UKRAINE MAP. As war continues across Ukraine, the battle for Kiev has begun with raids on the Ukrainian capital and Russian troops massed just outside the city. The cards…
[Mis à jour le 3 mars 2022 à 9h28] The invasion of Ukraine continues but Kiev still seems to be in Ukrainian hands this Thursday morning, March 3, 2022, when a massive regrouping of Russian troops is at the gates of the capital. After repelling several attempts by Russian forces in recent days, Kiev has suffered heavy strikes since Tuesday, including a deadly strike on the TV tower. Shelling also hit the city of Zhitomir, 150 kilometers west of Kiev. At least three people were killed there, according to residents.
The war in Ukraine is also hitting other major cities. In Kharkiv, further east, Russian airborne troops landed in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday and “attacked a local hospital”, the Ukrainian armed forces said, citing ongoing fighting in the second city of ‘Ukraine. According to AFP, at least four people were killed and nine were injured in shelling targeting the headquarters of the security services and a university.
The Russian army would be present in Kherson on Thursday. Moscow announced that it had taken the major city in the south of the country in the morning, after fierce fighting. The head of the regional administration, Gennadi Lakhouta, called on Telegram the inhabitants to stay at home, indicating that “the (Russian) occupants are in all the districts of the city and are very dangerous” reports AFP again. The port of Berdiansk, a key port in Ukraine, on the shores of the Sea of Azov, would also be in the hands of Putin’s forces, the port of Mariupoul (south-east) is the subject of an assault. If the city fell, the junction of Russian forces from Crimea and separatist troops from Donbass, further north, would be made.
The Battle of Kiev Mapped
Since the start of the conflict, maps have played a decisive role in understanding the Russian military operation and in monitoring the situation live. The battle of Kiev, 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 Ukrainian capital.
Ukraine. The battle of #Kyiv.
Explosions heard in the center of the capital this evening, including one, shortly after 9 p.m. (local time), near the central station.Earlier, Ukrainian forces destroyed a bridge in #Baryshivkaafter the passage of Russian troops. pic.twitter.com/ZdRBDrELeW
— Visactu (@visactu) March 2, 2022
News agency cards
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 Newsan independent international agency entirely financed by media publishers.
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.”
Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) map
The Center for Eastern Studies is a Polish public organization that se focuses on “the analysis of key processes and events taking place in the vast international environment of Poland”. Staffed with forty analysts, it intends “to monitor political, social and economic processes, to offer up-to-date and in-depth analyses” to the Polish government and “to participate in the debates of the communities of experts and academics in Poland and abroad”.
Media cards in France and abroad
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. Abroad, the sites of the New York Times (capture) and the Washington Post, the two leading American media, also offer up-to-date maps.
In the UK, the BBC also has a page to follow the fighting in Ukraine. 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 Kiev.