Press digest – Ukraine
51th 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
📌More than 553 children were injured in Ukraine as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. In particular, 198 children died and more than 355 were injured.
📌A 14-year-old boy was killed in the shelling of the city of Trostyanets by the Russian military on March 21.
📌Two children aged 9 and 11 were injured in the shelling of Oleksandrivka village in Kharkiv region.
📌900 bodies of civilians have been found in Kyiv region. 350 of them are in Bucha. They died as a result of the Russian invasion.
📌Almost 85% of the dead residents of Bucha have bullet wounds. This was announced by the mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk.
📌Russian invaders destroyed 95% of buildings in Mariupol, and tens of thousands of residents were deported to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
📌Russian invaders began exhuming the bodies of civilians buried in the yards of residential buildings in Mariupol. Also, the Russians put the military guards in the yards and forbid people to bury or to take away the bodies of the dead. Most likely, they are going to destroy the evidence of their crimes by burning dead in crematoria.
📌 The Russian occupiers decided to reincarnate the Gulag and Auschwitz by their actions. They are holding the whole of Mariupol hostage, and are gradually turning it into one big labor camp. It became known about another innovation of the occupiers. Now, residents can get food if they serve their duties on the analysis of blockages.
📌UN Satellite Center UNOSAT shows the level of destruction of Ukrainian cities during the war on space images, according to preliminary data.
📌The Russian Armed Forces again fired on one of the districts of Mykolaiv from the MLRS. The Head of the Regional State Administration Vitaliy Kim reported 5 dead and 15 wounded.
📌Russians fire at Mykolayiv from the cluster munitions of indiscriminate defeat forbidden by the international agreements. This was reported by the Operational Command “South”. During the day on April 15, the Russian military chaotically fired on residential neighborhoods, cultural facilities and private enterprises in Mykolayiv.
📌The Russians opened fire on Kreminna with the heavy weapons. One person was killed and five were injured. The chaotic shelling did not cease all night, and continues until now.
📌In Skadovsk, Kherson region, Russians took down Ukrainian flags and hooked their three-colored rags. The mayor immediately emphasised that no City Council employee will work in the building under the enemy flag.
📌The chairman of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov in an interview with the BBC said that Russia intended to attack Ukraine on February 22, and its main goal was the physical elimination of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
📌“The large-scale” battle for Donbas “has not yet begun due to the panic of Russians,” — said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration. According to him, the Russians are currently gathering forces: “We see that they are regrouped and ready for simultaneous mass attacks with the use of all their units which are tied in this direction. There are many of them”.
📌The Russians fired at the positions of Ukrainian border guards near the settlement of Senkivka in the Chernihiv region.
📌About 10 people died as a result of the shelling of the civilian buses by the Russian military near the village of Borova in the Kharkiv region on April 14, and up to 30 civilians were injured, the regional prosecutor’s office told “Suspilne”. The exact number of victims, circumstances and route of buses are being established by law enforcement officers — Borova is under temporary occupation.
📌Russian troops fired artillery at the town of Vasylivka in the Zaporizhia region, damaging several houses in the city center and the private sector, a shop and a depot at the Tavriysk railway station, killing one person and injuring five other. Also, Russians brought pro-Kremlin media to Vasylivka to create propaganda materials.
📌State Security Service of Ukraine has published another shocking interception of Russian military conversations.
📌In the temporarily occupied areas of Luhansk region, the use of buildings and adjacent territories of secondary schools for the installation of additional field hospitals, places of weapons, ammunition and military equipment is recorded.
📌On Friday, Russian troops fired three missiles at targets in the Kyiv region, said Oleksandr Pavliuk, head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration.
📌For the first time since the beginning of the war, Russian aircraft bombed by long-range Tu-22M3 bombers. On Friday, April 15, an air strike was carried out on Mariupol.
📌As a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, small and medium business owners had to cut almost a third of their staff. Another third was sent on forced vacation. This is stated in the results of research of the 4th wave performed by the Advanter Group.
📌Russia has launched a full-scale war with Ukraine on all fronts, including informational. Thus, since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, Ukrainian state and information resources have suffered 365 cyber attacks.
RUSSIAN CONTEXT
⚠️«Putin said to level everything with the ground,» — another interception of telephone conversations of the occupiers.
⚠️Russia itself shelled its village of Klimovo in the Bryansk region, although blamed Ukraine for this. There is evidence. This information was confirmed by the recent interceptions of telephone conversations of the invaders, which are at the disposal of the SSU.
⚠️Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that if Sweden and Finland join NATO, they will become a new frontier for the Alliance’s confrontation with Russia. According to her, “the negative consequences for peace and stability in northern Europe are obvious.”
