[Korrespondent] 22:45 Zelensky said in an evening video message that China has the same view as Ukraine on freedom of navigation and trade: "I informed Xi Jinping about our efforts to resume maritime food exports. And I heard words of support for our Black Sea Grain Initiative, its extension, and also - support for our humanitarian efforts, in particular, the Grain from Ukraine program."
According to the president, today's conversation with the Chinese leader was "long and quite rational; such conversations are usually said to open up opportunities, and now there is an opportunity to give new energy to our relations - Ukraine and China." According to Zelensky, now there is an opportunity to use the political influence of China to restore strength to the principles and rules on which the world should rest. Ukraine and China, like the vast majority of the world, are equally interested in the strength of the sovereignty of nations and territorial integrity."
21:54 Skynex short-range air defense systems from the defense company Rheinmetall Italia are already on alert in Ukraine, Shmyhal said during a visit to the Italian plant. He specified that this is an effective weapon to protect against drones. "We are considering the possibility of joint production of components of these systems. We are working to have more such effective air defense systems. They will create a reliable shield around our strategic infrastructure facilities," the prime minister stressed.
20:47 The Russians removed military equipment from storage sites in the north of Crimea and dug trenches there, Radio Liberty reports, citing satellite images. In particular, as the images show, in the village of Medvedevka, Dzhankoy district, in October 2022 and in January of this year, there was equipment, but it is absent in the image of April 25. Also, one of the photos shows trenches dug in the area where the equipment was stationed.
20:36 The Russians fired at Orekhov, Zaporozhye region, one person died, the regional prosecutor's office said.
20:05 The work of the Black Sea Grain Corridor was once again suspended by the Russian side today, the command of the Ukrainian Navy reported. So, on April 25, at the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, representatives of the Russian Federation refused to coordinate the movement of ships to / from the seaports of Ukraine along the humanitarian corridor. And on the morning of April 26, the Russians began to spread a fake about the alleged ban by the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the movement of merchant ships as part of the grain initiative from / to the ports of Odessa. Such information is completely untrue, the command stressed.
19:51 Zelensky said that he had a telephone conversation with Italian Prime Minister George Maloney, discussed the continuation of defense cooperation and future international events.
19:06 Ukraine will receive weapons in time for the upcoming counter-offensive, Christopher Cavoli, Supreme Commander of the Allied Armed Forces of NATO in Europe and Commander of the US Armed Forces in Europe, said in Congress. According to him, more than 98% of the military equipment promised to Kyiv has already been delivered.
19:01 Corrado Zunino, a journalist from La Repubblica, was seriously wounded during the shelling of Kherson by Russians today, an Italian newspaper reported. The correspondent and his assistant were driving in a car in jackets with the inscription Press and came under fire near the Kherson bridge. According to the publication, after the attack, Zunino was hospitalized in the Kherson hospital, and his assistant Bogdan Bitik died.
18:54 In the Kherson region, air defense forces shot down six UAVs today: five Lancet attack drones and one Merlin-VR, the Air Force command reported.
18:35 EU ambassadors again failed to agree on joint purchases of ammunition for Ukraine, Polish radio RMF FM reported.
18:33 The Polish prosecutor's office withdrew money from the accounts of the Russian embassy, Russian media reported, citing the ambassador in Poland. The embassy's accounts were frozen by the Polish side on suspicion that they could be used for money laundering or terrorism.
18:28 During the talks between Zelensky and Xi Jinping, the parties exchanged views on China's "peace plan" and the formula for peace, found common ground, spokesman of the Ukrainian President Serhiy Nikiforov said. He clarified that the views of Kyiv and Beijing coincide on the issue of non-use of nuclear weapons, their non-proliferation. Beijing also agreed that nuclear facilities should not be taken hostage.
"These are the points of contact from which we can begin to develop this dialogue. It is also nice that China is interested in restoring peace," Nikiforov said. At the same time, he added that it is too early to make any assessments of the talks between the leaders, since this is only the first step towards resuming relations between the countries.
