🟡08.04.2022
21:12 EU High Representative Josep Borrell
The European Union will provide an additional 500 million euros to Ukraine for the purchase of weapons to combat the Russian invasion.
“We have already allocated 1 billion euros. In a few days we will be able to allocate another 500 million euros,” Borrel said.
19:40 Evropeiska Pravda
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has officially handed over a questionnaire to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which is a necessary step in granting Ukraine EU candidate status
The ceremony took place after talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv
19:13 Vadym Boichenko, mayor of Mariupol
31,000 people were forcibly deported to Russia or the so-called DNR. This is already verified information. Civilians are being sent from Mariupol to a filtration camp located in Novoazovsk. People have been waiting there for weeks. Filtration is very strict – fingerprints are taken, all biometrics. Forced to sign various documents. Particularly harsh on municipal employees or people associated with government agencies.
18:59 Evropeiska Pravda
Czech Republic has supplied Ukraine with tanks, volley fire systems, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles to combat the Russian invasion
18:43 Vadym Tokar, mayor of Makariv
In Makariv, Kyiv region, 132 shot bodies were found, the settlement is destroyed for 40%.
The dead were found in mass graves. There were also isolated finds of bodies.
18:32 General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Operational information as of 18.00 on 08.04.2022 regarding the Russian invasion
The forty-fourth day of the heroic fight of the Ukrainian people against the Russian military invasion continues.
The armed forces of the Russian Federation continue to conduct a full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. The enemy is being prepared for an offensive in the east of our country.
The Russian occupiers continue to destroy civilian infrastructure by launching missile and artillery strikes at railway junctions and roads, stations, residential areas and places of evacuation of civilians from areas of hostilities.
In the Donetsk and Tavriia directions, the enemy continues to increase the number of troops.
The occupiers did not abandon attempts at offensive in the direction of Popasna and Severodonetsk. They are not successful.
In the direction of Southern Bug, the enemy fought in the area of the settlement of Oleksandrivka. He tried to carry out fire in order to inflict damage on units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area. He did not reach the goal.
In the Slobozhanshchyna direction, the enemy continued to blockade the city of Kharkiv, shelling residential neighborhoods using artillery, including multiple rocket launchers and large-caliber mortars.
The occupiers completely withdrew their troops from the Sumy region to the Russian Federation.
The enemy has significant problems with the recruitment of military units that suffered significant losses during hostilities in Ukraine. According to available information, more than 80 percent of the personnel of some units involved in the war do not want to take part in further hostilities. The commanders of the occupying forces of the occupiers forbade the release of servicemen whose contracts had expired before the end of the so-called “special military operation”.
In the temporarily occupied territories, the enemy continues to violate international humanitarian law by committing illegal acts against civilians, including looting, theft of vehicles and detention of Ukrainian citizens.
The occupying authorities in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region have received instructions from Russian curators to return to these territories people who left for the Russian Federation in January-February 2022. According to the instructions of local administrations, citizens must return to the settlements at the place of registration / residence after two months of stay in Russia.
Ukraine’s defense forces successfully repel enemy attacks in all directions, inflict losses on the enemy and are ready for any changes in the operational situation.
Let’s win together! Glory to Ukraine!
#stoprussia
18:23 Ukrainska Pravda
According to the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, 78% of Russians support Vladimir Putin’s actions, and 74% of Russian citizens approve of his decision to attack Ukraine. As of March 31, 89% of respondents said they trusted the Russian army, and 8% did not trust the army. Most Russians believe that an information war is being waged against Russia (90%).
17:01 Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU High Representative Josep Borrel, and Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger visited Bucha, where hundreds of civilians have been killed.
16:51 Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko
The death toll from the missile attack on the Kramatorsk railway station has risen to 50, five of them children. Of the 98 wounded who were taken to medical facilities, 16 were children, 46 were women, and 36 were men. Twelve of them died at the hospital. 38 people died at the station.
