UKRAINE MAP. The war started by Vladimir Putin at the end of February continues throughout Ukraine. Where is the advance of Russian troops in the country but also around the capital Kiev? Location maps…
[Mis à jour le 7 mars 2022 à 9h47] The war in Ukraine continues with Russian troops advancing in several areas of the country this weekend, despite resistance from local forces. Moscow announced on Monday the establishment of local ceasefires and the opening of humanitarian corridors to allow the evacuation of civilians from several cities in Ukraine, including the capital Kiev. According to the Russian army, the decision to open humanitarian corridors was taken after a “personal request” from French President Emmanuel Macron to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two heads of state again exchanged by telephone this Sunday.
Near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the Russian forces continued to accumulate resources “to launch an assault” soon, the Ukrainian general staff told AFP this weekend, the Russians carrying out an “encirclement”. Heavy strikes hit the western suburbs of Kiev, in Irpin. In the capital, the Ukrainian army stood ready for its part to destroy the last bridge linking the city to its hinterland to the west to curb the advance of Russian tanks.
South of the country, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is progressing. Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov in the southeast of the country, is besieged by the Russian army. Several humanitarian evacuation attempts failed over the weekend, with Russians and Ukrainians accusing each other of having violated the ceasefire granted to allow this operation. The city is strategic for the Russians who are trying to make the connection between the forces from Crimea and the separatist troops from Donbass, further north. The port of Berdiansk, a key port in Ukraine, on the shores of the Sea of Azov, is already in the hands of Putin’s forces.
The Russian army would also be present around the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, the largest in Europe, since the weekend as well as in Kherson since Thursday. Moscow announced that it had taken the major city in the south of the country in the morning, after fierce fighting. Russian missiles fired from the sea also fell Monday on the village of Touzly, in the Odessa region, further west, said a regional military spokesman.
North of Ukraine, the offensive continued in Cherniguiv and Sumy (north-east). The second city of the country, Kharkiv (north-east), was targeted in the night from Sunday to Monday by bombardments which notably targeted the sports complex of a university and residential buildings, according to a journalist from the AFP.
News agency cards
Since the start of the conflict, maps have played a key role in understanding the Russian military operation and in monitoring the situation live. 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.
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 not-for-profit UK business 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”.
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.
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 day-to-day evolution of the Russian invasion, including a slider to navigate the conflict timeline. 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 and the Washington Post, the two leading American media, also offer up-to-date maps.
The Battle of Kiev Mapped
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. Le Monde, Le Figaro, the New York Times and the Washington Post are among the media that present the best summaries of the situation.
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.