Russian invasion of Ukraine: tanks and rocket attacks on the cities. Breaking news

The governments of the USA, Israel, and other countries recommend their citizens to leave Transnistria, and Bulgarians are urged to leave Moldova altogether, NewsMaker reports.

The Joint Forces Operation troops have fended off 9 enemy attacks on 28 April, destroying 6 tanks, 1 artillery system, 12 armoured vehicles, 1 motor vehicle, and 1 air defence system.
Also, Ukrainian air defence units shot down 1 warplane, 1 cruise missile, and 5 drones in the sky of Donbas.

The Ukraine Democracy Defence Lend-Lease Act of 2022 has been approved in the USA today.

Here is what it means:

• The document grants the US president “enhanced authority ... to enter into agreements with the Government of Ukraine to lend or lease defence articles to that Government to protect civilian populations in Ukraine from Russian military invasion, and for other purposes”.
• The White House is obliged to establish expedited procedures for delivering defence articles within 60 days after the Act is enacted.
• The Lend-Lease Act enables a much faster supply of US weaponry, transport, food, and aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian defenders will thus be able to drive the Russian forces out of the country.
• Also, bear in mind that the Land-Lease Act is a token of the USA’s confidence in Ukraine’s victory over Russia.

Ukraine will get from Japan a $100 million credit to fund its emergency economic recovery programme and a $2.3 million grant bolster its healthcare system and medicine, the news piece on the Government portal reads.

Ukraine is ready to immediately negotiate the evacuation of people from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during the joint press briefing with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who is currently on an official visit to Kyiv.

Blasts were heard in the Kyiv Region as three Russian missiles hit Fastiv, Press Secretary of the State Emergency Service Viktoria Ruban told Suspilne.

Russia carried out missile strikes on the central part of Kyiv during the official visit of the UN Secretary-General to the capital, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

The journalists of Skhemy have got their hands on a script for creating a quasi-entity dubbed “the Southern Rus” on the Ukrainian territories captured by the Russian invaders. The document was authored by one of the leaders of Putin’s party United Russia.

Energy company workers have tripped a land mine in the Makariv District of the Kyiv Region. One of them was killed and two injured, Head of National Police in the Kyiv Region Andrii Nebytov reports.

Russian Grad MLRS have shelled the village of Velyka Kostromka in the Dnipropetrovsk Region, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration Valentyn Reznichenko informs.

The Joint Forces Operation troops have destroyed a bridge behind enemy lines in the South of Ukraine, which was a logistically important crossing on the way from the occupied Crimea to Melitopol, the Press Service of the Joint Forces Operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Facebook.

Two missiles have hit Kyiv, and the emergency response teams are already on their way to the impact sites, State Emergency Service of Ukraine Press Secretary Svitlana Vodolaha informs. Vitali Klitschko has added that the Russians hit the city’s Shevchenkivskyi District both times.

Only two hospitals in the entire Luhansk Region are currently functioning and keep saving lives of civilians, Ombudswoman for Human Rights in Ukraine Liudmyla Denisova informed on Telegram.

Every day, the invaders are losing at least one company worth of troops, and sometimes even more, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Oleksii Arestovych said during the press briefing.

There is hope that Ukraine will manage to evacuate civilians from Azovstal, Iryna Vereshchuk informs.

The Russian army commanders don’t care about their soldiers lost in action, the intercepted conversation between two invaders published by the MoD’s Main Directorate of Intelligence suggests.

The Ukrainian air defence units have shot down 3 enemy missiles in the skies over the Odesa District, Head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration Maksym Marchenko reports.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Kyiv, Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel reports.

47 out of 1,395 gas distribution stations have been disconnected from the national network because of hostilities in Ukraine, with 85% of them located in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions, UA Transmission System Operator reported on 28th April.

The occupiers continue their offensive operation in the East of Ukraine to surround the Joint Forces Operation troops, establish complete control over the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and create a land bridge to the occupied Crimea, the update on the situation on the ground as of 6 PM from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reads.

The Russians are trying to create an illusion of normal life on the temporarily occupied territories of the Luhansk Region, forcing children to go to schools and study according to the Russian curriculum, Ombudswoman for Human Rights in Ukraine Lyudmyla Denisova wrote on Facebook.

Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solskyi, Lithuanian Minister of Agriculture Kęstutis Navickas, and the EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski discussed the potential of grain exports from Ukraine via the port of Klaipėda, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine reports.

Dolphins are dying en masse in the Black Sea because of the Russian Federation’s attacks on Ukraine, Ombudswoman for Human Rights in Ukraine Lyudmyla Denisova wrote on Facebook.

The UAE has sent 30 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the Ukrainian embassy in the UAE wrote on Facebook.

The Russian troops continue attempting an assault on the Azovstal metallurgical plant after last night’s mass bombing, Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol Petro Andriushchenko wrote on Telegram.

A Ukrainian Railways car attendant has worked on 28 evacuation trips, literally living in her carriage since 24 February. The journalists of Babylon'13 are telling her story.

