Ukraine Daily

Saturday, 16 April 2022

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Debris of the world’s biggest cargo aircraft Antonov An-225 Mriya pictured at the Hostomel Airfield on April 8, 2022 (The Kyiv Independent)

Ukraine expects escalation in the south following sinking of Russian flagship Moskva. According to Nataliia Humeniuk, press person for Ukraine’s southern security and defense forces, Ukraine expects Russian missile and artillery attacks on southern regions to intensify in response to the destruction of the Moskva. Ukraine says it hit the Moskva with Neptune anti-ship missiles in the Black Sea on April 14. Russia reported that the missile cruiser sank after suffering from a fire that detonated ammunition on board.

The Times: British SAS troops ‘are training local forces in Ukraine.’ Ukrainian commanders told The Times that British Special Air Service troops have been “on the ground” in and around Kyiv training new and returning recruits to use NLAWs, anti-tank missiles sent by the U.K in February. The British Defense Ministry declined to comment.

Reuters: Ukraine’s top steelmaker vows never to work under Russian occupation. Metinvest, a steel and mining company run by Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov, told Reuters on April 15 that over a third of Ukraine’s metallurgy production capacity has ceased following Russia’s assault on Mariupol. The company added that Ukraine, Europe’s largest provider of iron ore, has nearly halved output.

Reuters: Shmyhal, top Ukrainian finance officials to visit Washington. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, alongside finance minister Serhiy Marchenko and National Bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko, will attend the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank next week. According to unnamed sources familiar with the plans, discussions will focus on Ukraine’s physical and economic damage due to the war, as well as the continued functioning of Ukraine’s banking and financial sectors.

Demining of Kyiv Oblast can take up to a year. The head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Pavliuk said on April 15 that they plan to finish demining settlements and roads in Kyiv Oblast by the end of May, while the rest of the territory can take up to a year. Around 1,200 hectares have been cleared already, Pavliuk said, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda.

CNN: US believes Russia’s war in Ukraine could last through end of 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shared the assessment with some European allies, CNN reports citing two anonymous European officials. According to CNN, “U.S. and European officials have increasingly assessed that there is no short-term end in sight to the conflict.”

Zelensky: ‘Russia has lost Ukraine forever.’ During his latest video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Russia’s problem is that the Ukrainian people do not accept it – and will never accept it again. Russia has lost Ukraine forever. What can I say, it has lost the whole world. Russia will not be accepted anywhere else.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry to step up missile attacks on Kyiv. The ministry said on April 15 that this was a response to the alleged Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory. Russia has recently accused Ukraine of shelling Russia’s Bryansk Oblast. Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine on Feb. 24 and has been bombing and shelling Ukraine ever since.

EU ambassador: ‘Russia abducts Ukrainian children.’ Russia will be held accountable for such acts, Matti Maasikas, the head of the EU delegation to Ukraine wrote on Twitter on April 15. More than 130,000 children were forcibly moved to Russia, according to ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova.

BBC: FSB asks Russian government for additional funding to bury Russian troops. Russia’s Federal Security Service asked the Russian government to increase by 17% the “funding for military burials and tombstones,” BBC reported. Ukraine’s General Staff says 20,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the all-out war.

Kyiv authorities: Up to 50,000 residents return to Kyiv every day. Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration Mykola Povoroznyk said that around 40,000-50,000 people come back to Kyiv every day. Earlier, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that it was too early to return to Kyiv as there is still a threat of Russian missile strikes, while the demining of territories surrounding Kyiv is ongoing.

Al Jazeera: Over 7,000 Ukrainians arrive in Mexico since beginning of the war. American President Joe Biden said on March 24 that the U.S. would receive up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees via the country’s refugee admissions program, although few have taken this route. CNN, citing an unnamed source, also reports that between 20 to 30 unaccompanied Ukrainian minors have arrived in the U.S. via Mexico over the past two weeks.

Gazprom exports fall by a quarter compared to last year. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom’s exports amounted to 44.6 billion cubic meters since January, 26.4% less than in the same period of 2021.

Ukraine’s Air Force: 7 Russian aerial targets destroyed. The destroyed aircraft consisted of one plane, one helicopter, three unmanned aerial vehicles, and two cruise missiles, according to the Air Force Command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces update published on April 15.

Ukraine repels 10 enemy attacks in the east. In the attacks, Russia has lost three tanks, several pieces of artillery, and an armored personnel carrier, according to Ukraine’s military estimates. Another six Orlan-10 UAVs were reportedly downed.

Read our exclusive, on the ground stories

Chief pilot of destroyed An-225: ‘We must complete the second Mriya.‘ Dmytro Antonov observed his old ritual when he got back to the Hostomel Airfield outside Kyiv in early April. But all he could do this time was pay his last respects to a heap of scorched and twisted metal. The Mriya was dead, lying among the debris of destroyed Russian armored vehicles and trucks. Now that Russia has left Kyiv Oblast following its defeat in the area, its chief pilot is seeking justice.Read the full story here.

