Saturday, April 6

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A store damaged by a Russian missile strike on Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on April 5, 2024. (Ivan Fedorov/Telegram)

Zelensky signs sanctions order against several Ukrainian businessmen, dozens of companies. A total of 86 companies were on the sanctions list, most of which were Ukrainian. Some Russian and Chinese companies were listed as well.

Ukraine’s military denies Russian troops reached Chasiv Yar’s suburb. Russian troops have not entered the suburbs of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern command, Andrii Zadubinnyi, told Reuters on April 5.

Sources: SBU attack against Russia’s Morozovsk airbase destroys 6 planes. The overnight attack against the Russian Morozovsk airbase on April 5 was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) together with Ukraine’s military, a source familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent.

Interior Ministry: Russia struck Ukraine around 30,000 times in 2024 so far. Russian troops have attacked Ukrainian territories around 30,000 times over the past three months, Deputy Interior Minister Oleksii Serhieiev said on April 5 during the meeting with the Cristian Social Union representatives at the Bavarian State Parliament.

Ukraine announces mandatory evacuation for children from 52 settlements in Sumy Oblast. Ukrainian authorities mandated the evacuation of children from two communities, including 52 settlements, in Sumy Oblast, the Reintegration Ministry announced on April 5.

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Drone reportedly attacks military base in Russian-occupied Transnistria. The drone allegedly attacked a military facility in the Rybnitsa district, six kilometers from the Ukrainian state border, as of 2:35 p.m. local time.

Military: Russian use of prohibited chemical weapons has become ‘systemic’. Ukrainian forces recorded 371 cases of usage of munition containing prohibited chemicals over the past month, which is 90 cases more than during the previous one.

General Staff: Enlistment offices to summon men aged 25 to provide personal data, undergo medical checks. Military enlistment offices will begin calling up citizens from the military register who have reached the age of 25 to provide personal data, undergo medical checks, and fill out relevant documents, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Force said.

Ukrenergo: Energy equipment damaged in Russian strikes against Odesa Oblast. Russian forces attacked energy infrastructure facilities in Odesa Oblast overnight, damaging equipment, Ukraine’s state-owned energy operator Ukrenergo said on April 5. The company said that no blackouts occurred as a result of the strikes.

Zelensky visits Chernihiv Oblast, inspects fortifications. President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Chernihiv Oblast bordering Russia and Belarus to meet with local officials and inspect the construction of fortifications, the Presidential Office reported on April 5.

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Ukraine war latest: Ukraine strikes airfields in Russia, destroying or damaging 19 warplanes, sources say.

Ukraine launched a series of drone strikes against military airfields in Russia in the early hours of April 5, allegedly destroying or damaging 19 warplanes, sources familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent.

Photo: Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration/Telegram

Source: Ukraine hits Russia’s Engels air base. Can it change how Russia attacks?

Russia’s Engels air base has once again come under attack on April 5 after what the Kyiv Independent’s sources in the military intelligence claimed was a drone strike on one of the Kremlin’s most strategically important military installations, deep inside Russia.

Photo: Maxar Technologies/Twitter

How Ukrainian social media influencer raised over $50 million for military thanks to ‘typing’

To see some of the horrors Russia’s war has brought to Ukraine, one just has to click on the #RussiaIsATerroristState hashtag on social media. But not many know that the person who launched the viral campaign promoting the hashtag back in 2022 was Ukrainian social media influencer Ihor Lachenkov.

Photo: Oleh Tymoshenko / The Kyiv Independent

Human cost of war

UPDATE: 6 killed, 10 injured in Russian attack on Kharkiv. Russian forces launched an attack on Kharkiv Oblast during the early hours of April 6, killing six people and injuring ten others, Kharkiv city mayor Ihor Terekhov stated via Telegram.

Update: 3 killed, 19 injured in Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia. As of 7 p.m. local time, three people are confirmed to have been killed and another 19 injured in Russia’s April 5 missile attacks on Zaporizhzhia, the regional administration reported.

Mine explosion injures 3 in Rivne Oblast. The mine exploded in the north of Rivne Oblast, near the border with Belarus, according to Rivne Oblast Governor Oleksandr Koval.

Media: Identities confirmed of more than 50,000 Russians killed in Ukraine. The research, using open-source analysis, only cites those confirmed as being killed, thus almost certainly undercounting the real total.

Russian attacks on Kherson, Beryslav injure 6. Russian forces attacked the city of Kherson and Beryslav in Kherson Oblast on April 5, injuring six people, the local authorities reported.

Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 3, injure 11 over past day. Russia targeted a total of 10 Ukrainian oblasts — Chernihiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Donetsk. Casualties were reported in the latter three regions.

General Staff: Russia has lost 445,900 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. This number includes 860 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

Official: At least 6 injured in Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia. Three apartment buildings, a house, a dormitory, and a store were damaged in the April 5 attack, Anatolii Kurtiev, the city’s acting mayor, said on Telegram.

International response

Bloomberg: India set to receive Russian warships despite sanctions. India will receive two Russian-made warships in the next few months as the two countries work around U.S. sanctions that have complicated purchases of Russian arms, unnamed Indian officials told Bloomberg.

EU top justice official: Special tribunal for Russia’s war in Ukraine may be created by end of year. An international special tribunal to hold Russia accountable for war crimes committed in Ukraine may be created by the end of this year, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders told Deutsche Welle.

Border Guard: Polish protestors temporarily unblock traffic at one crossing point. “According to the information from our Polish colleagues, farmers, who restrain the traffic, will pass 15 empty trucks per day,” the Border Guard’s statement said as of 8:00 p.m. local time.

Doctors Without Borders says office in Donetsk Oblast ‘bombed and completely destroyed’. Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization that provides help in conflict zones, reported on April 5 that its office in Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast was “bombed and completely destroyed.”

Turkish Ombudsman to visit Ukrainian POWs in Russian captivity. Turkish Ombudsman Seref Malkoc is planning to visit Ukrainian prisoners of war who have been held in Russia, he said in an interview to Ukrinform on April 5.

Shmyhal: Ukraine proposes allies to ban air transit to Russia, Belarus. Ukraine proposed to ban air transit to Russia and Belarus as part of the sanctions policy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during his visit to Lithuania on April 5.

Bloomberg: Western sanctions curb Turkey’s trade with Russia. Turkish machinery exporters, who benefited from the surge in sales to Russia last year, may see their revenues drop by $1 billion in 2024 due to “ambiguous” sanctions, Bloomberg said, citing Kutlu Karavelioglu, the chairperson of the Machinery Exporters’ Association.

Lukashenko decides to suspend Belarus from European Conventional Armed Forces treaty. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko agreed to introduce a bill on the suspension of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) to the lower house of the country’s parliament, Lukashenko’s press service reported on April 5.

Japan to ban export of over 160 goods to Russia. The Japanese government announced on April 5 its decision to ban exports of 164 goods to Russia, namely automobile engine oil and optical equipment, the Jiji Press news agency reported.

Lithuania to purchase 3,000 drones for Ukraine. Lithuania will purchase 3,000 Lithuanian drones for Kyiv and allocate 15 million euros (around $16 million) to rehabilitation programs for wounded Ukrainian soldiers, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 5 during his visit to Vilnius.

FT: Czechia warns Russia is trying to sabotage railways in Europe. Czech Transportation Minister Martin Kupka said that Russia has made “thousands of attempts to weaken our (railway) systems” since the beginning of the full-scale war.

Portuguese FM: Portugal no longer hesitant about Ukraine’s EU membership. The new Portuguese government is fully in support of Ukraine’s EU bid, the country’s foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, said on April 4, presenting it as a shift from the “ambiguous” stance of the previous administration, Euractiv reported.

SBU reports uncovering 2 foreigners allegedly helping to prepare Russian attacks on Odesa military HQ. The nationality of the suspects is unclear. However, the SBU reported that the two are from “one of the countries in the Southern Caucasus.” These are either Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Georgia.

US announces new sanctions against shipping company linked to Iranian military. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that the move was in part guided by the goal of “disrupting Iran’s ability to…support Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Shmyhal visits Lithuania, meets Lithuanian PM. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal arrived in Lithuania and met his Lithuanian counterpart, Ingrida Simonyte, Shmyhal said on April 5.

French company Danone starts dissolution of its last subsidiary in Belarus. The yogurt maker has been operating in Belarus since 2008. Danone had previously divested its stakes in two Belarusian factories located in Pruzhany and Shklou, according to the news story.

Ukraine, Lithuania hold meeting on bilateral security agreement. Ukrainian and Lithuanian officials held a meeting on April 4, during which they decided on the key points and a schedule for the preparation of a bilateral security agreement, Ukraine’s Presidential Office said.

White House: US expects Russia’s vote on UN resolution to ban nuclear weapons in space. The U.S. expects Russia to support a resolution at the U.N. Security Council warning countries against placing nuclear weapons in orbit, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on April 4, according to Bloomberg.

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