Russian invasion of Ukraine: tanks and rocket attacks on the cities. Breaking news

About 5 a.m. Ukrainian air defense system hit 3 missiles in Vinnytsya region, Head of Vinnytsya RSA Sergiy Borzov informed. There are no victims.

A left by russian occupiers self-propelled artillery with a table reminding for russian “warriors”  - “Atifreeze is poison”.

Occupiers turn to shamans and fortune-tellers to survive in Ukraine, the SSU has reported after listening to conversations of the Russians.

In particular, one Rashist asked his mother to go to a fortune-teller to perform a special ritual against Ukrainian shells. In response, the mother reminds him to remember to put a ribbon of Saint George in his pocket "for protection". And he assures that he wrapped the ribbons completely. But without the rite there is nowhere to go.

As of 18 March, 2m Ukrainians had already crossed the border into Poland. Most of them are women with children, Polish border guards said.

#Pomagamy

The morning turned out to be a terrible one for some people in Kyiv.

55 years old Vasyl Shtefko from Zakarpattya joined the front even he had lost two legs before the war. The man lost his legs during making earnings in russia.

“I did not sleep for 2 days when I saw what was happening. I must confess now that I lied for the Command saying that I had only one prosthesis. People, who do not see the prostheses, do not even guess I do not have legs”, Vasyl admitted.

The United Nations: Increasing number of victims among Ukrainian civilian demand special investigation.

During period from February 24 to March 15, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented 1900 affected among civilians, 726 people out of them were killed, including 52 children.

Real data is much higher. As earlier and now, shelling towns makes the main danger for civilians.

Ukrzaliznytsya adds one more evacuation train from Kharkiv to Lviv on the 18th of March. The Intercity train leaves the station at 14:30.

The Ukrainian military has shot down a Russian sea-launched cruise missile over Odesa Region.

“One person is killed, 19 people are injured, out of them – 4 children. 6 living buildings are affected, kindergarten and a school,” Klytchko mentioned about the morning shelling Podil district of the capital by the rascists.

The russians did a missile stroke on Kramatorsk: they hit a living building and an administrative building, Head of Donetsk RSA Pavlo Kyrylenko informs: “Now it is known about 2 killed and 6 injured, other details under specification”.</p

One person was injured because of shelling Lviv region by the Russians, one person was injured, Head of Lviv RSA Maksym Kozytskyy. Noone died.

The fire at the Barabashovo market in Kharkiv has finally been localized, the city's mayor, Igor Terekhov, tells Suspilne.

Apart from the market, there were "certain direct hits to residential houses, administrative buildings in Kharkiv overnight and in the morning. In total more than 700 buildings in the city of Kharkiv were destroyed. The shelling has not stopped," the mayor added.

The building of the Kharkiv Regional Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy of Public Administration attached to the Office of the President of Ukraine has been destroyed by missile attacks in Kharkiv. 

In Kyiv region a fighting aircraft Su-34 of the enemy was hit. There was no launching noticed, the aircraft fell at the temporarily occupied territory.

Rashists shelled Zaporizhzhya suburbs with Smerch multiple rocket launchers.

Around 8 a.m. there was massive shelling of a military training ground and one of the adjacent factories and a quarry - resulting in a fire in the territory of the factory. The extent of destruction and casualties is being clarified.

March 17 the occupiers destroyed two private houses and affected two more buildings in Yablunivka village in Zhytomyr region.
Also, March 18 in Zalissya village the enemy affected a house and an economic building in two households. One more economic building got into fire, now rescuers are working there, State Emergency Service of Ukraine informs. Killed or injured people are not detected.

Dear friends, 

We call on you on behalf of the entire LIGA.net team. 

Our team works on the edge, sparing no efforts. We work directly from the bomb shelters and basements. However, we have now lost all our financial sources which means that without external support the company will not be able to keep the staff. 

That is why we have to ask you for help. Support us so that the team of Liga.net would be capable to continue fighting successfully on the information front. 

This link – https://www.liga.net/donation_ua – leads to all of our fundraising channels. You can support us by subscribing or by making a one-time transfer or by our Patreon. Any financial support will enable us keeping the staff.  

