The twenty-second day of the heroic opposition of the Ukrainian people to the Russian military invasion continues.

About us: The “Active Community” Initiative was launched by activists of the “Republic” Institute after Euromaidan (2014), which focused on the activation and engagement of Ukrainians in the decision-making process. 2025 goal is to activate and engage at least 1% of citizens in the decision-making process and promote reforms in Ukraine on a systemic basis for the well-being of the Ukrainian communities. Today we operate in 30 communities in Ukraine.

Ukraine in brief:

The twenty-second day of the heroic opposition of the Ukrainian people to the Russian military invasion continues.

Except for the areas where the fighting occurs, the enemy does not refuse to launch missile and bomb strikes on civilian infrastructure in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and other oblasts where there are no active hostilities.

Intensive use of the territory and infrastructure of Belarus by a group of troops of russia to strike at the territory of Ukraine is recorded in the Volyn direction.

The possibility of participation of certain units of the Armed Forces of Belarus in hostilities on the side of the russia remains.

In the Polissya direction, the enemy attemptad to capture the previously occupied frontiers, which were lost as a result of successful actions of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It has no success in this direction, and it suffers losses. It is trying to regroup troops and establish logistics.

The enemy did not carry out active offensive operations in the Chernihivska Oblast. It continues to prepare for the resumption of the offensive further to blockade Kyiv from the northeast. It carries out chaotic shelling of positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine units and tries to conduct surveillance.

In the Kharkiv Oblast, the occupiers tried to carry out offensive operations from the area of ​​the city of Izyum but were unsuccessful. Attempts are being made to gain a foothold in the occupied frontiers and improve the logistics system.

The enemy carried out offensive operations in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. It had partial success in the Rubizhne District. Near Popasna (Luhansk Oblast) and Volnovakha (Donetsk Oblast), it carried out unsuccessful assaults in the areas of Verkhnotoretsk and Marinka. It suffered losses and carried out a regrouping of troops and replenished stocks.

The occupiers did not carry out active offensive operations in the Zaporizhzhia direction.

In the Mykolaiv area the enemy carried out reconnaissance and the engineering equipment of occupied positions.

Russian occupation troops tried to carry out offensive operations in the Kryvyi Rih direction, took control of Mala Gear, but had no general success, is fixed in the positions held.

The enemy is trying to spread disinformation through all available channels of communication, both to the population of the temporarily occupied territories and its people, to form a myth about the "invincibility" of the armed forces of russia.

Northern Oblasts

Kyiv

The Russian army suffers losses but continues to attack Kyiv. In the evening, the russians struck at residential buildings in the Podil area.

A rocket attack damaged two high-rise apartment buildings in the Darnytskyi district at night. One person was killed, and two were injured.

Kyiv Oblast

Kyiv Oblast holds the defense, despite the attacks and crimes of russia. According to an adviser to the head of the President's Office, russians are raping and killing civilians in the Kyiv Oblast.

On March 16th, several camera crews came under enemy fire. According to them, the enemy was defeated in a tank battle and then began to roam the villages and roads, often at random aggressively.

There is a humanitarian catastrophe in the occupied Ivankivska, Dymerska, and Poliska communities of the Vyshhorod District. There is no communication, electricity supply, food, and medicine.

At Chernobyl, personnel has been working without rotation for over 20 days, continuing to work and ensuring nuclear and radiation safety of all elements and systems of the station. The Chernobyl personnel feed on their products from previous stocks. The staff does not accept food from the occupiers.

Ukrainian nuclear scientists refused the invaders' offer to change or vacate the station, realizing that they would put their colleagues at risk, who would have to become voluntary hostages of the occupiers. Also, if the personnel leave the station, the russian invaders can bring in new personnel from Rosatom State Atomiс Energy Corporation instead. The radiation background at and around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has not changed and is within acceptable limits.

Slavutych is entirely isolated. There is a need for food and medicine.

In the Bucha District, the occupiers fired on a column of tanks during the evacuation. Under the guise of "green corridors," the occupier redeploys its forces and equipment. Two policemen were killed.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces lined up an enemy helicopter KA 52.

Zhytomyr Oblast

In the Zhytomyr Oblast, bombs, propelled grenades, and artillery shells dropped by the russians on peaceful settlements are being defused.

