Apr 11: E-Stories
Day 412: Kherson Bakhmut Zaporizhzhia ScorchedEarth Avdiivka Mariupol BritFighterJet Sandu DiscordLeak Macron IMF Latvia Denmark A&Ps ISW UKDef UkraineTrueHistory Gic Michta Janda Vulliamy Scarr
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Stories we’re following…
Governors: Russian attacks hit 8 regions, kill 5 civilians. Russian attacks were reported in eight out of Ukraine's 24 oblasts on April 8-9 – Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, and Donetsk. According to the regional governors' reports, five civilians were killed, and at least eight were injured. Attacks continued on Sumy oblast in 5 communities early Tuesday morning.
Russian troops shell Kherson Oblast 71 times. According to Kherson Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin, a total of 495 shells were fired across Kherson Oblast, hitting residential areas, power lines, a grain terminal, and a shipyard territory.
Only 1,800 civilians are still living in the “ruins” of Avdiivka, the embattled eastern Ukrainian city that had a prewar population of 32,000, according to the local governor. “The Russians have turned Avdiivka into a total ruin,” said Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsk’s regional governor.
The Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Donetsk region has said Russian forces controlled more than 75% of the besieged city of Bakhmut. It was still too soon to announce a total victory in the battle over Bakhmut, Denis Pushilin said on state television while visiting the embattled city in eastern Ukraine. His claims have not been verified.
Land Forces chief visits Bakhmut, says Russia resorts to 'scorched earth' tactics. Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's Land Forces and Eastern Operational Command, visited Ukrainian positions on the Bakhmut front line in Donetsk Oblast on April 9, according to the Defense Ministry media center.
Ukraine's military carries out 6 strikes on Russian equipment and personnel. Ukraine's military carried out six strikes on areas where Russian equipment and personnel were concentrated, and repelled 58 Russian attacks in Ukraine's east, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported in its morning briefing on April 10.
Russia faces ‘colossal losses’ near Avdiivka and Marinka in Donetsk Oblast. The Russian military has faced “colossal losses” near the towns of Avdiivka and Marinka in Donetsk Oblast in recent days, losing around two companies of servicemen, or up to 400 soldiers, there each day, Ukrainian military spokeseperson Oleksii Dmytrashkovskyi said on April 9.
The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, held a meeting on Monday with Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu. Lukashenko said he needed guarantees that Russia will defend Belarus “like its own territory” in the case of aggression, state media reported.
Russian forces begin demolishing central railway station in Mariupol. Russian troops are demolishing occupied Mariupol's central train station and several surrounding buildings, nearly destroyed during Russia's brutal siege of the city, exiled Advisor to the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andriushchenko said on Telegram on April 7.
The largest railway container operator in Russia,TransContainer, has encountered problems in the supply of spare parts and components for handling equipment. The company is looking for replacements in China, but the demand for them is growing.
New York Times: Leaked documents reveal Russia promises bonuses for destroyed NATO tanks. Recently leaked documents from U.S. intelligence reveal that Russia promised an extra bonus to troops that successfully damage or destroy NATO-supplied tanks in Ukraine, the New York Times reported.
A Russian fighter jet nearly shot down a British surveillance plane last year, according to a leaked US military document circulating online. The near miss occurred on 29 September off the coast of Crimea, the Washington Post reported, citing the document which is among an apparent leak from the Pentagon. The authenticity of the documents has not been verified.
CNN: Ukraine alters military plans after Pentagon document leak. Ukraine has changed some of its military plans following a leak of dozens of Pentagon documents, a source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN.
The documents suggest that without a huge boost in munitions, Ukraine’s air defences could be in peril, allowing the Russian air force to change the course of the war, the New York Times has reported.
Leaked US documents indicate Egypt secretly planned to supply rockets to Russia. Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi recently ordered subordinates to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be covertly shipped to Russia, according to a document exclusively obtained by the Washington Post.
Kidnapped Ukrainian children punished for refusing to sing Russian national anthem. Daria Herasymchuk, Ukrainian presidential advisor for children’s rights, said on April 9 that after returning to Ukraine from Russia, children complain of beatings and other punishments for refusing to sing the Russian anthem and for mentioning that they are Ukrainians.
Official: Ukraine creating international coalition to return orphans illegally deported by Russia. The coalition will also aim "to punish those guilty of crimes against Ukrainian children," said Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Ukraine’s central bankers in Washington for annual IMF and World Bank meetings. Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andrii Pyshnyi, and his deputy Sergiy Nikolaychuk, are in Washington, D.C. as part of an official Ukrainian delegation to the 2023 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Ukraine’s central bank said in a Facebook post.
