Press digest – Ukraine
55th 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 Russian army killed more than a thousand civilians in Kyiv region. Earlier there was information about 900 dead.
📌More than 6 million people in Ukraine fight every day for the opportunity to have drinking water, which is one of the most important human needs — UNICEF. Russia’s war against Ukraine has destroyed water and electricity networks.
📌 Russian troops are again shelling residential areas of Kharkiv, including Industrialnyi and Kyivskyi districts. Three people were killed and 16 were injured.
📌 The Russians also fired on Dergachi and Chuhuiv districts. The occupiers used rocket-propelled grenade launchers from a distance of 35 to 40 kilometers. “The intensity of the shelling in Kharkiv has increased. Therefore we ask residents of the city to stay in shelters and not to go outside without urgent need,” said Sinegubov.
📌 More than 572 children were injured in Ukraine as a result of full-scale armed aggression of Russia. 205 children died and 367 were wounded. As a result of the shelling by the invaders of Donetsk region, a 16-year-old girl, a 14-year-old girl in Zaporizhia region and a 3-year-old child in Lviv were injured.
📌 It became known that on March 14, in a forest strip near the village of Zakharivka, Kyiv region, a civilian car exploded on an unidentified explosive device, in which the family was trying to evacuate to a safe place. An 8-year-old child was injured and her mother died.
📌 1141 educational institutions were damaged by bombing and shelling by the Russian armed forces, 99 of which were destroyed.
📌 The World Bank has lowered its forecast for global economic growth due to the war between Russia and Ukraine and is preparing a $170 billion aid package considering consequences of the war in Ukraine.
📌 Almost the entire Luhansk region was left without electricity, — the head of the RSA Serhiy Gaidai. Rashists damaged a high-voltage power line. 215 settlements are de-energized
📌At night, the Russian troops fired at Mykolaiyv with artillery. As a result of the shelling, a residential building and a warehouse of a store on the Kherson highway were set on fire, the fire was extinguished.
📌 More than 30% of agricultural fields in Ukraine will not be used for planting wheat, barley, sunflower and corn — UN. Ongoing attacks might cause a global food catastrophe: 36 countries depend on Ukrainian and Russian exports.
📌 Over the past 24 hours, the invaders have begun to fire more heavily at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.
📌 On April 18, the Russian army destroyed 12 houses in the Luhansk region, most of the destruction – in the captured Kreminna.
📌 The Russians massively fired Grads and artillery on settlements in the Kryvyi Rih district of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
📌 The events in Bucha, Irpen, and Kramatorsk overshadowed our efforts to peacefully resolve the war launched by Russia against Ukraine — Erdoğan. He also underlined the readiness to organize negotiations between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
📌The world is entering a new “Cold War” and therefore it is time to prepare for its consequences, particularly in terms of the food security, energy and cybersecurity, – said the spokesman for President of Turkey Ibrahim Kalin.
📌Hero of the day
Roman Rusnyk, senior lieutenant, commander of the fire support company. Died in battle near Kreminna, saving his allies
RUSSIAN CONTEXT
⚠️ Ukrainian intelligence reports that the Russian army was planning a military invasion of Belarus. After the falsification of the presidential election in Belarus, the Russian Federation developed a plan to invade and suppress people’s protests. The occupation of Belarus was planned under the pretence of preventing Russia from being drawn into a war with NATO member countries.
⚠️ Belarus continues to provide its territory for air strikes on the territory of Ukraine and reconnaissance of objects on our territory.
⚠️ The occupiers want to raze the Azovstal plant in Mariupol to the ground. Audio interception of a telephone conversation between one of the occupiers indicates that the Russian military leadership has decided to drop 3-ton bombs on besieged Mariupol. The plant houses defenders of the city and civilians with children, at least 1,000 people. Source: Security Service of Ukraine.
⚠️ The Ministry of Defense of Russia called the rocket attacks on civilians and civilian objects in Lviv the destruction of “large consignments of Western weapons.”
⚠️ To solve the problem of recruiting units under contract, the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation decided to sign short-term contracts for three months and simplify the form of psychophysical selection of future candidates. These measures did not lead to the desired effect.
⚠️ According to available information, since the beginning of the year, only 130 contract servicemen have been selected to serve in 42 parts of the Southern Military District. 22 of them have already refused to participate in the so-called “special operation” in Ukraine.
DEFENSE UPDATES
📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:
📌 Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk: The fifth exchange of prisoners with the Russian Federation took place. 60 servicemen and 16 civilians are returning home.
📌 The losses of the invaders of the 126th Coast Guard Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet amounted to 75%. The 810th Separate Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet losses: 158 servicemen killed, about 500 wounded, and 70 people are missing. A significant part of the servicemen of these brigades wrote reports refusing to participate in the so-called “special operation.”
