Category: Ukraine War

Ukrayinska Pravda

General Staff: 2 Russian battalion tactical groups transferred from Russia to Izium; 3 Ukrainian towns captured

Olha Hlushchenko – April 27, 2022

ukrpravda@gmail.com (Ukrayinska Pravda)Tue, April 26, 2022, 11:12 PM

Russia has transferred 2 battalion tactical groups of the 76th Air Defence Division from Belgorod Region to the city of Izium, Kharkiv Region. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 06:00 on Wednesday, 27 April According to the General Staff: “The enemy continues offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone in order to establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions and to maintain a land corridor with occupied Crimea.

The occupying forces are most active on the Slobozhanskyi and Donetsk fronts. The enemy is taking measures to replenish the military equipment of those units that suffered losses during hostilities. In particular, equipment is being transferred from storage in ammunition depots and at district military bases. Transportation of equipment to the territory of Ukraine is usually carried out by rail.”

Details: Russian occupying forces continued carrying out missile strikes on residential neighbourhoods on the territory of Ukraine. In particular, Russian troops continued air bombing and shelling Kharkiv’s infrastructure from artillery on the Slobozhanksyi front. On the Izium front, units from the 1st Guards Tank Army and the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Western Military District, the 35th Combined Arms Army and the 68th Army Corps of the Eastern Military District, and Airborne Troops continue an offensive on Barvinkove.

Russian troops captured the town of Zavody and its outskirts to the northeast of Velyka Komyshuvakha. Two battalion tactical groups of the 76th Air Defence Division of Airborne Troops have been transferred from the territory of Belgorod Region to the city of Izium in order to increase the presence of Russian troops there. Russian troops also deployed 2 missile brigades with Iskander-M Mobile Ballistic Missile Systems in Belgorod Region.

On the Donetsk front, Russian troops are conducting active operations along almost the entire line of contact. Their main efforts are focused on offensive operations on the Sievierodonetsk, Popasna, and Kurakhiv fronts in order to establish full control over Popasna and Rubizhne and to advance the offensive on Lyman, Sievierodonetsk and Sloviansk.

On the Lyman front, Russian troops have established control over the town of Zarichne and carried out assault operations on the town of Yampil. On the Sievierodonetsk front, Russian occupation forces have captured the town of Novotoshkivske, and are conducting an offensive on the towns of Nyzhnie and Orikhove. In Mariupol, Russian troops are shelling and blocking Ukrainian troops at the Azovstal plant. In the city, the occupying soldiers continue to carry out “filtration” measures against the civilian population.

On the Pivdennyi Bug and Tavriia fronts, the enemy is deploying its available forces to maintain the previously occupied frontiers and to fire on the positions of Ukrainian troops. On the Mykolaiv, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia fronts, Russian troops attempted to improve their tactical position by regrouping units, reinforcing weapons supplies and conducting air reconnaissance.

Russia deployed units of Russian Guards to carry out “filtration” measures in the districts of Kyselivka and Stanislav in Kherson Region. On the Tavriia front, units of Russian troops are fitting out their positions and replenishing reserves. There are no significant changes on the Volyn, Polissia and Siverskyi fronts.

Seven air targets were shot down by Ukrainian soldiers on 26 April: a Su-25 plane, a Ka-52 helicopter, 3 operational-tactical UAVs and 2 cruise missiles. In Donetsk and Luhansk Regions alone, 9 Russian attacks have been repulsed in the past 24 hours; 9 Russian tanks, 11 artillery systems, 4 units of special and 17 units of armoured equipment, 3 units of special engineering equipment and 16 units of automotive equipment, 4 fuel tanks, and 1 anti-aircraft system were destroyed.

Ukrayinska Pravda

Following the example of Dunkirk: the fighters of Mariupol ask for a procedure that even Hitler agreed to in 1940

Alena Mazurenko – April 27, 2022

ukrpravda@gmail.com (Ukrayinska Pravda)Wed, April 27, 2022, 9:39 AM

Commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Sergei Volynsky (Volina), in a new video message, requests an “extraction” procedure for the defenders of Mariupol, following the example of the operation in Dunkirk in 1940. Source: Volynsky’s Facebook page Quote: “For 62 days we have been conducting combat operations in complete encirclement, we are currently located at the Azovstal plant and are carrying out tasks together with the units of the Azov Regiment and other units that are surrounded .

