Press digest – Ukraine
39th day of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion #BuchaMassacre
Every morning, starting March 17, a nationwide minute of silence has been declared throughout Ukraine at 9:00am Kyiv time.
“We will remember the Ukrainians who gave their lives, all the military, civilians and children” (c) President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy
DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES
📌410 bodies of killed civilians have already been removed from the territory of Kyiv region, according to Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova.
📌In Bucha, 280 civilians were buried in a mass grave, — says Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk.
📌After the liberation of Kyiv region on April 2, the bodies of the head of the village of Motyzhyn Olga Sukhenko, her husband and their son, who were taken prisoner by the Russians 10 days ago, were found. Also in Motyzhyn, two women and four men were shot dead by Russian occupiers.
📌In Irpin, Russian invaders shot women and girls, and then drove tanks over their bodies. This is told by the mayor Oleksandr Markushyn.
📌 20 kilometers from Kyiv, near the highway, State Emergency Service officers found the naked bodies of 4 or 5 dead women wrapped in a blanket. The occupiers made attempts to burn them on the roadside
📌The non-governmental human rights organization Human Rights Watch has published a report on war crimes committed by the Russian military in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
📌More than 416 children have become victims of in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of our country. As of the morning of April 3, 2022, the official number of child victims has not changed – 158 deaths. The number of wounded has increased – more than 258.
📌 Photos of the day
Bucharest, NATO Summit Declaration. April 3, 14 years ago. There was a chance to prevent it, so that Russia didn’t come. Bucha, Kyiv region. Now. Russia has come.
Mothers of Russian soldiers should see that. See what bastards you’ve raised. Murderers, looters, butchers.
Photo: Vadim Ghirda, Ronaldo Schmidt, UNIAN
Footages of the liberated Ukrainian cities are today on CNN, Reuters, The Guardian, The New York Times, France24, Washington Post, Times of Israel, The Telegraph, La Repubblica and others.
📌 On April 2, the Russian occupiers massively fired at the Kremenchug oil refinery plant as well as the surrounding fuel and lubricants depots, the details were provided by the Poltava Regional State Military Administration. The infrastructure of the enterprise has been destroyed, the plant is not working.
📌 In the occupied territories, Russian invaders collect citizens’ personal data. In future, they can be used to harass, intimidate, and conduct so-called referendums.
📌The Russian occupiers continue to place weapons and military equipment in the immediate vicinity of the housing infrastructure of the settlements. Systematic violations of the requirements of International Humanitarian Law on the conduct of war by the Russian military command continue.
📌In Kakhovka, the Russian military opened fire on civilians who went out for a peaceful rally. There is information about the dead and wounded, the exact data are now being clarified.
📌Russian occupiers blew up a bridge over the Seim River which connected the city of Putivl with Sumy.
📌During the day of April 3, Russian troops conducted missile strikes on Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Ochakov and the village of Vasylkiv in Kyiv region. As a result of the shelling, at least 37 people were injured, including children, some of the victims are in critical condition. Houses and civilian infrastructure is damaged.
📌 According to the Azov Regiment, who has been defending Mariupol since the first day of the Russian invasion, up to 200,000 Ukrainians are under rubble or in bomb shelters under permanent enemy fire.
📌The city of Chernihiv was destroyed by 70%, — said Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko. He said he was frightened by the lull, because the city needs to be rebuilt and the enemy could still return. However, he added that the region is being cleared of occupiers and demined.
📌In Kherson, citizens once again took to the streets for a rally against Russian aggression and so-called “People’s Republic of Kherson”.
📌On April 2nd, the famous Lithuanian director and documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius was killed in Mariupol.
📌Because of the war, 23 thousand kms of roads were destroyed. Losses are estimated at UAH 874 billion. This was announced today during a briefing by the First Deputy Chairman of Ukravtodor Andriy Ivko. There are 170,000 km of public roads in Ukraine. Ukravtodor monitors damage and losses on a daily basis.
RUSSIAN CONTEXT
⚠ According to US intelligence, Putin needs at least some “victory” in Ukraine by May 9. Intelligence says Russia has revised its strategy and is now focusing on conquering Donbass and other regions in eastern Ukraine.
⚠ “Georgia will not join the sanctions against Russia,” said Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.
⚠The Minister of Economy of Slovakia Richard Sulik said they were ready to pay for Russian gas supplies in rubles. At present, the country does not seem to be able to get rid of its energy dependence on Russia.
⚠ China allows Russia to use stolen aircrafts to transport cargo – public online radar data show that 5 Boeing 757-200 (F) aircraft of the Russian cargo company Aviastar-TU Airlines, which were illegally re-registered from Bermuda in Russia, regularly fly to China. In total, more than twenty such flights have been made since the beginning of the war.
To remind, earlier, the EU completely banned the supply and leasing of the aircrafts, helicopters and other aircrafts to Russia. Russia has been accused of stealing more than $ 20 billion worth of planes. In March, Russia’s transport minister acknowledged the theft, saying more than 500 planes had been returned, after which the Russian president had allowed foreign planes to be stolen and signed a law allowing the country’s government to register rights to foreign planes leased by Russian companies.
DEFENSE UPDATES
📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:
📌The Russian party agreed to the proposals regarding the security guarantors, except for the clause on Crimea, Arakhamiya, a member of the Ukraine’s negotiations delegation, said. According to him, the meeting between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia will probably take place in Turkey.
📌Ukrainian military took control over the Pripyat district and the part of the state border of Ukraine with Belarus.