18:15 Zelensky spoke via video link at the Conference on the Reconstruction of Ukraine, which is taking place in Rome, invited Italy "to build a new security with us, invited Italian businesses, investments, Italian experience to come to Ukraine now."
18:12 Zelensky said that during an hour-long telephone conversation with Xi Jinping, the whole range of topical issues of bilateral relations was discussed, special attention was paid to ways of possible interaction in order to establish a just and sustainable peace for Ukraine. "The world must be just and stable, based on the principles of international law and respect for the UN Charter. There can be no peace at the expense of territorial compromises. The territorial integrity of Ukraine must be restored within the limits of 1991," the Ukrainian president emphasized.
Also during the conversation, they discussed ways to strengthen the Ukrainian-Chinese partnership: "Before the full-scale Russian invasion, China was Ukraine's number one trading partner. I believe that our today's conversation will give a powerful impetus to the return, preservation and development of this dynamics at all levels."
18:08 There is evidence that mercenaries from the so-called "volunteer battalion", or PMC Potok, are already fighting in Ukraine. This unit was formed from employees of Gazprom and is part of the Redut PMC, controlled by the Russian Ministry of Defense. Western intelligence officers report that Prigozhin personally checks the positions of Potok's mercenaries. But this did not save his new "subordinates" from an armed conflict with the old mercenaries. More details - in the material Revolt of the new Russian PMC .
18:03 Erdogan's press secretary Ibrahim Kalin called for peace talks "before thousands of people die": "Let's have peace talks before thousands of people die. Let's focus on how we can create a global security space. Instead "In order to continue the war, let's settle on the option of three or five years of peace talks. The main thing is to stop the bloodshed. We will discuss the possibilities of moving forward the dialogue, taking into account the current situation."
He also said that on April 27, Erdogan will have a telephone conversation with Putin. In addition, Kalyn said that "the Russian-Ukrainian war is a war between Russia and the West," and it will end "when and only when a new big agreement is concluded between Russia and the West."
17:56 In the Murmansk region, a MiG-31 fighter crashed while performing a training flight, the RF Ministry of Defense reported. The plane crashed in a deserted place, both pilots ejected.
17:50 The White House welcomes the talks between Zelensky and Xi Jinping, but it is not known whether this will lead to progress towards peace, said US National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby: "We have long talked about what we consider important for President Xi and PRC officials to hear the Ukrainian side of this illegal and unprovoked Russian invasion.Whether this will lead to any meaningful peace movement, plan or proposal - I don't think we know right now."
Kirby once again emphasized that the peace deal must be made on Ukraine's terms, as otherwise it would not be "sustainable or reliable unless the Ukrainians and President Zelensky personally invest in and support it."
17:32 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the return of 40 Russian soldiers from Ukrainian captivity, and the Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova specified that four wounded were returned to Ukraine in addition to the exchange "40 for 40".
17:26 The Ukrainian counter-offensive is already "quietly moving in small steps," Natalia Gumenyuk, speaker of the OK Pivden, said: "We are not inclined to underestimate the enemy, we know his power and potential and are working methodically to ensure that these capacities and capabilities are minimized... The power of the enemy is being destroyed, ammunition depots are disappearing, equipment concentration points are being blown up, and it is flying into places where personnel are concentrated.
17:22 About 369,000 personnel are fighting against Ukraine, using about 5,900 heavy weapons, the press center of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. 48 brigades and 122 regiments are participating in the fighting on the part of the Russian Federation, the occupying forces number about 315 formations.
17:11 Shmygal, during his visit to Rome, said that Ukraine expects support in the amount of 1 billion euros from the Italian agency SACE, which will help restore the economy, infrastructure, and provide basic humanitarian and social needs of people.
17:07 Italy will help Ukraine meet the criteria necessary for full EU membership and speed up the process of starting accession negotiations as soon as possible, Prime Minister George Maloney said.
17:02 The Czech Republic imposed sanctions against Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting the war against Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry said. He was banned from entering the country, financial transactions through Czech structures, and Gundyaev's assets in the Czech Republic will be frozen.
16:59 The Russians fired a mortar at the Yunakovskaya community of the Sumy region, two people were injured, the OVA reported.
