Ukraine Daily

Thursday, 7 April 2022

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Men ride bicycles in front of a residential building damaged in shelling in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6, 2022.

Mariupol City Council: Russia uses crematoriums to erase evidence of its war crimes. According to the council of the besieged city in Donetsk Oblast, Russia’s special brigades collect and burn the bodies of murdered residents to avoid having their crimes exposed as happened in Bucha. The council said that tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed in Mariupol. “The scale of the tragedy in Mariupol the world has not seen since the times of Nazi concentration camps,” mayor Vadym Boychenko said. Russians, he added, “turned our whole city into a death camp.”

Russian air strikes destroy oil depot, set fire to factory in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast area. In an update the following day on April 6, the regional State Emergency Service said that the attack completely destroyed the factory, rendering it inoperable. The number of victims has yet to be confirmed.

Russian occupiers leave explosives in apartments of Bucha. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky told reporters that the Russian soldiers went into apartments and left grenades if they found Ukrainian symbols or documents of a Ukrainian serviceman. The minister added that according to international standards, a day of active hostilities means a month of demining and the work is “extremely difficult and responsible.”

Ukrainians defending country to be excluded from corrupt persons list. Ukrainians enrolled in the country’s Armed Forces, Territorial Defense, and the State Emergency Service, are eligible. According to the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, most of the cases are based on minor violations, such as late assets declaration submission.

Zelensky: Russia blocks humanitarian corridors to Mariupol ‘to hide the real picture.’ “There are not tens, but thousands killed, thousands injured people,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said. He added that “the Russian army and the political leadership, all those who gave orders, carried them out, are all war criminals. Everyone must be held accountable.”

Almost 4,900 people evacuated from war zone on April 6. 3,686 people arrived in Zaporizhzhia from occupied Mariupol and Berdyansk. 11 buses sent to evacuate people from the cities of Melitopol and Tokmak are currently en route to Zaporizhzhia. Additionally, over 1,200 people were evacuated from four cities in the Luhansk Oblast.

Melitopol Mayor: Russian forces steal agricultural machinery, disrupt harvest. In a televised interview on April 6, Mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov said that Russian troops are looting agricultural equipment either because is not available in Russia due to imposed sanctions or to disrupt the harvest. Fedorov added that it has been “impossible” to tend to winter crops due to minefields and a lack of fuel in Russian-occupied regions.

Ukraine’s foreign-exchange reserves rose by 2% to $28.1 billion as of April 1. The increase was caused by the inflow of money from Ukraine’s international partners, the National Bank wrote in a statement.

General Staff: Russia prepares an ‘offensive operation’ against Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Russia plans to capture Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. The Russian military is regrouping and conducting reconnaissance. The regrouping of troops in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions is nearing completion.

Russian occupiers and collaborators instate regime-friendly authorities in Enerhodar, Zaporozhzhia Region. According to Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear energy сompany, Andriy Shevchyk, a deputy of the Energodar city council, was chosen as head of city administration and by an illegal order dismissed the elected mayor, Dmytro Orlov, from his position. Energoatom emphasized that these moves are considered illegal and hold no legal bearing.

Kharkiv shelled 27 times during the night. Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Synehubov said that Russian forces used various weapons to attack residential areas of Ukraine’s second-largest city. Russia “wants to demoralize us and continues to strike chaotic attacks on civilian infrastructure,” the official said.

Russia shells residential buildings in Luhansk Oblast after Ukrainian authorities urge civilians to evacuate. As a result, 10 high-rise buildings were on fire in Sievierodonetsk on April 6, according to Luhansk Oblast governor Serhiy Haidai. The number of casualties is unknown yet. Russian forces also fired at a factory shop in Lysychansk and a building in Rubizhne. Earlier, Deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk urged residents of Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts to evacuate, warning that further Russian bombardments could cut off evacuation corridors.

Read our exclusive, on the ground stories

New phase in war opens up as Ukraine defeats Russia in battle of Kyiv. The battle of Kyiv is over, with Ukraine as its victor. After nearly 40 days of fierce hostilities, by April 1 Russian forces had withdrawn from battlefields in northern Ukraine within just days. Despite a massive effort Russia failed to encircle the Ukrainian capital and install a blockade. Read our in depth story here.

As Ukraine regains control of Borodyanka area, more Russians’ atrocities come to light. Burned and shattered, high-rise residential buildings in the center of Borodyanka, a town 40 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, hide even more horror underneath. Around 200 people have been buried alive in the basements when Russian bombs destroyed the buildings, local authorities estimate. Read our on the ground story here.