Zelensky appoints Ruslan Kravchenko as Kyiv Oblast governor. Ruslan Kravchenko has been appointed as governor of Kyiv Oblast, the President's Office reported on April 10.
Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal has arrived in Canada, on an official trip during which he will seek supplies of ammunition and armoured vehicles for a counteroffensive against invading Russian forces, the Globe and Mail reports.
Macron on Russia’s war against Ukraine: Now is not time for negotiations. Both France and China see it to be too early for peace talks on Russia’s war against Ukraine as "today, the time is military", French president Emmanuel Macron said in an April 9 interview with Les Echos.
Bulgarian ammo to Ukraine could impact war. Bulgaria will most likely sell a huge amount of ammunition to Ukraine through intermediaries, which could significantly impact the war, former defence minister Boyko Noev told bTV in an interview. The caretaker Defence Ministry will transfer old ammunition worth nearly €175 million to the state military plant VMZ and, in return, will receive new ammunition, the ministry announced.
Latvia to build new 64-kilometer fence on border with Belarus. Latvia plans to begin construction of a 64-kilometer stretch of fence along its border with Belarus in April, media outlet Delfi reported on April 9.
Germany may ban Russian athletes from entering even if they are allowed to compete in international competitions, reports Deutsche Welle. “It is completely unacceptable for Ukrainian athletes to meet with athletes representing a country that is killing so many civilians in Ukraine,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.
Macron's trip raised eyebrows in Washington, and it was brought up repeatedly during my visit to DC last week. His Politico interview added fuel to the fire. The symbolism of the visit and what was said (and equally important-what was left out) will reverberate for a while.
But perhaps there is an upside to this event, for it will force others in Europe to take a position on what the French President implied was as a "European view". At the very least, capitals other than Paris should state whether or not Macron spoke on their behalf as well.
Macron's comments will need to be addressed by the EU, for having Ursula von der Leyen present made a larger European context for the trip inescapable. But let me stress one point: The idea of Europe's "strategic autonomy" is one of the most corrosive concepts out there.
China and Russia are challenging all democracies, not only across the collective West but globally. Our Asian allies recognize this-consider Japan's recent decisions on defense. So it is disturbing to see our political unity, especially across the Atlantic questioned this way.
The West is at an inflection point. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has united NATO politically as never before since the end of the Cold War. The alliance is returning to its collective defense function. Anything that flies in the face of transatlantic unity damages us all.
How my mother’s books brought joy to the children of Ukraine
By Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, April 9, 2023
The National Library of Ukraine for Children in Kyiv, a city at war for more than a year, is defiantly open, busy and creative. Director Alla Gordiienko describes it as “a place for emotional shelter” where “everything we do starts with a book”. “A book is the best doctor for the soul,” says the librarian’s child psychologist Lada Tsybulska, one of the many roles that make this place special, especially during a war that traumatises Ukraine’s children.
My late mother – Shirley Hughes, beloved author and illustrator of several hundred children’s books and winner of the all-time Kate Greenaway prize for children’s literature – would have found a corner of heaven in this place, were she not a citizen of the real thing. (She died in February 2022, the day after Russia launched its attempted full-scale invasion of Ukraine.) This place is what she dreamed of, and this is why much of Mum’s collection of her own books arrived here last month, why Dogger – who, along with Alfie and Annie Rose, was her most famous character – had to come to Ukraine. And not just to Kyiv: scores of books will move on from here, around the country’s library network, including children’s libraries on the frontline at battered Kherson, to bombarded Mykolaiv, and to Bila Tserkva, 50km south of the capita, to which the library at fallen Mariupol has been evacuated. [continue reading]
The talk-show hosts telling Russians what to believe
By Francis Scarr & The Visual Journalism Team, BBC, April 8, 2023
How Vladimir Putin’s regime uses TV to keep his people backing the war in Ukraine – even when things go wrong
Political talk shows play a powerful role in Russia
Day after day, millions tune in to see larger-than-life presenters discuss what is happening across the border in Ukraine. Their shows are selling a compelling story - one where Russia is the hero and Ukraine and the West the villains.
These hosts are utterly loyal to Vladimir Putin and have demonised Ukraine since 2014, when it aligned itself more closely with Europe. When Russia invaded last year, they framed it as a swift operation to "liberate" Ukrainians but that changed as progress on the battlefield stalled.
Meet four of the most famous faces on TV and listen to what they are telling the Russian public. [continue reading & watch with animation on]
Programming note…
For the Kyiv Independent’s Ukraine’s True History series, subscribe here.