There are more than 600 wounded guys of varying conditions in our group, they really need medical help, there are horrendous conditions, no treatments, no personnel who could help them. Also, civilians are injured, and we are providing assistance to them as much as we can. With us are hundreds of civilians, dozens of children, many people with disabilities, the elderly. The situation is difficult, there are problems with water.”

Volynsky reiterated that he was appealing to world leaders and diplomats so that the defenders of Mariupol would be heard and so that they would apply an “extraction” procedure, following the example of Operation Dynamo (Dunkirk operation, Dunkirk evacuation) during World War II.

This is when, in 1940, the military of Britain and France were surrounded by German troops and blockaded in the area of ​​the city of Dunkirk. The troops that had amassed on the coast were threatened with disaster, but Hitler ordered the offensive be stopped and “not to approach Dunkirk closer than 10 km”.

Winston Churchill, in a famous speech in 1940, called the events at Dunkirk a “miracle”. More than 300,000 French and British soldiers were evacuated during the rescue operation. Quote: “Today my main message is: save the “Mariupol” garrison. Apply the “extraction” procedure to us.

It’s not 1940, it’s 2022. People will simply die here. The wounded will die, and the living will die in battle, civilians are dying here with us in bunkers, private houses and high-rise buildings, where they are simply being shot.”

Volynsky added that the defenders of Mariupol hope for help. Background : Earlier, Ukrainian intelligence reported that it had information that the Russian authorities were planning to send units of the National Guard and the FSB to storm the positions of Ukrainian defenders at Azovstal.

Ukrainian fighters reported that during the night of 26 April, 35 airstrikes were carried out against Azovstal, civilians were injured and they are under rubble At a meeting with Putin, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the invaders had taken control of Mariupol, and then added that Azovstal was controlled by Ukrainian defenders.

Putin said on camera that there was no need to storm the plant, but after that the shelling of Azovstal only intensified. President Volodymyr Zelensky argues that the Ukrainian forces still lack the funds to carry out a military operation to remove the blockade on Mariupol.

On 23 April, the Azov Regiment posted the first part of a video from the cellars of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, which was blockaded by the enemy, showing children hiding from Russian bombs.

On 24 April, the “Azovists” released a new video from the Azovstal bunkers and tunnels. On it, women hiding with children in a shelter said that they had only a few days left of water and food supplies.

The Hill

US cites ‘credible’ reports that Russia executed Ukrainians trying to surrender in Donetsk

Lexi Lonas – April 27, 2022

The U.S. has credible evidence Russia executed Ukrainians who tried to surrender in the Donetsk region, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack said at a United Nations (U.N.) meeting on Wednesday.

“We now have credible information that a Russian military unit operating in the vicinity of Donetsk executed Ukrainians who were attempting to surrender, rather than take them into custody,” she said at the U.N. Security Council meeting focused on accountability in Ukraine.

“If true, this would be in violation of a core principle of the law of war: the prohibition against the summary execution of civilians and of combatants who are hors de combat by virtue of surrender, injury or other forms of incapacitation,” she added.

The executions are part of a mounting list of war crimes Russia has been accused of committing, with the others including the targeting of civilians, the kidnapping of children, torture and rape.

Russia has been focusing its efforts in the Donetsk region, as its forces failed to take the capital city of Kyiv.

The U.S. has previously labeled Russia’s actions a “genocide” and has implemented dozens of sanctions to target Russia’s economy in an attempt to cripple the invasion. It has also provided billions of dollars in military support to Ukraine amid the war.

“Our simple message to Russia’s military and political leadership and to the rank-and-file is this: the world is watching, and you will be held accountable,” Van Schaack said.

Two months into the war, 5 million Ukrainians have fled their country, with millions more displaced internally due to the fighting.

Humanitarian aid has been difficult to deliver due to Russia reportedly shooting at trucks and workers who are helping civilians.

Russia has denied the war crime allegations and continues to label the invasion a “special military operation” aimed at liberating Ukraine.

The Week

Is Ukraine launching strikes on Russian soil?

