Ukraine Daily

Sunday, 10 April 2022

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Mariupol, a large port city in Donetsk Oblast, has been under ceaseless Russian bombardment and shelling since Moscow launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Over 100,000 civillians remain trapped in the city, under a blockade. (Anastasiia Kiselyova)

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson pays surprise visit to Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelensky and PM Boris Johnson had a meeting in Kyiv on April 9, according to Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff Andrij Sybiha. No details of the conversation are known yet. Johnson hadn’t announced his visit to Ukraine.

Russia fires seven missiles into Mykolayiv area, no casualties reported. Operational Command South reported via Facebook that as Russian forces attempt to reinforce their troop positions around Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, they are using missile strikes to demoralize the population.

4,532 people evacuated through humanitarian corridors on April 9. However, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that buses to evacuate people from Berdiansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar had to return empty because they were blocked by Russian forces. People from these three cities could only evacuate by car.

Ukraine imposes complete trade embargo with Russia. The government’s decision prohibits the import of all goods from Russia, Taras Melnychuk, the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the parliament said on April 9. In 2021, Ukraine imported over $6 billion worth of goods from Russia.

Ukrainian airforce: 13 Russian aerial targets destroyed. Russia lost five UAVs, four missiles, three airplanes, and one helicopter on April 9, according to the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

CNN: One quarter of Russian forces in Ukraine ‘effectively inoperable.’ CNN quoted an unnamed European official, who said that 29 Russian battalion tactical groups are out of order. “Russian forces have tried to combine some of the remaining parts of the BTGs into coherent fighting units, using the remains of two or three groups to attempt to make one,” the official told CNN.

New York Times: Prohibited PTM-1S landmines found near Kharkiv. Residents of Bezruky village near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, discovered munitions that eject up to two dozen small mines that explode at intervals left behind by Russian troops. The mines were banned by the 1997 Ottawa Treaty to reduce civilian casualties and have never been officially recorded during this war. The U.S. last used them during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

NBU: Funds from IMF’s special account to support Ukraine will be used to stabilize country’s economy. The National Bank of Ukraine confirmed that Canada plans to send up to 1 billion Canadian dollars ($795 million USD) to this account, approved by the International Monetary Fund on April 8 to channel international donor resources for Ukraine.

26 Ukrainian prisoners of war released in new exchange. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said they include 12 soldiers and 14 civilians, but she didn’t disclose the number of prisoners of war sent back to Russia. It is the third prisoner exchange since Feb. 24.

About 10% of population has fled Ukraine, numbers declining. According to the United Nations, 4.44 million Ukrainians fled the country after Russia began its invasion. More than 2.5 million of those people went to Poland. The number of new refugees in April significantly decreased — about 414,000 people have left the country since April 1.

Hryvnia rate to remain frozen until martial law ends. Deputy Head of the National Bank Serhiy Nikolaychuk said that the official hryvnia exchange rate – 29.25 per U.S. dollar – will be maintained until the end of martial law in Ukraine. Afterward, it will “gradually” return to a floating rate as the central bank eases restrictions, he added.

Kharkiv Oblast Governor says region witnessed same atrocities as Bucha. Governor Oleh Synehubov said that in Husarivka, Russian forces were torturing civilians. Three people were burned alive, he added. “Marauders, rapists, murderers of women and children. They cannot be called an army,” he said.

S&P cuts Russia’s foreign currency rating to ‘selective default.’ The rating agency said on April 9 that Russia was unlikely to honor its obligations to foreign bondholders. Earlier in April Russia made Eurobond payments in rubles instead of dollars, and S&P believes bondholders are unlikely to convert them into dollars.

Read our exclusive, on the ground stories

“No one counts the dead. We buried people in our yard. There are cemeteries in every park.” “I didn’t want to leave Mariupol until the very end, until a person was killed in front of me.”

“Schools, apartments, private houses, they dropped bombs on everything.” Read the stories of three people who managed to flee the besieged Mariupol.

A group of volunteers create coordination platform Ukraine Helpers that lists organizations that needs donations, shows how people from abroad can offer shelter to Ukrainian refugees, and has information on how to join Ukraine’s foreign legion. Read the Kyiv Independent’s report here.

The human cost of Russia’s war

Russian shelling kills five in Donetsk Oblast. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, said five people have been killed in shelling in the region – four were killed in Vuhledar and one in Novomykhailivka, another five were injured. According to Kyrylenko, at least 220 civilians have been killed in Donetsk Oblast since Feb. 24.

International response

EIB pledges 4 billion euros to support Ukrainian refugees. The European Investment Bank’s program aims to support EU member states in hosting Ukrainian war refugees and helping them build housing, schools, and hospitals to welcome them.

Johnson: UK sets out new package of financial and military aid to Ukraine. During a surprise visit to Kyiv on April 9, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the package a testament of the U.K.’s commitment to Ukraine’s struggle “against Russia’s barbaric campaign.” The aid is in addition to the earlier announced $130 million package.

UK vows to send 120 armored vehicles, anti-ship missile systems to Ukraine. The new package aims “to support Ukraine in this crucial phase while Russia’s illegal assault continues,” according to Downing Street. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also confirmed an additional $500 million in World Bank lending to Ukraine. The new aid is in addition to the $130 million package of military equipment announced on April 8.

Berlusconi: ‘Deeply disappointed and saddened’ by the behavior of Vladimir Putin. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi criticized the behaviour of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin while addressing a convention of his conservative Forza Italia party in Rome, according to Reuters. The comments were the first time Berlusconi has spoken in public of Putin since Feb. 24. When in power, Berlusconi maintained friendly personal ties with Putin.

‘Coffin Dance’ meme creators partner with Ukrainian ad agency to raise $250,000 for Ukrainian military. One of the most famous global memes of 2020, “Coffin Dance” that shows Ghanian pallbearers dancing while carrying a coffin was turned into a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and auctioned on April 7. It was sold for over $1 million. The auction, created together with the Ukrainian advertising agency Zlodei Advertising, aimed to raise funds for Ukraine: the group donated $250,000 to the Ukrainian charitable foundation “Come Back Alive” to assist the Ukrainian military.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Alexander Query, Anastasiia Lapatina, Oleg Sukhov, Thaisa Semenova, Sergiy Slipchenko, Olena Goncharova, Oleksiy Sorokin, Olga Rudenko, Toma Istomina and Brad LaFoy.

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