⚠️Schools in Tyumen, Russia will have “desks of heroes” with photographs of the Heroes of Russia. Only straight-A students will be honored to sit at them. The first such desk was set up at a school in the Tobolsk region.
⚠️Russia is demanding that the United States cut off arms supplies to Ukraine, otherwise it threatens unpredictable consequences for European and global security.
⚠️Russian TV is having a fit of hysteria amidst the news about the cruiser “Moskva”.
⚠️Ukrainian journalists of the news investigative group Skhemy identified the spouses who discussed the rape of Ukrainian women in their conversation. The wife’s phrase “Go and rape Ukrainian women” spread all over the world and struck with its cruelty. Russian military — 27-year-old Roman Bykovsky participated in the annexation of Crimea. His wife calling for the rape of Ukrainian women is Olga Bykovskaya. A family is from the Oryol region, since 2018 they have been living in the temporarily occupied Crimea. They have a child.
DEFENSE UPDATES
📌 Photo of the day
📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:
📌The Pentagon has confirmed that the Moscow cruiser sank due to two Ukrainian Neptune missiles, not a fire.
📌First Rank Captain Anton Kuprin died on board of the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation “Moskva”. A total of 510 crew members lost 452 sailors. According to the media, it was Kuprin who offered to surrender to the Ukrainian border guards on Zmiinyi Island and received a well-known response.
⚠️Chief editor of the “BlackSeaNews” Andriy Klymenko said that according to the state, the Russian cruiser “Moskva” should have two nuclear warheads for cruise missiles. Determining where they are now, where they were during the explosion, is within the competence of the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
📌The loss of two key warships shattered the position of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, according to British intelligence. Thus, the cruiser “Moscow” played a key role as a command ship and an air defense unit. This, probably, would force Russia to reconsider its naval position.
📌Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denys Monastyrsky handed over to Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Amin Awad a blood-stained children’s toy which was found after shelling at the railway station in Kramatorsk. The toy will be sent to the International Court of Justice in The Hague as material evidence of a war crime by Russian invaders.
📌The Parliament of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada) supported the introduction of criminal liability up to 12 years in prison for helping the aggressor country, with the proposals of the President of Ukraine.
📌The Russian occupiers failed to implement the plan to “mobilize reservists” in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. The occupiers planned to “mobilize” 26,000 people.
📌Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the SSE has caught about 100 diversion intelligence groups and more than 300 collaborators. Only in recent days has the Security Service neutralized an enemy group of propagandists in the Zhytomyr Region, detained a Russian informant in the Cherkasy region, and blocked the illegal sale of military uniforms in Volyn.
📌 On April 15, the Armed Forces repulsed 10 enemy attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk directions, according to the Joint Forces Operations Headquarters.
📌Ukrainian law enforcement officers have established the names of more than 250 Russian servicemen who were in the Kyiv region.
📌Ukraine will have enough fuel for nuclear power plants, said Petro Kotin, head of NNEGC Energoatom. Westinghouse’s fuel supply schedules for nuclear power plants are being optimized: fuel production is growing to meet Ukraine’s needs.
📌 The Cabinet of Ministers together with the UN is launching two more payment programs. Persons who have been forcibly displaced will receive UAH 2,200 per month for each family member. These funds will be paid by the UN World Food Program within three months.
📌President Zelensky called on Biden to recognize Russia as a sponsor of terrorism, according to the Washington Post, citing an unnamed high-ranking official who was present during a telephone conversation between the presidents.
CYBER-RESISTANCE AND DIGITAL VICTORIES
📌 CD Projekt Red suspends cooperation with Russian and Belarusian companies. Earlier, the Polish studio stopped selling its games in the two countries.
📌Kurokesu has decided to stop supplying all products to Russia and Belarus. Kurokesu develops scientific and industrial cameras for drones, robots, machine vision applications or conventional consumer use.
📌 Hostinger International Ltd has stopped working with Russian users. The Lithuanian company Hostinger has suspended all account extensions and purchases with connections to Russia and Belarus, as well as stopped processing currency and payments in rubles. Hostinger is a web hosting provider and domain registrar on the Internet.
📌 Konica Minolta has suspended internal operations between European headquarters and the Russian division. Konica Minolta is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of photocopiers, fax machines, laser printers, medical photographic equipment, optical components and measuring equipment.
📌 German open source software company SUSE has suspended all direct sales to Russia. The company develops and sells Linux products to business customers.
📌Apple has removed Alfa-Bank’s app from the App Store.
HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS AND EVACUATION UPDATES
📌In total, 2,864 people were evacuated on April 15.
📌During the evacuation of residents from the city of Starobilsk, Luhansk region to the Dnipro on April 15, the Russian military opened fire on two buses – there are wounded and dead.
PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
📌Ukrainian postage stamps with the ship are already being sold on the American online platform eBay. The price sometimes reaches $400.