Grayson Quay, Weekend editor – April 27, 2022

Russian officials said Wednesday that an ammunition depot caught fire near the border with Ukraine and that air defense systems shot down Ukrainian drones flying over Russia, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the incidents, which are only the latest in a series of fires and explosions that have occurred on Russian soil in the past month.

On April 1, explosions rocked a fuel depot in Belgorod, Russia. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov blamed “an airstrike coming from two helicopters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” Two days later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied that his country’s troops had carried out the strike. “We’re fighting for our country on our terrain,” he said.

The Journal reports that fires also “broke out at two fuel-storage depots in [Russia’s] Bryansk region on April 25.”

On Tuesday, local authorities in the Russian-backed Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria reported an attack on a military unit and on two radio antennas. Again, the two sides offered opposing claims, with Russia blaming Ukraine and Ukraine characterizing the attacks as a Russian false flag operation.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak suggested on Twitter that the fires and explosions in Russia could be “karma for the murder of [Ukrainian] children.” He also urged Europe to stop importing oil from Russia, “a country where everything is self-destructing.”

Russian security expert Keir Giles told the Journal that the incidents inside Russia could easily be explained as “natural accidents” caused by Russia’s “negligence.”

Associated Press

Russia strikes back by cutting off gas to 2 NATO nations

Yesica Fisch, Jon Gambrell and Vanessa Gerat – April 26, 2022

POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia cut off natural gas to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday and threatened to do the same to other countries, dramatically escalating its standoff with the West over the war in Ukraine. European leaders decried the move as “blackmail.”

A day after the U.S. and other Western allies vowed to speed more and heavier weapons to Ukraine, the Kremlin used its most essential export as leverage against two of Kyiv’s staunch backers. Gas prices in Europe shot up on the news.

The tactic could eventually force targeted nations to resort to gas rationing and could deal another blow to economies suffering from rising prices. At the same time, it could deprive Russia of badly needed income to fund its war effort.

Western leaders and analysts portrayed the move by the Kremlin as a bid to both punish and divide the allies so as to undermine their united support for Ukraine.

Poland has been a major gateway for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and confirmed this week that it is sending the country tanks. It has also been a vocal proponent of sanctions against the Kremlin.

Bulgaria, under a new liberal government that took office last fall, has cut many of its old ties to Moscow and likewise supported punitive measures against Russia. It has also hosted Western fighter jets at a new NATO outpost on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

The gas cuts do not immediately put the two countries in any dire trouble. Poland, especially, has been working for many years to line up other suppliers, and the continent is heading into summer, making gas less essential for households.

Yet the cutoff and the Kremlin warning that other countries could be next sent shivers of worry through the 27-nation European Union. Germany, the largest economy on the continent, and Italy are among Europe’s biggest consumers of Russian natural gas, though they have already been taking steps to reduce their dependence on Moscow.

“It comes as no surprise that the Kremlin uses fossil fuels to try to blackmail us,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “Today, the Kremlin failed once again in his attempt to sow division amongst member states. The era of Russian fossil fuel in Europe is coming to an end.”

State-controlled Russian giant Gazprom said it was shutting off the two countries because they refused to pay in rubles, as President Vladimir Putin has demanded of “unfriendly” nations. The Kremlin said other countries may be cut off if they don’t agree to the payment arrangement.

Most European countries have publicly balked at Russia’s demand for rubles, but it is not clear how many have actually faced the moment of decision so far. Greece’s next scheduled payment to Gazprom is due on May 25, for example, and the government must decide then whether to comply.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the Polish parliament that he believes Poland’s support for Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia were the real reasons behind the gas cutoff. Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov called the suspension blackmail, adding: “We will not succumb to such a racket.”

On the battlefield, fighting continued in the country’s east along a largely static front line some 300 miles (480 kilometers) long.

Russia claimed its missiles hit a batch of weapons that the U.S. and European nations had delivered to Ukraine. One person was killed and at least two were injured when rockets hit a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv.

Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence findings, said Russia has made slow progress in the Donbas region in the east, with “minor gains,” including the capture of villages and small towns south of Izyum and on the outskirts of Rubizhne.

The offensive continues to suffer from poor command, losses of troops and equipment, bad weather and strong Ukrainian resistance, the officials said.

