Date—April 4, 2022

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Stories

1. Human Rights Watch published a report on war crimes in the territories of Ukraine, which were temporarily controlled by Russian troops. These are Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions. The report came out immediately after the Ukrainian authorities and the media reported dozens of people killed in the city of Bucha in the Kiev region. (Source: Current Time).

Announcements

1. Russia asks to hold a meeting of the UN Security Council on April 4 in connection with the “monstrous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in Bucha.” This was reported by Interfax with reference to Dmitry Polyansky, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN. (Source: Interfax).

War

1. Venediktova: 410 bodies of killed civilians have already been removed from the territory of the Kiev region liberated from the Russian military, 140 of them have already been studied by forensic experts. “This is super-important evidence of the cruel war crimes of the Russian Federation. This is a hell that must be documented in order to punish the non-humans who staged it on our land,” she wrote. (Source: Facebook). 

2. The representative of the Air Force of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, also emphasizes that in terms of technology and the number of modern air and anti-aircraft equipment, Russia is significantly superior to Ukraine: approximately 1:6 or even 1:10. (Source: Current Time).

3. On the right bank of the Dnieper, on the territory of the Kyiv region, they have no opportunity to linger. But on the left, especially in the Chernihiv region, there is every reason for this. They will now concentrate their shock fist in the Donbas in order, as they have already stated, to “liberate” the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk “republics.” But they will by no means leave the southern regions. Their operational-strategic task is to gain a foothold in these lands and continue to put pressure on Kyiv. The strategic mission has not changed: to destroy Ukraine as a state, to install its puppet regime in Kyiv. As long as conditions permit, they will follow this strategic objective. Today, the Ukrainian army, apart from disturbing strikes and attempts to reduce the distance between itself and the sea, cannot do anything yet. But in the future, this gut, which now exists from the isthmuses of the Crimean peninsula to Mariupol, maybe cut in several places. It’s quite a vulnerable area. When more offensive weapons are delivered to Ukraine, the situation will change. The Russian grouping will be fragmented, cut off from supplies, and destroyed piece by piece. (Source: Current Time).

Opinions

1. Lawyer Ilya Novikov: This is the first significant European war. We are often told that this is a war happening on Twitter because we see all these events live. And these are not only the events that got into the camera of a professional journalist but also many things that people filmed from their windows. It is important. It also has evidentiary value. But I would say that it is much more critical that this is the first big European war in the era of big data. Yesterday and today, videos appeared showing the Russian military in Belarus sending parcels home. And immediately, there was talk that they were sending them with trophies, with looted things from the apartments. Naturally, we cannot understand from this video what kind of packages they are, but in the big data, that is, in the database, of course, it will remain who sent which package. It will also stay on these databases which phones were located, where and which numbers were called from them. Already there is information about a significant part, if not all, of those Russian soldiers who are participating in this war. These data have already been received. <…> That is, the anonymity of the ordinary soldier, who in previous wars could hide from responsibility for this group, is leaving. It used to be clear that in the place where the war crime was committed, there was a company of a captain, say, Ivanov, but it was not clear who exactly fired, so Captain Ivanov is responsible for his fighters. And the soldiers – how it will turn out. But now it can go away – precisely because this war will be as non-anonymous as possible. It is probably the first non-anonymous war in history. Therefore, I think that in most cases, there are reasonable chances to find precisely those people who were in these places and who are directly responsible for these actions <…> I think that with these shots from Bucha, we broke through a kind of dam among people, who until now inspired themselves that everything is not so scary, that this is a war of the advanced armies of the 21st century, which are fighting with precision weapons. After they see all this, maybe something will move in them. And, perhaps, European politicians, who before that could afford to take such a position that “not everything is clear, we don’t know something, Russia also has a point of view, let’s listen to it, let’s not cut off the channels of diplomacy, let’s Let’s allow Putin to win back,” maybe they, too, will understand that now such a position for them in their own countries is becoming toxic and impossible. Because any politician who tries to justify these corpses on the road, these murdered people with their hands tied, will now be perceived as a Nazi accomplice. I think these shots are much more important than how we perceive them, who look at this situation from the beginning and understand what is happening. They are essential because they affect people who do not understand or do not want to understand what is happening in Ukraine. (Source: Current Time).

2. Sociologist Shamiev: Over the past 10-15 years, military service has become a social ladder for contract soldiers and officers, a ladder to life. <…> People from socially and economically prosperous segments of the population try not to go to serve. But children from rural areas or small towns in depressed regions graduate from school, and they face a choice of what to do next. The most talented can go to university. What to do with the rest is not clear. It must be understood that they have a sharp lack of information about modern urban life. And military service is understandable. It existed for centuries, probably their fathers and grandfathers served. Plus, there is an ideological civil patriotic position in the service – you defend your country. At the same time, according to regional standards, good money is paid for this. Service in the Armed Forces gives social support. It is an apartment and some health care. You can become an officer and move up the ranks: every soldier wants to become a general. We understand that an ordinary urban Russian guy has less pronounced masculine cultural requirements than guys from more conservative regions, where there is a high proportion of the religious and rural population. They were told from school: “I didn’t serve, not a man.” Service is welcome and an honorable duty for such men. In addition, 30 thousand rubles in poor regions is a serious salary. Try to force a Muscovite to go somewhere and serve for 30 thousand rubles. <…> I know for sure that sometimes it’s a headache for officers, for example, to force soldiers from the North Caucasus to do cleaning duties, because some of them have never cleaned their houses and think that this is a woman’s business. Soldiers from ethnic republics create ethnic networks within the army, sometimes even between different battalions. <…> In the military, there is generally little talk about what international law, humanitarian law, and the rules of war are. You also need to understand that there are elementary people in the war, and soldiers cannot think about philosophical concepts and international law while on the battlefield. They think about saving the lives of themselves and their colleagues. Officers, Russian politicians, and civil society should think about international law. And when the enemy sat down in a residential building, which they couldn’t approach, the soldiers decided to take it to hell because “they are shooting at us.” According to their logic, the enemy sat down there, and he is to blame for this. (Source: Holod). 

Economy, Social life, and Culture

1. Zhivitskiy: The Russian Federation blew up the bridge over the river the Diet. It was a way from Putivl to Sumy. (Source: Telegram).

Invasion Damage

1. Arestovich: “Units and subunits of the armed forces of Russia and the National Guard that committed war crimes in Bucha, Gostomel, Irpen. These are the 64th OMB, 35th Army of the Eastern Military District; 5th OTB of the 36th Airborne Military District Army; 331st – landing regiment of the 98th Airborne Division; 137th Airborne Regiment of the 106th Airborne Division; 104th and 234th Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 76th Airborne Division; 14th and 45th Separate Special Purpose Brigades; 63rd Special Purpose Police Detachment of the Russian Guard 155th Separate Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet. (Source: UNIAN).

2. Russian mines in Ukraine: rescuers told about the species and what they look like. The Russian military is scattering explosive devices on the territory of Ukraine. These mines and bombs can have different shapes, shapes, triggers and strength. The SES of Ukraine reported eight types of dangerous ammunition to beware of. (Source: Zbroya.info).

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Foreign news

1. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party leads parliamentary elections after counting more than half of the ballots. (Source: Svoboda).

2. President Aleksandar Vučić wins Serbian presidential election. (Source: Svoboda).