Ukraine Daily

Wednesday, 13 April 2022

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Ukrainian serviceman walks past the destroyed gas station in the village of Stoyanka, right next to Kyiv’s western border, on March 31. (Getty Images)

Ukraine’s Air Force: 300th Russian aerial target destroyed since beginning of war. As of April 12, the destruction of a Russian Sukhoi Su-25 military aircraft by Ukrainian forces was the 300th target downed. These are the indicative estimates by Ukraine’s military.

Russia amasses aircraft at western Lipetsk Oblast airfield. According to satellite imagery seen by RFE/RL, the number of fighters and bombers at the “Lipetsk-2” military airport in Russia has doubled to more than 30 aircraft since the end of March. As of April 11 there are 6 Su-27 fighters, 14 Su-30 or Su-34 bombers, 10 Su-24 bombers and 4 unidentified aircraft at the airfield.

CNN: Large Russian military column spotted heading to Donbas. CNN has geolocated a video shared on social media on April 11 showing a group of Russian military vehicles near Russia’s Matveev Kurgan, a settlement in the Rostov region. The vehicles were seen facing northwest, in the direction of Ukraine’s Donbas region, where heavy fighting is expected to take place in the coming weeks.

State Investigations Bureau says it has seized 10 Russian ships worth over $34 million. The Bureau blocked eight Russian cargo ships and two tankers from leaving Ukraine. According to Ukrainian law, the state can seize Russian property without compensation.

UK intelligence: Fighting in eastern Ukraine to intensify over next 2-3 weeks. According to the latest update posted by the UK Defense Ministry, Russia continues to refocus its efforts on Ukraine’s Donbas with further fighting around Kherson and Mykolaiv and a renewed push towards Kramatorsk. British intelligence predicts that Russian forces will continue to withdraw from Belarus in order to redeploy in support of operations in eastern Ukraine.

Zelensky offers to trade Medvedchuk for Ukrainian POWs. President Zelensky suggested in an address to exchange the recently captured Viktor Medvedchuk, the most high-profile pro-Kremlin lawmaker in Ukraine, for Ukrainians held in Russian captivity. Zelensky also said that Medvedchuk was captured while attempting to flee abroad.

Finance Ministry predicts state budget deficit of $5-7 billion per month. Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said in an interview with the Financial Times that Ukraine’s state budget deficit is likely to increase from $2.7 billion in March to $5-7 billion in April and May.

Ukraine starts reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure in 7 oblasts. According to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff for President Volodymyr Zelensky, the list includes Zhytomyr, Zaporizhizha, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv oblasts, where hostilities have completely or partially stopped. He said that nearly 1,500 towns and villages were occupied by Russia in these oblasts. 168 towns and villages have already been cleared of mines.

Ambassador: Ukraine invited Scholz to Kyiv. According to the German newspaper Der Spiegel, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk said Kyiv would be happy to welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for talks on assistance with heavy weapons. Earlier, the German newspaper Bild said Kyiv had rejected a visit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier over his “close ties to Russia” in the past.

UK Ministry of Defense: Russia’s plan for war failing. The ministry responded to statements by the Russian leadership that everything was going according to plan in Ukraine. The ministry said that six Russian generals had been killed during the war, over 2,000 units of Russian military equipment had been damaged or destroyed, and Russian soldiers were turning on and attacking their commanders.

Mariupol City Council: Russian forces illegally deported 33,500 residents to Russia, occupied territories. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said that the authorities are working on returning the deported residents and that several embassies of European countries have joined the process.

Bloomberg: Putin says Ukraine talks ‘at dead end’, vows to pursue war. There’s been no word of progress for days in video-link peace talks after Ukraine accused Russian troops of carrying out war crimes including killing unarmed civilians in Bucha and other towns in the north.

SBU: Russia’s agents sought to stir separatism in Ukraine’s western regions. According to Ukraine’s Security Service, a group of people recruited by Russia started working to “overthrow the constitutional order” in Ukraine’s western regions in the summer of 2021. SBU reported detaining “the organizer and key people” in Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytsky Oblasts.

State Border Guard Service: More than 870,000 Ukrainians have returned to Ukraine since Feb. 24. Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the State Border Guard Service said on April 12 that around 3 million Ukrainians and 350,000 foreigners have fled Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion. The United Nations places the number of Ukrainians having fled the country at over 4 million.

