On March 16, commemorative events on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the March offensive operation in the Patriotic War of the people of Abkhazia are held in the Republic. On March 15, 1993, the units of the Abkhaz army forced the Gumista River and seized strategically important heights near Sukhum. During March battles for the capital of Abkhazia, 222 fighters of the Abkhazian army were killed, several hundred people were injured, and 23 people were missing.