Wednesday, April 5

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Graffiti under a protective screen created by British artist Banksy showing a woman in a leotard and a neck brace waving a ribbon on the wall of a damaged residential building following the Russian’s attack last year, on April 4, 2023 in Irpin, a town outside of Kyiv. The threat of aerial attack remains around Kyiv, but the land war has largely concentrated in the east and south. (Photo by Roman Pilipey/Getty Images)

Kuleba meets Blinken, says ‘more military aid on its way’ to Ukraine. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he met with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on April 4. Kuleba is now in Brussels, taking part in a NATO-Ukraine Commission summit.

Stoltenberg: Ukraine’s position at negotiating table ‘inextricably linked’ to battlefield strength. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that it was up to Ukraine to determine the terms for negotiations with Russia, but “what happens through the negotiating table is inextricably linked to the strength of the battlefield.”

Shoigu claims Russia placed aircraft, missile systems in Belarus capable of delivering nuclear strikes. Russia has provided Belarus with aircraft and Iskander-M missile complexes capable of delivering nuclear strikes, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed on April 4.

Air Force: Russia launches up to 20 guided aircraft bombs against Ukraine daily. Russia launches up to 20 guided aircraft bombs daily against Ukraine, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on April 4.

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Ukrainian military downplays Wagner Group claims on Bakhmut capture. Ukrainian Armed Forces spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi downplayed Wagner mercenaries’ claim of allegedly raising the Russian flag over Bakhmut city hall, noting that it was already destroyed during fighting long ago.

UK Defense Ministry: Russia likely to ‘eventually’ replace Wagner with other PMCs in Ukraine. Russia may partner with other private military contractors for combat in Ukraine amid ongoing tensions with the Wagner mercenary group, the U.K. Defense Ministry wrote in its April 4 intelligence update.

Official: 24,000 people on Ukraine’s list of Russia’s war sponsors. Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has created the world’s largest database on those involved in Russia’s war, adding 24,000 people to the list, the agency’s head Oleksandr Novikov said on April 4.

17 people evacuated from Kramatorsk following flood. A spillway gate was partially destroyed on April 4 at one of the ponds in Donetsk Oblast’s Kramatorsk, which resulted in major flooding, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported.

PM Shmyhal: Ukraine needs $37 billion for humanitarian demining. Ukraine needs $37.4 billion to carry out humanitarian demining of its lands, the country’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 4, citing an assessment by the World Bank.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Kyiv receives $2.6 billion in military aid

The new package will consist of equipment from the Pentagon’s stocks valued at up to $500 million and $2.1 billion worth of military capabilities procured from the industry.

Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Stranded civilians brave shelling, return to Ukraine’s front-line towns

The thunder of missiles never stops around the front-line town of Orikhiv, 60 kilometers south of Zaporizhzhia and only a few kilometers from Russian positions in the south.

Photo: Alexander Query

Human cost of Russia’s war

Russia’s shelling of Donetsk Oblast kills 6, injures 7. Russia’s attacks on Donetsk Oblast on April 4 killed six civilians and injured seven others, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

Opinions and insights

Batu Kutelia: Lessons from Georgia of geopolitical procrastination

“One of the main lessons learned from Russia’s wars of aggression is that the procrastination of values-based geopolitical decisions by the democratic West will lead to strategic mistakes resulting in these very wars of aggression,” Batu Kutelia, a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia Program, writes.

Photo: Vano Shlamov/AFP via Getty Images

International response

The Guardian: Britain blocks UN webcast featuring Russian children’s commissioner, subject to arrest warrant. The U.K. has blocked the United Nation’s webcast of an informal security council meeting on Ukraine scheduled for April 5 at which Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights is due to speak, according to the Guardian.

Clinton regrets persuading Ukraine to denuclearize in 1994. “I feel a personal stake because I got them (Ukraine) to agree to give up their nuclear weapons. And none of them believe that Russia would have pulled this stunt if Ukraine still had their weapons,” Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said in an interview with RTÉ.

Lithuanian parliament prohibits undocumented Russian citizens from purchasing real estate. The Lithuanian parliament has approved a law prohibiting Russian nationals without official status in the country from purchasing real estate for the next year, the government reported on April 4.

US to provide Ukraine with additional $2.6 billion in military aid. The new package includes more ammunition for HIMARS, air defense interceptors, artillery rounds, anti-armor systems, small arms, heavy equipment transport vehicles, other equipment, and its maintenance support.

In other news

Kamianets-Podilskyi Council bans Moscow Patriarchate church, revokes land rights. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is now prohibited from operating in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Mayor Mykhailo Positko reported on April 4.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Toma Istomina, Oleksiy Sorokin, Kate Tsurkan, Dinara Khalilova, Olena Goncharova, Anastasiya Gordiychuk, Anastasiia Malenko, and Brad LaFoy.

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