Press digest – Ukraine
61th day of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion
#ArmUkraineNow
DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES
📌On the morning of April 25, five railway stations in central and western Ukraine came under rocket fire. Eight people died and more than 20 were injured.
📌Russians torture Ukrainians in occupied territories. In occupied Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, the Russian military stole and exported equipment from one of the factories to the Russian Federation, and set up a concentration camp on its premises. They illegally detain people, use physical and psychological violence against them. This was reported in the Office of the Prosecutor General. In addition, the invaders are forcing people to cooperate with them and join the Russian army.
📌On April 24, as a result of Russian shelling, 5 civilians of Donbass were killed: 2 in Novoselivka, 2 in Krasnohorivka of the Ocheretyn community and 1 in Novomykhailivka. Five more were injured.
📌In the Luhansk region, the Russians destroyed seven houses and hit the oil refinery for the third time. According to the head of the Luhansk RSA Serhiy Haidai, on Sunday the whole Luhansk region came under heavy fire from the Russians.
📌On the morning of April 25, two Russian cruise missiles were recorded over the cooling reservoir of the Khmelnytskiy NPP. Currently, there are no violations of the conditions of safe operation of Khmelnytskiy NPP power units. Radiation, fire and environmental conditions are within normal limits.
📌As of the morning of April 25, 2022, more than 606 children were injured in Ukraine as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. 215 children died and more than 391 were injured.
Children suffered the most in: Donetsk region — 124, Kyiv region — 114, Kharkiv region — 93, Chernihiv region — 66, Kherson region — 44, Mykolaiv region — 43, Luhansk region — 37, Zaporizhia region — 27, Sumy region — 17, Kyiv city — 16, Zhytomyr region — 15.
📌On April 24, two girls aged 5 and 14 were killed in a shelling of the village of Krasnohorivka in the Donetsk region by the Russian troops.
📌“Three Russian missiles hit the railway infrastructure in Zdolbuniv region this morning. I arrived at the spot. There are no casualties. One worker has suffered minor injuries. The windows and roofs of about 20 nearby houses are damaged. The total damage is being evaluated. Psychologists are working with residents,” said Vitali Koval, the Head of Rivne Regional Military Administration.
📌In Kherson, the Russian military seized the city council building. The mayor and employees of the City Council were given the opportunity to go home. Kherson City Council will not work from tomorrow.
📌1500 educational institutions were damaged as a result of daily bombings and shelling of Ukrainian towns and villages by the Russian armed forces. At the same time, 102 of them were destroyed.
📌In Mariupol, the occupying forces announced the start of the work of “militia” and “creation of a zone of compact resettlement” in the private houses that survived on the principle of dormitories in the Primorskiy district. The invaders together with the collaborators are trying to create the illusion of recovery and improvement.
📌At least UAH 3.5 billion is needed to restore the buildings of the Karazin National University in Kharkiv destroyed by Russian missiles – Rector of the University Tetiana Kaganovska informs.
📌Russia has consolidated 8 Kalibr-type cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea. Their total volley is 58 missiles, according to the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense Oleksandr Motuzyanyk.
📌Ukrainian journalists have discovered the third mass grave near Mariupol. Thanks to satellite images, freshly dug trenches more than 200 meters long were discovered on the territory of the cemetery in the village of Stary Krym.
📌Refugee arrivals from Ukraine since February, 24.
RUSSIAN CONTEXT
⚠️Lessons are being held in Russian schools to retell propaganda and justify the war against Ukraine. Children are told lies about “nationalists” in power in Ukraine, “oppression of the Russian-speaking population”, the nuclear threat from NATO and the “suffering of the people of Donbass”.
⚠️Russian oil trader Rosneft was unable to sell 6.5 million tons of oil during the tender because it demanded a full prepayment in rubles. The failure of the tender underscores the Kremlin’s problems with oil sales due to tough Western sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine.
⚠️According to the British Intelligence, the Russians are planning to hold a staged “referendum” in Kherson to justify the occupation and gain direct reunification with occupied Crimea.
⚠️Wildfires in Siberia are already twice as big as last year, and have gone unchecked, as the Russian military, which usually fights them, is now at war in Ukraine — The Independent.
⚠️Russian IT companies are facing difficulties in purchasing servers and data storage systems. Presently, they cannot be bought even in the second-hand market. At the same time, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Russia reports that there is no shortage in the market and the department has taken measures to organize the supply of Russian solutions, including servers and data storage systems.
⚠️On April 24, on Easter Day on Red Square in Moscow, the man held a single protest with a “Christ for Peace” poster, for which he was taken to the police.
⚠️Russia has not given up plans to use chemical weapons against Ukrainian defenders and civilians at Azovstal.
- Chemical weapons can be used against people who are on the territory of the Azovstal plant. According to the latest data, in order to avoid casualties among the servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces, the so-called “smoking out” of Ukrainian defenders and civilians from the company’s premises may be carried out.
- For this, the Russian leadership plans to carry out bombarding and missile strikes with artillery and aircraft munitions carrying combat poisons. At the same time, Russian units of the “Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces” will use aerosols with chemical weapons.
- It is known that the words of the President of the Russian Federation in the video of the conversation with the Minister of Defense published in the media were taken out of context. The phrase “siege the territory of the enterprise so that the fly does not go through” should be taken in context – not to allow anyone alive to get out of the catacombs. In particular, after the use of chemical weapons.