They said some Russian troops have been shifted from the gutted southern port city of Mariupol to other parts of the Donbas. But some remain in Mariupol to fight Ukrainian forces holed up at the Azovstal steel plant, the last stronghold in the city. About 1,000 civilians were said to be taking shelter there with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders.

Just across the border in Russia, an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region burned after several explosions were heard, the governor said. Explosions were also reported in Russia’s Kursk region near the border, and authorities in Russia’s Voronezh region said an air defense system shot down a drone.

Earlier this week, an oil storage facility in the Russian city of Bryansk was engulfed by fire.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak hinted at the country’s involvement in the fires, saying in a Telegram post that “karma (is) a harsh thing.”

In other developments:

— The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said the safety level at Europe’s largest nuclear plant, now under Russian occupation in Ukraine, is like a “red light blinking” as his organization tries in vain to get access to the Zaporizhzhia power station for repairs.

— Amid rising tensions over gas, Moscow and Washington carried out a dramatic prisoner exchange, trading a Marine veteran jailed in Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in the U.S.

With the help of Western arms, Ukrainian forces have been unexpectedly successful at bogging Russia’s forces down and thwarted their attempt to take Kyiv. Moscow now says its focus is the capture of the Donbas, Ukraine’s mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland.

A defiant Putin vowed Wednesday that Russia will achieve its military goals, telling parliament, “All the tasks of the special military operation we are conducting in the Donbas and Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24, will be unconditionally fulfilled.”

Simone Tagliapietra, senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, said Russia’s goal in cutting off the flow of gas is to “divide and rule” — pit European countries against one another as they cast about for energy.

While Poland gets around 45% of its gas from Russia, it is overwhelmingly dependent on coal and said it was well prepared for the cutoff. It has ample gas in storage and will soon benefit from two pipelines coming on line, analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy said.

Bulgaria gets over 90% of its gas from Russia, but it could increase imports from Azerbaijan, and a pipeline connection to Greece is set to be completed later this year.

Europe is not without its own leverage since, at current prices, it is paying some $400 million a day to Russia for gas, money Putin would lose in a complete cutoff.

Russia can, in theory, sell oil elsewhere — to India and China, for instance. But it doesn’t have the necessary pipeline network in some cases, and it has only limited capacity to export liquefied gas by ship.

“The move that Russia did today is basically a move where Russia hurts itself,” von der Leyen said.

Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine and Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press journalists Jill Lawless in London, Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, David Keyton in Kyiv, Oleksandr Stashevskyi at Chernobyl, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

Reuters

Tensions surge after breakaway Moldovan region reports attacks; Kyiv blames Russia

Alexander Tanas – April 26, 2022

CHISINAU (Reuters) -Ukraine accused Moscow on Tuesday of trying to drag Moldova’s breakaway region of Transdniestria into its war on Kyiv after authorities in the Moscow-backed region said they had been targeted by a series of attacks.

Authorities in Transdniestria, an unrecognised sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, said that explosions had damaged two radio masts that broadcast in Russian and that one of its military units had been attacked.

It provided few details, but blamed Ukraine, raising its “terrorist” threat level to red and introducing checkpoints around its towns.

“The traces of these attacks lead to Ukraine”, Russian news agency TASS quoted Vadim Krasnoselsky, the self-styled president of Transdniestria, as saying. “I assume that those who organised this attack have the purpose of dragging Transdniestria into the conflict.”

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts of the attacks.

The Kremlin, which has troops and peacekeepers in the region, said it was seriously concerned.

Ukraine fears the region could be used as a launch pad for new attacks. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blamed Moscow, saying Russia was showing Moldova what to expect if it continued to support Kyiv.

“We have seen that another step is being planned by the Russian Federation … it is clear why, really, to destabilize the situation in the region,” he told a news conference with the visiting head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Ukraine “condemns the desperate attempts to draw the Transdniestrian region of Moldova into the full-scale war against Ukraine,” the foreign ministry said earlier.

It noted that the incidents followed recent comments from Russia about extending its reach in the region.

Moldova, which is sensitive to any sign of worsening security in the enclave, called an emergency security council meeting after the reports.

“From the information we have at this moment, these escalation attempts stem from factions within the Transdniestrian region that are pro-war forces and interested in destabilising the situation in the region,” President Maia Sandu told a news conference.