Donetsk Oblast governor: ‘Too early to tell if Russia used chemical weapons in Mariupol.’ According to the Head of Donetsk Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko, “it is too early to say what the substance was” that was distributed in Mariupol on April 11 and injured three people, and whether it can be classified as a chemical attack.

Read our exclusive, on the ground stories

Kyiv Oblast was among the first regions hit by Russia’s full-scale invasion. Starting from late February, towns and villages near the Ukrainian capital had been suffering from the Russian shelling and bombing, as well as atrocities of the Russian troops, including rape and summary executions. Check the Kyiv Independent’s photo report here.

The human cost of Russia’s war

Donetsk Oblast Governor: Up to 22,000 people killed in Mariupol. Pavlo Kyrylenko told CNN that these were the preliminary estimates. According to the official, it is difficult to make estimates since Mariupol, a seaport in southeastern Ukraine, remains besieged. President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said that tens of thousands of people were killed in the city.

Prosecutor General: Russia’s war kills at least 191 children, wounds 349 others. According to the Prosecutor General’s office, on April 11 a one-and-a-half-month-old child and a 12-year-old teenager died in Kharkiv and another four children were injured as a result of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure. In Kherson Oblast, a 15-year-old girl was seriously injured. The actual number of child casualties is expected to be higher due to the lack of information from front-line areas.

UN: 4,450 civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s war. According to the UN’s human rights agency, as of midnight on April 11, Russia’s war in Ukraine has killed 1,892 and injured 2,558 civilians, including 71 children killed and 144 injured since Feb. 24. The agency believes that the actual figures are considerably higher.

Ukraine identifies bodies of over 720 people killed by Russian military in Kyiv Oblast. More than 200 people are still missing, according to Kyiv Oblast Police Chief Andriy Nebytov, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported.

Russian forces kill over 400 civilians during occupation of Bucha. According to the head of Kyiv Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Pavliuk, new bodies have been discovered each day since the liberation of Bucha from the Russian troops on April 1.

Five Ukrainian regions hit by Russia overnight. Khmelnytskyi Oblast was hit by a missile while shelling continued in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson oblasts. At least nine people died, and tens are injured.

International response

Presidents of Poland, Baltic states to meet with Zelensky on April 13. “Our goal is to support President Zelensky and the defenders of Ukraine at a crucial moment for this country,” said Jakub Kumoch, who heads Polish International Policy Bureau and is accompanying the Polish president. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda tweeted that he’s heading to Ukraine’s capital with “a strong message of political support and military assistance.”

Reuters: US to announce $750 million in military assistance to Ukraine. Reuters, citing two U.S. sources familiar with the matter, confirm the package might be announced as soon as Wednesday, April 13. If approved, it would bring the total aid to Ukraine to more than $3 billion since the start of the Biden administration.

Biden calls Putin’s actions in Ukraine ‘genocide.’ While addressing an audience over rising gas prices U.S. President Joe Biden said, “Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away.” The White House has not yet judged whether genocide is taking place in Ukraine, but has said there could be a process to make that determination.

Netherlands targets 20 yachts due to sanctions against Russia. Dutch Customs has placed another six yachts under increased surveillance due to sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Last week it was already announced that 14 luxury sailboats were not allowed to leave the country because they were associated with persons or institutions that are on the sanctions list of the EU.

France’s Finance Ministry has frozen $25.6 billion of Russian assets. Since the start of Russia’s invasion, France has frozen Russian assets with the majority belonging to the Russian Central Bank, in the amount of $25.6 billion. The rest of assets include real estate, yachts, helicopters and artwork.

Kharkiv City Council: Apple Park architect to help with Kharkiv’s reconstruction. Famous U.K. architect and designer Norman Robert Foster agreed to help reconstruct Kharkiv, a regional capital in eastern Ukraine that has been heavily shelled by Russian forces, the authorities reported. Some of his famous projects include Apple’s headquarters in California and the 30 St Mary Axe commercial skyscraper in London.

Reuters: World Bank to provide Ukraine with $1.5 billion. World Bank President David Malpass said on April 12, that the “support package was enabled after the approval of $1 billion in the International Development Association aid,” which provides concessional loans and grants to the world’s poorest developing countries, Reuters reports.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry receives $4 million worth of equipment to digitize Russia’s war crimes. The ministry reported on April 12 that the equipment donated by the two private companies, AXON and Benish GPS, is “one of the best examples in its field” and that the body cameras will be used to “capture evidence of war crimes.”

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