16:23 Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko
The Australian Government has provided further support to the Government of Ukraine by gifting 20 Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles, including two ambulance variants, to aid the Government of Ukraine’s response to Russia’s unrelenting and illegal aggression. Australia also provides additional military assistance of $ 20.4 million, including anti-tank weapons and ammunition.
16:21 Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko
Emergency evacuation of people by communal and private vehicles begins in Kramatorsk.
15:59 Ukrainska Pravda citing European Council President Charles Michel
After the Russian attack on Kramatorsk, European Council President Charles Michel said that “action is needed: more sanctions on Russia and more weapons to Ukraine.”
15:54 Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko
Russian troops are constantly shelling the settlements of the Donetsk region, which are located on the line of demarcation, preparing for escalation and a massive offensive.
15:38 Embassy of Ukraine to the UK
Dozens of activists staged a rally outside the Russian embassy in London, arriving with items they often see among the “trophies” of the Russian military looted from civilians’ homes: sneakers, irons, frying pans, hairdryers, clothes, etc.
15:22 Chernihiv Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko
About 700 people died during the battle for Chernihiv. Among the dead 70 bodies are unidentified. 40 people are missing. “They can be considered dead because they were seen near buildings and cars destroyed by the Russian occupiers,” stated Atroshenko.
14:05 The Prime Minister of Slovak Republic Eduard Heger
Eduard Heger confirms that Slovakia has provided Ukraine with an air-defence system S-300.
13:36 Commissioner for Human Rights of Ukraine Liudmyla Denisova
Russia is kidnapping Ukrainian children.
Russian media began to publish information about the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation to amend the legislation to organize an accelerated procedure for the adoption of children from Donbas. It is reported that the State Duma is already working on appropriate amendments to the legislation, after which the replacement of the family for the child will be impossible.
According to various sources, more than 121,000 children have already been forcibly deported to the Russian Federation. These are both orphans and those who have parents. It is now known that some of the children were taken by the occupiers from Mariupol to Donetsk and in the direction of Taganrog. Russian invaders say they are orphans, but all orphans, including orphanages, were evacuated from Mariupol and centralized on February 24-25 during the first two days of the war. Ukraine has no information that children who are planned to be adopted have the status of orphans or deprived of parental care.
Russia is repeating the scenario of 2014 when it took Ukrainian children out of the occupied Crimea by the so-called “train of hope” for their adoption. Russia has been expelled from the European Network of Ombudsmen for Children’s Rights (ENOC) for abducting children from the Crimean peninsula.
Now Russians, firing missiles and tanks at the homes of Ukrainian citizens, are killing parents and kidnapping our children in the occupied territories of eastern and southern Ukraine. Such actions of the Russian Federation are a gross violation of Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provides that every child has the right to a name and citizenship, as well as the right to know their parents and the right to care, Article 49 of the Geneva Convention on Civil Protection population during the war, which prohibits forced individual or mass resettlement or deportation. In addition, Article 21 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that adoption in another country may be considered only as an alternative means of caring for a child if the child cannot be placed in foster care or to a family that could provide for her or his upbringing or adoption in the country of origin.
I call on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the UN Human Rights Committee, and the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) to intervene to prevent the illegal removal of Ukrainian citizens from Ukraine and their subsequent illegal adoption on the aggressor’s territory.
I ask the Office of the Prosecutor General to investigate the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
I appeal to the UN Commission for Investigation of Human Rights Violations during Russia’s Military Invasion of Ukraine and the expert mission set up by the OSCE participating States under the Moscow Mechanism to take into account these violations of Ukrainian children’s rights, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
13:19 Azov Regiment from Mariupol
Tonight, Russian occupation forces fired at the “Captain Belousov” icebreaker carrying civilian crews in the Mariupol trading port. One person was killed and several others were injured.
12:56 Security Service of Ukraine
39 people, including 4 children, were killed in the attack on the Kramatorsk railway station.
