Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 21:54 Norway will allocate an additional almost 600 million euros to Ukraine, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said. Of this amount, about 500 million euros will go mainly to air defense systems and another 100 million to other support. Thus, the total amount of Norwegian assistance to Ukraine in 2024 will amount to 1.8 billion euros in direct support.
21:21 Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said that he is negotiating with a number of countries about the transfer of Patriot complexes to Ukraine: “There are countries that have Patriot, and what we are doing is continuing to negotiate with these countries. I personally spoke with the leaders of several countries in the last two weeks and asked them to provide more funds."
21:15 After Polish protesters unblocked the checkpoints, trucks began returning to Ukraine en masse. However, immediately after crossing the border, the truck drivers were met by TCC employees. In particular, military personnel remove drivers from international flights and send them to acquisition centers, leaving loaded vehicles on the side of the road. Read more in the material Mobilization of truck drivers .
21:12 Zelensky said in an evening video message that he held many meetings today on military topics - on the situation at the front, the offensive actions of the Russian Federation and the actions of the Defense Forces - "both in order to thwart Russian plans and in order to achieve our goals" .
We discussed arms supplies and communication with partners with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. “We need to significantly speed up deliveries in order to significantly strengthen the capabilities of our soldiers. The front should not be dominated by Russian air bombs and assault operations, but by our Ukrainian initiative - our air defense, our artillery, our drones. We are partly solving this thanks to our production. Special results achieved in relation to drones," the president said.
20:53 On the night of April 30 in Crimea, after a missile attack, a fire broke out at a military airfield in Dzhankoy. The missiles also attacked three military air defense units - in the village of Donskoye, as well as in the Saki and Black Sea regions, and there were wounded Russian soldiers everywhere. For ATACMS missiles, the primary targets are long-range anti-aircraft missile sites and airfields. For more details, see the article Prepare the Bridge .
20:19 Russia has run out of gasoline due to Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries, Politico writes. Diesel fuel prices for Russians have risen sharply, and gasoline prices have reached a six-month high. Drone attacks on refineries have become both a military and political problem for the Kremlin, as cheap fuel is important to the war and to Putin's image. The Russian Federation has already banned the export of gasoline and diesel fuel, and it may have to import gasoline from reserves in Belarus, the newspaper notes.
19:50 The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a decision regarding a special tribunal for Russia, which instructed the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to prepare the necessary documents to facilitate consultations in the Core Group and prepare a potential draft agreement with Ukraine on the actual creation of the tribunal. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that this is an important practical step towards the creation of a special tribunal for Russian aggression.
19:17 During his visit to Vilnius, Zelensky discussed with his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nausėda the issue of returning Ukrainian men of military age, said Lithuanian Presidential National Security Advisor Kestutis Budrys. “To the extent and in the form in which Ukraine deems it necessary, we, of course, will talk with them and help in implementation,” he noted.
At the same time, Burdis emphasized that in order for such a decision to be effectively implemented, it must act at the interstate level. “If we introduce stricter living and working conditions in Lithuania for Ukrainian citizens who evade their obligations in Ukraine, and if they can move to a neighboring country and there will be no such regime there, how effective will this be? It will be more of an imitation,” - Burdis explained.
18:20 Trump said in an interview with Time magazine that he would stop aid to Ukraine if Europe does not increase its share: “I will not give unless Europe starts to compare the score. If Europe is not going to pay, why should we pay?.. On them The ocean between us had a much greater impact."
17:39 In the last week alone, the Russian army was able to capture or enter approximately six villages in the Donetsk region, writes The New York Times. Military experts say Moscow is trying to advance as far as possible before the first shipment of US military aid arrives. More details about the Russian offensive can be found in the article Where the enemy wants to break through .
16:56 The government has allocated an additional 15.5 billion hryvnia for the purchase of drones, Shmygal said. According to him, this is an additional resource to the 43.3 billion hryvnia that have already been allocated for drones this year. For the funds allocated today, 300 thousand drones will be supplied to the Defense Forces.
16:34 Over the past year, Russia has learned to produce new weapons faster than ever before in history, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. According to him, the Russian Federation has significantly accelerated the pace of production of ammunition, missiles, tanks and armored vehicles. This was done thanks to significant assistance in the form of machine tools, microelectronics and optics, mainly from China, Blinken added.
16:11 Latvia will provide Ukraine with a new package of military assistance, which will include, in particular, short-range anti-aircraft guns and surveillance drones, Prime Minister Evika Silina said. She recalled that Latvia allocates about 0.25% of its GDP per year to support Ukraine.