We will win because together we are strong. And together, we are the TRUTH! 

Show "pitiful" Scholz the polls among Russians who have 71% of the Russian population supporting the war against Ukraine and feel pride, joy, respect, trust or hope about it!


Chancellor @OlafScholz, in a bid to justify his indecisiveness, proposes to separate ordinary Russians and Putin as the author of the war. In Europe it could become an untrue trend. Because officially 71% of Russians strongly support the war against Ukraine

On 18 March, humanitarian evacuation corridors will operate along the following routes:

1. Mariupol - Mangush - Tokmak - Vasylivka - Kamianske - Zaporizhzhya
• Movement along the corridor by private vehicles.
• Buses are dispatched from Zaporizhzhya to Berdyansk.
• A petrol truck from Vasylivka continues to move to refuel private vehicles travelling out.
• Those travelling on foot are receiving aid in the town of Mangush.

2. Trostyanets - Sumy - Golubivka - Olshana - Nedrigailov - Korovintsy - Romny - Andriyashivka - Lokhvitsa - Lubny - Poltava
Movement in the convoy of private cars together with buses is possible.

3. Velyka Pysarivka - Akhtyrka - Khukhra - Kotelva - Poltava.
Movement in the convoy by private vehicles together with buses is possible.

4. Krasnopillya - Verkhnya Syvorotka - Sumy - Golubivka - Olshana - Nedrigailov - Korovintsy - Romny - Andriyashivka - Lokhvitsa - Lubny - Poltava.
Movement in the convoy by personal transport together with buses is possible.

5. Sumy - Golubivka - Olshana - Nedrigailov - Korovintsy - Romny - Andriyashevka - Lokhvitsa - Lubny - Poltava
From Sumy evacuation by private vehicles.
From Lokhvitsa buses will be sent for evacuation.

6. Lebedyn - Shtepovka - Nedrigailov - Korovintsy - Romny - Andriyashevka - Lokhvitsa - Lubny - Poltava
ovement by private car in convoy of buses.

7. Konotop - Shevchenkove - Khmeliv - Romny - Andriyashivka - Lokhvitsa - Lubny - Poltava.
Movement by private road transport in a convoy of buses.

Humanitarian cargo (food and medicines) will be sent from Kharkiv and Sloviansk to Balakleya and Izyum in the Kharkiv region.

Iryna Vereshchuk reports on the humanitarian corridors agreed for 18 March.

All hack attacks of the occupiers were repelled, personal data have not been affected – Derzhspetszviazok.

• The Police and Derzhspetszviazok hold an audit of russian hackers’ attacks to the websites of online media, they inform at the department. Personal data or information at the resources attacked were not affected.
• The occupiers’ hackers have a low level of training, they state at Derzhspetszviazok. Networks and servers used during the attack are already detected.
• The actions of the hackers are regarded as “support of a country that commits crimes against humankind and humanity”.
• The attacks were prepared since the beginning of the open aggression of Russia. The threat has been already liquidated; all the resources recovered their functions. The evidence gathered during the investigation will be used to bring the occupiers to justice.
• Since the beginning of the military break in, the hackers of the occupiers had been attacking repeatedly the websites of regional or city governments in Ukraine, and also media websites locating there russian symbols or Saint George's ribbon symbols.

They continue to calculate crimes of the rascists against the Ukrainians at the Chief Prosecutor Office.

9:14 a.m. firefighters liquidated a fire that appeared when the hit missile leftovers got into the living building in Podil district.

The hit missile leftovers got into a 5stored building in Podil district in Kyiv. Now there is a fire, State Emergency Service f Ukraine informs.

There appeared a fire from the 1st to the 3rd floor, which was detected by the arrived firefighters. Preliminary, they saved 12 people, evacuated 98 people, 4 people were injured. Unfortunately, 1 person died.

Total military losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 18.03:

• personnel - about 14200,
• tanks - 450,
• APV ‒ 1448,
• artillery systems – 205,
• MLRS - 72,
• anti-aircraft warfare systems - 43,
• aircraft – 93,
• helicopters – 112,
• vehicles - 879,
• boats / cutters - 3,
• fuel tanks - 60,
• UAV operational-tactical level - 12,
• special equipment - 11.
  