12:46 Ukrinform
Interference by the Russian military in the operational work of the Novopskov compressor station could stop gas transit through the Sokhranivka DHW. This was reported by the press service of the LLC Gas TSO of Ukraine.
Several actions were recorded by the occupiers, which include changes in the operation of communication equipment and technological regimes, which may lead to a loss of operational control over the equipment of the compressor station. This will lead to significant risks to the integrity of the gas transmission system, the stability of gas transportation regimes, and as a result – the impossibility of gas transportation through the station, in particular under the transit contract.
Almost a third of transit to Europe from the Sokhranivka gas metering station passes through Novopskov.
11:59 Derhachi City Council
As a result of enemy bombings during the last 24 hours, significant damage was inflicted on the civilian infrastructure and housing estates of the city. The Center of Primary Health Care was destroyed, and the buildings of the inpatient department of Central Hospital were significantly damaged.
11:39 Operational Command “South”
At night, from the territory of the Crimean peninsula, the Russians launched a strike with three guided missiles on the Odesa region. Two buildings were damaged. There are victims; their number is being clarified.
Against the background of missile strikes, the usual practice of Russia is to intensify sabotage and reconnaissance groups, particularly in the border regions, which aim to increase the psychological pressure on the civilian population and spread panic.
The enemy’s naval group continues to conduct reconnaissance, blocking Ukrainian ports and ships.
11:17 Head of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleskandr Kamyshin and the head of Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko
More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were injured in the missile attack on Kramatorsk railway station. Thousands of people were at the station due to the mass evacuation of the Donets region residents to safer areas of Ukraine. This was a deliberate strike on the passenger infrastructure of the railway and the city residents.
11:04 Ministry of Culture and Information Policy
46 countries, members of UNESCO, refused to participate in the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee while it is headed by the Russian Federation. The meeting was scheduled in Kazan, Russia. The parties to the 1972 World Heritage Convention signed an open letter due to Russia’s systematic violation of international humanitarian law in Ukraine.
11:01 Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Bondarenko
Google and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are digitizing the cities destroyed by the Russian army.
“The destruction inflicted on our cities by the Russian occupiers will be available on Google Maps in street view mode. This regime allows you to see the street as if you are walking or driving on it, so everyone can compare what the cities looked like before the war and what the Russian invaders did to them,” said Bondarenko.
Deputy Minister informed that, first of all, rescuers from the State Emergency Service and the National Police permit Google specialists to access already demined and safe areas of liberated cities.
“In this way, we will receive information and reference resources that will help, including the National Police, in recording crimes committed by the occupiers. Users will be able to get acquainted with the first results of our joint work next week when the first panoramic photos of destroyed streets and buildings in Irpin will be published,” Ihor Bondarenko summed up.
10:46 State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine
Armageddon Group is launching a new cyber attack on Ukrainian authorities. This group has repeatedly attacked both state bodies of Ukraine and EU countries.
The government team for responding to computer emergencies of Ukraine CERT-UA, which operates under the State Special Communications Service, warns of receiving new dangerous e-mails with the subject “№1275 from 07.04.2022”.
10:41 General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 08.04 were approximately:
personnel – about 19000,
tanks ‒ 700,
APV ‒ 1891,
artillery systems – 333,
MLRS – 108,
anti-aircraft warfare systems – 55,
aircraft – 150,
helicopters – 135,
vehicles – 1361,
boats / cutters – 7,
fuel tanks – 76,
UAV operational-tactical level – 112,
special equipment – 25,
mobile SRBM system – 4.
Data are being updated. The calculation is complicated by the high intensity of hostilities.
10:17 Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal
In terms of state budget expenditures, a day of war costs UAH 2 billion (to fight, pay salaries, etc.), in terms of losses – $ 4 billion (the destruction of infrastructure and the loss of economic potential and future GDP). The Prime Minister stated that Ukraine’s losses are, in particular, a 20% reduction in sowing and the inability to realize its export potential.
