Press digest – Ukraine
64rd day of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion
#ArmUkraineNow
DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES
📌In the evening of April 28, Russian troops launched rocket attacks on Kyiv and the Kyiv region. According to preliminary data, a house was hit. 10 people were hospitalized. Medical staff and rescue teams are working on the spot.
It is at this time that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is visiting Kyiv.
In Kyiv region, the infrastructure objects were hit. Emergency services are working there.
📌 Simultaneously with the shelling of Kyiv area, the explosions in Mykolaiv also were heard.
“Mykolaiv region was hit again with the Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems. Dozens of private households, cars and shops were damaged. The information about the casualties is being specified”, said the Operational command “Pivden”.
📌 About 100,000 Mariupol residents are in mortal danger due to unsanitary conditions in the Russian-occupied city.
“The occupiers are unable to provide the existing population with food, water and medicine, or they are simply not interested in it. They are blocking all evacuation attempts. And without it, people will die. There are medieval living conditions now in ruined Mariupol,” – informs the city hall administration.
📌Azov Regiment reported that multi-ton bombs were being dropped all night on a military field hospital located on the territory of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
“Then, having already caused the destruction, they continued to mercilessly shell the ruins with naval artillery,” the statement said. “Among the already wounded servicemen, there are dead, newly wounded and shell-shocked. Due to the enemy attack, part of the premises collapsed – in particular the surgery room, which makes it impossible to help our soldiers now, even in the same conditions as before.”
📌 The Russian occupiers stole 61 tons of wheat from the agricultural enterprise in Zaporizhzhia. This was reported by the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office in the Telegram, Ukrinform reports.
According to the investigation, the armed Russian military, threatening with violence, robbed a branch of one of the agricultural companies in the city of Kamianka-Dniprovska. Wheat and other property were taken away by the Russian invaders in a truck, which was also at the disposal of the branch.
📌At least 610 children have been affected by Russia’s armed aggression in Ukraine. 217 children were killed and 393 were injured.
📌88 billion dollars — this is the value of damage of Ukrainian infrastructure since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. This is UAH 2.6 trillion.
As of the end of April, the losses are as follows:
▪️ roads – $ 30 billion
▪️ residential buildings – $ 28 billion
▪️ assets of enterprises – 10 billion dollars
▪️ airports – $ 7 billion
▪️ railway – $ 3.5 billion
▪️ hospitals – $ 1.8 billion
▪️ bridges – $ 1.6 billion
▪️ schools and universities – $ 1.1 billion
📌A Russian missile hit Zaporizhzhya. Three people were injured, including one child, the Zaporizhzhya RMA reported.
📌During the day of April 28, the Russian military fired on one of the eastern districts of Kharkiv and a village in the Kharkiv region. As a result, 2 people were killed and 6 injured.
📌 3 dead, 3 injured. All of them civilians. These are the preliminary consequences of the morning air strike that the Russians inflicted on N’iu-York, a settlement in the Donetsk region. This was reported by the head of the Donetsk OVA Pavlo Kyrylenko.
📌CNN has published an exclusive video from Bucha, which once again confirms that the Russian military killed civilians. The video was shot from a drone on March 12 and 13, the days when the city was occupied by the Russian military. CNN correspondent Matt Rivers notes that the recording clearly shows Russian vehicles next to the bodies of civilians. These bodies were later discovered by the Ukrainian military when they entered the city.
“What does it mean? We know that Russia controlled Bucha on March 12-13, we know that these civilians had already been killed at that time, and we know that when Ukrainian troops entered the city, their bodies lay there. That is, the Kremlin says that they know nothing about the atrocities that took place in Bucha, and their troops had nothing to do with it. This video directly contradicts this statement,” – the journalist stressed.
📌USA has the evidence: Ukrainians who tried to surrender were executed by Russians near Donetsk — The Hill.
We have reliable information that the Russian military unit operating on the outskirts of Donetsk executed Ukrainians who tried to surrender, instead of putting them in custody, — announced the US Special Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, Justice Beth Van Schaak, at the UN meeting.
According to her, this is a violation of the basic principle of the law of war: the prohibition of arbitrary punishment of civilians and combatants who capitulated, received injuries or other forms of disability.
📌The Russian occupiers stole and took to Donetsk more than 2,000 unique exhibits from the museums of Mariupol, according to the city council. Among them there are original works by Kuindzhi and Aivazovsky, ancient icons and a unique handwritten Torah scroll.
📌 Photo of the day
A guy from Mykolaiv with plastic bottles on a bicycle. He is riding to the nearest truck to get some water
SITUATION IN TRANSNISTRIA
❗️ Ukrainian military intelligence reports that a military training (call) has been announced in Transnistria. The goal is to “ensure 100% staffing of the Peacekeeping Contingent of the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic, as well as employment of the able-bodied population of the republic.”
Men under the age of 55, who are guaranteed “financial and material security, accommodation and food”, can take part in the training. Unemployed citizens are promised min 2,800 “rubles of Transnistria”. The training will last 90 days.