📌A rally against the sexual violence of the Russian occupiers took place in Vienna.
📌The Ukrainian flag has been projected on the Horde’s embassy in Washington. The embassy staff tried to break the colors of our flag with a bright spotlight.
📌GSC Game World’s Stalker developers have raised more than $800,000 for the Ukrainian army through a game charity sale — all proceeds will be donated to the Return Alive Foundation.
📌Romanian UNICEF volunteer introduced a boy named Kostia from Odesa to actor Hugh Jackman. During the video call, the volunteer showed the shelter where the children who were forced to leave Ukraine because of the war are living to the actor. Then she introduced the actor to the Kostia, who created a picture with the character of the movie “X-Men” Wolverine, whose role was played by Jackman. “My heart breaks for all of them,” — wrote the actor on his Instagram page.
📌Ukrainians in Berlin demanded that the German publication Die Welt fire Marina Ovsyannikova, an ex-worker of the Russian Channel One, Deutsche Welle reports.
Representatives of the media group Axel Springer, who employed Ovsyannikova, came out to the activists and stated that they would not turn away from the woman, since she was “on the right side” of history.
📌In the capital of Austria – Vienna, an action was held in support of Mariupol. There were white bags with the inscription “Children” to honor the memory of civilians who died during the bombing of the Drama Theater.
📌Paris restaurant La Bourse Et La Vie was renamed “Le Borscht” Et La Vie and hired 3 Ukrainian refugees: “By the end of May, Alina, Julia and Ivan will take over our kitchen and offer you the best Ukrainian dishes. They will demonstrate the inextricable link between the peoples of the entire European continent. And we guarantee: it will be very tasty!” The restaurant plans to transfer 5% of the total income to the victims of the war in Ukraine.
📌The founder of Novopechersk School in Kyiv Zoya Lytvyn spoke in Toronto at the opening of the world-famous lecture course TED-2022. In less than 7 minutes of the speech, was raised more than $ 1.7 million for Ukraine – and the funds continue to come! The main idea of her speech was the statement that “while studying, our children and educators are leading their important battle for the future of the country. And this future will not be taken away from anyone – even the ‘second largest army in the world.’
📌On the Alley of Stars in Los Angeles, the Ukrainian song “Oh, Red Viburnum in the Meadow” was heard during which a small performance took place. Girls and boys in yellow T-shirts and blue ribbons on their wrists danced an incendiary dance.
📌Net Dutch volunteers provided free assistance to 300 Ukrainian pets. Expenses are paid from donations of caring people. Thus, the charity fund has already received about 100 thousand euros.
📌Chinese carmaker Lifan has suspended sales of new cars in the Russian market.
📌Austrian machine-building concern Andritz has suspended new operations in Russia.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
📌”Golgotha of the 21st century” — this is how the speaker of the Senate of Poland, Tomasz Grodzki, described what he saw in Irpen, Bucha and Borodyanka during his visit to the Kyiv region together with representatives of the other countries senates.
📌US Senators Steve Danes and Victoria Sparts on Thursday visited Kyiv and its suburbs, which were occupied by Russian troops, becoming the first U.S. officials to arrive since the start of the war.
📌 The Government of Canada is to allocate $500 million for military aid to Ukraine, which may include the supply of armored cars and Senator APC armored personnel carriers. It is reported by the National Post.
📌The Italian Foreign Ministry has announced that their embassy in Ukraine will return to Kyiv after April 17.
📌Poland imposes embargo on Russian coal. The law was signed by President Andrzej Duda. The document also provides for the possibility of freezing the assets of those who supported the Russian aggression.
📌The Japanese government will provide Ukraine with assistance in the amount of 13 billion yen to finance the priority needs of our country.
📌Poland has officially confirmed that Ukraine will replace Russia in the FIVB 2022 World Volleyball Championship to be held in Poland and Slovenia.
📌Manual Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva stated that the IMF and its partners are preparing for large-scale efforts to rebuild Ukraine.
📌The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Northern Macedonia has declared six more Russian diplomats personae non-grata.
📌The European Union, Germany and Denmark have invested €15 million through U-LEAD with Europe to provide emergency assistance to 250 Ukrainian communities affected by the war.
📌Japan has sent a cargo of humanitarian aid for the needs of temporarily displaced persons who are both in Ukraine and in neighboring countries – Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia.
📌The United Arab Emirates has sent to Ukraine a plane with 50 tons of humanitarian cargo and ambulances.
📌 Tweet of the day
It is a clash of two different worlds. The world of ordinary people who simply lived a peaceful life, sought harmony for themselves and their children, thought about the future. And the world of people who have been specially humiliated by their state for decades, specially driven into poverty and lawlessness, so that their government can guide them to any venture.