The data is under specification. Calculation is complicated by the intensive fighting.

A minute of silence in Ukraine in memory of those who died

The situation in the regions as of 8:00 a.m:

Kyiv region
Rocket fire alarms across the region. The hottest spots remain: Bucha district - Irpin, Bucha, Vorzel, Hostomel, Makarov, Borodyanka, Zhytomyr highway direction, Vyshgorod district and 4 communities in Brovary district.

Chernihiv region
Defensive battles near Chernihiv. There is no light or water in most of the city's neighbourhoods. Telecommunications are limited. Several air raids took place during the night, and the Russians shelled the centre and sleeping quarters of the city for several hours during the day and night.
The situation in suburban villages is dire, with the enemy placing their equipment between houses, intimidating people and taking away food.

Sumy region
Night-time shelling by the Russian army continued in Akhtyrsky district and around Sumy.
In the villages of these districts, orcs have driven people out of their homes, abused them, taken away food, broken phones and burned down houses.
From some settlements all the men are being taken away to an unknown destination.
In the morning, Sumy region received confirmation of humanitarian corridors to Poltava region from the cities of Sumy, Trostyanets, Lebedin, Konotop and the settlements of Krasnopolye and Bolshaya Pisarevka.

Zhytomyr region
Several alarms, without destructions and losses

Kirovograd region
Situation is calm

Dnepropetrovsk region
The night was quiet. In the morning the alarm

Kharkiv region
Rescuers in Kharkiv are still putting out a fire at the Kharkiv market, a rescuer was killed when the trade pavilions were shelled again. The fire has spread to neighbouring residential buildings. Russian attacks on residential areas continue. In the region: fighting continues in Izyum, Dergachiv and Chuhuyiv directions.

Zaporizhzhya region
Zaporizhzhya region with no significant changes. It was quiet at night

Rivne region
Night was quiet, but there was one air-raid alarm

Volyn
Night was quiet

Vinnytsia
Situation was generally calm, except for air-alarms.

Zakarpattya
The night was quiet

Khmelnytskyy region
Air raid in the morning, overnight - calm

Ternopil
The morning air-raid alarm, the night was calm.

Cherkasy
The situation is quiet.

Lviv region
The night was not calm. There were several explosions in Lviv around 6:30. According to preliminary information, there were three. The circumstances and results of the bombings are being investigated.

Poltava Region
The night was quiet.

Chernivtsi
there is quiet there

Ivano-Frankivsk
The night was quiet, in the morning a single air raid alarm.

Luhansk Region
More than 20 residential and infrastructure facilities were destroyed overnight in Severodonetsk and Rubizhne. In Severodonetsk - SSU building, a water canal, wholesale bases. At 5 a.m., Kremenna and Lysychansk were hit with Grads. The number of civilian casualties is being updated.
There were two casualties overnight.

Donetsk region
There is shelling all along the front line in the north and centre of the region.
Mariupol remains under siege. Street fighting
Marinka, Krasnogorivka, Avdiyivka – shelling, still ongoing.
Ocheretinskaya VGA: all night shelling in the Verkhnetoretska, Novobakhmutivka, Krasnogorivka area, shelling still continuing to this day.

Mykolaiv region
There were air strikes on Mykolaiv, Voznesensk and Snegirevka, rescuers put out fires. Casualty figures are being updated. Fighting continues in the region. In the occupied territories orcs are terrorizing the local population in villages.

Kherson region
Over the past 24 hours, explosions and gunfire have mixed in the Kherson region. Despite this, the region is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster. In Kherson itself, the orcs have set up new roadblocks.
People are waiting for the green corridors.

Odesa
One air-raid alarm at night

Kyiv has received another hit from the enemy. A residential area in the Podilskyy district has been shelled, the KCSA said.

Rescuers and medics are already working at the site. The nature and amount of damage to residential buildings and the number of casualties are being clarified.

Rockets have hit an aircraft repair plant in Lviv, - the city's mayor, Andriy Sadovyy, has said. As a result of the strikes, the plant's building was destroyed, with no preliminary casualties.

