Press digest – Ukraine
44th day of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion
#BRAVEUKRAINE
Bravery is Ukraine’s newest export. We tell the world: Be Brave like Ukraine 🇺🇦💪
DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES
📌The Russians purposefully hit Point-U at the Kramatorsk railway station, where more than 4,000 peaceful Ukrainians were awaiting evacuation. According to preliminary data, 50 people died, including 5 children. About 100 people got injuries of varying severity and are in hospitals.
📌 10 minutes after the strike, a number of Russian media wrote all the same text that it was an attack at the Ukrainian army. An hour later, all the media removed the news, and instead posted information that it was not a Russi’s attack. Some of the news in the media is still available and saved. The Russian authorities failed to clean everything up.
📌Ombudswoman Liudmyla Denysova reported on the recorded facts of rape of children by the Russian military: а 14-year-old girl was raped by 5 male occupiers. She is pregnant now. Bucha; an 11-year-old boy was raped in front of his mother – she was tied to a chair to watch. Bucha; a 20-year-old woman, raped by three occupiers at the same time, using all possible body entrances. Irpin. Denysova reminded that rape is strictly prohibited by Article 27 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949, and therefore Russian war criminals must be punished.
📌 About 320 bodies of locals killed during the occupation by the Russian military have been found in Bucha, 163 of which have already been identified. The search continues.
📌Since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, almost 4.5 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave for Europe and other countries.
📌More than 480 children became the casualties in Ukraine due to the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation: 174 children were killed and more than 306 injured. These data are not finalized, as there is still work in progress in the locations of active hostilities.
📌 132 victims were found in Makarov, Kyiv region, all shot by the Russian military during the occupation of the city.
📌The operator of the gas transmission system of Ukraine recorded gross interference of Russian representatives in the operation of the Novopskov compressor station in Luhansk region. Almost a third of transit to Europe passes through this station. The actions of the Russian occupiers may make it impossible to transport gas.
📌According to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venedyktova, the city of Borodyanka in Kyiv region is the most destroyed city in the region. Borodyanka was fired at with unguided 250-kilogram high-explosive bombs, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and cluster bombs. “It is difficult to predict how many casualties will be there. From under the rubble of two bombed-out apartment buildings 26 bodies were recovered. The enemy insidiously attacked the housing infrastructure in the evening, when there were a maximum of people at home. The target was exclusively civilians – there is no military facility here, “she said.
📌In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian military fired three shots: 4 people were killed, 7 were injured, and 2 were missing.
📌Russian occupiers block Kharkiv and set up minefields. In general, the Kharkiv region has been fired on almost 50 times over the past 24 hours.
📌In the temporarily occupied Izyum, DNR militants perform the functions of the local “police”: they illegally check documents, search people and premises of the local population.
📌 The Russian Air Force performs air strikes and shells of civilian infrastructure, including the use of multiple rocket launchers in 13 settlements of Luhansk region. Attempts continue to take control of Popasna, Rubizhne and Mariupol.
📌Russian troops who captured and maintained the Chernobyl nuclear power plant destroyed unique Chernobyl documents and archives that had been collected for decades. It is also known about the theft and complete destruction of a modern analytical laboratory worth 6 million euros. In addition, the Russians damaged all office space in buildings in the Chernobyl zone.
📌The Russian occupiers did not allow the humanitarian convoy to the temporarily occupied Melitopol and stole all the cargo.
📌On the night of April 8, Russian occupation forces fired at the “Captain Belousov” icebreaker carrying civilian crews in the Mariupol trading port. One person was killed and several others were injured in the shelling.
📌Russian soldiers killed more than 700 people in Chernihiv. These are civilians and military.
📌The Russian military also fired on gas pipelines in Huliaipil and Orikhiv. As of April 8, more than 20,000 customers in the Zaporizhia region remain without electricity due to damage.
