Russian invasion of Ukraine: tanks and rocket attacks on the cities. Breaking news
Early in the morning of February 24, 2022, Russia launched missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine and launched a direct full-scale invasion. Ukraine repulses the enemy. As of April 28, 2022, more than 22800 russian servicemen, thousands of units of military equipment (187 planes, 155 helicopters, 970 tanks, 2389 armored vehicles, 1688 machines, 582 artillery / rocket artillery systems, 8 ships and more) have been eliminated.
Hundreds of lamps were lit in Lviv to honor the memory of innocent victims of the Russian invasion to Ukraine. Photo: Roman Baluk
Here is the photo of Borodianka destroyed by Russian occupants. The Head of Kyiv Regional State Administration Oleksandr Pavliuk posted in his Telegram channel.
A collaborant who helped the Russian occupation forces to seize the city has been detained in Izyum, the Deputy Mayor of Izyum Maxim Strelnyk informed.
Here is new video from Bucha. Dancer Nazar Hrabar tells how Russian occupants set up their base in his apartment and left the bodies of the dead all over the apartment complex.
Arestovych explained why Russian and ethnic Russian citizens were accepted to the Freedom of Russia Foreign Legion. Officially, Ministry of Defense has received more than 300 applications from Russians from people who wanted to participate in the war on the side of Ukraine. It was decided not to neglect such a resource, the adviser to the head of the President's Office said on air of Suspilne.
The US has imposed sanctions on Hydra, "the most notorious" darknet market in Russia, CNN reported. Hydra was a place where cybercriminals sold hacking tools and extorted millions of dollars through ransomware.
Here is the video of equipment destroyed with Javelins.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson called on Russian citizens not to listen to propaganda, but to learn the truth about the war in Ukraine from independent sources by turning on VPN.
A mother mourns for her son who was killed by Russian soldiers in the village of Kalynivka. The son was a military man, but he was working in the garage that day. The Russians shot the young man as they drove by. She buried her son in her yard covering his body with a rug to prevent dogs from digging up the grave. BBC News video.
3,846 people from Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhya regions were evacuated today. A Red Cross convoy standing 19 km from Mariupol was forced to return before reaching the city. Seven returning buses were able to evacuate Mariupol residents and local Berdyansk residents. Another 400 people will be taken to safety in the near future.
Russian troops killed 11 civilians in Velyka Dymerka, near Brovary, Kyiv Region. Firearms and artillery were the cause of death. As a result of the occupants' actions in Brovary district, two more civilians were killed and one was injured, Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reported.
A drunken Russian attacked a Ukrainian priest in Hamburg, Germany. According to police, a Russian citizen rang the doorbell of the house where the priest lives, and when he opened the door, hit him in the chest.
80 Russian occupants, 4 tanks and up to 20 armored vehicles were destroyed in Eastern Ukraine, Operational Command East reported.
CNN estimates that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has so far reached out to 19 world parliaments in an attempt to garner support during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Mariupol City Council accused "collaborators from The Opposition Platform — For Life " (a pro-Russian and Eurosceptic political party in Ukraine – ed.) of adjustment of fire which assisted in targeting critical civilian infrastructure in the city. This was reported on the city council's Telegram.
In Tokmak, Russian occupants are forcing local hospital staff to sign so-called agreements with the Russian Ministry of Health. And in Izyum, the occupants are fabricating crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by arranging demonstration shelling and documenting them, the General Staff reports.
Day 41 of war. The General Staff reports that Russia's plans do not change. The occupiers want to take complete control of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In Kharkiv Region, Russians look for pro-Ukrainian residents and illegally detain them. In the Siversk direction, the Russian Federation is withdrawing its equipment from the territory of Belarus. The threat of an attack by the Belarusian Armed Forces persists.
Portugal has called 10 employees of the Russian embassy "persona non grata". They have two weeks to leave the country, TLDR News EU reported on Twitter.
Looters robbed homes of local residents in Bucha, a video by Denys Kazansky.
In order to maintain European values and peace, Zelensky called on the Spanish people to help Europe stop being afraid of Russia.
I am sure that fear is not for you. I ask you to do everything to help other European countries overcome fear. You can help us and help the world. Give us the weapons we need, Volodymyr Zelensky said during his speech in the Cortes Generales of Spain.
Zelensky urged Spanish companies to stop doing business with Russia. He underpinned his request by mentioning the war crimes committed by Russian occupiers in the liberated cities of Kyiv region and throughout Ukraine in general. "Under these conditions, how can the countries of the world freely buy Russian oil and allow Russian ships into their ports?,” Ukrainian President asked rhetorically.
Ukrainian President gave a speech in the Cortes Generales of Spain and addressed the Spanish people and politicians.
Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova visited the liberated town of Bucha in Kyiv Region. She promised to monitor the process of returning the victims’ bodies for burial and asked the UN Commission and the OSCE to take into consideration the facts of Russia's crimes during the investigation, or better yet, visit the liberated cities in person.
Due to the shelling in Ternopil region, the level of ammonia went beyond the norm in the soil and in the Ikva River. The fragments of the downed rocket fell on the composition of mineral fertilizers and damaged six tanks, according to the Ternopil Regional Administration.
