Friday, April 5

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A view of a damaged fire truck after Russian forces launched a massive drone attack on the city of Kharkiv on April 4, 2024. The drone attack killed four people and injured 12 others, including first responders. (Kharkiv Military Administration / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Media: NATO considers Russian spring offensive unlikely. NATO intelligence data suggests that Russia is unlikely to launch a large-scale offensive in the near future, European Pravda reported on April 4, citing a NATO official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Russian officials report massive drone attack on military airfield in Rostov Oblast. A “massive attack” on a military airfield in Rostov Oblast, Russia, damaged a power substation in the Morozovsky district, Governor Vasily Golubev claimed in the early hours of April 5.

Ukraine’s military intelligence hints drone attacks on military facilities in Russia to continue, ‘range will increase.’ Andrii Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR), hinted on April 4 that drone strikes on military facilities inside Russia will continue and “their range will increase.”

Energoatom: Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant ‘on verge of blackout’ after recent Russian attack. An external overhead line that supplies power from Ukraine’s energy grid to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar was disconnected on April 4 after Russian attacks, the state nuclear energy agency Energoatom said.

Ukrenergo: Russia targeted solar power plant in Ukraine’s rear for the first time. Russian forces carried out a targeted attack on a solar power plant in Ukraine’s rear for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of Ukraine’s state grid operator Ukrenergo, said at a press conference on April 4.

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SBU: Russian information operations seek to discredit Ukraine’s top officials, military. Russian intelligence services have launched a “huge number” of disinformation and psychological operations against Ukraine’s top government and military officials, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) cybersecurity chief Illia Vitiuk said in an interview with Ukrinform published on April 4.

SBU: Russian forces used cyberattack to target Ukraine’s 128th brigade. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on April 4 that it uncovered evidence that Russian forces were able to hack into the devices of military personnel in order to guide a missile to strike the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, killing at least 19 Ukrainian soldiers, in November last year.

Parliamentary committee backs renaming 7 cities and over 40 villages. Ukraine’s Parliamentary Committee on Regional Development supported the renaming of seven more cities and 44 villages, whose names do not meet the standards of Ukrainian language or refer to Russian or Soviet names, lawmaker Roman Lozynskyi wrote on X on April 4.

Poll: Just 12% of Ukrainians only speak Russian at home. When asked which language they speak at home, 12% of Ukrainians said they speak only Russian, while 59% said they speak only Ukrainian, according to a poll by the Sociological Group Rating published on April 4.

Poll: Fewer than 50% of Ukrainians believe war will end with restoration of 1991 borders. The 45% of respondents who believed that Ukraine would regain all of its territory represented a decrease from a high point in February 2023, in which 74% of respondents believed it was possible.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Russian double-tap attack on Kharkiv kills 4, including first responders

Two Russian strikes on the city of Kharkiv killed four people, including three first responders, and injured 12, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in the early hours of April 4. Russian drones first hit the city at around 1 a.m. local time.

Photo: Ivan Samoilov/Gwara Media via Getty Images

Faith under fire: Russia’s war on religion in Ukraine’s occupied territories

Russia’s war and occupation of large swaths of Ukraine have led to hundreds of churches being damaged or destroyed, dozens of priests killed or kidnapped, and entire religious groups that don’t conform to Moscow’s brand of Orthodoxy being banned.

Photo: Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images

Hollywood actress Ivanna Sakhno: ‘I’ve never felt more at home in Ukraine than during full-scale war’

When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, attacking the country from multiple fronts and the sky, Ukrainian actress Ivanna Sakhno was thousands of kilometers away. She has been living in the U.S. for nearly 10 years,  but after Feb. 24, 2022, Ukraine again took center stage in Sakhno’s life.

Photo: Oleh Tymoshenko / The Kyiv Independent

Human cost of war

State Emergency Service: Russian double-tap attacks have killed 91 first responders, injured 348. Most recently, Russian forces used such a tactic in a drone attack against Kharkiv overnight on April 4, killing three State Emergency Service employees: 52-year-old Vladyslav Lohinov, 32-year-old Serhii Baidalinov, and 41-year-old Volodymyr Matiushenko.