Sumy Oblast

During the night air raids on Sumy, Russian aircraft dropped PFM-1 anti-personnel mines. In the Sumy Oblast, the russian military holds the so-called "marches in arms". They drive the local population from their homes, loot their houses, and slaughter cattle and poultry.

Chernihiv Oblast

The situation in Chernihiv is extremely hard. The intensity of shelling residential areas throughout the city from all types of weapons - both artillery and airborne - has increased significantly. According to the mayor of Chernihiv, in terms of damage, the city is placed third after Mariupol and Kharkiv.

In the afternoon, the russians hit downtown Chernihiv. Four people were killed. The day before, Russian troops fired on people standing in line for bread in one of Chernihiv's sleeping quarters. As a result of the artillery strike, 14 people were killed, and dozens were injured.

Chernihiv is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. There is no water, electricity or heating in the city.

The dead are temporarily buried in trenches in a closed cemetery. Due to constant shelling, the city cemetery is closed. More than 50 people died in Chernihiv in one day.

Eastern Oblasts

Kharkiv Oblast

Air raid alerts repeatedly sounded throughout the day. Russian occupation troops shelled different districts of Kharkiv 49 times. The number of shellings by multiple-rocket launchers increased. Yesterday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated an enemy battalion-tactical group near Kharkiv.

During this day, rescuers went out more than 40 times fire and clear the rubble.

In Kharkiv, as a result of shelling by the russian invaders, the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God on the Kholodna Hora was damaged. No one was injured or killed.

In Merefa, a school, a house of culture, and nearby homes were destroyed due to the enemy shelling. There are injured; rescuers clear the rubble and put out fires.

The enemy troops try to advance through Izium, but the Ukrainian Army fights back. Air defense units shot down two planes and a helicopter of the invaders.

The russian military fired cluster bombs at the village of Kozacha Lopan. At least six people were killed.

Donetsk Oblast

Kramatorsk

Air raid alerts were announced in the city during the day. No other enemy actions were registered.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Territorial Defense Forces continue to prepare to confront the enemy. The city is also being patrolled.

The city authorities continue to receive and distribute humanitarian aid. The evacuation of the population continues. The local citizens start to experience a shortage of fuel at gas stations. It is next to impossible to find certain drugs in pharmacies.

Humanitarian and volunteer organizations are active. Residents are involved in helping their hometown. In general, the situation remains worrying.

Pokrovsk and Pokrovsk District

Around midnight, russian troops used Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles, equipped with deceptions capable of bypassing air defense radars.

The Ukrainian military forces neutralized the rocket, but its remains fell and damaged one of the buildings in Pokrovsk. Two people were injured in yesterday's blast: one - in a state of moderate severity, another - in severe. The fire is localized. About 600 square meters of the roof were destroyed during the fire. Explosives technicians and emergency services are working on site. Rescuers are checking the area for dangerous objects.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine repulsed the onslaught of the enemy on the demarcation line of Avdiivka, Maryinska, and Kurakhiv communities of Pokrovsky District.

Local authorities met with carriers on the cost of travel and agreed not to change the fare. Work on the evacuation of civilians from frontline cities continues. Today, 209 people were taken to safety: including 26 from Avdiivka, including 6 children.

For the second time, Kovel in the Volyn Oblast is assisting the Pokrovsk community and sending food and basic necessities to Pokrovsk. Today baby carriages, baby clothes, blankets, canned food, vegetables, and medicines were unloaded.

Railway enterprises of Donetsk Oblast received humanitarian aid. For example, foodstuffs were delivered to the Lyman, including biscuits, meat products, canned fish, milk, water, and hygiene products. This aid has been distributed and redirected to complete bomb shelters and shelters on the territory of railway enterprises in Kostiantynivka, Lyman, Slovyansk, Bakhmut, and Pokrovsk.

Volnovakha

The situation in Volnovakha remains unchanged. We managed to get in touch with relatives with whom we had no contact.

The Olha community has already appointed a "new government" from among those who lived in Novotroitsk. Shops have opened, people are not starving. They look for their relatives.

In the Khlibodariv community in the village of Ivanivtsi, the occupiers shot 4 men, including 2 young activists. The circumstances are still unknown.

 

Bakhmut

The situation in the city is tense. You can learn about the work of the city and assistance to territorial defense and internally displaced persons from the Bakhmut City Council's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rada.bakhmut/posts/693707141982812 The city is trying to live.

