Sunday, April 23

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Firefighters extinguish a fire that broke out at a civil infrastructure facility after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine as Russia-Ukraine war continues on April 22, 2023. According to early information from authorities, Kharkiv and the surrounding area are shelled with S-300 missiles. (Photo by Yevhen Titov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Russia bombards Kharkiv with S-300 missiles. Russia attacked Kharkiv with S-300 surface-to-air missiles late on April 22, Governor Oleh Syniehubov and Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram. Both the city and neighboring areas came under attack.

Mine explosion injures 2 in Mykolaiv Oblast. Two civilians were injured in an explosion caused by an anti-personnel mine in Mykolaiv Oblast’s Snihurivka on April 22, Ivan Kukhta, who heads the Snihurivka military administration, reported on Telegram.

The Times: Ukrainian soldiers say they lack air defense firepower to stop Russian airstrikes. Ukrainian soldiers told the Times they are running low on air defense ammunition, while Russian troops have recently started to send more helicopters and aircraft to attack Ukraine.

Young Crimean Tatar sentenced to 7 years by Russian proxies, accused of giving $12 to volunteer battalion. A Russian-controlled court in occupied Crimea sentenced a Crimean Tatar to seven years in prison for allegedly transferring Hr 500 ($12) to a Ukrainian volunteer battalion also called Crimea, according to Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets. According to Lubinets, the accused, 21-year-old Appaz Kurtamet, lent the money to a friend, who joined the battalion.

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ISW: Wagner group financier advocates for Moscow to hold current front line. Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin has been advocating for Russia to focus on holding the current front lines rather than seeking more gains so that Russian forces can regain their combat effectiveness for later offensive operations, the Institute for the Study of War said.

UK Defense Ministry: Russia cancels WWII march as it could highlight scope of its losses in Ukraine. This year, Russia’s annual May 9 celebrations to commemorate the Soviet Union’s victory against Nazi Germany will not include the traditional “Immortal Regiment” march where Russians commemorate their fallen.

China’s ambassador to France says former Soviet countries **have ‘no status in international law.’**He also said Crimea was “Russian at the beginning,” without specifying what he meant by beginning. Ukraine’s ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, called out the Chinese ambassador’s statement denying sovereignty to post-Soviet countries, including Ukraine. Omelchenko wrote on April 22 that there were “obvious problems with geography” and that the ambassador’s statement contradicted China’s official position “on efforts to restore peace in Ukraine.”

Read our exclusives

Flanks around Bakhmut hold as brutal urban fighting continues for city blocks

Two months after Ukraine’s defense of Bakhmut seemed doomed, the bloodiest battle of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine is still going against all expectations.

Photo: Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

‘They’ll kill me if I come back’: Abduction, torture become routine in Russian-occupied Melitopol

Owning hryvnias, speaking Ukrainian, or having the Ukrainian mobile e-government app Dia on their phone could land Melitopol residents in one of the city’s “basements” for a “talk,” meaning interrogation under torture.

Illustration: Karolina Gulshani

This Week in Ukraine Ep. 4

Russia’s strategy of evil: 80,000 war crimes in Ukraine

International response

Bloomberg: EU to propose banning certain goods from transiting through Russia. The ban would apply to “numerous technologies and other goods, including several types of vehicles,” however not all items would be banned from traveling through Russia to third countries, unnamed sources told Bloomberg.

Spain to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in coming days. Six tanks are to be delivered “in the coming days,” and four more will be sent later, when they are repaired.

France to aid Ukraine in restoring rail network. Ukraine and France on April 22 signed a memorandum that will see France help restore Ukraine’s railway system. France is set to assist with bridge construction, shipment of rails and locomotives to railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia, as well as light rail systems in cities, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Olga Rudenko, Daria Shulzhenko, Toma Istomina, Alexander Query, Oleksiy Sorokin, Igor Kossov, Brad LaFoy, and Olena Goncharova.

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