15:27 Lithuania plans to build six underground schools in Ukraine by the end of the year, said the head of Lithuanian programs Arturas Zarnovskis. He clarified that educational institutions will be built in Nikolaev, Odessa, Zaporozhye, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kharkov regions. “We are starting to build large schools-bomb shelters. And this is construction “from scratch”, in places where, unfortunately, there were no shelters before. Among other things, the safety conditions in such underground premises will include, just in case, anti-radiation protection... I think , we will be able to complete construction this year,” he noted.
14:45 Ukraine will not forcibly return men of military age from abroad, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Olga Stefanishyna. According to her, providing data to territorial recruitment centers does not mean automatic mobilization to the front - we are talking about accounting and information.
14:16 In Kharkov, the number of victims as a result of today's attack by air bombs has increased to nine, one person was killed, said the head of the Air Force Oleg Sinegubov. He clarified that four people were hospitalized, another five were treated on the spot. The first hit was recorded in the Kiev district on the territory of a garage cooperative and an administrative building nearby, the second hit on the territory of a civilian railway infrastructure enterprise in the Kholodnogorsk district. The prosecutor's office clarified that Russian aviation dropped three UMPB D-30SN bombs on the city.
13:53 The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that Russian air defense allegedly shot down six American ATACMS missiles and two Hammer guided bombs made in France in one day. Meanwhile, the opposition Russian publication Astra writes that a military airfield in Dzhankoy was attacked at night, as a result of which five servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces were wounded.
13:42 In Kharkov, the Russians again attacked civilian railway infrastructure today, Ukrzaliznytsia reported. As a result of the shelling, one railway worker was killed and another was wounded.
13:05 Zelensky admitted that Ukraine will not be able to become a member of NATO during the war: “The question of NATO is a question of the majority, and the majority is a political question. And in order for Ukraine to be politically accepted into the Alliance, this requires victory. And I believe that one of the reasons why there is a war is because we have not been in the Alliance before.”
12:24 The Russians struck Odessa on April 29 with an Iskander ballistic missile with a cluster warhead, Prosecutor General Andrei Kostin said: “This is an indiscriminate weapon, the use of which can lead to significant casualties among the civilian population. Metal fragments were seized within a radius of 1.5 km from the site of the attack and rocket debris. The investigation has reason to believe that the decision to use precisely such weapons was made deliberately by officers of the Russian Armed Forces in order to kill as many Ukrainian civilians as possible."
12:00 According to updated information, in Kharkov, as a result of today’s strikes, one person was killed and seven were injured, Mayor Igor Terekhov said.
11:52 In the morning, the Russians hit a grain warehouse with drones in one of the villages of the Novgorod-Seversk community of the Chernihiv region. As a result of the hit, a fire broke out, which has already been extinguished; no people were injured, said the head of the OIA, Vyacheslav Chaus.
11:46 On Border Guard Day, Minister of Internal Affairs Igor Klimenko announced the creation of the Garth brigade - this is the 11th brigade as part of the Offensive Guard and the third combat brigade as part of the State Border Service. Garth's fighters are already strengthening the Defense Forces on the eastern borders of the country.
11:10 The Icelandic Parliament adopted a resolution on long-term support for Ukraine in the period from 2024 to 2028. The document is aimed at supporting independence, sovereignty, borders, civilian safety, humanitarian assistance and reconstruction work in Ukraine.
10:49 According to preliminary information, as a result of the strikes on Kharkov, two people were killed and six were injured, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA.
10:47 In Odessa, as a result of yesterday’s missile attack, the vice-rector of the Academy of the International Humanitarian University, Boris Vasiliev, was killed, Moscow State University confirmed.
10:42 The Lithuanian authorities supported the idea of returning men of military age to Ukraine. In particular, the country's President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte spoke in favor of this. They believe that Ukraine should have the means and tools to “invite its young men to serve their homeland.”
“We could probably look for some ways to make sure that a person has fulfilled his mobilization duty or is released from it when we consider the issue of renewing a residence permit,” Simonyte noted. However, she added that this issue should be discussed at the EU level.
In turn, the representative of the Estonian Ministry of Internal Affairs Anneli Viks said that the country does not plan to deport Ukrainian men to their homeland for military service. According to her, “mobilization is an issue concerning the state and its citizens.” Ukrainians with expired documents will be able to continue living in Estonia, but will not be able to travel to other countries, she clarified.