16:56 Slovenia has delivered 20 Valuk armored vehicles to Ukraine under conditions of complete secrecy, reports 24ur. Valuk is an upgraded version of the Austrian Pandur 6x6. According to media reports, the transfer to Ukraine was completed this week, and the operation itself lasted several months.
16:52 Brazilian President Lula da Silva, during a trip to Spain, said that it is not for him to decide who owns Crimea - "this is a discussion between Russia and Ukraine." He urged "stop looking for the guilty" in the war and start a peaceful settlement. To do this, he proposes to create a "peace group" that will discuss all the necessary topics - "Crimea, other territories, NATO."
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in turn, said that "a just and lasting peace will come only after the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine."
16:44 The Russians shelled the Kherson region: one person was injured in Stanislav, and a foreign press representative was wounded near the Antonovsky bridge, the President's Office reported.
16:36 Zelensky said that on the anniversary of the tragedy at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, he had a telephone conversation with IAEA Director Rafael Grossi: "He said that only the return of full control over the ZNPP to Ukraine would protect the world from a new catastrophe. He also thanked for the special IAEA program for the medical support of Ukrainian nuclear workers" .
16:19 Another exchange of prisoners took place: another 44 Ukrainians returned home , including 42 military and two civilians. Two men are also returning from captivity, whose wives were released during previous exchanges, said the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense.
Among the released were 19 representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 11 border guards, seven from the Navy, two from the National Guard, three from the Troops. Six officers and 37 soldiers and sergeants returned, who fought, in particular, in Mariupol, in the Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkov, Luhansk and Sumy directions. Among them are many wounded and with the consequences of severe torture. In total, as of April 26, 2,280 Ukrainians have already been released from captivity.
15:45 Zelensky, after a conversation with Xi Jinping, appointed former Minister for Strategic Industries Pavel Ryabikin as Ambassador of Ukraine to China.
The Chinese special delegation to resolve the situation in Ukraine, which Xi Jinping announced, will be headed by former Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui.
15:09 Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said after a conversation between Zelensky and Xi Jinping that Moscow "notes China's readiness to make efforts to establish a negotiation process." At the same time, Kyiv, according to her, allegedly demonstrates the rejection of any "sensible initiatives" aimed at a settlement.
14:47 China will send its special envoy for Eurasian affairs to Ukraine and other countries to consult with all parties on a political settlement of the conflict, Xi Jinping said after a conversation with Zelensky. He also stressed that China will seek an early ceasefire in Ukraine.
And the representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, said that Beijing is consistent and clear in its readiness to develop the Chinese-Ukrainian strategic partnership.
14:29 Zelensky said that he had a "long meaningful" telephone conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping: "I believe that he, as well as the appointment of the Ukrainian ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations."
14:15 Prigozhin believes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will go on the offensive after May 2: "It's raining today. The last rain should fall on May 2. Another week for the wind to dry the soil. After that, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will begin to move." He also once again announced the shortage of shells among the Wagner mercenaries and complained that no one was covering the flanks of the PMCs.
“No one gives ammunition to them or to us. Ammunition is accumulating in warehouses. The number of people of the PMC Wagner is drying up. We are preparing new reserves, we will not completely throw in new people until we have fully prepared them,” Prigozhin said.
14:01 Poland is expanding the production of 155-mm Krab self-propelled artillery mounts, which the country also supplies to Ukraine, by deploying a new production line at the Bumar-Labedy defense plant in the city of Gliwice, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said.
13:57 In Russia, the Federation Council has approved a law punishing treason up to life imprisonment. The Federation Council also approved a law on the deprivation of acquired Russian citizenship for "discrediting the army" and for actions that threaten national security. Acquired citizenship can also be revoked for a public call to extremism, encroachment on the life of a statesman and organizing an armed rebellion.
13:52 The Russians hit the police department in Druzhkovka, Donetsk region: three policemen who were on duty at that time were wounded, the National Police reported. The strike was carried out by two S-300 missiles, and seven residential buildings were also damaged.
