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Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: April 3, 2024
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title. [Korrespondent] 21:57 Zelensky said in an evening video message that he heard a “long and detailed” report from Syrsky today: “Our actions in key areas. Protecting our positions. Strengthening our positions. Our pressure on Russian positions. Our key plans for defense and active actions for the near future time".  The president also emphasized that Ukraine is gradually planning to work with partners in the coming months: “Both May and June should be a time of activity for the sake of Ukraine in order to achieve our goals in this war. We clearly understand what they are preparing for in Russia, what they want, that they will gather soldiers into their army. And we, all of us, our partners, must have a strong response to Russian operations - any Russian operations. We must win this war. This is Ukraine’s historic chance to break Russian revanchism, and we must Take advantage of this chance for the sake of reliable safety for our children." 21:32 A new large-scale Russian offensive is expected in the summer. The authoritative American publication Politico writes, with reference to high-ranking Ukrainian military personnel who served under Zaluzhny’s command, that the military picture looks gloomy. There is a high risk of the front line collapsing where the Russian army launches an offensive. For more details, see the article Shortage of shells . 21:04 Chinese Foreign Ministry Speaker Wang Wenbin said that there should be no winners and losers in the Russian-Ukrainian war: “In a political settlement, there should be no winners and losers, but peace should rule. China will continue to play a constructive role to achieve this goal.” . He also stressed that there is a risk of further aggravation of the “crisis”, so efforts must be made to de-escalate and end the conflict through negotiations. The diplomat added that Beijing "has not sought and will not seek benefits from the conflict, and other countries should not discredit or attack the normal relations between China and Russia and should not undermine the legitimate rights of China and Chinese companies." 20:53 Ukraine had a whole list of agents who could commit sabotage at Russian refineries, Vadim Skibitsky, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, told The Guardian. “Some were Russians with Ukrainian roots, others were non-ideological Russians, but were recruited in exchange for payment,” he said. According to Skibitsky, now Ukraine is not able to win an unconditional victory on the battlefield, so Kyiv “has no choice but to start fighting targets deep behind enemy lines, including military infrastructure, command and control centers, as well as industrial industries producing weapons and ammunition." Forbes writes that the plant producing suicide bombs in Tatarstan could have been hit by a light Cessna type aircraft with remote control. 20:12 The Ministry of Defense has created a new institution - the Central Directorate for the Protection of the Rights of Military Personnel, that is, “in fact, a military ombudsman,” the department reported. “The implementation of this initiative provides for a comprehensive approach to protecting the rights of soldiers and members of their families, including responding to specific complaints, analyzing specific situations, visiting sites of violations, conducting inspections and subsequent measures to restore rights,” said Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. 20:01 Peskov called Zelensky’s statement about a new mobilization in Russia “untrue.” 19:55 Zelensky said that he had a telephone conversation with the newly appointed Prime Minister of Portugal Luis Montenegro. They discussed the progress of implementation of previous defense agreements and instructed teams to begin work on preparing a bilateral security agreement. 19:49 French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu had a conversation with Shoigu, during which he strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Crocus. The head of the French Ministry of Defense said that Paris does not have any information about the connection of the terrorist attack in Crocus with Ukraine, the French department reported. 19:03 GUR representative Andrey Yusov called Russian IPSO reports that Russia was allegedly about to attack Kharkov. According to him, the Defense Forces do not record the formation of enemy strike groups for repeated attacks on Ukraine, and the enemy is trying to sow panic among Ukrainians by spreading information about an attack on Kharkov. 18:58 Stoltenberg said that today members of the North Atlantic Alliance agreed "on further planning to strengthen NATO's role in coordinating assistance and security training." According to the Secretary General, details will be determined over the coming weeks. 18:24 Russia is ready to strike Ukraine at any time with 50 Caliber, the launch vehicles are already loaded, said Natalya Gumenyuk, speaker of the Southern Defense Forces. 17:51 Over the last week, three Russian DRGs tried to enter the Sumy region, but border guards stopped them, said the head of the OBA Vladimir Artyukh. In total, in 2023, 52 sabotage and reconnaissance groups from the Russian Federation were detained on the approaches to Ukraine. 17:45 The Czech Republic has not yet collected the entire amount for the purchase of shells for Ukraine outside the EU, said the country's Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky. According to him, at the moment about 20 countries have raised funds for the purchase of 300 thousand shells. "We need more ammunition for Ukraine because Russia is still capable of producing much, much more than Ukraine can use on the battlefield. Unfortunately, in war, this math matters," Lipavsky said. 17:38 Today the Russians fired at Selidovo, Donetsk region, with five missiles, first S-300, said the head of the OBA Vadim Filashkin. As a result of the shelling, seven administrative buildings, 12 multi-storey buildings and eight private residential buildings were damaged. No casualties were reported. 