📌 Ukraine has already liberated 919 settlements that were under Russian occupation. Another 2,000 towns and villages remain under Russian control. 29% of the liberated settlements have already intensified the work of local authorities. The territories have already been demined in 70 settlements.
📌 Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, SES officers have rescued 1,194 people. They also neutralized more than 68,000 explosive devices in Ukraine, including about 2,000 aviation bombs. This was reported during a briefing in Ukrinform by Volodymyr Demchuk, Director of the Emergency Response Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
📌 In the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the defenders of Ukraine have repulsed 7 enemy attacks, destroyed 10 tanks, 18 units of armored and 8 units of vehicles, 1 artillery system, as well as an enemy mortar.
📌 Over the previous day, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit seven air targets: one aircraft, four UAVs and two cruise missiles.
📌 The personnel of two battalion tactical groups were destroyed in the 200th separate motorized rifle brigade of the 14th Army Corps of the Coastal Forces of the Northern Fleet.
📌 In addition, three companies of the 51st Parachute Regiment and the Company of the 137th Parachute Regiment, which are part of the 106th Parachute Division, were destroyed in Ukraine.
📌 The enemy is trying to establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as to maintain the land corridor with the temporarily occupied Crimea.
📌 Russian missile and landing ships have moved almost 200 km away from Ukrainian shores in the Black Sea Operational Zone.
📌 Anti-aircraft missile forces of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed another Russian drone in the sky over Odessa. Once again it tried to carry out reconnaissance activities of critical infrastructure of the city.
📌 During the previous day, missile strikes on objects in the Western regions intensified.
📌 The enemy continues to transfer weapons and military equipment to Ukraine from the central and eastern regions of Russia. The invaders are also deploying logistics centers and creating field bases for repairing and renovating the damaged equipment.
📌 The enemy continues the partial blockade of Kharkiv. To organize an air defense system for an attack operations grouping, the enemy sends additional anti-aircraft missile battalions of the “Tor” air defense system into the Kharkiv region. At the same time, S-400 and S-300 anti-aircraft missile battalions were deployed in the areas of the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine to cover the main command posts, as well as rear areas.
📌 The Russians are concentrating their efforts on the way to the administrative border of Kherson region. They are trying to conduct attack operations near Oleksandrivka. The enemy does not stop shelling of civilian objects in Mykolaiyv.
📌 Forced mobilization of men has started in the city of Izium. From now on, men are allowed to cross the checkpoint only if they have a military ticket. The occupiers are also breaking into apartments, looking for former anti-terrorist operation veterans and public activists.
HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS AND EVACUATION UPDATES
📌 On April 19, humanitarian corridors did not work due to intense shelling in Donbas. Russia has not allowed the evacuation of civilians.
📌 The Russian side refuses to provide a corridor for civilians to leave Mariupol in the direction of Berdyansk.
📌 Difficult negotiations on opening humanitarian corridors in Kherson and Kharkiv regions continue.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s daily statements
📌 The most important legislative initiatives for the activity of the state in the conditions of war were discussed with the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada, people’s deputies and members of the government. Decree on the continuation of martial law, bills on the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory, changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, etc. All of them will be considered immediately. State legislation must meet today’s requirements.
CYBER-RESISTANCE AND DIGITAL VICTORIES
📌 MongoDB Inc. has ceased operations in Russia. American company MongoDB Inc. suspended sales of its cloud services to customers in Russia and Belarus. Also, the company will not sell the software of its flagship product – a database management system that does not require a description of the table scheme, MongoDB.
📌 Heroku cloud PaaS platform no longer registers users from Russia.
📌 Capcom withdrew all its games from sale on Russian Steam without warning.
📌 1Password does not register new accounts from Russia. It is not possible to pay or renew the subscription to current users from Russia, after the end of the payment period the accounts will switch to “read-only” mode. The application was removed from Ukrainian application stores, but later returned.
📌 Soda PDF does not serve customers from Russia and Belarus. Soda PDF is a program used to open, view, create, convert, edit, protect and share PDF files.
📌 Strava, a social network for athletes, no longer operates in Russia and Belarus. Users are invited to upload their data and issue a refund.
📌 Bungie has suspended sales of Destiny 2 in Russia and Belarus.
📌 Ansys Inc. stopped software support without explanation.
📌 Rovio Studio, which created the Angry Birds franchise, has announced the suspension of its activities in Russia and Belarus. The company’s games have already been withdrawn on Google Play and the App Store. In-game purchases are also disabled. Future updates will not be available in Russia and Belarus. Earlier, Supercell removed all its games, including Brawl Stars, from application stores in Russia and Belarus. The mobile version of Minecraft has also become unavailable in Russia.
PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
📌 The train in Japan was painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag as a sign of solidarity with the employees of “Ukrzaliznytsia”, who bravely take peaceful Ukrainians out of the hottest spots.
📌 Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov: “Today we have received some more positive news – Starlink has started work on opening a representative office in Ukraine! On my part, I instructed the relevant authorities to ensure that the necessary certification, measurement and frequency procedures are completed as soon as possible. I will inform you in detail about this work.”
📌 Shakhtar Donetsk players had a charity match against Fenerbahce wearing T-shirts with the image of four-year-old Alisa, who has been in the Mariupol bomb shelter for 55 days of the war.
📌 German chemical-industrial company Henkel, manufacturer of cleaning and detergent products, cosmetics and personal care products, as well as adhesives is to exit Russian market.
📌 A global challenge on social media in support of Ukraine #ArmUkraineNow is spreading around the world.
📌 Activists, public figures, diplomats from Ukraine, the United States and other countries held a symbolic action in support of Ukraine, planting dozens of sunflowers near the Russian Embassy in Washington. “We perceive sunflower as a plant associated with Ukraine. So, I thought it would be great if we put them in front of the Russian embassy, and it will have its own symbolism, ” said the initiator of the action, writer Benjamin Wittes.
📌 In Lithuania created a free Creatives for Ukraine platform to post illustrations in support of Ukraine. Artists can publish illustrations on the platform in support of Ukraine. The works will be freely used by the media and Internet users.
📌 Sting performed with Ukrainian cellist Yaroslava Trofimchuk in London. They performed the song “Russians”. All the proceeds are transferred to Help Ukraine Center.
📌 French magazine Le Monde dedicated a new cover to Odessa. The magazine also has a report on how the city is defending itself (you can read if you have a subscription). “Odesa is becoming brutal again and ready for battle,” the newspaper writes.
📌 Georgian NBA player, Milwaukee Bucks forward Sandro Mamukelashvili supported the Ukrainian people before the playoff match against Chicago. The 22-year-old basketball player came in a T-shirt with the inscription: “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes! Glory to God!”
📌 Famous MSNBC military intelligence analyst Malcolm Nance is fighting in the war against Russia as part of the Ukrainian International Legion. In an interview, Nance called on the United States to increase military aid to counter long-range Russian artillery, which Moscow sees as its advantage, and to protect civilians.
📌 The international consulting company McKinsey & Company has announced that it has stopped serving customers in Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.
📌 The multinational automobile corporation Stellantis has suspended production at a plant in Kaluga, Russia, due to sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
📌 Photo of the day
Seven-year-old Yehor with a wooden toy rifle next to destroyed Russian military equipment near Chernihiv
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
📌 Japan will provide Ukraine with nuclear, biological and chemical protection kits, as well as drones, — according to Japanese Ministry of Defense.
📌 The New Zealand government has announced imposing new sanctions on Russia’s largest banks and financial institutions due to the invasion of Ukraine.
📌 Denmark plans to completely abandon the use of gas. The country seeks to free itself from dependence on Russian energy and support the transition to green energy. The government will provide subsidies to its citizens to change their heating systems. Thus, after 2030 everyone should use only clean energy.
📌 Hungary will not join the European Union sanctions against Russian oil and gas. “The Hungarian people cannot pay for this war,” said Péter Szijjártó Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary.
📌 Almost 2,000 doctors from other countries have applied to the Ministry of Health to come to work in Ukraine.
📌 Today, diplomats from 17 diplomatic missions are working in the Kyiv again – the EU, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, the Vatican, Moldova, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
📌 The United States introduced a special status (Temporary Protected Status) for Ukrainian citizens staying in the country. With temporary protection status, Ukrainians can stay in the US for up to 18 months and also work.
📌 Europe depends on Russian gas, but France does not need it, – Macron. He said France would continue to push for sanctions on Russian gas supplies.
📌 13 states have launched an investigation into war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, – said Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova
📌 The United States will focus on sanctions against the Russian military-industrial complex to destroy any opportunity for Russia to rebuild its potential during the war in Ukraine, — US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo.
We, the world and history will take from Russia much more than Russian missiles will take from Ukraine. Every lost life is an argument for Ukrainians and other free nations to perceive Russia exclusively as a threat generation after generation. And any infrastructure can be restored. And we will definitely do it.
Photo: Daniel Carde, Rodrigo Abd, Aris Messinis, Alexey Furman, Mstyslav Chernov, Serhii Korovainyi