- Additional confirmations of the Kremlin’s plans to use chemical weapons are:
– “Proactive measures” – spreading false information about the availability of chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine.
– Selection and inspection of possible places for storage of ammunition (cylinders) with combat poisons.
DEFENSE UPDATES
📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:
📌In the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions for the past 24 hours, 7 enemy attacks were repulsed; 13 tanks, 3 artillery systems, 17 units of armored vehicles, 4 combat armored vehicles and 18 units of motor vehicles and 4 tankers were destroyed. Air defense units shot down 3 “Orlan-10” unmanned aerial vehicles in the area.
📌The Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down another Russian plane in Kharkiv region. According to preliminary data, it is Su-34.
📌“There is no unified position”: EU countries can’t agree on Russian gas and oil embargo.
The European Union is working on the sixth package of sanctions against Russia. However, the countries are still discussing the embargo on oil and gas supplies from Russia, and the countries do not have a common position. This was stated by Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
On top of that, there are no alternative sanctions, such as the punitive tariff for Russian oil and gas supplies.
“Stopping oil and gas imports or a punitive tariff would be important to put pressure on Putin and force him to sit down at the negotiating table. At the moment, we in the EU do not have a unified position on this question”, said Borrell.
📌Ukrainian Su-25 pilot Roman Vasyliuk, who was shot down by enemy air defenses in the Donetsk region in March, was released from Russian captivity.
📌The heads of two communities of Zaporizhzhia oblast – Novouspenivska and Kyrylivska – Ivan Senyk and Ivan Maleev, were released from captivity. 8 Ukrainian mayors continue to be held captive by orcs. Their fate remains unknown.
📌Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine, 75,000 munitions and about 2,000 air bombs have been found and neutralized. Pyrotechnicians surveyed and cleared more than 13,000 hectares of land – almost 20,000 football fields.
HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS AND EVACUATION UPDATES
📌12 people from Siverodonetsk were evacuated. The bus did not reach Rubizhne due to shelling — orcs opened fire on the bus, no one was injured. Popasna and Rubizhne — the Russians do not let the locals leave and systematically fire at our evacuation buses.
📌“Despite the statements of the Russian Defense Ministry about the humanitarian corridors from Azovstal, there are no agreements as of today,” said Vice Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. “The corridor announced unilaterally does not provide security, and therefore, in fact, is not a humanitarian corridor,” she said.
📌The evacuation from Avdyiivka was canceled on April 25 due to heavy shelling by the Russian aggressor.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s daily statements
🇺🇦 Volodymyr Zelensky met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
“We discussed with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin defense assistance, strengthening sanctions against Russia, financial support for Ukraine and security guarantees. I am grateful to the United States of America for its unprecedented assistance!”.
CYBER-RESISTANCE AND DIGITAL VICTORIES
📌 SITA disconnects Russian airlines from the global baggage retrieval system World Tracer from April 25. At present, PJSC Aeroflot and Peremoha LLC have already been shut down.
📌 WPP ceases operations in Russia. The WPP Board of Directors concluded that WPP’s presence would be contrary to their company’s values.
📌 The American company in the field of commercial real estate WeWork is finalizing the decision to sell its business in Russia and is suspending all plans to expand its business in the region.
📌 Scandinavian IT services company Tietoevry is shutting down all local operations in Russia and handing over all its responsibilities, including staff, legal and regulatory authorities, to new owners.
PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
📌 Rallies in support of Ukraine took place in Hamburg.
📌In the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, the facade of the modern Pop Music Center was illuminated in blue and yellow.
📌French director Michel Hazanavičius (“The Artist”) has responded to a request from Ukrainians to rename his new film. The comedy film about zombies was called “Z” and was to open the Cannes Film Festival this year. Now it will open it under another name – “Coupez”!
“In view of the symbolic charge taken by the letter Z since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and at the request of Ukrainian filmmakers, I decided to change the title of my film. This title may have been funny when we finished the film a few months ago, but it isn’t funny anymore. My film is made to bring joy and in no case would I want it to be associated directly or indirectly with this war. So I’m very happy to change title and to this extent to mark my full support for the Ukrainian people“, he said.
📌The largest print media about advertising AdWeek has released an issue that is completely dedicated to creativity of Ukraine. Part of the money from advertising in this issue will go to the Nova Ukraine and Ukrainian American Coordinating Council funds.
📌In Norway, activists of the international environmental organization Greenpeace blocked the path of a Russian oil tanker.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
📌A Ukrainian school will be opened in Estonia, — Estonian Ambassador to Ukraine. According to Kaimo Kuusk, there are now many teachers in his country who have been forced to leave Ukraine, and the total number of Ukrainians who have come to Estonia is 33,000.
📌The Minister of Finance of Bulgaria Asen Vasilev expressed readiness to include in the government’s agenda the issue of purchasing electricity produced by Ukraine.
📌 Tweet of the day
The future of Ukraine directly depends on the strength of our resistance – in all its forms. The future of us all. Each of our cities, each of our villages. And I am grateful to everyone who realizes this. Who does not stop resisting even when it seems that the result is very far. Because the darkest time is always before dawn.
Photo: Anatolii Stepanov, Rodrigo Abd, Marco Djurica, Cтас Юрченко, Vadim Ghirda, Marcus Yam, Gleb Garanich