13:46 The main task of the Patriot air defense system in Ukraine is to cover strategic facilities, especially nuclear power plants, Air Force speaker Yuriy Ignat said: "Patriot's task is, first of all, against ballistics, to maintain cover for our strategic facilities, critical infrastructure facilities, and especially nuclear power plants where the enemy has already hit. Not at the stations themselves, but at the substations that feed them. "
13:43 Italy will support Ukraine for as long as it takes, President Sergio Mattarella said during a meeting with Shmyhal in Rome. The parties discussed topical areas of cooperation - the financial, defense, sanctions sectors.
13:38 The level of approval of the Kremlin's actions and a positive attitude towards the Russian leadership has dropped sharply around the world after the start of the war in Ukraine and has reached its lowest level in 15 years, reports the American Institute of Public Opinion Gallup. For the first time in the history of Gallup research, most countries in the world do not approve of the leadership of Russia.
13:20 Journalists of a number of publications received documents revealing the strategy of Russia's influence in the Baltic countries. Similar plans of the Russian Federation have already been revealed in relation to Belarus and Moldova. Relevant materials were published in LRT, Delfi Estonia, Expressen, Dossier Center, Kyiv Independent, NDR, Yahoo News and others. The strategy for each of the Baltic countries consists of two parts: the first prescribes what Russia sees as a threat to itself, the second - how to counteract this. All goals by areas are spelled out according to the time frame - 2022, 2025, 2030.
In general, Moscow defines as its goals the preservation of the maximum presence of the Russian language in education, the creation of pro-Russian organizations, resistance to the demolition of Soviet monuments, promotion of the Russian historical narrative. In Estonia and Latvia, Russia is counting on the Russian-speaking minority.
Also, a significant part of the strategy is devoted to weakening the presence of NATO. Moscow wanted to create prerequisites under which the Baltic countries would recognize the "harm" to security due to the growth of the Alliance's influence and want deeper cooperation with Russia. Probably, the documents were prepared in the fall of 2021, and their authors did not know that Putin was preparing a war against Ukraine, since there is no mention of the expected consequences of this.
13:08 The center for the maintenance and repair of Leopard 2 tanks transferred to Ukraine will start working at the Polish defense enterprise Bumar-Labędy in the city of Gliwice in May, Polish Minister of Defense Mariusz Blashchak said. He recalled that two battalions of Leopard 2 tanks in versions A4 and A6 have already arrived in Ukraine or will arrive in the near future. All these machines will be serviced at Bumar-Labedy in Gliwice. Blaszczak added that T-72 tanks are also serviced and repaired at Bumar-Labedy.
12:52 The FSB of the Russian Federation announced that it had detained a Russian citizen in Crimea, who allegedly was preparing a terrorist attack at the Naval Hospital of the Ministry of Defense in Simferopol, two home-made bombs were confiscated from him.
12:35 Almost the entire population was evacuated from the border areas of the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, said Evgeny Silkin, assistant commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He said that the Russians use this territory as a training ground - they train and check the readiness of artillery without choosing targets. Most of the local residents left in these territories are elderly people who, as they say, have nothing to lose and nowhere to go, Silkin added.
12:16 Russia is trying to change the ethnic composition of the population of the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, said Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar. According to her, such events are most actively held in the Luhansk region. To this end, the Russian government initiated a large-scale resettlement of a large number of people of different nationalities from remote regions of the Russian Federation, mainly from the poor.
On the ground, the occupation administrations provide immediate accommodation for arriving families, employment, the provision of soft loans for the purchase of housing, business development, etc. At the same time, the occupiers continue to deport local residents, especially those who are pro-Ukrainian, to the Russian Federation under various pretexts. Thus, Russia seeks to destroy Ukrainian statehood and the national self-identity of society in the temporarily occupied territories.
11:57 Journalists from Finnish Yle, Norwegian NRK, Swedish SVT and Danish DR found out that many employees of Russian diplomatic missions in the region are probably undercover spies. Investigators, in particular, identified several dozen people who, obviously, are employees of the Foreign Intelligence Service, the GRU or the FSB, but worked as alleged personnel of diplomatic missions. Intelligence sources said that they are usually assigned to minor positions, while key persons in diplomatic missions can very rarely be undercover spies.