Mariupol

Mariupol Deputy Mayor Dmytro Orlov said 80-90% of the city had been bombed. No building is undamaged. Either they were destroyed or damaged. Public utilities are engaged in burials - mostly in mass graves in the City Garden, in the city center. It was originally buried in a closed cemetery 40 years ago, but the place ended there. Up to 70% of the dead can be identified. As of March 14th, 2,357 people were found dead on the streets. However, the bodies may be under the rubble, so the number of locals killed by russians is greater.

On March 16th, the russian occupiers struck at the Drama Theater, which sheltered civilians. A Russian pilot saw the inscriptions "CHILDREN" from the sky in front of and behind the building. People trapped in the bomb shelter began to be released from the rubble. The shelter withstood the bombing.

In Mariupol, russian occupation troops took hostage a paramedic, Yulia Payevska, and her driver. In the city, she treated wounded civilians.

Luhansk Oblast

Rubizhne

Russian occupation troops fire constantly. At least 27 houses in Rubizhne were damaged and occupied during the night. At least 5 more fires took place in Popasna, one - in Severodonetsk. Information on victims and dead is being clarified.

The Head of the Regional Administration said that people had been evacuated from Popasna even under russian fire. The russians opened fire on the bus during the evacuation and damaged the door. The people were taken by bus to one of the railway stations in Donetsk Oblast, where they will travel by train to the country's western oblasts.

Humanitarian headquarters are working throughout the region. Every day humanitarian aid arrives in Luhansk Oblast, including food, medicine, hygiene products. Humanitarian cargoes arrived in Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. There is a problem with its delivery to remote settlements. Citizens are asked to contact the city, town, village councils, military civil administration, or old-fashioned districts if citizens need something.

South Oblasts

Zaporizhzhia Oblast

The situation in the oblast remains difficult. Part of the settlements, especially in the south, are temporarily occupied by russian troops. Occupants pressure locals, do lootings and kidnappings.

On the evening of March 16th, the Russian military made a heavy artillery strike on the auto convoy with displaced persons moving towards Zaporizhzhia. Luckily, there were no casualties. There are 5 wounded, and one child is in bad condition. As a result of shelling, a fire occurred in the field.

Local authorities tell that occupants lowered the tempo of the attack in the Zaporizhzhia direction because of significant problems with fuel and ammunition supply.

Zaporizhzhia

At night on March 16-17th bus with 125 children arrived in Zaporizhzhia, who were rescued from the boarding school of Berdiansk. The city continues to accept internally displaced persons (IDPs). Humanitarian hubs and volunteer centers work in the city.

Energodar (Zaporizhzhia Nucler Power Plant)

As a result of shelling by the russian military on March 16th, high-voltage power lines were damaged at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) – Kahovska 750 kW. Now only one power line works out of 4. It is impossible to fix lines because of the combat actions.

Head of National Energy Company “Ukrenergo” Volodymyr Kudrytskii assured that power supply to Crimea from the Zaporizhzhia NPP is impossible. There is no power-line called “Zaporizhzhia NPS – Crimea”, meaning they are not connected with a direct infrastructure network. To supply something to Crimea from Zaporizhzhia NPP is technically impossible. Now, after we synchronized with the European network, even more so.

In Energodar situation is tensed. The city is under russian occupants’ control. 

Melitopol

On the evening of March 16th, news came that Melitopol City Head Ivan Fedorov was rescued from russian captivity due to a successful special operation. Melitopol is still under the control of russian occupants who try to set their puppet authorities and to spread russian propaganda.

 

Berdyansk

The city remains temporarily occupied by russian troops. Evacuation bus convoy moved from Zaporizhzhia to Berdiansk and fuel tank to fuel private cars used to move people from Mariupol. Locals say that occupants move grain out of the city.

Huliaypole

On March 16th russian military shelled civilian districts of Huliaypole. As a result, a fire occurred in private houses, cars, and maintenance buildings.

Pology

The city has an urgent need for food, medicine, hygiene products. There are minimal stocks of flour, only for a couple of days. Russian occupants don’t let in humanitarian trucks.

 

Kherson Oblast

Kherson Oblast is occupied. Many occupants in the communities are freely moving around the city. Russia steals water from Kherson water reservoir and directs it to Crimea. They already stole water for 620 million UAH.

