Date—April 3, 2022

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Stories

1. Lithuanian documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius died in Mariupol, said Vitaly Mansky, founder of the Artdocfest film festival. The deceased director was 45 years old. A rocket hit the car in which the director was driving, Lithuanian media write. According to them, Kvedaravičius was rushed to the hospital, but it was not possible to save him. In 2016, Kvedaravičius made the film Mariupoli about the war in Donbass. Its world premiere took place at the Berlin International Film Festival. (Source: Meduza).

2. Yuri Ruf, a Ukrainian poet, writer, scientist, public figure, and founder of the Spirit of the Nation literary project, died in the war with the Russian occupiers. (Source: LB).

War

1. Yenin: Over the past month, about 600 saboteurs have been detained by the National Police alone. DRGs were different in composition, number of people and, apparently, were designed to perform different tasks. The saboteurs mostly documented the positions of the Armed Forces, as their phones contained photos of the Ukrainian military, units and checkpoints. Only for the past 24hrs, 5 potential members of the DRG were detained in Dnipropetrovsk region. They were handed over to the SBU. The representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs called on Ukrainians to be vigilant and to turn to the police in case of detection of suspicious persons. (Source: Censor).

2. General staff (AFU): the moral and psychological condition of the enemy personnel and the level of motivation remains extremely low. Commanders of various levels of the 3rd Motorized Rifle Division of the 20th All-Military Army of the Western Military District refuse to take part in hostilities. In addition, the military is writing massive reports of dismissals. Personnel of two BTGs of the 4th Military Base from the 58th All-Military Army of the Southern Military District refused to take part in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. It is planned to return them to the points of permanent deployment. To make up for the loss of personnel, the Russian leadership is campaigning for civilians to join the armed forces. Such events are held both in the Russian Federation and in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk regions and Crimea. (Source: LB).

3. General Staff (AFU): Systematic violations of the requirements of International Humanitarian Law on the conduct of war continue. The Russian occupiers continue to deploy weapons and military equipment in the immediate vicinity of the housing infrastructure of settlements, carry out filtration measures in temporarily occupied territories, commit violence against local residents, engage in looting and looting. In the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, six enemy attacks were repulsed last day, four tanks, six armored units and seven units of enemy vehicles were destroyed. The Armed Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have hit eight air targets in the previous day: two planes, one helicopter, one UAV and four cruise missiles. The aircraft continued to strike at enemy ranges, columns of military equipment and logistics centers. (Source: Liga).

4. UK Intelligence: Russian aircraft remain vulnerable to short- and medium-range air defense systems. Due to the inability to detect and destroy air defense systems, the efforts of Russian forces to establish dominance in the air are seriously hampered, which significantly affects their ability to support the offensive of ground forces. This week, the Ukrainian Armed Forces shot down a Russian Mi-28 helicopter for the first time with a British-provided Starstreak anti-aircraft missile system. The anti-aircraft system has been used in Ukraine for almost a week. (Source: UP).

Opinions

1. Ella Libanova: Ukraine has never demonstrated such unity in recent history as it does now. More than 90% of compatriots believe in the victory of Ukraine. Unity is unseen. Second, a very strong and responsible civil society has been formed in Ukraine. And unlike in 2014, many more people are now involved in the civil movement. Today, civil society has realized its strength and its responsibility. It is the presence of a developed powerful and responsible civil society that is the main feature of true democracy. Third. Traditionally, it is considered that for Ukrainians “I” is much more important than “We”, that is, collectivism has never been recognized as our strong feature. But now “I” retreats before “We”. Fourth. Ukrainians eventually got rid of their inferiority complex. No one already considers Ukrainian soldiers worse, say, Russian, Ukrainian politicians are weaker than French or German ones. Now Ukraine understands the validity of its claims to a completely different, more important role on at least the European civilizational map. I hope that Ukraine is now a recognized subject, and not an object of international politics. And fifth. It seems to me that, despite the war, we have become more humane. (Source: NV).

Economy, Social life, and Culture

1. For a month of hostilities, Ukraine spends about 10 billion US dollars. Such an assessment was given on April 2 at a meeting of President Volodymyr Zelensky with the economic bloc of the government. The total damage from the war, taking into account future periods, was estimated by the government of Ukraine at the end of March at a trillion dollars. This amount included direct infrastructure losses, a drop in GDP directly during the hostilities, as well as prospective losses due to destroyed enterprises. The GDP of Ukraine according to the IMF in 2021 was $181 billion. According to the IMF’s preliminary estimate, by the end of 2022, Ukraine may lose 35% of GDP. In mid-March, according to Ukrainian authorities, about 30% of businesses were not working in the country. (Source: Meduza).

Military Help

1. Britain insists on arming Ukraine with anti-ship missiles that will sink Russian warships. It will also make it impossible to shell coastal cities from the sea. Johnson told ministers he wanted to buy weapons and provide them to Ukraine to prevent the Russians from attacking Odessa. British anti-tank missiles have already been used to defend Kyiv. (Source: The Times). 

Invasion Damage

1. Markushin: Irpen local authorities have decided to close the city to protect it from looters. The mayor of Irpen said: “It has been decided to close the city and check absolutely all cars leaving Irpen. Police are also working around the clock – it’s patrols and explosives. By the way, we already have an address in the parking lot, where preliminary information, organized the warehouse of the robbery. I’m sure these things will soon return to their rightful owners.” (Source: Censor).

2. Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Mykhailo Brodsky acknowledged that Russians had committed war crimes in the temporarily occupied territories. “I am deeply shocked by the photos from Bucha. The killing of civilians is a war crime and cannot be justified,” he wrote. In early April, Russian troops withdrew from the north of Kyiv region, leaving behind the destroyed and looted suburbs of Kyiv. In the liberated city of Bucha, the bodies of dozens of killed civilians were found lying directly on the street. Some of the people were shot with their hands tied. Others were killed by landmines planted by the occupiers. On March 20, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Knesset in which he drew parallels between the Holocaust and Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Many Israeli politicians did not like the comparison. (Source: Liga).

Foreign news

1. A member of the Russian delegation at the talks between Ukraine and Russia, Vladimir Medinsky, said that the draft peace treaty was not yet ready: “I don’t share Arakhamia’s optimism about the readiness of a draft treaty for a summit meeting, unfortunately. We need to do more work.” According to him, the diplomatic and military services of Ukraine allegedly “are far behind in the implementation of even those agreements that have already been reached at the political level.” Medinsky argues that Ukraine is “more realistic on a number of issues.” According to him, the previously agreed positions remain: a neutral non-bloc non-nuclear status; refusal to deploy foreign military bases, troops, offensive weapons, development and production of weapons of mass destruction; conducting exercises with the participation of foreign troops with the permission of the guarantor states; creation of a system of international guarantees of safety. Earlier, the head of the Servant of the People faction and the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, said that the Russian side orally accepted Ukraine’s proposals voiced at the talks in Istanbul, except for the issue of Crimea. (Source: NV).