She said the Moldovan security council had recommended stepping up the combat readiness of forces, increasing the number of patrols and checks near its border with Transdniestria and monitoring critical infrastructure more closely.

Russia has had troops permanently based in Transdniestria since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

KREMLIN CONCERN

Last week, a senior Russian military official said the second phase of what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine included a plan to take full control of southern Ukraine and improve its access to Transdniestria.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was following events in Transdniestria closely.

Later on Tuesday, the Russian foreign ministry said that Moscow wanted to avoid a scenario in which it had to intervene in Transdniestria, the RIA news agency reported.

Moldova’s Sandu described the situation as “complex and tense,” but said she had no plans to hold direct talks about it with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Washington was looking at the cause of recent violence in Transdniestria, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

“Not really sure what that’s all about, but it’s something that we will stay focused on,” Austin said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged “all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions that could escalate tensions” in the region, U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

(Additional reporting by Luiza Ilie, Michelle Nichols, Phil Stewart and David Ljunggren; Writing by Tom Balmforth and Alessandra Prentice, Editing by Timothy Heritage, Angus MacSwan and Tomasz Janowski)

The Telegraph

Around 15,000 Russian troops have died since Ukraine invasion began, says Ben Wallace

Roland Oliphant – April 25, 2022

Some 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in the two months since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, the Defence Secretary said on Monday.

Ben Wallace told MPs that more than 2,000 of Russia’s armoured vehicles have either been destroyed or captured as he outlined further UK support to Ukraine to help defend its territory.

With Russia switching its attention to the Donbas region in the south-east, Mr Wallace said Britain would supply Ukraine with armoured vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft missiles to help it fight off the assault.

He told the Commons that Stormer armoured vehicles would carry Starstreak missiles, a shoulder-launched version of which was supplied to Ukraine earlier this month.

“In response to indiscriminate bombing from the air and escalation by President Putin’s forces on March 9, I announced the UK would supply Starstreak high-velocity and low-velocity anti-air missiles,” Mr Wallace said.

“I am able to now report to the House that these have been in theatre for over three weeks and have been deployed and used by Ukrainian forces to defend themselves and their territory.

“As we can see from Ukrainians’ requests, more still needs to be done. So for that reason I can now announce to the House that we shall be gifting a small number of armoured vehicles fitted with launchers for those anti-air missiles. The Stormer vehicles will give Ukrainian forces enhanced, short-range anti-air capabilities, both day and night.”

The Alvis Stormer is a lightly armoured, tracked vehicle that first came into service with the British Army in the 1970s. It can be used in a variety of roles, including to engage ground targets, lay mines or retrieve disabled vehicles.

The version to be supplied to Ukraine is effectively a mobile anti-aircraft platform with a Starstreak battery mounted on the roof. It will grant the Ukrainians greater mobility to respond to aerial threats as the battle in the open landscape of the Donbas escalates.

The provision of vehicles reflects a growing belief among Western governments, which initially expected a quick Russian victory, that Mr Putin’s invasion is failing and can be defeated on the battlefield.

Mr Wallace told the Commons that British assessments were that “alongside the death toll are the equipment losses and in total a number of sources suggest that to date over 2,000 armoured vehicles have been destroyed or captured”.

He said: “The offensive that was supposed to take a maximum of a week has now taken weeks.”

The Defence Secretary added that Russia had deployed more than 120 battalion tactical groups, or around 65 per cent of its ground forces, to the war. About 25 per cent had been rendered “combat ineffective” during the past two months of fighting.

Starstreak missiles accelerate to Mach 4 after launch, making them the fastest of their type in the world and especially difficult for targets to evade. However, they are short-range and can only engage relatively low-altitude targets such as Russia’s KA-52 helicopters and SU-25 ground-attack jets.

Separately, Boris Johnson announced that more than 40 fire engines and 22 ambulances will be sent to Ukraine to help keep the country’s emergency services functioning.

Some £300,000 in funding will be given to the front line medical aid charity UK-Med to help train Ukrainian doctors, nurses and paramedics in dealing with mass casualties.

