UKRAINE. The war in Ukraine has now shifted to the east of the country, with Russian troops suspected of plotting final attacks on Mariupol and Donbass. Update and maps as of April 13, 2022…
[Mis à jour le 13 avril 2022 à 10h47] The war in Ukraine is now playing out in the east of the country, after the attempted invasion, the atrocities committed, particularly around kyiv, and the redeployment of the Russian army. Situation cards are now dramatically different from February or March. the stronghold of Mariupol and the region of Donbass, on the border with Russia, focus attention while in kyiv and in the former occupied areas life tries to resume and the discovery of atrocities committed by the Russian army continues.
- In Mariupol, Russian forces were maintaining their pressure on Tuesday and Ukrainian soldiers were desperately trying to defend the strategic port city amid the destruction, AFP reported. The agency writes that “the noose is tightening on the last Ukrainian troops defending Mariupol, besieged for more than 40 days by the Russian army, largely destroyed and where the humanitarian situation is dramatic”. The Ukrainian authorities already deplore between 20 and 22,000 dead in the city and “90% of houses” destroyed. Governor Kirilenko also indicated on Telegram that Mariupol is now plagued “day and night” by “street fighting”. The situation of Mariupol on the maps of Ukraine shows it: the capture of this south-eastern city, which now seems imminent, would allow the Russians to consolidate their territorial gains on the coastal strip along the Sea of Azov by connecting the Donbass regions to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
- In the Donbass, the war in Ukraine is also expected to intensify. Moscow has made the conquest of this border area of Russia its priority objective. kyiv has announced that it expects a major offensive in the short term. “According to our information, the enemy has almost completed its preparation for an assault on the east. The attack will take place very soon,” warned Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandre Motouzianik; quoted by AFP.
- In Kyiv, life gradually resumes after the Russian withdrawal. On Tuesday, President Zelensky denounced “hundreds of cases of rape” observed according to him in the areas previously occupied by Putin’s army. “Almost daily, we find new mass graves”, also declared the Ukrainian head of state, who assures that “we continue to find bodies in the sewers and cellars”. The word “genocide” so far used by Zelensky was taken up by US President Joe Biden in the last hours.
The situation maps of the war in Ukraine, updated daily, illustrate the change in the face of the conflict since the end of March. Since the beginning of this war in Ukraine, maps have played a decisive role in understanding the Russian military operation and in monitoring the situation live. Here are the best sources available with up-to-date maps (depending on update dates, the maps shown below may date back to the previous day).
The maps of the war in Ukraine
A few days after the start of the war in Ukraine, the French Ministry of Defense set up a situation update and a map detailing the theater of operations. The map is available on the Ministry of Defense portal and is updated daily.
The UK Ministry of Defense also delivers very regular reports on the situation in Ukraine. In addition to the “Intelligence updates” (updates of information on the ground) delivered on his Twitter accountthere are also maps summarizing the day-to-day situation.
The map of the Ukrainian site Liveuamap
One of the most valuable documents currently available online is the map drawn up by Liveuamap.coman independent Ukrainian platform that compiles and cross-checks information from media sources and social media and allows you to view, in real time or almost, the clashes and strikes that follow one another in the country.
Another interactive map published on MapHub allows to visualize the attacks of Russia and the acts of defense of Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. The tool, which lists hundreds of events to date, is overseen by the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), an independent UK-based not-for-profit company that is also dedicated to identifying, tackling and exposing influence operations. The CIR aims to “raise awareness of the threat that influence operations, including disinformation, pose to democracy and objective truth, and to help counter them”.
Situation maps from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
Daily reports and maps by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) supply the press (including Le Monde) with recent and precise information. The Institute for the Study of War is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public policy research organization. It “promotes an informed understanding of military affairs through trusted research, reliable analysis, and innovative education.”
Maps of media and journalists in France and abroad
Several agencies provide the press with daily updated maps and charts. This is the case of Agence France Presse in France, but also of specialized services such as Visactu again, or Graphic News, an independent international agency entirely financed by media publishers. Most of these maps are updated at the end of the day.
In France, reference sites such as Le Monde or Le Figaro offer to follow the advance of Russian troops via a series of maps based themselves on reliable data from the sources mentioned above. The Decoders of the World offer a map of the evolution of the Russian invasion from day to day, equipped in particular with a slider to navigate through the chronology of the conflict. Le Figaro has established several maps based on information from the Liveuamap site, the Graphicnews agency and other press agencies such as AFP.
On Twitter, the maps and situation reports of the historian and former soldier Michel Goya, who has become a columnist for BFMTV, are among the most complete. These documents, based on War Mapper maps, are also available on his blog. Abroad, the sites of the New York Times and the Washington Post, the two leading American media, also offer up-to-date maps.
kyiv, Mariupol… The mapped battles
The battle of kyiv, like that of Mariupol, in particular, has been mapped by several media in France and around the world. Visactu, a French agency specializing in the production of press infographics, regularly offers updates on the situation in the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, from where Russian troops have withdrawn Le Monde, Le Figaro, the New York Times or the Washington Post are among the media that present the best summaries of the situation, such as the Kyiv Independenta newspaper from the Ukrainian capital that regularly reports.
In the UK, the BBC also has a page to follow the fighting in Ukraine, with focus on Mariupol. Some maps also allow you to find out about the situation in the capital. Another British media, the FinancialTimes also declines his cards until the clashes in kyiv.