The human cost of Russia’s war

CNN: Zelensky estimates up to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed during the war. In an interview with CNN on April 15, President Volodymyr Zelensky compared these numbers to Russia’s, an estimated 19,000 to 20,000 soldiers killed. Zelensky added that around 10,000 Ukrainian troops have been injured and that it’s “hard to say how many will survive.”

Casualties reported in Poltava, Severodonetsk, Lysychansk due to Russian shelling. Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai reported via Telegram on April 16 that one person was killed, three wounded, and a gas pipeline has burst due to Russian shelling overnight in Severodonetsk and Lyschansk. UNIAN news agency, citing Poltava Oblast Governor Dmytro Lunin, reported that one person was killed due to shelling in the region.

UN: 4,633 civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s war. According to the UN’s human rights agency, as of midnight on April 14, Russia’s war in Ukraine has killed 1,982 and injured 2,651 civilians, including 72 children killed and 147 injured since Feb. 24. The agency believes that the actual figures are considerably higher.

More than 900 civilians in killed Kyiv Oblast by Russia’s war. According to Kyiv Oblast Police Chief Andriy Nebytov, the biggest number of civilians killed by the Russian forces — over 350 people — was recorded in Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv.

Update: Death toll in Kharkiv shelling rises to 10. At least 10 people have been killed, including a 7-month-old baby, as Russian forces used multiple rocket launchers against the Industrial District of Kharkiv at about 4:30 p.m. local time.

Ukraine’s General Staff says 20,000 Russian soldiers killed since Feb. 24. Russian troops have also lost 756 tanks, 1,976 armored fighting vehicles, 366 artillery pieces, 122 multiple rocket launchers, 66 surface-to-air missiles, 163 jets, 144 helicopters, eight ships, 76 fuel tanks, 135 drones, and four ballistic missile systems, the General Staff said on April 15.

Governor says two people killed due to Russian shelling of Luhansk Oblast over past 24 hours. Two people were injured, Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai added. The region’s infrastructure was shelled by Russian troops 24 times.

International response

Germany to increase military aid to Ukraine. Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner confirmed on Twitter on April 15 that Germany will boost its international aid in the defense sector to 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion), most of which will be dedicated to Ukraine.

CNN: First flight of $800 million in new military aid for Ukraine from US expected in next 24 hours. According to an undisclosed U.S. senior defense official, the material will be picked up at the border by Ukrainians. The White House announced the new package, which includes 11 helicopters, 18 Howitzer cannons, and 300 Switchblade drones, on April 13.

Italian ambassador returns to Kyiv after evacuation, aims to resume work on April 18. The French ambassador also announced on April 15 that his embassy would reopen in Kyiv shortly, after being relocated for a month to Lviv.

Russia threatens Sweden, Finland with ‘negative consequences’ of joining NATO. Maria Zakharova, the official representative of Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said that if Sweden and Finland become NATO members, the two countries will turn into a new “frontier” in Russia’s confrontation with NATO, and the “negative consequences for peace and stability in northern Europe are obvious.”

Georgieva: IMF prepares for reconstruction of Ukraine. “We are preparing for the massive reconstruction effort that will be required,” Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said on April 15. The IMF has already increased its emergency funding to $1.4 billion to help Ukraine, Georgieva said.

Media: North Macedonia expels six Russian diplomats. The Foreign Ministry of North Macedonia has declared six more Russian diplomats persona non grata for violating diplomatic norms, RFE/RL’s Balkan Service reported on April 15. They have five days to leave the country. North Macedonia already expelled five Russian diplomats earlier in March.

Polish President Andrzej Duda signs law banning Russian, Belarusian coal imports. The measure is part of a legislative package aimed at combating Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Polish newspaper Biznes Alert reported on April 15.

US: ‘Nothing will dissuade’ Biden administration from supporting Ukraine. “Nothing will dissuade us from the strategy that we’ve embarked on,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told CNN on April 15. The Washington Post reported that it had received a copy of a diplomatic note sent by Russia to the U.S. claiming that U.S. and NATO shipments of the “most sensitive” weapons to Ukraine could bring “unpredictable consequences.

New York Times: EU to introduce oil embargo against Russia after April 24. The potential embargo would be introduced after the presidential run-off in France to avoid helping far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who has railed against rising fuel prices, the New York Times reported.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Alexander Query, Daria Shulzhenko, Oleg Sukhov, Ilia Ponomarenko, Sergiy Slipchenko, Teah Pelechaty, Olena Goncharova, Oleksiy Sorokin, Olga Rudenko, Toma Istomina and Brad LaFoy.

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