The Prime Minister said Britain had been “appalled” by the targeting of hospitals by the Russian troops, and expressed hope that the support would help save the lives of Ukrainians. Other items donated alongside the fire engines include rescue equipment, thermal imaging cameras for finding victims, around 300 fire hoses and 10,000 items of protective equipment.

Mr Johnson said: “We have all been appalled by the abhorrent images of hospitals deliberately targeted by Russia since the invasion began over two months ago.

“The new ambulances, fire engines and funding for health experts announced today will better equip the Ukrainian people to deliver vital health care and save lives. Together with our military support, we will help to strengthen Ukraine’s capability to make sure Putin’s brutal invasion fails.”

The Week

About 15,000 Russian troops killed in 1st 60 days of Ukraine invasion, U.K. estimates

Peter Weber, Senior editor – April 26, 2022

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament on Monday that about 15,000 Russian troops have died in Ukraine since the Kremlin invaded on Feb. 24, and about a quarter of the 120 battalion tactical groups Moscow committed to its invasion “have been rendered not combat effective.” Russia has also lost about 2,000 tanks and other armored vehicles, and more than 60 helicopters and fighter jets, Wallace added. “Russia has so far failed in nearly every one of its objectives.”

The estimate from British intelligence is in line with numbers published by the pro-Kremlin media outlet Readovka, citing a “closed briefing” from Russia’s Defense Ministry. In its report, since blamed on a hack, Readovka said Russia has lost 13,414 soldiers in Ukraine, 7,000 more are missing, and 116 sailors were killed up on the sunken Black Sea flagship Moskva.

“The Russian Ministry of Defense hides losses,” tweeted Sergey Smirnov, editor-in-chief of the independent Russian media site Mediazona, but “we found out exactly who is dying in this war on the part of Russia,” including “a lot of officers.” Mediazona based its numbers on 1,744 military deaths confirmed by the pro-Kremlin press, relatives of slain soldiers, local authorities, or educational institutions.

“At least 500 soldiers of the most combat-ready units — paratroopers, marines, and special forces — were killed,” Mediazona reports. “More than 300 officers were killed. Among them are two major generals and the deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet,” Capt. Andrei Paly, plus more than 70 National Guardsmen, 20 airplane pilots, and seven helicopter pilots. Ukraine has claimed that three other major generals and at least two lieutenant generals were killed, Mediazona adds, but it couldn’t confirm those deaths and did not count them in its tally.

Ukrayinska Pravda

Odesa Military Administration: Russia strikes bridge in attempt to cut off part of Odesa Region

Kateryna Tyshchenko – April 26, 2022

ukrpravda@gmail.com (Ukrayinska Pravda) April 26, 2022

Maksym Marchenko, Head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, believes that the Russian strike that damaged the bridge over a Dnister estuary in Zatoka, Odesa Region, was an attempt to cut off part of the region and create tension amid recent events in the unrecognised Transnistria. Source: Maksym Marchenko, Telegram video address According to Marchenko: “Today the enemy deployed three missiles to carry out an attack on the Region. One of them hit the bridge over the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi estuary, another fell nearby, and another fell into the water. Thank God, there are no victims. The enemy’s actions are an attempt to cut off part of the Odesa Region and create tension amid the recent events in Transnistria.” Details: Marchenko asked listeners not to buy into any Russian provocations and to refrain from reacting to Russia’s attempts to intimidate residents of the Odesa region with such terrorist acts. He also said that the damaged railway line is currently being repaired. Traffic across the bridge has resumed, but only one lane is operating in both directions. Context: On Tuesday, 26 April, Russian troops launched a missile strike on the Odesa Region, damaging a bridge across the Dniester estuary in Zatoka. It was later reopened for reverse travel.

Reuters

Russia’s “victory” in Mariupol turns city’s dreams to rubble

Alessandra Prentice and Natalia Zinets – April 26, 2022

KYIV (Reuters) – In the years prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the port city of Mariupol was undergoing a makeover.

More than $600 million was spent on new roads, a children’s hospital and parks to modernise the mainly Russian-speaking city as part of a campaign to show the benefits of life in West-leaning Ukraine following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

“We lived well, happily,” said Maria Danylova, 24, who moved into a new apartment in the city last August after she married.

