Tuesday, April 4

Russia’s war against Ukraine

The participants of the ceremony stand with the unfurled flag of Ukraine on the observation deck of the tower of the Lviv City Hall on April 03, 2023. Lviv celebrates the 33rd anniversary of raising the Ukrainian national flag over the city council. It was on this day, 33 years ago, that the blue-yellow flag first flew over the building of the City Hall. (Photo by Stanislav Ivanov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Zelensky: Russian forces ‘still have time to leave, otherwise we will destroy them.’ President Volodymyr Zelensky added on April 3 that he could not divulge specific details about the upcoming counteroffensive.

Ukraine returns 12 people from Russian captivity. Ukraine has brought 10 soldiers and two civilians back from Russian captivity, the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported on April 3.

IAEA head to visit Russia, discuss occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is scheduled to visit Kaliningrad to address safety concerns over the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, CNN reported on April 3.

Ukraine downs 14 Russian drones. Ukrainian air defense downed 14 Iranian-made Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 drones overnight on April 4. The drones were likely launched from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov.

Moscow blames Ukraine for killing propagandist Tatarsky, Zelensky says it’s Russia’s matter. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee accused the Ukrainian special services of plotting an explosion that killed Russian propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky, Russian state-controlled media outlet RIA Novosti reported on April 3. President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on Tatarsky’s murder, saying he “doesn’t think about what’s happening in St. Petersburg or Moscow.”

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President’s Office urges to ‘calmly react to fakes’ after Wagner boss claims seizure of Bakhmut administration building. Ukraine’s Presidential Office head Andrii Yermak urged to “calmly react to fakes inventing a victory, which does not exist in reality” adding that “Bakhmut is Ukraine.”

Washington Post: Satellite images show Russia bolstering Crimean defenses. New satellite imagery of Crimea from Maxar Technologies shows an intricate network of trenches in the occupied territory of the peninsula. Russia has built dozens of defensive structures, which span several miles, the Washington Post reports.

Media: Air defense systems sighted near Putin’s Sochi residence. The Pantsir S-1 anti-aircraft missile system was allegedly placed near Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Sochi residence, according to a video published by Russian Navalny Live channel.

UN: Russia’s all-out war causes over $2 billion in damages to Ukraine’s cultural heritage. Russia’s war against Ukraine has caused over $2.6 billion in damages to Ukraine’s cultural heritage, according to a recently published report by the Ukrainian government, the World Bank, the European Commission, and the United Nations.

Ukraine receives first $27 billion tranche of IMF financial package. On March 31, the IMF first announced that it had reached an agreement with Ukraine to provide a four-year financial aid package worth approximately $15.6 billion.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Kyiv denies Wagner’s claim of seizing Bakhmut city hall

Ukrainian officials’ comments came after the founder of the Russian state-backed private paramilitary company Wagner Group, said that his mercenaries had raised the Russian flag on the Bakhmut city hall.

Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Stoltenberg says ‘Ukraine will join NATO,’ vows support despite Russia’s ‘reckless nuclear rhetoric’

Responding to the Kyiv Independent at a news conference, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “NATO’s position remains unchanged and that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance.”

Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images

Human cost of Russia’s war

UN: 22,607 civilian casualties in Ukraine reported since start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. According to the most recent civilian casualty update from the United Nations Officer of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR), there were an additional 765 civilian casualties recorded in Ukraine in March 2023.

General Staff: Russia has lost 175,160 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022.

Ukraine’s General Staff reported on April 3 that Russia had also lost 3,619 tanks, 6,993 armored fighting vehicles, 5,553 vehicles and fuel tanks, 2,694 artillery systems, 527 multiple launch rocket systems, 280 air defense systems, 306 airplanes, 291 helicopters, 2,262 drones, and 18 boats.

12 killed, 32 injured as Russia attacks 7 Ukrainian regions over past 24 hours.

Russian troops struck 92 settlements damaging 74 infrastructure facilities, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry media center reported on April 3.

UN: At least 501 children have been killed in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. “This is just the UN-verified number. The real figure is likely far higher, and the toll on families affected is unimaginable,” Executive Director Catherine Russell wrote.

Opinions and insights

Eugene Czolij: The UN Security Council’s darkest month

“For the entire month of April, the UN Security Council will be presided by a country sanctioned by UN member states for its all-out war, and whose president is wanted for deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia,” Eugene Czolij, a president of the Ukraine-2050 nongovernmental organization, said in his recent op-ed.

Photo: Aleksey Babushkin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

International response

US ambassador to UN calls Russia chairing UNSC ‘April Fools’ joke.’ “We expect that they (Russia) will behave professionally. But we also expect that they will use their seat to spread disinformation and to promote their own agenda as it relates to Ukraine, and we will stand ready to call them out at every single moment that they attempt to do that,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on April 3.

Stoltenberg wants NATO states to pledge 500 million euros yearly to Ukraine Fund. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wants NATO members to pledge 500 million euros per year for a support fund aimed at assisting Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on April 3.

Denmark and Norway to jointly transfer 8,000 artillery rounds to Ukraine. According to the ministry’s statement, the artillery shells are to be used with the 19 Ceasar self-propelled howitzers that have been already pledged to Ukraine in January.

Armsmaker Rheinmetall building maintenance hub for Ukrainian weapons in Romania. The construction works are underway in the Romanian city of Satu Mare, close to the border with Ukraine, with the hub expected to be open already this month, according to Rheinmetall’s spokesperson.

Official: Poland delivers first MiG-29 jets to Ukraine. Poland has already transferred the first batch of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Marcin Przydacz, the Polish Presidential Office’s head of International Policy, told RMF 24 on April 3. Przydacz didn’t specify how many jets had been delivered.

In other news

Oleksandr Medvid found guilty of kidnapping EuroMaidan activist, released from custody. Oleksandr Medvid has been released from custody after a Kyiv court found him guilty of kidnapping a Maidan activist in 2014. Medvid would have faced five years in prison if the charges had not expired due to the statute of limitations.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Toma Istomina, Dinara Khalilova, Oleksiy Sorokin, Kate Tsurkan, Teah Pelechaty, Haley Zehrung, Olena Goncharova, and Brad LaFoy.

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