen.
Russische Luftabwehrkräfte haben im Gebiet Nowaja Dmytriwka, Oblast Charkiw, ein Su-25-Flugzeug der ukrainischen Luftwaffe in der Luft abgeschossen. Ebenfalls in der Nacht wurden fünfzehn unbemannte ukrainische Luftfahrzeuge, darunter ein Bayraktar TB-2, über dem Dorf NOVAYA ZARIA, Region Mykolaiv, zerstört.
Im Gebiet Tschornobaiwka schossen Rechner von Pantsir-S Boden-Luft-Raketenwerfern zwei taktische Tochka-U-Raketen und drei Geschosse eines Mehrfachraketenwerfers ab.
Seit Beginn der militärischen Sonderoperation wurden insgesamt 141 Flugzeuge, 110 Hubschrauber, 538 unbemannte Luftfahrzeuge, 261 Boden-Luft-Raketensysteme, 2.471 Panzer und andere gepanzerte Kampffahrzeuge, 274 Mehrfachraketen, 1.075 Feldartilleriegeschütze und Mörser sowie 2.311 militärische Spezialfahrzeuge zerstört.
(übersetzt mit deepl.com)

• Das Abendbriefing des ukrainischen Generalstabs:

The fifty-ninth day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to a russian military invasion continues. A russian federation continues its full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine.
russian enemy is trying to increase the pace of the operation in east of Ukraine in order to encircle the Joint Forces, as well as to establish full control over Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
In the Volyn and Polissya areas, russian enemy did not take active action, no signs of the formation of offensive groups were found.
In the Slobozhansky direction, russian enemy continues to partially blockade the city of Kharkiv, carrying out artillery shelling of the positions of our units and civilian infrastructure in the area of ​​the settlements of Chuhuiv, Korobochkino and Dovgenke.
In the Donetsk and Tavriya directions, the main efforts of russian enemy were focused on taking control of the settlements of Popasna, Rubizhne and preparing for the attack on the city of Siverodonetsk. In the area of ​​Marinka and in most other areas, russian enemy is unsuccessful in the course of hostilities.
In the South Buh direction, russian occupiers did not carry out active offensive operations, russians carried out single shellings of Ukrainian units with barrel artillery.
According to available information, russian enemy has significant problems with the medical support of its units, there are difficulties with the evacuation of the wounded, there is a lack of medicine. Due to the growing number of wounded, in the city of Balakliya, the enemy, along with the deployed military hospital, uses the capabilities of the city clinic.
In the city of Vovchansk, which is temporarily occupied, junior medical personnel of health care facilities are forcibly sent to provide first aid to russian enemy units on the line of contact with the Defence Forces of Ukraine.
Also, the russian troops have significant problems with the replenishment of personnel, attempts to forcibly mobilize residents of the Kherson region to the russian occupying forces continue.
According to available information, russian enemy uses civilian trucks to move military cargo in the temporarily occupied territories. Also, russian occupiers continue to use stolen agricultural machinery for military purposes.
Units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine continue to liberate settlements in certain areas and maintain certain defensive lines.

• Vom russischen Verteidigungsministerium erneut Vorwürfe, die USA würden Provokationen vorbereiten, um den russischen Streitkräften den Einsatz von Massenvernichtungswaffen anzulasten. Als Beleg wird dafür unter anderem angeführt, dass die Ukraine das Gegenmittel Atropin für einen möglichen Chemiewaffeneinsatz erhalten habe. Diese wiederholten Vorwürfe wecken im Westen die Befürchtung, dass Russland genau solche Operationen selber plant:

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation possesses the information related to the preparation of provocations by the United States of America in order to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of using chemical, biological or tactical nuclear weapons. This plan has already been developed and represents a response to the success of Russia in conducting the special military operation. (…)
This time there are three scenarios to be applied in order to accuse the Russian Federation.
The first one is a ‘staged incident under a false flag’ that is the most probable.
This could include a real use of chemical and biological weapons that would cause deaths among the population or staging ‘sabotages’ from Russia at the facilities of Ukraine involved in the development of components for weapons of mass destruction.
The abovementioned scenario can be implemented in the chemical and biological facilities located in Kharkov and Kiev. There also may occur a provocation in the nuclear energy facilities: above all others, it could refer to Zaporozhie Nuclear Power Station controlled by the Russian Federation. On April, 21, a convoy of 10 motor vehicles that was transporting dangerous goods to the nuclear station was stopped and turned about to Zaporozhie.
In addition, the leadership of Ukraine is seriously considering striking at the radioactive waste storage facility at the former Pridneprovsky Chemical Plant in the village of Kamenskoye in Dnipropetrovsk Region. The Ministry of Defense has documents confirming the critical condition of the storage facility and the inappropriate spending of funds allocated by the European Union for the maintenance of the facility.
The second one refers to a ‘Maximally covert use of weapons of mass destruction in small volumes’ for neutralising the will power and the capacity to resist within the fulfilment of a particular operational task.
This scenario was supposed to be implemented in ‘Azovstal’. But the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief to cancel the assault of the entity has frustrated the plans of the Pentagon.
The third and the least probable one is the ‘overt use of weapons of mass destruction at a combat area’ in case of failure to succeed in using conventional armaments in the combat zone.
This scenario was considered for Slavyansk and Kramatorsk that had been transformed into fortified towns.
The high probability of staging the application of chemical arms is confirmed by the facts of the supply of antidotes with toxic substances to Ukraine. Only in 2022, on request of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine, more than 220 thousand of vials with atropines. This fact is an evidence of a targeted preparation of a provocation that includes the use of toxic nerve-paralytic substances.

• Im Abendbriefing des russischen Verteidigungsministeriums wird der Angriff auf die Hafenstadt Odessa erwähnt, der nach ukrainischen Angaben mindestens fünf Tote forderte. Nach russischer Darstellung zielte der Angriff mit luftgestützten Marschflugkörpern auf einen Umschlagpunkt für Waffenlieferungen aus dem Westen:

This afternoon, high-precision long-range air-based missiles fired by the Russian Aerospace Forces disabled logistics terminal at a military airfield near Odessa, where a large batch of foreign weapons received from the US and European countries was being stored.
During the day, 22 military assets of Ukraine were hit by high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
Among them: 2 battalion command and control posts and 1 brigade command and control post, 11 strong points, as well as areas of Ukrainian manpower and military equipment concentration. Up to 200 servicemen and nationalists, as well as more than 30 armoured vehicles and cars, were destroyed.
3 weapon, military equipment and ammunition depots have been destroyed in Illichevka and Kramatorsk.
1 Buk M1 anti-aircraft missile system and 3 radar stations were destroyed near Novaya Dmitrovka.
During the day, operational-tactical and army aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 79 military assets of Ukraine. Among them: 6 command posts, 52 areas of Ukrainian manpower and military equipment concentration, as well as 16 depots of missile and artillery weapons, ammunition and fuel.
4 anti-aircraft missile systems were destroyed: 3 Buk-M1s near Kurakhovka and Romanovka and 1 Tor anti-aircraft missile system near Sergeevka.
Russian air defence means destroyed 3 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles near the settlements of Izyum and Kherson, including 1 Bayraktar TB-2 over Lozovaya, Kharkov Region.
Missile troops and artillery carried out 102 firing missions during the night. Destroyed: 6 command posts, 84 strong points and areas of manpower and military equipment concentration, as well as 10 artillery batteries.
In total, 141 aircraft and 110 helicopters, 541 unmanned aerial vehicles, 264 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,479 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 278 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,081 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,321 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.