Among 86 Ukrainian military released from Russian captivity there were women. They were taken to Belarus and then to a detention center in Bryansk. Women were abused, tortured, made to squat naked, and were shaved. Some of the women, prisoners of war were forced to take part in the filming of propaganda reportings, and demanded to switch to Russian. The Ombudsman for Human Rights in Ukraine Lyudmyla Denisova reported.
The Czech Republic has sent Ukraine several dozen of old T-72 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. The Czech government believes that Ukrainian soldiers know how to handle the vehicles and assumes that it will help them defend Ukraine, Echi24.cz writes.
Russia's lawyers at the UN International Court of Justice have refused to cooperate with it further, including in cases against Russia initiated by Ukraine. This was announced by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova.
"It is impossible to represent a state that so cynically despises law enforcement platforms," Dzhaparova quoted Alain Pellet, now the former Russian lawyer at the UN International Court of Justice. The lawyer refused to represent Russia on February 24, 2022.
In Bucha, the invaders tried to burn the bodies of 6 killed civilians. There are traces of violent death and torture on the bodies of the victims, the Office of the Prosecutor General reports.
NATO is gathering evidence to prosecute Putin for war crimes in Ukraine, CNN reports, citing US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianna Smith. "We need to gather the information required to hold Putin and his team in Moscow accountable," Smith said.
The UN Security Council must either deprive the occupying country of Russia of its veto right, or show efficiency in establishing peace in Ukraine, or dissolve itself, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated at a meeting of the UN Security Council.
Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs has ordered a number of officials from Russia's Permanent Mission to the EU to be declared non grata for "activities contradicting their diplomatic status", Deutsche Welle informs.
The Security Service of Ukraine detained a "blogger" in Odesa who recorded the work of Ukrainian air defenses and published recordings on Russian Telegram channels.
Ukraine is ready to host the headquarters of the reformed UN global security system, similar to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Zelensky said.
UN reform is needed if the international community does not want the right of veto in the Security Council to become the right to impunity for mass murder, Zelensky said in a speech to the UN Security Council.
The world has already seen what Russia did in Bucha but it will still have yet to be horrified of things Russian forces have been doing in other cities during the 41 day of Russia's war, President Zelensky told the UN Security Council.
The Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Russian ambassador to express its drastic protest and shock over the killings of civilians in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities, Slovenian Press Agency reports. The ambassador was also informed that Slovenia is reducing the staff of the Russian Embassy in Ljubljana to the number of its staff in Moscow.
"We are seeing a significant withdrawal of Russian forces from Kyiv to regroup, rearm and replenish supplies, as well as to shift the center of gravity of the combat to the east," said NATO Secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. He expects Russia's offensive in Eastern and Southern Ukraine to capture the entire Donbas and create a corridor to the occupied Crimea, Voice of America informs.
The broadcast of the meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the speech by President Zelensky.
Borrell: "The EU’s position has been clear: we will continue to advance sanctions as long as the Russian aggression against Ukraine continues. We propose today more hard hitting sanctions to stop the reckless inhuman behaviour of Russian troops and Kremlin's decision makers."
The EU’s position has been clear: we will continue to advance sanctions as long as the Russian aggression against Ukraine continues.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) April 5, 2022
We propose today more hard hitting sanctions to stop the reckless inhuman behaviour of Russian troops and Kremlin's decision makers. pic.twitter.com/xAI1rk6G2G
Bucha is just the beginning of the truth about modern Russia. There will be hundreds of other Ukrainian cities visited by the cannibalistic "Russian world", Podoliak writes. He adds that if Europe does not want to suffer from the "Bucha syndrome" tomorrow, it must give Ukraine heavy weapons today.
The European Union has imposed the fifth package of sanctions against Russia in response to war crimes in Ukraine. The coal embargo and the ban on transactions with four leading Russian banks, including VTB Bank, as well as other sectoral, trade, and financial restrictions are introduced.
Estonia will send 14 employees of the Russian consulate and close Russian consulates in Narva and Tartu, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The ministry accompanied the statement with the comment "The talks about "business as if nothing happened" are no longer possible" (Eesti Rahvusringhääling)
Security Service of Ukraine detained criminals in Pavlograd, Dnipropetrovsk oblast, who were "bullying" territorial defense soldiers.
An eyewitness statement of Bucha being under occupation in the BBC: "Peaceful people are shot. Just for fun. For pleasure. Regardless of age and gender. The street where I was led at gunpoint to the "captive base" is covered with the dead bodies of elderly people. They visited neighbors, went for water, were left without food - [all the same]. They lie every 10 meters".
Spain will expel "around 25" Russian diplomats and embassy employees as those who "pose a threat to security", the Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Alvarez informed. The Minister also added that deportation is the response to "atrocities made lately in Ukraine, especially in Bucha". (Reuters)
The database of the Ukrainian activists, Anti-Terrorist Operation and Joint Forces Operation veterans and members of the Territorial Defense is in possession of occupants in Kherson, informs the mayor Ihor Kolykhayev, who is still in the city. He said that more than 100 people had already been kidnapped including activists, former servicemen, foreigners and journalists.
In Poltava region the Air Defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has shot down two Russian missiles. Power lines were damaged by debris, five villages have no electricity. Repair brigade has already headed towards the place of the incident - Poltava Region State Administration.
Live broadcast of the briefing with the participation of the Russians who decided to go to war on the Ukrainian side joining the personnel of "Freedom to Russia" legion.