11:22 Ten Russian deputies have already died in the war in Ukraine, they were able to hold out at the front for an average of 3-4 months, the channel writes We can explain with reference to open data that journalists managed to collect. One of the dead was a deputy of the regional level, the rest were municipal. Some fell under mobilization, and some left as volunteers. Most of the dead are United Russia.
10:36 The Pentagon is learning from the war in Ukraine because it sees the possibility of a war with China, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said in an interview with Bloomberg: "There are many advantages that we have received for a potential Pacific conflict as a result of the Ukrainian conflict. Now we are learning to develop our an industrial base that has been in a cycle of "feast and famine" for the past 60 years.
Drawing on the experience of the war in Ukraine, the Pentagon is pushing to give arms manufacturers greater predictability through longer-term contracts. Also, the US Department of Defense is working to simplify the replenishment of weapons in Taiwan.
09:59 Ukraine is working with the FBI and American companies to collect evidence of war crimes of Russian invaders. FBI special agent Oleksiy Kobzanets, who previously worked as the agency's legal attaché in Ukraine, told Reuters that the issue is geolocation and mobile data. In particular, such work includes the study of information from mobile phones, forensic analysis of DNA samples, analysis of body parts collected on the battlefields.
In addition, the FBI has worked over the past year and a half to help Ukraine identify Russian collaborators and spies.
09:24 Commander of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine Viktor Khorenko visited Bakhmut, got acquainted with the current situation in the city and talked with the soldiers of the SOF units. He acknowledged that "the situation in Bakhmut is complicated" and added that MTR "is, first of all, the advantage of quality over quantity."
08:45 New mass graves have been found in Mariupol, said Petr Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of the city. He showed updated GoogleMaps showing the city after Russian shelling - in particular, the bombed-out Drama Theater before the rubble was cleared and with the inscription "Children". Judging by the history of the destruction, the satellite image was taken on various dates after mid-March 2022.
In addition, after a detailed analysis of the map, it was possible to find new sectors of mass graves at the Novotroitskoye cemetery (Levoberezhnoye cemetery). The sectors are visually larger than the mass graves in the village. Grape or s. Mangush. Andryushchenko noted that the Novotroitskoye cemetery was closed until about mid-July and under the control of the invaders. Who was buried there and in what period is still unknown.
08:07 Office of the President of the Republic of South Africa denied his statement about the country's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. Earlier, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that his ruling party wants to abandon the Rome Statute.
07:58 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of April 26.
- personnel - about 188,410 (+640) people liquidated,
- tanks - 3692 (+4),
- armored combat vehicles - 7162 (+11),
- artillery systems - 2877 (+14),
- MLRS - 539 (+0),
- air defense systems - 292 (+1),
- aircraft - 308 (+0),
- helicopters - 294 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 2440 (+3),
- cruise missiles - 911 (+0),
- ships/boats - 18 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 5792 (+8),
- special equipment - 352 (+7).
07:49 The Russian army is focusing its main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions. Over the past day, units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled 39 enemy attacks. The most fierce fighting continues for Bakhmut and Marinka, the General Staff reported in the morning report .
03:54 Lavrov called "schizophrenia" the statements of the West about the negotiations between Moscow and Kiev after the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
03:19 Members of the US Congress presented a draft resolution called the Victory of Ukraine. The document says that the victory of Ukraine should be considered the complete return to the control of Kyiv of the country's territory within the internationally recognized borders of 1991.
02:24 A private conversation between two large Russian businessmen who complain about the state of things in Russia has been leaked to the network . It is assumed that we are talking about billionaire Roman Trotsenko and businessman Nikolai Matushevsky. The interlocutors say that in Russia the economy will halve in ten years, and the country itself has found itself "in the clutches of mudillas who profess some strange compositions of the 19th century."
00:12 Brazilian President Lula da Silva, during his visit to Spain, urged to build up peace efforts so that "Ukraine could preserve its territory." "I understand the European view of this war. It is unacceptable when one country invades another. But this is a war in which I don't see anyone talking about peace," he said.