According to British intelligence officers, this was done in connection with the increase in the potential of the Ukrainian army for long-range strikes - over the past two months, Ukraine has attacked the headquarters of the Russian fleet and the main naval airfield in Crimea.

"The guarantee of basing the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea was probably one of the motivations of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the annexation of the peninsula in 2014.

The security of the base is now directly undermined by the continuation of Russia's aggression against Ukraine," the British intelligence agency noted.

The day before, the operational command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "South" reported that only four ships remained on combat duty in the Black Sea, including one surface-to-air missile carrier, which has eight Kalibar missiles on board.

The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on the deterioration of morale in the elite units of the Russian army, caused by the resulting counteroffensive of Ukrainian troops in the south and east.

According to ISW experts, this follows from numerous letters from Russian soldiers asking them to be dismissed from service due to physical and moral exhaustion after their retreat in Kharkiv.

The Institute for the Study of War believes that the appeal of the leaders of the so-called "LPR" and "DNR" for the faster holding of the referendum on joining Russia is also connected with panic against the background of the effective counteroffensive of Ukrainian troops.

"The Russian leadership may lack the means to stop Ukrainian forces as they advance across the Askol River and approach the Luhansk region.

The Kremlin may believe that a partial annexation could prompt the recruitment of additional forces both in Russia and in the recently occupied territories of Ukraine.

Russian forces are desperately trying to mobilize additional forces from all potential sources to fill their heavily degraded and demoralized units, but have been unable to generate significant combat power," the ISW experts summarize.

Russia's war against Ukraine

• At 5:00 a.m. on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a military operation against Ukraine in the Donbass at the request of the "DPR" and "LPR" groups.

  On February 21, during a televised address to Russians, Putin called the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" independent states within the regions.

  On February 22, the Federation Council ratified this decision.

• All days of the war, Ukrainian cities were bombarded with rockets, aircraft flew over them.

  Russian troops are attacking, including from the territory of Belarus, using airfields, bases and roads.

  Representatives of Lukashenka's regime justify the war, his opponents consider the territory of Belarus to be occupied, many call for resistance to the Russian invaders.

• On February 27, the International Legion of Territorial Defense was created in Ukraine, and foreign volunteers were invited to join it.

  Belarusians also entered there.

• During the six months of war in Ukraine, 11 Belarusians are known to have died fighting on the Ukrainian side.

  These are Ilya Khrenov, Alyaksei Skoblia, Dmitri Apanasovich, Dmitri Rubashevskyi, Konstantin Dubaila, Pavel "Volat", Ivan Marchuk, Vasil Parfyankov, Vasil Grudovik, Vadim Shatrov and one of the fighters of Kalinovsky's regiment, whose name was not mentioned.

  In addition, it is known for sure about two prisoners from Kalinin - Ian Djurbeyka and Syarhei Dzhogtsev.

  There are no details about their fate.

• It is also known about cases of death of natives of Belarus who fought in Ukraine on the side of Russia.

  During the six months of the war, there were nine such people.

• On March 30, the UN approved the composition of an independent commission that will investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

  It included people who worked in the analysis of the genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• Contrary to Putin's statements about attacks only on military facilities, the Russians are bombing schools, kindergartens and residential areas of Ukrainian cities.

  The Russians are using banned weapons, including cluster bombs, against civilians.

• On April 1, Lithuania became the first country in the European Union to completely abandon Russian gas.

  Latvia and Estonia followed her example.

  Germany has promised to completely stop using Russian oil by the end of 2022.

• On April 2, after the liberation of the town of Bucha near Kyiv, photojournalists published dozens of photographs showing hundreds of dead people, victims of mass murders committed by Russian troops.

  Many are buried in spontaneous mass graves.

  The Russian occupation also brought great destruction to the people of Barodyan.

  It is also known about a number of rapes, including babies.

• On May 9, the US President signed the Land Leasing Law.

  This law restores the program from the Second World War, which will speed up the supply of weapons to Ukraine and increase the amount of such assistance.

• In June, two volunteers from Great Britain and one from Morocco were sentenced to death in the so-called "DNR".

  The same punishment threatens some other prisoners.

• On July 29, as a result of an attack on the colony in Alenivtsi, at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners who previously defended the Azovstal plant and surrendered after completing their military mission were killed.

  The Russians accused Ukraine of the attack, the Ukrainian side declared the deliberate killing of prisoners by the Russian side.

• On August 22, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny announced the official number of dead Ukrainian soldiers.

  According to him, it is about 9,000 soldiers.

• During the six months of the war, Russia was able to occupy about 20% of the Ukrainian territory.

  In March, the area of ​​occupied land reached 30%.

  However, at the end of the month, Russian troops retreated from the north of Ukraine, as well as partially from Kharkiv.

  At the end of August, Crimea, Luhansk and Kherson regions were completely occupied.

  And also 50% of the territory of the Donetsk region, about 70% of the Zaporizhia region, approximately 30% of the Kharkiv region.

• Kherson remains the only regional center of Ukraine captured by Russia after February 24.

  The city was occupied by Russian troops in the first days of the war without actually fighting.

  Kyiv suspects part of the former leadership of Kherson and the region of treason.

  The former head of the SBU of the Kharkiv region was also detained on such suspicion.

• In September, Ukrainian troops launched a large-scale counteroffensive, as a result of which Russian forces began to rapidly flee from their positions in the Kharkiv region.

  Only on the day of September 11, Ukrainians liberated more than 20 settlements in Slobazhanshchyna.

• In September, Ukraine withdrew its mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo under the AAN to send an aviation unit to defend against Russian aggression.

• Independent verification of information about military actions provided by officials of various parties is still impossible.