Yuriy Milner — a Russian-born Israeli billionaire and a founder of Mail.ru Group — has promised to donate $100 billion to aid Ukrainian refugees. The initiative of Milner and his wife Yuliya, dubbed Tech for Refugees, will be supported by the leading technology companies, including Airbnb.org, Flexport.org, and Spotify, the press release reads.

US President Biden informs that he has signed a request for additional funding for Ukraine to be approved by Congress. This time, he asked for $33 billion. Some of the money will cover military aid, and the rest will be provided as economic aid.

Russian invaders have forcefully deported over 30,000 Mariupol residents to the Russian-controlled territories, Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko said during the briefing in the Ukraine Media Centre on Thursday.

IAEA has provided new equipment for Chornobyl NPP, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine reports, citing minister Ruslan Strilets.

Another prisoner of war exchange has taken place today. This time, 45 Ukrainians were freed from captivity, including 13 army officers and 20 soldiers, five of which were injured. Also, 12 civilians were returned home, Iryna Vereshchuk informs.

The State Bureau of Investigations has seized over $192,000 from a former Party of Regions PD close to Yanukovych. Previously, the investigators seized the former PD’s UAH 200 million.

According to the Bureau, the perpetrator laundered the money received from the deals with one of the largest conglomerates in Donbas and legalized them abroad. After the occupation of Donetsk and the creation of the so-called DPR, he maintained control over the pharmaceutical production capacities and collaborated with the occupier administration. Also, he registered the company in the temporarily occupied Horlivka, with his former bodyguard appointed as the city’s mayor.

European Union countries have already frozen 29.6 billion euros in Russian assets due to sanctions.

US President Joe Biden is ready to confiscate the property of Russian oligarchs in favor of Ukraine, the White House press service said. On Thursday, he will propose to Congress to pass changes to the law to make it possible.

Communication of Volodymyr Zelensky and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kirill Petkov with the media following the meeting in Kyiv.

Two helicopters collided in Saratov, Russia, with casualties - propaganda media called the accident a "rapprochement".

Prosecutor General's Office: During searches of the housekeeper of detained pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, investigators found and seized more than half a million dollars.

The army of the Russian Federation shelled at Mykolaiv from the "Smerch" multiple rocket launcher system, the Operational Command "South" reported.

Dozens of private households, cars and shops were damaged as a result of the occupiers' attack. In addition, enemy shells hit children's playgrounds and schoolyards.

Bulgaria can repair Ukrainian military equipment at its production facilities - Zelensky during the press conference together with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kirill Petkov.

The Ministry of Reintegration has updated the list of territories, the removed people from which will get financial help starting May 1st. There are communities from 8 regions in the list:

• Donetsk - 66 (all)
• Luhansk - 37 (all)
• Kharkiv - 51
• Zaporizhzhya - 49
• Kherson - 49
• Mykolaiv - 4
• Dnipropetrovsk - 2
• Odesa - 1

Ukrzaliznytsya (Ukrainian Railway Company) adds routes to Poland for Rivne and Berdychiv.

Starting May 1st train 23/24 Kyiv-Helm stops in Berdychiv at 01:37 and in Rivne at 05:26. Arrival at Helm, Poland at 11:30. On the way back the stop in Rivne is at 01:00 and in Berdychiv at 04:31.

The Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov has arrived to Kyiv.

He was the one who started a fund raising campaign for Ukraine, urging the citizens to donate their one-month salary as he did.

Germany is ready to consider the possibility to include Sberbank, the biggest bank of Russia, into the sixth set of sanctions that is being developed now. Bloomberg informed that citing sources that have the information.

Russians destroyed the building plant in Mykolaiv region, the Head of the Region Military Administration Vitalii Kim informed.

Russian officers started to shoot their own soldiers to force them attack Ukraine. That is taken from the messages of the commander of occupants' regiment near Izyum that was published by the Security Service of Ukraine.

"Mine started to fear too. All powerless. Can't encourage them physically or morally. Even shoot them. No good" - the occupant complains.

Around 180 000 of the Poltava region residents may be left without heat and hot water for the next heating season due to the destruction of Kremenchuk CHP by the Russian missiles, the head of Poltava region Dmytro Lunin informs.

"We are currently considering the possibility of building two new boilers to diversify the heat supply so that the whole city does not depend on one CHP."

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Допис, поширений David Guttenfelder (@dguttenfelder)

This is what a railway station bombed by the Russians in Mariupol looks like.

The photos were published by Ukrzaliznytsya manager Oleh Zabludovskyy.

In Gdansk, Poland, a square was named after Ukrainian Hero City — "Heroic Mariupol".

Russian troops made two attempts to storm the President's Office on the first evening after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At that time, Zelensky's wife and children were still in the government quarter, according to Time's "How Zelensky Leads: inside the compound with the President and his team". The author of the mentioned above article, Simon Shuster, spent the first two weeks of the war with Zelenskyy and his entourage. The magazine once again dedicated the cover to the Ukrainian President.

Сообщение, распространенное TIME (@time)