Several missiles hit aircraft repair plant. As a result, its building was destroyed. The plant has suspended its operation on time, so as for now, there are no casualties.

Rescuers and communal service workers are working on a site.

According to preliminary reports, six cruise missiles, probably X-555, were fired at an area near Lviv airport from a submarine from the Black Sea. Two of the missiles were destroyed in the sky, air command West said.

The invaders drove the kidnapped mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, for seven hours with a bag on his head and held him in a cell, he told Present Time in an interview after his release.

He also noted that his release was quite emotional because it was the second attempt at an exchange.

"The first attempt at an exchange was unsuccessful. They were driving me for over seven hours in a car, and then told me there would be no exchange. They took me back to the cell," he reported.

Fedorov also says that the kidnappers wanted him to sign a statement on resigning.

"But these people are absolutely illiterate, they do not understand the Ukrainian law, they don't know he mayor with the stroke of a pen cannot resign from his job, that the resignation must be accepted by the members of the city council. They don't understand that the mayor can't appoint a deputy, it has to be voted for by the members of the city council".

Also, the kidnappers wanted Fedorov to instruct the team to continue working under Russian flags and with unclear acting mayor, instructing the municipal enterprises to continue working. "Those were the tasks. Their task was one: that I would sit in the cell, and the city lived its life. And that's not going to happen."

At dawn Ukrainian Special Operation Forces team conducted an ambush behind enemy lines.
Accurate fire from the NLAW destroyed a Russian Tiger with a 35th Army official, and a TM-62 remote detonation destroyed a BTR-82 with the away team.

Humanitarian corridors in the Sumy region on March 18 have been confirmed, said the head of the regional state administration Dmytro Zhyvytskyy.

U.S. Congress suspended normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus

The suspension of normal trade relations means that imports from Russia and Belarus will be denied most-favored-nation status in the U.S. market. That would allow the U.S. administration to impose higher tariffs on goods from those countries than it does on other WTO members.

The U.S. also intends to push for stopping Russia's participation in the WTO as well as the membership process of Belarus.

The suspension of normal trade relations is scheduled for January 1, 2024.

Two people were killed and four injured as a result of overnight shelling in Severodonetsk and Rubizhne, Luhansk Region.

More than 20 residential buildings and infrastructure facilities were destroyed, according to Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration.

Two people were killed and four injured as a result of overnight shelling in Severodonetsk and Rubizhne, Luhansk Region.

More than 20 residential buildings and infrastructure facilities were destroyed, according to Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration.

The occupants struck the area near Lviv airport with rockets, said the mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyy.

"I can't name the address yet in real time, but it's definitely not the airport. In the buildings of our ATP-1 (municipal bus company) the windows were damaged," he noted.

71% of Russians support the war against Ukraine, the Russian Radio Svoboda wrote, citing data from two polls by independent groups of researchers.

The majority of the population in the aggressor country believe it would be better if Putin remained president as long as possible. 33 percent of poll participants firmly believe that he is working in their interests.

NV: In Lviv, eyewitnesses report three explosions and large black smoke on the outskirts of the city.

At about 6:30 a.m., explosions were heard in Lviv, a fire can be seen on the outskirts of the city, according to Denisenko, an adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In Kharkiv, the fire at the Barabshovo market, which began yesterday afternoon, is still being extinguished, according to the morning report by the State Emergency Service of the region. The fire area is about 7 hectares.

Variety: American director and producer Steven Spielberg and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, donated $1 million to humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

Suspilne reports: Around six in the morning in Voznesensk, Mykolaiv region, shells hit one of the warehouses.

Windows were blown out. As of 06:40, there was no information on casualties, said Voznesensk city mayor Yevheniy Velychko.

Operational information as of 06.00 18.03.2022 on the Russian invasion from the General Staff

Twenty-third day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the Russian military invasion has begun.

The state, position and character of the actions of the defense forces did not change significantly in the last 24 hours. The Armed Forces of Ukraine continued to inflict crushing blows on groups of enemy troops trying to gain a foothold and hold the captured defensive positions.