17:33 The head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, after the drone attack, called on enterprises to defend themselves on their own and not rely on air defense: “We should not expect that missile defense will work, it solves other problems. We must solve it on our own, every enterprise, every municipality, every city. "Due to the fact that yesterday there was Uraza and Orthodox fasting, the Almighty gave us a chance. Everything that we said that there would be problems happened. Wake up, guys, no one will protect us except ourselves." 17:14 NATO wants to increase its coordinating role in supplying weapons to Ukraine and training its soldiers, but Hungary is opposed, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said. According to him, the initiative was supported by 31 of the 32 member countries of the Alliance. 16:59 Austria has allocated 21.5 million euros for the work of Austrian humanitarian organizations in crisis regions, including 2 million euros for projects in Ukraine, the country’s Foreign Ministry reported. 16:17 According to Ukrainian military intelligence, as of March 2024, the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Armed Forces include about 100 Su-35 multirole fighters, more than 100 Su-34 fighter-bombers, as well as seven A- long-range radar detection aircraft 50U. As the Main Intelligence Directorate told ArmyInform, three of the seven A-50U aircraft are being repaired and modernized. 15:46 In Russia, the largest liquefied gas plant, Arctic LNG 2, has stopped operating due to sanctions, writes Reuters. The publication clarified that as a result of the sanctions, the owner company Novatek had a shortage of special LNG tankers. 15:10 Finland has prepared the 23rd aid package for Ukraine in the amount of 188 million euros, President Alexander Stubb said. It will include air defense systems and ammunition for large-caliber artillery. 14:58 Zelensky responded to a UN statement condemning attacks on targets on Russian territory: “It seems to me that in order to ultimately understand how to survive in Kharkov, how people can live without electricity without water, people probably need "to come, look, and then condemn something or not. Russia understands nothing except force." 14:51 Zelensky said that Ukraine does not need to mobilize 500 thousand people. However, he did not name the exact number of Ukrainians who need to be mobilized. The president also said that on June 1, Putin is preparing to mobilize 300 thousand of his military. 14:23 Zelensky signed an Agreement on security cooperation and long-term support with the President of Finland Alexander Stubb. According to the document, Finland will provide long-term military and financial assistance to Ukraine, as well as deepen cooperation in the political, financial, humanitarian and reform spheres, the Ukrainian president said. Finland will also help Ukraine rebuild its energy sector, assess environmental damage, strengthen border and critical infrastructure protection, and treat Ukrainian military personnel. 14:04 One of the topics of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers will be the creation of an Alliance mission in Ukraine, said Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. According to him, “the idea is to use the capabilities of the Pact to train Ukrainians, use logistics and other common elements.” 13:42 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg commented on the Financial Times information that the Alliance is developing a plan to provide a five-year package of military assistance to Ukraine worth up to $100 billion. According to him, one should not expect a final decision on this proposal in the coming days. At the same time, the Secretary General expressed hope that NATO countries will come to a consensus on this issue closer to the summit. "The reason why we are doing this is the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine. It is serious, we see how Russia is pressing and how they are trying to win this war, just waiting for us to retreat," Stoltenberg said. 13:28 The Wall Street Journal writes that Macron held confidential conversations with Biden and Scholz in February in order to convince them to change the West's strategy towards Russia. In particular, according to the French President, Western countries should take a position of strategic uncertainty in relation to the Russian Federation, which would leave all options on the table, including military ones. Biden questioned the need for a change in strategy amid concerns it could lead to escalation, the newspaper's sources said. Scholz also opposed the idea, saying it risked dividing allies and making NATO countries party to the conflict. 12:43 Zelensky said that he had a telephone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He thanked for financial support, which has already exceeded $12 billion, and also said that since the beginning of the year, Russia has fired almost a thousand missiles, about 2,800 suicide bombers and almost 7,000 guided bombs into Ukraine. He informed about Ukraine's needs for non-lethal equipment: special equipment for the construction of fortifications, mine clearance and medical evacuation. 12:30 The Latvian government has allocated 5.3 million euros for the restoration of Ukraine in 2024, as well as 4.3 million to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine through the European Peace Fund. 12:07 During UAV strikes on targets in Elabuga and Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan, no foreign-made weapons were used, said Andrey Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense. At the same time, he did not specify what exactly could have hit objects on the territory of the Russian Federation, but noted that the Ukrainian UAV industry is “developing very dynamically.” Yusov also confirmed that one of the attacked enterprises was producing Shaded drones. In addition, according to him, one of the buildings nearby was hit by Russian air defense. 