10:00 Centre for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
Russian propaganda is increasingly using Kremlin “Western experts” to justify its crimes. The notorious member of the European Parliament Francesca Donato has been actively promoting pro-Russian narratives in Western society for many years.
- The deputy voted against anti-Russian sanctions in the European Parliament.
- On her Twitter page, Donato launched an active campaign to discredit Ukraine, including Volodymyr Zelensky. The parliamentarian called any evidence of crimes committed by the Russian army a lie.
- Meta blocked Donato’s Facebook profile for spreading a tough anti-Ukrainian stance.
- Donato has also repeatedly accused the European Union of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine using the Kremlin’s “provoking Putin” thesis.
9:52 Head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleh Syniehubov
Regarding the situation in the Kharkiv region as of April 8:
- Over the past day, Russian occupation forces have fired about 48 times from artillery, mortars, tanks, and MLRS on the Saltivka, Pyatykhatka, Oleksiyivka districts, the city center, and Derhachi. As of now, there are 15 victims in Kharkiv and the Kharkiv district;
- As a result of the shelling of the occupiers, the gas pipeline was significantly damaged at night. Emergency crews are working on the spot and trying to eliminate the consequences;
- Fighting continues in the Izium direction. The evacuation continues, in particular from Barvinkove and Lozova.
9:36 Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar
“The consequences of Russian barbarism can only be compared to the Middle Ages,” stated Maliar.
Main theses:
- The Russian Federation is destroying the entire social structure (hundreds of hospitals, kindergartens, schools), raping and brutally killing civilians;
- They commit their atrocities, for example, against the mother in front of the child, or against the child in front of the mother;
- The cities that were liberated in the Kyiv region are presented by Russia as a voluntary retreat. It is not true;
- When we entered the settlements that were temporarily occupied by the Russians, we saw the consequences of barbarism, which can only be compared to the Middle Ages;
- In addition to murdered people, we find mass murdered animals;
- Blocking humanitarian routes is also part of Russia’s terror policy;
- The worst is 167 killed and 279 injured children.
9:26 Head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration Oleksand Starukh
The Russians confiscated a convoy of buses that brought humanitarian aid to Melitopol and had to return to Zaporizhzhia with the evacuees.
9:11 Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko
The Russians continue to fire on civilians along the entire front line. On April 7, they conducted attacks by a helicopter at Vuhledar and a missile at Sloviansk. As a result of the shelling:
– one injured and more than ten damaged houses in Sloviansk;
– one injured and many destructions in Vuhledar;
– four injured and two damaged houses in the Marinka community.
9:00 Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine
Under the procedural guidance of the Izium District Prosecutor’s Office of the Kharkiv Region, a pre-trial investigation has been launched into violations of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to the investigation, the Russian military tortured and set on fire three residents during the occupation of the village of Husarivka, Izium district. To destroy evidence of their crimes, the Russian military covered bodies with car tires and set them on fire.
After the liberation of the village from Russian invaders on April 7, 2022, the remains of the dead were found in the basement of one of the houses.
8:28 Suspilne citing the head of the Public Council at the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management Oleksandr Syrota
After Ukraine regained control of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, it was found out that the Russians had destroyed the plant’s archives, which had been accumulating for decades. Oleksandr Syrota wrote about this on Facebook.
8:18 Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine
As of the morning of April 8, 2022, more than 475 children suffered in Ukraine as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.
169 children were killed and 306 received injuries of varying severity during the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Children suffered the most in Kyiv – 88, Donetsk – 81, Kharkiv – 75, Chernihiv – 50, Mykolaiv – 40, Luhansk – 35, Zaporizhzhia – 22, Kherson – 29, the capital – 16, Sumy – 16, Zhytomyr – 15 regions.
These data are not conclusive, as it is not possible to inspect the sites of shelling in areas of active hostilities and the temporarily occupied territories.
7:54 Suspilne citing Politico
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is delaying a final decision over whether to give Ukraine high-end tanks for its battle against Russia, despite pressure from several other top officials, according to four people familiar with the deliberations.