Like most of her family she works for steel giant Metinvest, which has invested over $2 billion into its two huge Mariupol plants since 2014.

“It was a free developing city, which provided everything we wanted,” she said, recalling weekend strolls with her parents on the restored seafront.

Now after two months of bombardment, the city is in ruins and makeshift graves line its streets.

Street after street is a landscape of bombed-out apartment blocks, blackened by smoke. Destroyed military vehicles lie in the rubble. Thousands of people are believed to have died.

Mariupol is a strategic prize for Russia, reinforcing its access to the annexed Crimea peninsula via territory held by pro-Russian separatists.

But the intensity of the siege has damaged nearly half of the industrial city beyond repair, according to the local authorities.

The fighting also stopped work at the city’s vast steel works, one of which remains the last redoubt for encircled Ukrainian troops.

“Everything that was invested (into Mariupol) has been destroyed,” Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrakov told Reuters.

LIKE CENTRE OF EUROPE

Fringed by smoke stacks, the steel town on the Sea of Azov was once synonymous with post-Soviet industrial decline and pollution.

Its fortunes shifted in 2014 with the outbreak of fighting with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Briefly controlled by the rebels, Mariupol was recaptured by Ukrainian forces, making it the largest city in the eastern Donbas region under Kyiv’s control.

More than 100,000 people fled nearby separatist-held territories to make a new life in Mariupol and local authorities launched the plan to revamp the city.

Metinvest modernised its two plants, Azovstal and Ilyich Steel. In 2020, it completed an emissions-cutting project there that it said was one of the largest environmental projects in Ukraine’s history.

“Over the past seven years we have managed to create this showcase of a revived Ukrainian Donbas,” Vadym Boichenko, who became mayor in 2015, told Reuters.

Boichenko spoke proudly about new roads, improved public transport, parks and other urban regeneration projects.

“Young people were in these parks, with coffee, with guitars – like in the centre of Europe, just hanging out on the grass.”

INVASION AND DESTRUCTION

In the early hours of Feb. 24, a column of Russian tanks and military vehicles was seen heading towards Mariupol and blasts rang out in its outskirts. The invasion – which Russia calls a “special military operation” – had begun and the city was about to become a battleground.

Residents fled or moved to basement shelters to escape the bombardment that soon cut off all utilities. Metinvest suspended operations.

On March 9, bombs hit the maternity wing of a children’s hospital that had been renovated under the reconstruction plan. The blast killed at least three people and tore off part of the facade.

“We only just opened,” Boichenko said.

Danylova was sheltering in the corridor of her parents’ apartment on March 13 when a shell hit the floor above. They moved down to her apartment on the floor below, but a few hours later another shockwave from a nearby strike blew out the windows of her living room and knocked the door off its hinges.

Danylova and her husband started sleeping in the freezing corridor of the apartment block, crammed on the floor with their dog and her parents.

Soon Russian forces moved into their district.

“From our windows they were shooting at neighbouring buildings. They drove five tanks under our building and started firing from there,” said Danylova, who eventually escaped the city with her family on March 24.

Russia denies targeting civilians and civilian buildings.

Weeks of fighting and aerial raids destroyed historic landmarks, including Azov Shipyard, the city’s oldest business, founded in 1886, according to the city council.

In mid-March, a direct strike reduced most of the Soviet-built Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre to rubble, burying hundreds of civilians who had been sheltering underneath, according to the Ukrainian authorities. Reuters has not been able to verify the estimated death toll.

On April 21, nearly two months into the siege, Russia declared victory in Mariupol although remaining Ukrainian forces held out in a vast underground complex below Azovstal.

“Ninety percent of the city’s infrastructure is destroyed one way or another,” the mayor said in an interview the same day, citing photographic evidence gathered by his team.

Metinvest told Reuters the full scale of damage to its assets from Russian bombing was still being assessed.

It also warned of potential environmental risks if bombs hit oil, chemicals, sludge storage dams or coal stockpiles.

The city previously accounted for over one third of Ukraine’s metallurgical production capacity.

“We are outraged that Mariupol, a city that was so prosperous until recently, has been turned into ruins. We are worried about every person who cannot be reached,” Metinvest said.

Danylova is now working in Dnipro region, helping other Metinvest evacuees.

(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Angus MacSwan)