10:33 The Russians hit the Kholodnogorsky and Kievsky districts of Kharkov with KABs, hits were recorded on civilian infrastructure, including near the park area, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA. According to the mayor of the city, Igor Terekhov, one person is currently known to have died and two were wounded in the Kholodnogorsk district.
09:45 In the Kherson region over the past 24 hours, as a result of Russian shelling, one person was killed and one was wounded, said the head of the OVA, Alexander Prokudin. Ten private houses, a critical infrastructure facility, an administrative building, and a cultural institution were damaged.
09:29 In the Donetsk region over the previous day, as a result of Russian shelling, one person was killed in Krasnogorovka, two more were injured, said the head of the OBA Vadim Filashkin.
09:04 On the evening of April 29, the Russians hit the KAB in the village of Kupyansk-Uzlovaya, Kharkov region, one person was wounded, said the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov.
08:53 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of April 30:
- personnel - about 468,720 (+1250) people,
- tanks - 7307 (+22),
- armored combat vehicles - 14,046 (+39),
- artillery systems - 12,011 (+26),
- MLRS - 1053 (+2),
- air defense systems - 779 (+1),
- aircraft - 348 (+0),
- helicopters - 325 (+0),
- UAV of operational-tactical level - 9531 (+3),
- cruise missiles - 2126 (+2),
- ships/boats - 26 (+0),
- submarines - 1 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tank trucks - 16,142 (+33),
- special equipment - 1977 (+3).
08:24 Over the past 24 hours, 115 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report . In particular, in the Bakhmut direction, the Defense Forces repelled 33 enemy attacks in the areas of Belogorovka, Lugansk region, as well as Verkhnekamensky, Novy, Ivanovsky, Kleshcheevka, Andreevka, Razdolovka and Chasov Yar, Donetsk region. Another 24 attacks were repelled in the Avdeevsky direction - in the areas of the settlements of Arkhangelskoye, Novokalinovo, Ocheretino, Sokol, Solovyevo, Semenovka, Orlovka and Netaylovo, Donetsk region.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, the enemy tried 20 times to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops in the areas of Konstantinovka, Georgievka and Urozhainy, Donetsk region. In the Liman direction, 13 attacks were repelled in the areas of Tverdokhlebovo, Nevsky and Serebryansky forestry in the Luhansk region, as well as Ternov, Torsky and south of Zarechny in the Donetsk region; in Kupyansky - nine attacks in the areas of Berestovo and Novosergeevka, Kharkov region, and Stelmakhovka, Lugansk region; on Orekhovsky - seven attacks in the area of Staromayorsky, Donetsk region and Novodarivka, Zaporozhye region; on Kherson - three attacks on the left bank of the Dnieper.
07:58 The number of victims of yesterday's Russian missile attack on Odessa has increased to five - one of the wounded died in the hospital, said Oleg Kiper, head of the OBA. According to him, 23 victims continue to be treated in medical institutions, eight of them are in serious condition, four are in extremely serious condition, including a four-year-old girl.
07:49 A representative of the Russian “authorities” of the occupied Zaporozhye region, Vladimir Rogov, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a missile attack with ATACMS missiles on Crimea at night, and an air defense system allegedly worked over Dzhankoy and Simferopol.
05:55 Russian troops have received minor tactical advantages near Avdievka and can now choose a further direction of attack, writes the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Analysts see several opportunities for Russian troops, but it is unclear where they will focus their efforts in the near future.
Thus, according to ISW assessments, the stabilization of Russian positions northwest of Avdeevka poses the Russian command with a choice: either continue to advance west toward the stated operational objective in Pokrovsk, or try to advance north to conduct possible additional offensive operations around Chasov Yar.
00:34 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington is ready for negotiations as soon as Russia demonstrates a sincere desire to conduct them. According to him, the end of the war in Ukraine depends on Putin’s decision. "I hope that Putin will understand the message and demonstrate a willingness to negotiate sincerely in accordance with the basic principles, the basis of the international community and the UN Charter: sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence. If these are properly confirmed, a resolution should be adopted," Blinken added .
00:16 Duchess of Edinburgh Sophie Helen visited Ukraine, becoming the first in the British royal family to do so since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. In Kyiv, the Duchess of Edinburgh met with President Vladimir Zelensky and First Lady Elena Zelenskaya. She gave them a personal message from the British King Charles III. The Duchess also met with internally displaced persons and visited the mass grave site in Bucha.
Buckingham Palace said Sophie's visit was carried out at the request of the British Foreign Office and was intended to "demonstrate solidarity with the women, men and children affected by the war."