📌Russian occupiers released the abducted mayor of Beryslav, Kherson region, Alexander Shapovalov, who was held captive for 16 days. Shapovalov was severely tortured by Russian militaries, his body is completely mutilated.
NEGOTIATIONS UPDATES
Key points by David Arakhamiya, a member of the Ukraine’s delegation at negotiations
📌Ukraine will not sign any document where Russia has the right to veto any decision.
📌Ukraine wants to make its own NATO. It is important for Ukraine that the largest and most effective NATO countries provide support in the case of aggression.
📌It has already been officially announced that three NATO member countries are ready to provide guarantees.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s daily statements
📌President Zelensky called #BuchaMassacre a genocide. “This is genocide, indeed. This is the destruction of an entire nation, our people. We are citizens of Ukraine, more than 100 nationalities live in our country. This is about the destruction of all these nationalities,” — President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said on the American television channel CBS. “Ukraine does not want to surrender to Russia — this is the reason why we are being destroyed. And this is happening in Europe in the 21st century. This is the torture of an entire state”.
📌President Zelensky visited Ukrainian defenders who were wounded in the battles for Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Gostomeland in the fights with Russian diversionists groups.
PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
📌In Tbilisi, near the Ukrainian Embassy, people held a memorial rally for the innocent civilians killed in Bucha.
📌Official game’s account S.T.A.L.K.E.R. welcomed the liberation of Chornobyl Nuclear POwer Plant from the Russian occupiers.
📌 Christie’s auction house has banned the sale of luxury items to any customer from Russia or Belarus.
📌American actor Sean Penn addressed all billionaires around the world to buy 12 fighters for Ukraine. Those planes have to be superior in terms of technical characteristics to Russian military aircraft. He also called for the purchase of missile defense systems for Ukraine.
📌 Angelina Jolie visited the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome, which hosts Ukrainian children who were forced to leave Ukraine with their parents.
📌 Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra will perform live at Eurovision in Turin. On the eve of the competition, they will tour to raise money to help Ukraine.
📌Ukrainian poet, playwright and screenwriter Lyubov Yakymchuk went to the United States to perform at this year’s Grammy Awards. She will read a poem from her collection “Apricots of Donbass”. The ceremony will take place on April 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
📌The Oscar de la Renta brand has organized an online auction in support of Ukraine, a dress by Sarah Jessica Parkerwill be sold there. The actress wore it to the premiere of “And Just Like That”. The starting price of the lot is 5 thousand dollars. All proceeds will go to UNICEF to help Ukraine.
📌Polish street artists gathered around current events in Ukraine. Huge murals and graffiti in support of Ukraineappeared in many Polish cities: from Warsaw to Gdansk, from Lublin to Poznan. Also recently, the Graphic Emergency platform that collects posters created by Polish artists, illustrators and graphic designers, expressed solidarity with Ukrainians who were brutally attacked by the Russian aggressor.
📌Czech artist Chemis created a mural that probably best embodies the essence of war: a little Ukrainian woman defends her toys, each of which symbolizes a certain country. At present, Ukraine is defending not only itself but the whole of Europe and its values.
📌Swedish artist Johan Carlgren protested – he portrayed Putin behind bars.
📌The mural in Riga depicts a Latvian girl hugging a Ukrainian girl. Each of them is dressed in the colors of the national flag. The work is complemented by an inscription that translates from Latvian as “Together we are the strength.”
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
📌 The President of the European Council Charles Michel said that the EU would help Ukraine gather evidence of crimes committed by the Russian army near Kyiv. He also said that the European Union was preparing new sanctions against Russia. “Shocked by haunting images of atrocities committed by Russian army in the Kyiv liberated region,” he wrote and attached the hashtag “Bucha massacre.”
📌 The United States will facilitate the transfer of Soviet tanks to Ukraine, CNN reports. Those are T-72 tanks with which the Ukrainian military has experience in operation.
📌Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin called for the country to join NATO, as Russia appeared to be not the neighbor they envisioned.
📌The British Foreign Secretary Liz Trass called the atrocities of the Russians in Bucha and other cities of Ukraine disgusting.
📌Following Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia have stopped importing Russian gas.
📌U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on #BuchaMassacre: “There needs to be accountability,” — he said. “But I think the most important thing is we can’t become numb to this. We can’t normalize this. This is the reality of what’s going on every single day as long as Russia’s brutality against Ukraine continues,” — says Antony Blinken in the interview for Dana Bash CNN.
📌This is not a “real withdrawal of Russian forces,” — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, warning that attacks in Ukraine will continue. “What we see is not a real withdrawal. But we see that Russia is repositioning its troops and they are taking some of them back to rearm them, to reinforce them, to resupply them. We should not in a way be too optimistic because the attacks will continue,” — Stoltenberg told CNN.
📌 The Czech Foreign Ministry, after revealing the atrocities committed by the Russian military in the Kyiv region, stated that it intends to seek punishment for the Putin regime together with its allies.
📌Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias arrived in Ukraine. One of the purposes of the visit is to establish the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba’s daily statements
📌Dmitry Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, called on the mission of the International Criminal Court to come to Bucha to gather evidence.
“I call on the International Criminal Court and international organizations to send their missions to Bucha and other liberated towns and villages of Kyiv region to collect all evidence of Russian war crimes as closely as possible in cooperation with Ukrainian law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Dmytro Kuleba also told about the mass crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine, including murder, torture, looting, and rape: “It was impossible to imagine itin the 21st century, but it is happening just in front of our eyes. Russia is worse than ISIS.”
📌 Tweets of the day