📌Russian occupiers kidnapped 11 community leaders. They are now in captivity. The Association of Ukrainian Cities appealed to international partners to help with their release.
📌Hero of the day
Iaroslav Brygynets, 20 y.o., served in Azov Regiment. Died fighting Mariupol
RUSSIAN CONTEXT
⚠️According to the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, 78% of Russians support Putin’s actions, and 74% of Russian citizens approve his decision to attack Ukraine.
⚠️According to the available information, the selection of so-called “volunteers” from among Belarusians is being carried out in Belarus to recruit new units of a private military company.
⚠️Russian elite is fleeing en masse to the Emirates. The pillars of the Putin regime are reluctant to take responsibility for their actions and live under severe restrictions.
⚠️149 international companies continue to work with Russia. Among them are 42 Chinese, 28 French, 22 American, 21 Indian, 13 German, 13 Japanese, 10 Italian.
⚠️Russian state plane is suspected of violating Finnish airspace on the morning of April 8.
⚠️ The Belarusian government-funded hacker group Ghostwriter hacked the accounts of Ukrainian servicemen and published a video of Ukraine’s capitulation, the Meta report said.
⚠️The Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, wonders why Ukrainians do not want to share their national treasure, borsch, with Russians. It’s worth noting that Ukraine has submitted an application to UNESCO for the recognition of borsch as an intangible heritage of Ukraine.
⚠️Russian diplomats sent notes with threats to delegations of members of UN. It is all because of voting about suspending Russian membership in The United Nations Human Rights Council, according to CNN. These notes warned about “сonsequences of an unfriendly gesture” for countries who would support this decision or even abstain from voting. As we know, the result of voting is 93 voted for, 24 against and 58 abstained from voting.
DEFENSE UPDATES
📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:
📌 During the past 24hrs, 7 attacks by the Russian Army were repulsed by the United Forces Defense Forces in Donbas.
📌The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the Ukrainian air defense will shoot down Russian military planes if they try to get to Pridnestrovie via the territory of Ukraine.
📌 On April 8, Sumy region was liberated from the occupiers, OVA head Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said.
📌Spring conscription for the Armed Forces and other military formations of Ukraine in 2022 will not be held. The need to fill vacancies in the Armed Forces and other military formations is closed due to the influx of conscripts and reservists during the all-Ukrainian mobilization.
📌 The National Security and Defense Council will soon complete work on the register of collaborators in Ukraine and this list will be open to the public.
📌91% of Ukrainians do not think that Russians and Ukrainians are one people, according to a survey by the Rating group. In July 2021, only 56% of Ukrainian citizens held this view. At the same time, 80% of Ukrainians feel proud of the country, which is the dominant emotion among people now.
📌64% of Ukrainians believe that it is impossible to restore friendly relations with Russians, 22% believe that it is possible only in 20-30 years.
📌Photo of the day
Borodianka. Kitchen cabinet in a destroyed by the rocket attack house. “Be Brave as Ukrainians” Photo: Elizabeth Servatynska
CYBER-RESISTANCE AND DIGITAL VICTORIES
📌Microsoft thwarted a cyber attack by Russian hackers on US, EU and Ukrainian authorities.
HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS AND EVACUATION UPDATES
📌As of April 8, 6,665 people were evacuated. 5,158 people arrived in Zaporizhia from Mariupol and Berdyansk in their own transport and evacuation buses.
📌1,507 people were evacuated from the cities of Lysychansk, Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna and the village of Horske in the Luhansk region today.
📌In Melitopol, the occupying forces have been removing 8 evacuated buses for evacuation. Ukraine is negotiating for these buses to return, and according to the agreements, to have locals evacuated.
📌A column of buses that were sent from Zaporizhia to Berdyansk in the morning is proceeding on route.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s daily statements
📌The war demonstrated the whole truth about Ukraine, and about all other countries, and about Russia, and about the world in general. Being brave is a brand of Ukraine. This is to be Ukrainian. If everyone in the world had at least 10 percent of the courage that Ukrainians have, there would be no danger to international law and freedom of nations.