RUSSIAN CONTEXT
⚠️British Ministry of Defense:
There are currently approximately 20 Russian ships in the Black Sea, including submarines. Due to the closure of the Bosphorus, Russia cannot replace the lost cruiser “Moscow”, but retains the ability to launch missile strikes on Ukraine
⚠️Russian intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin says he allegedly has information about Washington’s and Warsaw’s plans to establish “military-political control of Poland” over its alleged “historical possessions” in Ukraine.
According to the theory promoted by Russian intelligence, Poland allegedly wants to deploy its troops in the western regions of Ukraine under the slogan “protection from Russian aggression.” Poland is allegedly in talks with the Biden administration about the mandate of this mission.
⚠️The head of the National Center for Defense Management of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mezentsev said that since the beginning of the war, Russia has forcibly removed more than a million people from Ukraine and ORDLO.
Over the past 24 hours, “without the participation of the Ukrainian authorities”, Russia has taken 16,480 people, including 3,354 children, and since the beginning of the full-scale war – a total of 1,002,429 people, including 183,168 children.
⚠️Men of the Russian Orthodox Church are involved in propaganda activities. They were given clear instructions to agitate the parents and relatives of young Russians to encourage them to sign a contract for military service, – said the Central Intelligence Agency of Ukraine.
DEFENSE UPDATES
📌 Another round of prisoners exchange took place. Today, 45 people were freed from Russian captivity – 13 officers and 20 soldiers (5 of whom were wounded). 12 civilians are also returning home, Iryna Vereshchuk said.
📌The Armed Forces of Ukraine regained control over Kutuzivka in the Kharkiv region.
📌Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:
📌Around midnight in the Odessa region, an enemy UAV reconnaissance unit was shot down by air defense forces over the sea.
📌As a result of combat operations, the enemy has fortified near the settlement of Tavriyske. In the areas of settlements Stanislav and Molodetske, the enemy increases the units of jet and barrel artillery.
📌Invaders continue to use Melitopol airfield as the base and flight of Su-25 attack aircraft, Ka-52 attack helicopters and Mi-8 transport and combat aircraft.
📌Near Melitopol, a railway bridge was blown up, through which the Russians delivered weapons and fuel from the Crimea. This was announced by the representative of the Odesa Regional State Administration Serhiy Bratchuk: “After self-liquidation, the Russians began to panic, as they realized that we would get them all around.”
📌Bulgarian delegation led by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov heads to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
📌The UN Secretary General visited Borodyanka in Kyiv region, which suffered from Russian atrocities.
“I imagine my family in one of these houses, now destroyed and black. I see my grandchildren fleeing in panic. War in the 21st century is unacceptable”, — said António Guterres.
📌UN representatives go to Zaporizhzhya to prepare possible evacuation from Mariupol.
HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS AND EVACUATION UPDATES
📌On the morning of April 28, it was announced that evacuation vehicles would be stationed in five cities in the Luhansk region – Rubizhne, Popasna, Lysychansk, Gorske and Severodonetsk.
PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT
📌Oil giant “Shell” has announced that it will no longer accept oil products with a share of Russian origin.
📌Spotify music streaming service, which previously announced its withdrawal from Russia, has stopped providing services to 2.1 million users from Russia.
📌Polish retailer and clothing manufacturer LPP SA, owner of the brands Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito and Sinsay, has decided to sell its business in Russia. This was reported by Forbes Russia with reference to the company’s statement.
“Currently, the European leadership of LPP is already negotiating with potential buyers,” reads the statement.
📌“Time” Magazine new cover:
📌Well-known American Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys released a line of merch in support of Ukraine. Musicians sell a limited series of “Glory to Ukraine” T-shirts, the proceeds of which will be donated to the charity World Central Kitchen’s Ukraine.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE
📌The “lend-lease” bill for Ukraine has been finally adopted. All that’s left is the signature of the US President Joe Biden.
- Adoption of the bill will speed up the provision of military assistance.
- It eliminates bureaucracy.
- It gives the President of the United States and his administration much more flexibility when it comes to arms supplies.
- The adoption of the law shows that the United States and its European allies believe that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine poses an existential threat to the liberal order.
📌The House of Representatives of the US Congress adopted a bill providing the transfer of the confiscated assets of Russian sanctioned persons to help Ukraine.
📌The Parliament of Canada declared the war crimes of the Russian Federation in Ukraine as genocide.
📌The government of Israel canceled the annual official parade on May 9th due to the situation in Ukraine.
📌The German Bundestag with overwhelming majority voted in favor of supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine.
586 out of 693 deputies present voted in favor, 100 were against, seven — abstained. The debates lasted over an hour the day before.
📌 Tweet of the day
There are almost no people left in the free world who do not understand that Russia’s war against Ukraine is just the beginning.
The ultimate goal of Russia’s leadership is not just to seize the territory of Ukraine, but to dismember the entire center and east of Europe and deal a global blow to democracy.
Therefore, the free world has the right to self-defense. And that is why it will help Ukraine even more.