During the day, the Ukrainian defenders partially destroyed and stopped the advance deep into the territory of Ukraine of units from the 437 training regiment and 26 tank regiment of the armed forces of the Russian Federation. The losses of the enemy are being specified.

Also, during the previous day, the attack and bomber aviation of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched powerful strikes on columns of enemy materiel. Anti-aircraft missile troops and fighter aircraft struck 14 enemy air targets (seven aircraft, a helicopter, three UAVs and three cruise missiles).

Due to the fact that the invaders have significantly exhausted human resources (irretrievable and sanitary losses caused by units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, cases of self-harm in order to avoid participation in combat operations and psychogenic losses), the command of the armed forces of the Russian Federation comes to different measures in terms of recruitment. They are conducting concealed mobilization, involve so-called volunteers, conscript soldiers and cadets, as well as mercenaries from the Syrian Arab Republic.

In some temporarily occupied territories, the Russian invaders are trying to create a demonstrably positive image for themselves by distributing food to the civilian population. At the same time, pro-Ukrainian activists, civil servants, Antiterrorist Operation/Joint Forces Operation participants and their family members, as well as other citizens who can organize resistance to the occupation are actively stalked and detained.

The enemy continues to sustain losses. There are problems with supplying units. The low moral and psychological state of the personnel leads to an increase in the number of desertions and refusals of soldiers of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and mercenaries to participate in the war against Ukraine.

Harrison Paluska, a police officer from New Orleans, USA, responded to Zelenskyy's call to join the Foreign Legion to fight for Ukrainian independence, 4WWL reports.

Paluska spent two years as a beat cop on night watch in the 6th Police District, responding to shootings and armed conflict in some of New Orleans’ most crime-riddled neighborhoods, such as Central City. Now he's on his way to Poland to come to Ukraine.

“I think that it's a war for a lot of people that is good versus evil. I think a lot of people see Vladimir Putin for essentially a war criminal or a tyrant," the cop said of his motives, adding that his belief in democracy and freedom is spurring him on.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter that the Swiss food corporation Nestle is not withdrawing from the Russian market, thus allowing Russia to continue its aggression against Ukraine.

"By refusing to stop business activities in Russia, Nestle allows Russia’s war of aggression in Europe to continue. Long-term damage to the company’s reputation is proportionate to the scale of Russian war crimes in Ukraine (enormous). Not too late to change your mind, Nestle", the minister stressed.

By refusing to stop business activities in Russia, @Nestle allows Russia’s war of aggression in Europe to continue. Long-term damage to the company’s reputation is proportionate to the scale of Russian war crimes in Ukraine (enormous). Not too late to change your mind, Nestle. pic.twitter.com/1p5jbgtM4j

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 17, 2022

A bridge of toys to comfort children forced to leave Ukraine because of Russian aggression.

Romanian border guards, volunteers and people who cared put dozens of toys along the bridge that connects Ukraine and Romania.

"The children's smile when they are choosing toys, their joy when they receive sweets and fruit from the border guards seems to ease the pain in the eyes of their mothers," Romanian border guards shared on Facebook.

Swedish Dockworkers Union initiated a blockade of ships associated with Russia, SVT reports.

The head of the union, Eric Helgeson, gave notice of the workers' intentions in an official letter to the leadership. The blockade is planned to begin on March 28, but may start earlier, if necessary. They want to support their colleagues in Ukrainian ports and Ukrainians in general with these actions, doing their best.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken does not see that Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to stop the war against Ukraine. He stated this at a briefing.

"Diplomacy requires both sides engaging to de-escalate, and I do not see signs right now that Putin is prepared to stop," Blinken said.

Zelenskyy appealed to the hero cities, which are under Russian attack, saying Ukraine will not abandon them and is doing everything possible to keep them free.

"Our Mariupol, our Kharkiv, our Chernihiv, Kyiv region, Izyum and all our hero cities, which are in a very difficult situation. We are doing everything. All of us. Absolutely. Our army, police, State Emergency Service, humanitarian convoys, church... All our people. We will not leave you. And we will not forgive them," he said.