Skadovsk

The activists took down the russian flag on the city hall. According to information, the council secretary is in the hands of the orcs. The Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed dozens of enemy equipment in the Kherson airport in Chornobayivka. The situation is controlled to the extent possible. Territorial Defense Forces patrol the city. The mayor pleads not to provoke the orcs and thanks everyone for the assistance and support of the government. The executive committee works in a distance mode. The locals try to remain calm and united. Some shops, markets, the post office, the outpatient clinic operate; the schools work in distance training mode. The pharmacies are empty.          UkrPoshta has started paying retirement benefits. They promise to pay on time both in villages and the city. All utility companies operate in the community. The first batch of medicines has been collected for Skadovsk residents by friends from Lviv. As there is no humanitarian corridor in place, the local government is looking for a way of bringing them to Skadovsk.

Odesa Oblast

Air raid alerts were wailing throughout the day. The military works their mine system on the beaches of Odesa. The locals are banned from staying on the beach or going to the sea. Two villages in the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi District had electricity restored to them. There are no lines at border crossings between the Odesa Oblast, Moldova, and Romania.

Central Oblasts

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

A water pumping station in the village of Maryanske, Kryvyi Rih Disrtict, that pumps water from the Kakhovske reservoir to the Pivdenne reservoir in Kryvyi Rih has been subjected to Grad shelling. A team of specialists has been working on-site.

Besides that, the boroughs of Maryansky were shelled at night, which led to a fire on up to two hectares of reeds. The prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation into the incident.

The Ukrainian military brought down two missiles over Dnipro. Two enemy aircraft were shot down during the night by the Dnipropetrovsk air defense over the Kharkiv Oblast. 

Five russian infiltrators were detained in the Oblast in the last 24 hours. Plunderers are also being hunted. Nearly 30% of utility service personnel in Dnipro mobilised to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) or joined Territorial Defense Forces.

Nuremberg donated a big batch of pet food to Dnipro. These will suffice for feeding animals at shelters for two or three months.

Kirovohrad Oblast

Kropyvnytskyi

The situation in the city is under control. There was an air raid alert in the morning. The AFU defend the limits of the Oblast and its military facilities. The Territorial Defense Forces, together with police officers, are watching the checkpoints and patrolling the city. Almost 8.5 IDPs, a third of them children, reached the Oblast in the last 24 hours. Shops, markets, and public transport are operations. V. Vynnychenko CUSPU invites students from hot points for distance learning.

Poltava Oblast

The public viewing of the five servicemen defenders of Ukraine has been held near the Cathedral Church of Holy Dormition today. There is a prohibition of alcoholic drinks sale in place in the Oblast. Law enforcement has confiscated 2,300 l alcohol throughout the wartime.

Vinnytsia Oblast

Zhmerynka

There is no military action on the territory of the community. However, the locals are still frightened of yesterday’s bombing of the Vinnytsia TV tower. Some households used to getting news from the telly have been left without the option. With air raid alerts becoming ever frequent, the moods are pessimistic. The volunteers operate full steam, the education process is running smoothly, and the city’s humanitarian needs are fully catered for.

Western Oblasts

Lviv Oblast

The Lviv Oblast Military Administration (OMA) is looking for a place where beds for our compatriots from other regions can be set up. Currently, 158,000 IDPs live in the Lviv Oblast. This is without considering people who have settled in the private sector and have not yet registered. The reserve of beds allows accepting 17 thousand more people.

A branch of one of the leaders in the medical field, the Scientific and Practical Center for Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has moved to Lviv. During the war, it worked based on the Lviv Regional Cardiology Center.

Vocational education institutions in the Lviv Oblast also mobilized their forces to help Ukrainian soldiers. Students and workers sew bandages for defense, medical bags, vests, balaclavas, military uniforms, bedding, mats, and stretchers.

As of today, 3,573 children are temporarily involved in the educational process in the Lviv Oblast. Most students are from Kharkiv and Kyiv Oblast. Humanitarian headquarters work around the clock in all districts of the Lviv region.

Drogobych

There was an air alarm in the Drohobych District. Drohobych District State Veterinary Hospital will provide consultations and free examinations of pets whose owners are temporarily displaced and live in the Drohobych District.

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast

The community was calm. The alarm was sounding for an hour and a half at night. In Prykarpattia, the National Security Service of the National Police detained a 58-year-old man who offered a monetary reward on social networks for applying so-called labels on objects of strategic importance and infrastructure.