📌First of all, Ukraine needs weapons that will allow it to win on the battlefield. And this will be the strongest sanction against Russia ever.
📌The UN General Assembly has approved to suspend Russia’s membership in the Human Rights Council. So far, the Russian state and the Russian military are the greatest threat to human freedom and security on the planet, to the concept of human rights as such.
📌Russian propagandists are preparing a “mirror response” to the shock of all normal people from what they saw in Bucha. They are going to show the victims in Mariupol as if they were not killed by the Russian military, but by Ukrainian defenders of the city.
📌President Zelensky called on Greece to use its influence as part of the European Union to save Mariupol.
📌 On April 8, President Zelensky addressed the Government of Finland. During his speech, the President spoke about the importance of imposing tough sanctions against Russia,and highlighted the need to impose an embargo on oil supplies to Europe without further delays and isolation of all Russian banks from the global financial system. The President also invited Finland to join the restoration of kindergartens, schools and universities in Ukraine after the war.
PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
📌The legendary British band Pink Floyd released a new song for the first time since 1994. The track Hey Hey Rise Up, recorded last week, features a solo of Ukrainian musician Andriy Khlyvnyuk, taken from his Instagram. All proceeds from the sale will go to humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
📌In Madrid, the street near the Russian embassy will be renamed Bucha or Irpin, and the streets Russia and St. Petersburg will be replaced by Kyiv and Mariupol – the Ukrainian embassy in Spain.
📌The Danish furniture company JYSK, which previously completely left the Russian market, is to suspend work in Belarus from April 18.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
📌Josep Borrell, Ursula von der Leyen and Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Geger visited Bucha.
📌Ursula von der Leyen, who arrived in Kyiv on the morning of April 8 to meet with President Zelensky, handed over a questionnaire to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, which is a necessary step for EU candidate status. “This questionnaire is the basis for a discussion that should lead to the conclusion of the European Commission,” said Ms. von der Leyen.
📌 The EU will provide another 500 million euros in military aid to Ukraine, European Council President Charles Michel said.
📌The Latvian Seimas will designate May 9, 2022 as a day of mourning for Ukrainians who died as a result of the aggressive war of the Russian Federation – civilians and defenders of Ukraine.
📌 Moldova banned the “georgievska” ribbon, as well as the Z and V symbols used by Russian troops during the invasion of Ukraine.
📌 France is ready to become a guarantor of Ukraine’s security, French President Emmanuel Macron said. Thus, at least 9 countries have already confirmed their readiness to sign the agreement on Ukraine’s security.
📌Japan will cut imports of Russian coal in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
📌Estonia will completely stop importing Russian gas by the end of 2022.
📌The Council of Europe has approved the 5th package of sanctions against Russia, according to which the coal embargo will take effect in August.
📌 Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, partner governments have expelled 443 members of Russian diplomatic missions. The United States, Britain and the Czech Republic have significantly reduced the diplomatic presence of the aggressor state even before Russia’s full-scale war.
📌Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Geger confirmed that his country had handed over S-300 air defense systems to Ukraine.
📌German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier supported the idea that Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov should be under tribunal for war crimes in Ukraine.
📌46 UNESCO member states have refused to participate in the 45th session while it is chaired by the Russian Federation.
📌The European Commission has provided a grant to Ukraine in the amount of 120,000,000 euros under the general package of emergency financial assistance to Ukraine.
📌The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on the daughters of Russian President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov: their assets will be frozen and entry to the country will be banned.
📌7.5 million euros for the collection of data on missing persons and assistance with the investigation of crimes. EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell has announced assistance to Ukraine. The EUAM Ukraine Advisory Mission will support the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine in conducting training, providing equipment for the investigation and gathering of evidence.
📌 Tweet of the day