Russian attack against Kharkiv district kills 1, injures 2. A Russian attack against the Kharkiv district around 1 p.m. on April 4 killed a man in a tractor, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.

Governor: 2 killed, 1 injured in Russian attack on Donetsk Oblast village. Two people were killed, and another person was wounded as a result of a Russian attack against Donetsk Oblast’s village of Niu-York on April 4, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported.

General Staff: Russia has lost 445,040 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. This number includes 670 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

International response

Bloomberg: Top Republicans say Ukraine aid vote weeks away, contradicting Johnson’s shorter timeline. The comments differed from an assertion from House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said on April 1 that it would be held “right after Easter.”

Ukrainian-born Republican Congresswoman Spartz says she won’t vote for Ukraine aid bill. Victoria Spartz has previously supported aid for Ukraine and spoken about the war in deeply personal terms, but also attracted controversy for her attacks against President Volodymyr Zelensky and Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak.

Media: Ukraine working with Hungary to unblock EU funding. Ukraine is addressing demands from Hungary to deal with the unresolved issues of Ukraine’s national minorities in order to unblock the eighth tranche of the 500 million euros to the European Peace Facility, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on April 4.

Reuters: Russia faces difficulties repairing oil refineries due to US sanctions. Russian companies are facing difficulties in repairing oil refineries due to Western sanctions, and Ukrainian drone attacks could worsen the problem, Reuters reported on April 4, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Reuters: Sanctions may force Russian company to scale back Arctic LNG project. Russian gas producer Novatek is considering scaling back a major liquefied natural gas project due to the impact of Western sanctions, Reuters reported on April 4, citing sources in the industry.

Finland decides to close border with Russia indefinitely. Finland’s government has decided to keep the border with Russia closed “until further notice,” the Finnish Interior Ministry reported on April 4.

German FM says Berlin will initiate search for more air defense for Ukraine. Berlin will call on allies worldwide to examine their air defense capabilities and “to provide whatever we all can” to Ukraine, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said after a NATO-Ukraine Council meeting in Brussels on April 4.

Blinken: Allies must ‘double down’ on defense aid to Ukraine. “Based on what I heard today … everyone, including the United States, is going to double back and, as necessary, double down on finding the resources that Ukraine continues to need,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Economy Ministry: Allies donate over $700 million in demining aid to Ukraine. Ukraine has received over $700 million for humanitarian demining projects for 2022-2027 from foreign partners, the Economy Ministry announced on April 4, observed as International Mine Risk Education and Assistance Day.

Media: German companies involved in Russian ‘reconstruction’ of occupied Mariupol. German companies Knauf and WKB Systems GmbH are involved in the so-called restoration efforts of occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast, which was destroyed by Russian troops, according to an investigation published on April 3 by journalists of the Monitor program of the German TV channel ARD.

In other news

Ex-Presidential Office advisor taken into custody in Ukrainian Railways corruption scandal. Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ordered on April 4 the arrest of former Presidential Office advisor Artem Shylo, suspected in a corruption scheme connected to Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia).

Ex-Supreme Court chief suspended from administering justice until verdict or case closure. The High Council of Justice suspended on April 4 Vsevolod Kniaziev, former chairman of the Supreme Court and a suspect in a bribery case, from administering justice until the court verdict comes into force or the criminal proceedings are closed.

Investigation reveals wife of SBU cybersecurity chief acquired premium real estate during war. The wife of the chief of the cyber security department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Illia Vitiuk, reportedly bought an apartment in a premium residential complex in Kyiv worth Hr 20 million ($512,000).

Parliamentary committee backs measures strengthening gambling oversight. The Parliamentary Finance Committee supported measures that would impose stricter oversight of the gambling industry in Ukraine, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on April 4.

FSB detains three more suspects in connection with Moscow terrorist attack. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) detained three more suspects in connection with the Moscow terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, Russian state media reported on April 4.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Katya Denisova, Martin Fornusek, Nate Ostiller, Elsa Court, Dinara Khalilova, Rachel Amran, and Abbey Fenbert.

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