The critical infrastructure in the city is working. Residents and landlords of apartments and retail space are urged to pay for utilities on time so that the city's entire infrastructure can continue to operate smoothly. Car owners are reminded not to violate traffic rules, particularly in terms of parking; in martial law, it is permissible to remove improperly parked cars in favor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The volunteer front continues to work actively in the community.

Rivne Oblast

Rivne

There were two air raids. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are intensively patrolling the border with Belarus. Territorial Defense Forces continue to patrol and duty at checkpoints. "An airstrike was recorded on one of the military infrastructure facilities in the city of Sarny. There are no victims. A commission is working at the scene, "everything is under control," said Vitaliy Koval, Head of the Rivne Oblast State Administration. Information about the airstrike in Sarny

The Head of the Rivne Regional State Administration talked with the leaders of the Rokytne and Berezivka communities and discussed the security situation in the communities, ensuring voluntary formations and price regulation. (https://www.facebook.com/koval8/posts/513440050393076). People are united, helping volunteers financially and immaterially. Rivne Oblast received half a hundred pupils of Borodyanka psychoneurological boarding school from Kyiv. (https://www.facebook.com/RivneODA/posts/291350693136626).

IDPs are invited to work, open vacancies are posted in employment centers - https://www.facebook.com/RivneODA/posts/291397283131967 

Rivne Academic Puppet Theater is working on the road for internally displaced children. 

The Russian occupiers launched an airstrike on the Rivne Oblast.

Khmelnytskyi Oblast

Khmelnytskyi

The situation in the community is under control. A clothing distribution center for IDPs has been opened at the Oblast Philharmonic. Philanthropists gave all these things (warm clothes, shoes, children's clothes, toys) to the Oblast humanitarian hub. Employees of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast Philharmonic also weave camouflage nets within the art institution, make anti-tank "hedgehogs," and give shelter to people who have left the hotspots.

IDPs have the opportunity to undergo free vocational training at the Job Center. Khmelnytskyi bloggers, humorists, and hosts are currently volunteering. They united and helped the military. They raise money and buy load-bearing vests, bulletproof vests, medicine, thermal underwear, and clothing.

Rent prices in Khmelnytskyi have suddenly increased. The City Council considers such a sharp rise in prices unreasonable and promises to punish those who want to make a profit of others' grief.

Kamianets-Podilskyi

There are no hostilities within the city. Another 280 people were officially given shelter last night, while the total number of IDPs is 13,1 thousand. Laundries have been organized for IDPs.

223 school-age children attend the city's educational institutions. The need for blankets, bed linen and pillows is increasing. The City Council is expected to hand over all available resources to the Department of Education, responsible for settling people.

Providing help to enterprises from the evacuated territories is now on the city's agenda. At the same time, Oblast and District Military Administrations discuss how to provide the community with bread.

The Department of Health reviews individual applications concerning insulin provision for patients, creates surgical teams, and decides upon the involvement of a charitable foundation to meet the need for medicines.

All humanitarian aid in the city is accounted for and issued according to officially registered needs and sent daily to the territory where hostilities and a humanitarian problem occur. Currently, the city is preparing cargo for Boyarka, Kyiv, and Konotop. A single scheme to form individual needs for officially registered IDPs is being developed for the volunteer centers.

In general, the situation in the city is quiet. The number of people has significantly increased. Shelves at stores have become noticeably empty.

Chernivtsi Oblast

The operational situation in Bukovyna remains stable and under control. Recruitment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Territorial Defense Forces continues. Members of regional Territorial Defense Forces and the National Guard, police, and other law enforcement agencies continue to work intensively during wartime.

More than 20 companies operating in active combat zones plan to relocate to Bukovyna. Romanian border guards leave toys for Ukrainian children on the bridge, creating a "plush bridge" connecting two countries. Thus, the border guards took care to entertain little children fleeing the war.

Bukovyna has hosted almost 50,000 people so far. IDPs are encouraged to resume their professional activities by going to job centers. More than 700 displaced children joined Chernivtsi schools.

Zakarpattia Oblast

The situation in Oblast is calm. There was an air-raid siren at night. People go to work. Zakarpattia continues to host IDPs, helps them to cross the border. International funds for work with IDPs have become more active.