On 6 March, the National Guard of Ukraine reported a failed attempt to create a humanitarian corridor from besieged Mariupol. Russian forces allegedly opened fire on civilians.

On 7 March, the Russians shot Yuriy Prylypko, the mayor of Hostomel near Kiev, who was delivering bread to residents in hiding. Hostomel, Bucha and Irpin were still in Russian hands. 

The Russians began to boost the presence of internal security units in the war zones, including the Federal National Guard Troops Service of the Russian Federation, i.e. Rosgvardiya. These were tasked mainly with policing and repressive measures aimed at terrorizing the civilian population.

On 8 March, the Ukrainian military reported that it had repelled a Russian attack on Izyum in the Kharkiv oblast and that Kharkiv was under full control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Mariupol was cut off by Russian forces. Reports emerged that the Russians committed acts of looting and violence against civilians in the occupied areas of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kyiv regions. In the Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts, psychological warfare was reportedly employed against residents based on the ten tactical tasks of PsyOp. Moreover, the Federal Security Service set up operational groups to suppress outbreaks of social resistance, which heralded repression against the civilian population.

On 9 March, the Russians carried out an air strike on the maternity ward and children’s hospital in Mariupol. The toll was 3 people missing and 17 wounded. The shelling of Mariupol continued in the following days. The city was left without electricity, heating, food and drinking water. Civilian deaths were reported due to inaccessibility of drinking water. Due to heavy fighting, convoys with humanitarian aid could not reach the city.

In Kharkiv, Russian forces had destroyed 400 multi-storey apartment blocks since the beginning of the war.

The Energoatom Enterprise reported that Russian troops had mined the edge of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper, right next to the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

On 11 March, the Russian offensive was extended to western Ukraine. The airports in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk were attacked. The city of Dnipro, located in east-central Ukraine, was shelled for the first time. Fighting also continued on the north-eastern and eastern approaches to Kyiv.

Propaganda and disinformation activities intensified. The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia carried out a false-flag operation, using its jet planes to shell the village of Kopani near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border from Ukrainian airspace. According to Ukrainian reports, two Belarusian villages would also be attacked. These attacks, the Ukrainians claimed, were intended to cause the Belarusian Armed Forces to openly enter the war. The Ministry of Defence of Belarus denied information about such attacks. 

Photo: Yuri Prilipka, killed by the Russians. Photo: Facebook.com