The human cost of Russia’s war

Russia’s war kills at least 167 children, wounds 279 others. According to Prosecutor General’s office, 79 children were either killed or injured in Kyiv Oblast, 81 in Donetsk Oblast, 64 in Kharkiv Oblast, 49 in Chernihiv Oblast, 39 in Mykolaiv Oblast, 31 in Luhansk Oblast, 22 in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, 29 in Kherson Oblast, 16 in Kyiv city, 16 in Sumy Oblast and 15 in Zhytomyr Oblast. These numbers don’t include children casualties from some hot spots such as besieged Mariupol.

Kyiv City Council: 89 civilians killed in Kyiv since start of Russia’s invasion. Another 398 people had been wounded and 167 residential buildings damaged by Russian strikes. “It has become safer in Kyiv, but the threat of airstrikes remains. The city asks those who left the capital to refrain from returning for now,” the council said.

Russians fire artillery at humanitarian aid distribution spot in Vuhledar, killing at least 2 people. Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said Russian forces also wounded at least 5 other people. He stressed that the authorities are documenting all of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military: Russia has lost 18,600 soldiers as of April 6. Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported that Russia also lost 684 tanks, 1,861 armored personnel carriers, 1,324 vehicles, 332 artillery systems, 107 multiple launch rocket systems, 55 anti-aircraft defense systems, 135 helicopters, 150 aircraft, 76 fuel tanks, 96 UAVs and 7 boats.

International response

Stoltenberg: Russia’s war in Ukraine could last for years as Putin still wants ‘whole of Ukraine.’ NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters that although Russia is now concentrating its assault on eastern Ukraine, NATO has seen “no indication” that Putin’s aim of controlling the whole country has changed.

New York Times: Pentagon trains small group of Ukrainian soldiers to operate portable armed drones. Pentagon officials reportedly said on April 6 that the soldiers are on a pre-scheduled educational assignment in the U.S. and are being trained on how to use Switchblade drones. The U.S. included 100 Switchblade drones for Ukraine as part of a $800 million military aid package to Ukraine.

US believes it can identify Russian units that committed war crimes in Bucha. According to a US official, identifying those involved is an extremely high priority for the US intelligence community, CNN reports. It is already clear that more than one military unit or group of Russian troops are responsible for the massacres, but it is uncertain whether the U.S. would announce its findings publicly and the decision to do so could be left up to Ukraine.

US sanctions Russia’s largest state-owned bank Sberbank, Putin’s kids, bans investment. The U.S. announced new sanctions on April 6 on Russian banks and individuals, including banning any American from investing in Russia. The U.S. is also sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adult daughters, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife and daughter, and Russia’s security council members.

Greece to expel 12 Russian diplomats. The Greek Foreign Ministry announced that 12 members representing Russia on diplomatic and consular missions in Greece will be declared “persona non grata.”

Blinken: for every Russian tank Ukraine has 10 anti-tank systems. During an interview with NBC, U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken said in response to a question about the possibility for a protracted war in Ukraine that the U.S. and its allies have provided or will soon provide Ukraine with “10 anti-tank systems – 10 for every single Russian tank.” Blinken also said that while it may take time, there is “no scenario” in which Ukraine does not win.

Pope Francis condemns massacre of Bucha, calls UN impotent. At his weekly audience, the Pope held up a Ukrainian flag. He called the cruelties against civilians in Ukraine horrendous. He added that the world is witnessing “the impotence of the International Organizations of the United Nation” in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

International fund to finance rebuilding Ukraine’s energy infrastructure affected by war. The Energy Community has decided to establish a fund to get financial support from donors, which will mainly be EU member states and international businesses, and use the collected amount to restore damaged or destroyed energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

Scholz: Germany is in confidential talks on security guarantees to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Bundestag that Germany is in confidential discussions with Ukraine about possible security guarantees it could offer to ensure safety after Russia’s invasion. After the peace talks in Istanbul on March 29, Ukrainian delegation said that Ukraine seeks NATO-style security guarantees from the West.

Orban: Hungary open to pay for Russian gas in rubles. On March 31, Moscow issued a decree requiring foreign buyers of Russian gas to open ruble accounts in state-run Gazprombank or risk being cut off. The European Commission earlier has said that those with contracts requiring payment in euros or dollars should stick to that.

FT: EU to discuss imposing sanctions on high-profile Russian executives. According to a document seen by the Financial Times, the list includes the head of Russian state-owned Sberbank Herman Gref, aluminium oligarch Oleg Deripaska, CEO of e-commerce platform Ozon Aleksander Shulgin, Boris Rotenberg, one of the Kremlin’s closest business associates, and Said Kerimov, who controls Russia’s largest gold miner Polyus.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Thaisa Semenova, Natalia Datskevych, Asami Terajima, Sergiy Slipchenko, Teah Pelechaty, Oleksiy Sorokin, Olga Rudenko, Toma Istomina, and Lili Bivings.

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