Saturday, April 13

Russia’s war against Ukraine

An elderly woman at her house in the village Velyki Prokhody in Kharkiv Oblast on April 12, 2024. Her home was damaged by a Russian aerial bombing on April 11. The bombing resulted in the destruction or damage of dozens of households and civilian vehicles and injured two local residents. (Ivan Samoilov/Gwara Media/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Rebuilding Kyiv Oblast power plant possible but ‘futile’ without air defense, Centerenergo says. The Trypillia Thermal Power Plant in Kyiv Oblast can be restored with international help but this will be “futile” without more air defense, Andrii Hota, the chair of Ukraine’s state energy company Centerenergo’s supervisory board, told Voice of America on April 11.

Kuleba: Ukraine in talks with partners to receive 2 Patriot, 1 SAMP/T batteries. Ukraine is conducting “active negotiations” with its partners to receive two additional batteries of the Patriot air defense system and one long-range SAMP/T anti-aircraft missile battery, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an excerpt from an interview aired on April 12.

Energy minister says Ukraine’s energy system stable, urges citizens to prepare for ‘any scenarios.’ Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on April 12 that Ukrainians should be prepared for possible power outages in the spring or summer amid Russian ongoing attacks against energy infrastructure.

Ukraine approves additional payments for soldiers, police officers serving at ‘zero line.’ Ukrainian soldiers and police officers who serve directly at the contact line of the front will receive an additional payment of Hr 70,000 ($1,785) per month, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on April 12.

Bloomberg: Ukrainian army collapse ‘cannot be ruled out,’ US official says. The possibility of a collapse of Ukraine’s army “cannot be ruled out” and Ukraine is at its “most fragile moment in over two years of war,” according to U.S. officials, Bloomberg reported on April 11.

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Military intelligence: Russia sending units from Far East to replenish losses in Ukraine. Russia is sending troops from its far eastern Pacific Fleet to replenish personnel losses in Ukraine, Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) said on April 12.

Putin claims Russian attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure ‘response’ for strikes on Russian energy facilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the large-scale strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are “a response” to the attacks on Russian energy facilities, Russian state-controlled news agency Interfax reported on April 11.

WSJ: Putin wants to restart Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. According to the Wall Street Journal, the IAEA received reports from inspectors stationed at the plant indicating that Russia wants to restart at least one of the ZNPP reactors sometime this year.

Sources: SBU carries out searches of high-ranking priest of Moscow-linked church. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out searches at the premises of Archpriest Mykola Danylevych, a senior member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), on the morning of April 12, sources in law enforcement agencies told the Kyiv Independent.

UN assistant secretary-general: Russia’s war ‘existential threat to the people of Ukraine.’ “Since our last briefing to this Council almost a month ago, Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns have become a daily destructive pattern. This includes intense and systematic targeting of Ukrainian energy infrastructure across the country,” U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca said.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Ukrainians should prepare for possible power outages, energy minister says

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on April 12 that Ukrainians should be prepared for possible power outages in the spring or summer amid ongoing Russian attacks. Ukraine’s energy system is currently undergoing the largest-scale series of attacks by Russia.

Photo: Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Unequipped and outgunned, Ukrainian military often can’t evacuate its wounded

The main reason for the absence of medical evacuation is simple and gruesome: The fighting is just too intense. It can take a day or even two for soldiers to get in and out of the fiercest fighting spots – killing any hopes of medics coming to save the wounded.

Photo: Ozge Elif Kizil/Anadolu/Getty Images

The recipe behind Ukraine’s beloved food chain Puzata Khata

Ukraine’s buffet-style chain Puzata Khata (meaning “potbellied house” in Ukrainian) rose from the stolovaya’s enduring popularity throughout the Soviet Union, blending with it home-style Ukrainian dishes beloved among the local population.

Photo: Oleh Tymoshenko/The Kyiv Independent

Human cost of war

Russian shelling of Kharkiv Oblast village kills 1, injures 2. A Russian artillery attack against the Kupiansk district in Kharkiv Oblast on April 12 killed a 64-year-old man and injured two more people, the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office said.

Ukraine brings back bodies of 99 fallen soldiers. Ukraine has brought back the bodies of 99 soldiers who died during Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of the Prisoners of War reported on April 12.

Update: Death toll of Russia’s April 10 attack on Odesa Oblast rises to 6. The death toll of a Russian missile strike against Odesa Oblast on April 10 has risen to six after an injured 56-year-old man died in the hospital, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on April 12.

Death toll from Russian attack on Mykolaiv rises to 5. A man who was injured in a Russian attack on Mykolaiv on April 11 has died in hospital, Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitalii Kim reported on April 12, bringing the death toll from the attack to 5.

General Staff: Russia has lost 451,730 troops in Ukraine since Feb 24, 2022. This number includes 840 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

International response

Netherlands allocates additional $1.5 billion in aid for Ukraine. The Netherlands allocated an additional one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in military aid and 400 million euros ($425 million) for renovation to assist Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 12 after the call with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Macron: France to participate in global peace summit in June. French President Emmanuel Macron, during his visit to the defense enterprise near Bordeaux, said that France will participate in the global peace summit, Ukrinform reported on April 12.

European Council adopts law on criminal offences, penalties for EU sanction violation. The European Council approved the law on the prosecution of violation or circumvention of EU sanctions, mainly concerning the sanctions against Russia, the parliament’s press service reported on April 12.

Media: EU to consider additional restrictions on Ukrainian carriers in Poland. The European Commission is reportedly considering new restrictions on Ukrainian carriers transporting goods through Poland, Polish media outlet RMF24 reported on April 12, citing its undisclosed sources.

Poland establishes council for cooperation with Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk signed a decree establishing the council, which will deal with bilateral Polish-Ukrainian relations and Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Bloomberg: US sanctions office looks into chip supply companies over use in Russia’s war. U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is investigating several U.S. and foreign companies for supplying military-purpose chips which end up in Russia, Bloomberg reported on April 12, citing an unnamed U.S. official.

US, UK jointly expand sanctions against Russian metals. The new action will block Russian metal producers from profits from the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Reuters: US officials say China aids Russia’s massive military expansion. According to one official, supplies from China are helping Russia launch its “most ambitious defense expansion since the Soviet era and on a faster timeline than we believed possible early on in this conflict.”

Russian media: Chinese banks block payments from Russia for electronic parts. The first issues with purchases for electronics started back in December 2023, mainly related to finished products, Kommersant said, citing representatives of the Russian business.

In other news

Lukashenko, Putin hold 4-hour meeting in Moscow. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a nearly four-hour meeting until late on April 11, according to Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti.

Yermak’s deputy Sybiha replaces deputy foreign minister Tochytskyi. Andrii Sybiha, a deputy head of the Presidential Office, has been named the first deputy foreign minister, replacing Mykola Tochytskyi, said Taras Melnychuk, the government’s representative in the parliament, on April 12.

Kyiv City Council suspends second auction for iconic food market due to public uproar. “Considering the resonance in Kyiv’s community about Zhytniy Market’s preservation and its intended purpose, we have decided not to conduct the auction now,” Volodymyr Kostikov, a head of Kyiv City Council’s Industry and Business Development Department, said.

International Press Institute sends letter to Ukrainian authorities after intimidation of journalists. “(W)e call on authorities to establish systemic safeguards that prevent SBU officials from targeting journalists or other critics in retaliation for their work, and protect journalists who report on possible misconduct or crimes by SBU officials,” the letter said.

Ukraine opens embassies in Ivory Coast, DRC. Ukraine has opened an embassy in Ivory Coast, a day after opening an embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced on April 12.

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