11:53 Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said that traces of the terrorist attack in Crocus “lead to the Ukrainian special services.” At the same time, he added that “everyone is well aware that the Kiev regime is not independent and is completely controlled by the United States.” Patrushev also claims that ISIS “and other terrorist organizations were created by the United States.” 11:44 Countries sympathetic to Russia demand that the European Union abandon plans to confiscate state assets of the Russian Federation, writes Politico. According to the publication's sources, representatives of China, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are privately urging EU officials to continue resisting pressure from the United States and Great Britain to confiscate more than 200 billion euros of Russian state assets frozen after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 11:16 On the evening of April 2, the Russians shelled Nikolaevka near Slavyansk, Donetsk region, Radio Liberty reports. Three people were injured, the hotel building where eight volunteers were located was damaged. Russian troops struck with four bombs - gliding ammunition (UMPB D-30 SM), police reported. 11:09 In the morning, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the Krasnopolsk community of the Sumy region, the OVA reported. One person was killed, two were injured, including a four-year-old child. As a result of the impact, the buildings of the store and cultural center were damaged. 10:52 The Guardian writes, citing a senior official of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, that the Crimean bridge will be destroyed in the first half of 2024. The source called a third attack on the bridge and its destruction "inevitable." 10:45 In March alone, Russian troops used more than 400 missiles of various types, more than 600 suicide bombers and more than 3,000 guided bombs against Ukraine, Zelensky said. Russia is hitting the front-line territories and border communities especially brutally. According to the president, “all this will not happen when Ukraine receives reliable air defense systems.” 10:21 Several groups of Ukrainian pilots continue training in allied countries to fly F-16 fighters, and two of them are already honing their skills directly on the planes, said Air Force spokesman Ilya Yevlash. He clarified that these two advanced groups are in Denmark and the USA, another group has moved from Great Britain to France, where pilots are mastering light aircraft. In addition, one group is undergoing ground training in Britain. In addition to pilots, technical personnel undergo training. 09:33 Russia will not be able to capture Kiev, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “This will not happen, this is not happening now. At the beginning of Russian aggression in 2022, we thought that there was such a possibility that Kiev would fall. But thanks to the incredible resistance of the Ukrainian people, as well as thanks to the support of the USA, France and other countries, Putin’s desire to conquer the entire country, erase it from the map, make it part of Russia has not been and will not be realized.” According to Blinken, the United States has already promised Ukraine that Kyiv “will never fall into Putin’s hands.” 08:58 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of April 3:
08:29 The number of deaths as a result of yesterday's Russian strike on the village. Novoosinovo, Kupyansky district, Kharkov region, has grown to two - an 11-year-old child who was wounded in a strike on a private house died in the hospital, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA. 08:17 Over the past 24 hours, 75 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report . In particular, the enemy tried 24 times to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops in the Novopavlovsk direction - in the Novomikhailovka and Urozhayny districts of the Donetsk region. Another 14 attacks were repulsed in the Avdeevsky direction - in the areas of the settlements of Berdychi, Semenovka, Umanskoye, Pervomaiskoye and Nevelskoye in the Donetsk region. In the Kupyansk direction, the Defense Forces repelled one attack in the Sinkovka area of the Kharkov region; on Limansky - ten attacks in the Ternov area of the Donetsk region; on Bakhmutskoye - six attacks in the areas of Sporny, Kleshcheevka, Donetsk region; on Orekhovsky - four attacks in the areas of Staromayorskoye, Donetsk region, Rabotino and north-west of Verbovoye, Zaporozhye region; on Kherson - eight attacks on the left bank of the Dnieper. 07:42 According to updated information, as a result of yesterday’s attack on the Dnieper, four educational institutions, nine apartment buildings, and 25 cars were damaged, said the head of the OBA Sergei Lysak. At night, the Russians also dropped ammunition from a UAV in the Mirovskaya community of the Nikopol region, no people were injured. 07:31 Air defense at night destroyed all four attack UAVs of the Shahed-136/131 type, which Russia attacked from Primorsko-Akhtarsk, the Air Force reported. Drones were destroyed in Khmelnitsky, Zhytomyr, Kirovograd and Cherkasy regions. In addition, at night the enemy struck the Donetsk region with three S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles. 05:56 The idea of creating a special tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression and using its frozen assets in favor of Ukraine was supported by 44 states. They signed a corresponding political declaration at the Restoring Justice for Ukraine conference held in The Hague. The signatory countries condemn Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine as a flagrant violation of international law and order and recall the UN court's decision of March 16, 2022, by which Russia was obliged to cease hostilities. The countries also support strengthening joint efforts to ensure proper investigation and accountability for all violations of international law committed during Russia's war against Ukraine, including the crime of aggression. Posted by: badanov 2024-04-04 |
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