6:50 European Pravda
The EU has proposed another 500 million euros for Ukraine’s military support. This was written on Twitter by the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
“Thanks and support to Josep Borrel for your proposal to top up the European Peace Facility with a further €500M. Once swiftly approved this will bring to 1,5 billion the EU support already provided this for military equipment for Ukraine.
6:42 Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration Serhii Haidai
At night three evacuation trains with residents of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions went to the west – the track was repaired.
All three trains with IDPs, which remained at the Kramatorsk railway station as a result of an enemy attack on the overpass near Barvinkove station, overcame the section promptly restored by the railways around midnight. They are already heading to the western regions of Ukraine. The evacuation continues.
Earlier it was reported that the enemy struck an airstrike on the only controlled overpass of the Donetsk railway.
6:41 General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The operational update regarding the Russian invasion on 06.00 on April 8, 2022.
The forty-fourth day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to a Russian military invasion continues.
- The armed forces of the Russian Federation continue their armed aggression against Ukraine. The enemy is being prepared for the offensive in eastern Ukraine.
- The main efforts of the Russian invaders continue to focus on the capture of Mariupol, the offensive in the area of the city of Izium, and breakthroughs in the defence of the Joint Forces in the Donetsk direction. In the South Buh direction, the Russian enemy is trying to prevent the advance of our troops.
- The Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus carry out operational and combat training activities at training grounds throughout the country. Up to four battalion tactical groups have been involved to carry out tasks to strengthen the protection of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.
- There is still a possibility of missiles and airstrikes from the territory of the Republic of Belarus on military and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
- According to the available information, the so-called “volunteers” among Belarusians are being recruited from the territory of the Republic of Belarus to create new units for a private military company. The information is being clarified.
- The enemy completes the restoration of combat capability of units of the Central Military District in the Bryansk and Kursk regions.
- Separate units of the 6th, 20th All-Army, 1st Tank Army, Coastal Troops of the Baltic, and Northern Fleets carry out operational equipment of the territory. The main focus is on the rehabilitation of railway sections from Kupyansk to Kharkiv, Izium, and Svatove. For this purpose, units of the railway troops of the 38th separate railway brigade of the Western Military District from Yaroslavl were involved.
- In the Kharkiv direction, the Russian enemy continues to blockade the city of Kharkiv. To prevent the advance of our troops, the invaders put up minefields.
- In the temporarily occupied city of Izium, representatives of the so-called “DPR” perform the functions of the local “police” and carry out illegal checks of documents, searches of persons, and premises of the local population.
- Units of the occupying forces are concentrating their efforts on taking control of the settlements of Popasna and Rubizhne and establishing control over the city of Mariupol. Assault operations continue in most areas.
- The enemy continues to launch airstrikes and shell civilian infrastructure, including the use of multiple rocket launchers. Such activities have been recorded in the districts of Kreminna, Sievierodonetsk, Novotoshkivske, Popasna, Novozvanivka, Sukha Balka, Novoselivka Druha, Stepne, Troitske, Novobahmutivka, Marinka and Solodke.
- In the areas of the settlements of Rubizhne, Popasna, Nyzhne, Novotoshkivske, Zolote, and Borivske, the occupiers tried to carry out assault operations but were unsuccessful.
- In the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, seven enemy attacks were repulsed in the past 24 hours, four tanks, two artillery systems, ten armoured units, and eleven enemy vehicles were destroyed.
- Air Force aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continued to strike at places where Russian enemy troops congregated.
3:35 Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, Head of the Sumy Regional State Administration
People tortured by enemies continue to be found in the Okhtyrka district. One of the men had his face and hands tied, and torn wounds on his right leg. The identity of the deceased has not been established yet. The prosecutor’s office is dealing with these cases.
2:18 Mayor of Bucha Anatolii Fedoruk 163 of the 320 civilians killed in Bucha were identified.
